This work is fiction. The work has no relationship with any person existing at any time anywhere whether real or imaginary or copywritten. Everything in this work is mea culpa.
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The pokegirl universe was first documented by Metroanime and to him all of us who reside or visit there owe a debt of thanks.
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Chapter 13
(4/13/06 0700 Haven)
The lighter lifted into the air and turned northwest as Jamie eased his way between the containers strapped to its deck and climbed into the control cabin. Kerrik glanced at him before turning back to the holographic display. “Where’s your harem?”
“Paige is setting up our cabin while Ginevra and Madison are exploring to see where we might get stowaways.”
Kerrik nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“What’s our ETA to Marco Island?”
“It’s roughly 650 kilometers to get there and our cruising speed is 200kph. That means we’ll arrive in a bit over three hours, if we don’t have any incidents.”
“I’ll tell Paige not to bother with the cabin. What’s the top speed?”
“Around 300kph, but I wouldn’t push the engines that hard unless there’s a reason.” His ears flicked. “There’s a shell that unfolds and wraps around the cargo space and it would limit your harem’s ability to fight feral pokegirls if we run across them, so I don’t want to go that fast.” He glanced at his grandson. “We’ll have to slow down if any ferals manage to attack us, but at this speed only a few will be able to generate an intercept.”
“Speaking of attacking, what kind of reception do you think we’ll get?”
“The league reps shouldn’t be there yet, unless they’re very early. If the townsfolk open fire on us again, I’m going to be a bit upset.” He smiled slightly. “Enough that I’d even let Ginevra return fire with the 30mm that’s mounted in the bow. It’s loaded with SAP rounds and would make quite the mess.”
Jamie nodded slowly. “What’s the plan once we arrive?”
“I’m going to drop you, the taming hostel and a container of food at San Marco. I’ve got an errand to run, so I’ll leave you there for a few days.”
“What is this errand?”
“I’m going up to the Archer Winery. I’ve verified its existence and I’ve an idea for a deal that I think they’ll be interested in.”
“Just what are you going to get out of the deal?”
“It’ll give me a chance to invest in a business and it may give us a secure source of wine and beer.” Kerrik adjusted the lighter’s course slightly. “Good beer is really hard to find; and it’ll give us a contact in that part of the world that your mother can use to start rebuilding her intelligence networks, something I know she’s eager to do.”
“Have my instructions changed?”
Kerrik shook his head. “No, you’re still to help them set up a couple of tamers to defend the town and interest them in what we’ve got to sell. You are not going to set them up with an extensive permanent garrison. After we’re done, they’re on their own.” His ears flicked. “If you can convince some of them to move to Haven, that would be outstanding, but it’s a lot to hope for. Besides, we’re still absorbing the refugees from Tropic.”
There had been nearly a hundred humans in the colony the Tropic League had been trying to establish on Haven and they’d been moved to where Shikarou and the family were settling in. Most of them were undernourished and many had been injured in some form or fashion, thanks to the heavy handed methods that had been used to keep them in line and working.
According to Stardust, having full medical care and all the food they could eat had completely cemented their loyalty to the kingdom. Now she was evaluating them to see if any could be made into tamers of the sort that they wanted to promote in their new home.
The Tropic League had never considered that its colony might be pinched; they’d not had more than the normal number of informants among the populace. The former leaguers knew who they were and had taken care of the situation themselves by feeding them to the local sharks and crabs. Shikarou had merely looked the other way to the small rash of murders.
Jamie rubbed his eyes. “Will I be giving out any pokedexes?”
“One. That’ll give them a reference as well as a com link with Haven. Aggie will also use it to spy on them when we’re not around.” Kerrik shrugged. “Whom you decide to give it to is your choice.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Jamie opened the door. “I’ll check on my harem and have my pokegirls begin patrolling the ship. I’ll give them practice. I’d have Madison set up some of her flying card creatures, but I’m not sure any of them can keep up with us.”
“Probably not. This tub’s got a fairly sophisticated sensor suite and should give us enough warning.”
***
(4/13/06 1130 Marco Island)
Joshua Weinstein grabbed his binoculars when the man and woman stepped into view. He stared at them for a moment before grinning wildly and reaching for his radio. “This is alpha post. I have a man and a woman entering zone alpha. I believe it is Jamie Wolf returning. I will establish contact and verify his identity.”
“We copy, Joshua. A patrol is being sent out to back you up. Command out.”
Madison glanced at her tamer. “It’s nice to be able to intercept their communications this time. Shall we reply on the same frequency?”
Jamie shook his head. “No, we’ll keep that little ability to ourselves. Once we get close enough, we’ll yell at him.”
The duelist nodded. “Yes, sir. Don’t forget that we can’t know it is Joshua in there until he identifies himself.”
“Good point.”
When they were close enough, Jamie cupped his hands and bellowed. “Hello, the guard post! This is Jamie Wolf and Madison, returning like we said we would!”
Joshua raised the blast shield and waved for them to advance. “Welcome!” He dropped his voice as they approached. “We’ve been hoping you’d come back soon. Did you bring any tomatoes?”
Madison snickered as Jamie nodded. “Kerrik has them and, as soon as we get clearance, he’ll be bringing them in. We also brought some other things that might interest you.”
Joshua looked at them curiously. “Like what?”
Jamie grinned. “Look me up when you get off duty and we’ll discuss it.”
“I will. There’s a car on the way. They’ll give you a ride into town.”
Jamie sighed. “Can’t I walk? That thing makes my body ache from the vibrations.”
“It’s considered an honor. Most people have to walk.” Joshua shrugged sympathetically. “If it helps, I agree with you.” He cocked his head. “They’re coming, so I need to get back to work. I’ll talk to you this evening.” The blast shield slid back into place.
As they walked around the sentry post, Madison dropped her voice. “Him?”
Jamie replied in the same low tones as the armored truck bounced into view. “I think he’s a definite candidate. Maybe Lieutenant Carver is a possibility as well. She seemed interested in Kerrik when she thought he was a pokegirl.”
“That didn’t stop when she found out he wasn’t,” Madison pointed out with a smile. “I think she’s just horny.”
“Then a nice vixxen might be just what the nursejoy ordered.”
The truck braked hard and skidded to a stop in front of them. An older man clambered out of the cab. “I’m Sergeant Wilkes. Are you Jamie Wolf?”
Jamie nodded. “I am. This is one of my pokegirls, Madison.”
Wilkes stared at her. “But she looks so,” he broke off as his ears turned red. “Sorry, sir.”
Madison smiled at him. “That’s ok, sergeant. If you were going to say I looked normal, well, I get that a lot.”
Wilkes turned even redder. “Sorry, miss.”
Madison gave him a speculative look before glancing at Jamie. Madison thinks Wilkes may be a prospect as well.
Jamie nodded. We will consider him. “Sergeant, what happened to Lieutenant Carver?”
Wilkes’ face went wooden. “She was injured when one of the wild ones attacked. She’s not expected to live.” He gestured at the truck. “Sir, my instructions are to take you to the mayor’s house immediately.”
“Sergeant, I need to see the mayor, but I think I need to see the lieutenant first.” He gave Wilkes a flat look. “In fact, I insist. I may be able to help her and, if I can, it’ll go a long way in proving that I’m serious about what I’ll be telling his honor.”
Wilkes hesitated for only a second. “Yessir. If you can help her, then, by all means, let’s go there first.”
Jamie nodded and frowned. “Madison, you ride in the back.” I’m not sure I want to reveal pokeball technology except in controlled conditions.
The duelist nodded. “Yes, master.” She hopped into the bed of the truck with the machine gunner and grinned at him. “Hi.” He gave her a nervous look.
Jamie climbed into the cab, followed by the sergeant. The truck turned heavily and rattled away.
The truck vibrated to a halt in front of the San Marco Elementary School. Wilkes climbed out of the cab and motioned for Jamie to exit. “The hospital was destroyed by fliers in 1999 and we’ve had to bring our injured here ever since.”
That would be in -3 AS or nine years ago.
Jamie gave the place a good look as they headed towards the guard at the front door. The windows had been bricked up along with any extra doors. The whole building had been carefully painted to look like it had been burned out and destroyed cars lay rusting in haphazard heaps. A closer look revealed that those heaps were actually concealed bunkers, although right now they appeared to be empty.
Wilkes smiled grimly when he noticed where Jamie was looking. “We do what we can.”
“Very cunning. I don’t remember when I’ve seen better.”
Wilkes gave him a proud smile. “They fooled attackers several times, too.” He turned to the sentry. “Johnson.”
The guard came to attention. “Sergeant.”
“We’re here to see the LT.” Wilkes nodded to Jamie.
Johnson shrugged and opened the door. “You know where she is.”
Madison slipped inside behind them. They proceeded down a hall and turned into what used to be a classroom. It had been divided with cubicle walls and each cubicle held an empty hospital bed or cot.
Only one of the cubicles was occupied. The bed inside was surrounded by electronics that beeped and hissed. Wilkes dropped his voice outside the entry to the cubicle. “Some say she was lucky that she didn’t die. I think she’d have been luckier if she’d had. Her spine was crushed just above her waist and she was pretty badly burned by a lightning attack.”
Jamie stepped into the cubicle. On the bed lay a parody of humanity. Carver was unconscious, which was a mercy. Her face looked half melted and her hair and ears were gone. A tube was stuck down her throat to allow her to breathe. Raw wounds glistened wetly in the light. “When did this happen?”
“It happened a couple of days ago, sir, when a yellow flying type attacked. The pokegirl threw around lightning bolts and the LT was wounded when she tried to shoot it down with a machine gun. Someone finally hit it with a Molotov cocktail and it flew off.”
Madison looked slightly green. “I’m not sure I can help her.” His twee whispered a message from her. Sir, if I put that much life energy into healing the lieutenant, I will be severely weakened for several days. She turned to Jamie. “Candace could.”
Jamie frowned. Kerrik, we’ve got a very badly injured human here that I was going to evaluate as a prospective tamer. Madison thinks that she can’t heal her, but that Candace could. I request permission to send for her.
His twee was silent for a few seconds. Kerrik says that you are the man on the spot but reminds you that you didn’t bring any nursejoys to leave them and that Candace is unlikely to want to do lots of house calls. After this, they’ll have to be medivaced to Haven for treatment or other arrangements will have to be made. He’s contacted Candace and she’s willing to do this, but she’ll need transport.
Jamie looked at Wilkes. “Find me the doctor. I’ll have to explain a few things before I can help Carver.”
Wilkes nodded. “I’ll be right back, sir.”
Madison watched him hurry off. “He thinks you’re an officer. That’s actually a good idea since he seems to respect you.”
“I think you’re right.” He grinned. “And I got a promotion without having to suffer through OCS.”
A few minutes later, Wilkes showed up with a tired looking woman with olive skin. She looked Jamie up and down. “Who are you?” He couldn’t place her accent, but suspected that was going to be a common occurrence for a while.
“Jamie Wolf. I want to heal Lieutenant Carver, but I wanted to talk to you about it first.”
“I’m Dr. Soledad Sanchez and there’s nothing that can be done for Teresa Carver. She’s going to die in that bed.”
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you. There is a pokegirl that specializes in healing and I want to bring one here to heal the lieutenant. She’ll also help with anyone else you’ve got stuck here, but she can’t stay long.” He smiled reassuringly. “I’ll need your permission to try this.”
Sanchez gave him a long and openly hostile look. “You want to bring one of them here?”
“We use pokegirls for many things that technology can no longer do. Candace can heal Carver’s injuries and, I’m pretty sure, she can even repair the damage to the spine.”
Sanchez folded her arms. “Over my dead body.”
Jamie exchanged a look with Madison. “Have you killed anyone here?”
She smirked. “Not a one.”
“Are you planning to?”
“No, sir. I’d never do anything like that without orders from you.” She knew better than to ask if Jamie was planning to give such orders, even as a joke.
Sanchez shook her head. “She’s not one of them, so don’t even try to convince me otherwise. They all look off.”
“Not all of us do.” Madison turned to her tamer. “What are your instructions, sir?”
“Sergeant, will you try to stop me if I attempt to heal Carver?”
Wilkes shook his head. “No, sir; I will not. If you can help the LT, then I want you to.”
“Then don’t overreact to what you are about to see and don’t let her do it either.” Jamie jerked his head in the doctor’s direction.
The soldier moved to stand near Sanchez, who gave him a furious look. “I’ll keep an eye on the good doctor, sir. You do what you can.”
“Madison, go get Candace.”
The duelist threw Jamie a salute. “Yes, sir.”
“I don’t care what he says,” Sanchez broke off with a gasp as Madison vanished. “What the hell?”
“She’s gone to get Candace.” Jamie looked at Wilkes. “I’m not supposed to be unguarded, so I’m going to summon one of my other pokegirls. She’s not as human looking as Madison, so I’m giving you fair warning.”
Sergeant Wilkes nodded. “Yes, sir.” His hand tightened on Sanchez’s arm.
Jamie pulled a pokeball from his belt and released Paige. The foxymaiden was wearing a tie-dyed gypsy skirt and crop top. “Paige, you are my guard. Madison has gone to get Candace.”
Her ears flicked and she began alertly scanning the room. “Yes, sir.” She frowned when her eyes first swept over Carver, but didn’t comment.
Madison appeared and let Candace go. A moment later, Elizabeth appeared as she followed. Candace looked at Jamie and then at the figure on the bed. “My god, it’s a wonder she’s still alive.”
“Can you help her?”
Candace nodded as she moved forward to examine the lieutenant. “As long as the brain isn’t too badly damaged, I can.”
Wilkes was staring at Elizabeth. “Wow. Are you a pokegirl?”
She smiled broadly. “I am and I’ve already got a tamer. I’m Candace’s security.”
“I’m going to have to remove her breathing tube, IV and ancillary sensors.” Candace placed her hands lightly on her patient. “She’s got severe spinal damage, some internal injuries and third degree burns over the upper third of her body and lungs.”
“Do you need help?”
She glanced up at Jamie and smiled. “That would be nice. Can you hold her down while I pull out the tubes? I’ll have to be quick as opposed to gentle. She’ll wake up when I heal her and I want the tubes out beforehand.”
“I forbid this!” Sanchez glared at everyone.
She froze when Wilkes socketed his pistol in her ear. “You’ll be quiet and still or I’ll blow your brains out,” he growled.
Jamie braced himself as Candace roughly pulled the tubes out of Carver’s throat and arms. Air rattled in the woman’s throat as the nursejoy healed her and started her regenerating. Suddenly, the lieutenant gasped and started coughing as her burns rolled backwards and fresh skin appeared. Ears and hair sprang into existence as her legs suddenly jerked.
Candace stepped back. “Jamie, roll her onto her side,” she said calmly. “She needs to expectorate all the crap in her lungs.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jamie lifted the human onto her side and easily held her as she coughed up several cups of bloody fluid. Finally, she slowed and her breathing eased.
Candace watched clinically until Carver was finished and then gave a satisfied smile. “Much better. She’s going to be exhausted for a couple of days, but will make a complete recovery in a week or so.”
Sanchez stared, her eyes wide and her face pale.
“Ok, Jamie; put her down.”
Carver’s eyes fluttered open and she looked blankly up at Jamie as he eased her back down onto the bed. He smiled. “Welcome back, Teresa.”
Her lips moved and he leaned down to hear her whisper. He began chuckling and straightened up. “Right in one, lieutenant.” He pointed and she slowly turned her head in the direction he was indicating. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the nursejoy. “This is Candace and she’s the one who saved your life.”
Carver’s lips moved again and Candace smiled. “You’re welcome; I’m just glad I was able to help.”
Sanchez shook free of Wilkes. “How did you do that?”
“I’m a healer.” Candace smoothed down her skirt. “Is there anyone else here that I can help before I leave?”
Sanchez frowned and then suddenly nodded. “Yes. Let me take you to them.”
Candace glanced at her bodyguard. “Elizabeth, you don’t need to follow me around. I’m perfectly safe here.”
“Yes; and, because of me, you will stay that way. Don’t worry; I won’t get in your way.” The vampire patted her harem sister on the shoulder. “Otherwise, I’ll go straight to Shikarou and Branwyn.”
The nursejoy sighed. “I’m beginning to understand why he’s so grumpy about his guards. Very well, come on.” The two of them followed Dr. Sanchez out of the room.
Wilkes moved to where Carver could see him. “LT, I’m glad to see you’re back.”
“Water,” the woman whispered. Wilkes was quick to get her a cup with a straw and nodded gratefully to Jamie when he lifted the lieutenant up so she could drink. “How long?”
“It’s only been a few days since the attack.” He looked at Jamie. “Is she going to be ok?”
Madison smiled. “Sir, I can help now. Would you like me to?” When Jamie nodded, she pulled out a card. “I’m going to heal you, lieutenant. This healing will help you to recover most of your strength, but you should still take things easy for a day or two.” Green energy sprang from the card and bathed Carver and the two men holding her.
Wilkes frowned. “My tooth stopped hurting.” He reached into his mouth and prodded, his eyes widening when nothing happened.
Carver slowly sat up and pushed the two men away. “Apparently,” she said slowly, “that’s a very powerful technique. No wonder they were so hard to stop when we were fighting them.”
Madison nodded. “Yes; but as you can see, my magic works on humans, too.”
“That’s good.” Carver looked at Jamie tiredly. “Why did you heal me?”
“I need a few people here to become tamers like me. You weren’t put off by Kerrik, and I thought you might want to give it a try.”
She gave Madison a curious inspection. “I’m supposed to have sex with them, right?” Her eyes widened when she noticed Paige standing quietly in the corner. “She’s cute.”
“I think we brought another foxymaiden with us. If you want, you can give her a try.” Jamie checked with his twee and smiled. “Yes, we did.”
Carver smiled back at him. “I’d like that.”
Madison leaned over and whispered to her tamer. “What did the lieutenant say to you when she first woke up?”
He smiled gently. “I can’t be dead because no angel is as ugly as you are.”
***
(4/13/06 1245 Marco Island)
“I want to thank you for your help at the hospital.” Mayor Jackman gave Jamie a polite smile. “And what did you do to Dr. Sanchez? She’s always been violently anti-pokegirl. She was almost executed when the league tamers were here.”
“Candace managed to save several terminal cases; that can get a physician’s attention.”
The mayor sipped his tea. “She’s requested one of them for the clinic.”
Jamie shook his head. “That may prove a problem. We don’t have many of them and we’re not putting them up for adoption right now. However, I have instructions to tell you that we can evacuate your wounded to our hospital in the kingdom.”
“Yes, your kingdom. Where is it again?”
“Haven is the new name for the island you used to know as Cuba. Now, Kerrik is waiting with the supplies I have for you and he needs you to make sure he’s not going to be shot at while he’s delivering it.” He decided that Kerrik’s threat to return fire wasn’t really appropriate at the moment.
“I’ll have the word put out. What kind of transport does he have?”
“It’s something like a cross between a blimp and a helicopter. It uses antigravity. Some of the leagues are working to reverse engineer it from equipment recovered from Sukebe.”
The mayor looked interested. “Could we get something like that?”
“I don’t think so. We don’t have that many of them right now.”
Disappointment etched Jackman’s features. “Pity. I’ll have word put out as to what to expect.”
A half hour later, Jamie stood with Sergeant Wilkes as the lighter silently moved in from the west and began to settle towards the ground. Wilkes whistled softly. “That’s pretty impressive.”
Jamie gave him a wry look. “It’s only grace is that it’ll carry more than a pokegirl. It’s lightly armed and armored for combat against them, but I wouldn’t want to rely on it for safety.”
“What do you do if you’re attacked?”
“We fight with our pokegirls against the attackers. That’s the best weapon against enemy forces.”
“What about your guns?” Wilkes looked pointedly at Jamie’s 10mm pistol.
“I said pokegirls are the best weapon against other pokegirls. In an emergency, you use what you’ve got.”
“Can we get firearms and ammunition from you?”
“That’s part of the shipment.”
The lighter stopped lowering less than a meter off the ground and went into a hover. Cranes swung into action and deposited a container in seconds. The lighter lifted off and drifted sideways before going back into a hover and unloading the taming hostel. Then the craft lifted once more and slid backward before landing in a parking lot.
Jamie and Wilkes trotted forward as Kerrik bounded to the ground. “How was the trip?”
Kerrik was watching Wilkes as he answered. “Fairly uneventful. I saw a thundrix that looked injured, but she gave me a wide berth and fled to the north. Who is your friend?”
“Kerrik, this is Sergeant Wilkes. Sergeant, this is,” he glanced at his grandfather, who smiled easily.
“Colonel Kerrik Wolf,” the kami bowed slightly, “Haven Royal Army.” He smiled easily. “Major Jamie Wolf is my grandson.” The smile warmed. “Since we’ve got so many Wolf’s in the officer corps, it’s easiest if we just go by our first names for now.”
Your father has given everyone official ranks, unless you’d rather be known as Prince Jamie.
Jamie shuddered at the thought. “That’s right, sergeant.”
Wilkes snapped a salute. “Sir. May I ask where you hail from?”
“I’m from all over, but Jamie is from Scotland. Why?”
“I can’t place your accent.”
Kerrik nodded, his ears flicking slowly. “You’ve never heard of where I’m from, so that’s not surprising.” He turned to Jamie. “Have you picked your tamers?”
“I think so. Wilkes here is one of them.”
Wilkes gave him a startled look. “I am, sir?”
Kerrik looked him over. “You married, sergeant?”
Jamie started. He’d never considered that some of his prospective tamers might have wives. He carefully filed the idea away for future questioning.
“Nossir. I’m a widower. My wife died in the plague.”
“If you get a pokegirl, she’ll be like a wife to you. Are you ready for another relationship like that?”
Wilkes gave Kerrik a penetrating look. “I don’t know, sir. I never expected to marry again.”
“We never do, sergeant. It just kind of happens.”
He and Wilkes looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. Finally, the sergeant nodded. “I’ll see what you have to say, sir.”
Kerrik looked at Jamie, who grinned and made a shooing motion. “I’ll need the sergeant to round up a detail to start unloading the supplies, but after that he’s all yours.”
“Give the sergeant the list of people you want me to talk to and I’ll see them at sundown.” He gave Wilkes a look. “I’ll be providing dinner, but the dress will be whatever you’ve got. I understand that Lieutenant Carver is on that list, but this will not be an officer only meeting.”
“I’ll make sure that everyone is there, sir.” Wilkes turned to Jamie. “I’ll get you that detail, sir. How much in the way of supplies will we be unloading?”
“We’ve got several tons to unload, sergeant. I’ll also want some dependable guards to keep them from evaporating when my back is turned. These are a gift; after this, you start paying for our aid.”
Wilkes nodded. “I’ll let the lieutenant know and get you some men.” He headed briskly off.
Jamie watched him with a faint frown. “Why’s he taking our orders so easily?”
“It’s been a rough patch for them. He’s probably glad someone has some answers and isn’t treating him like shit.” Kerrik glanced at the sky. “Besides, they haven’t had a formal military for some time and we show every sign of being well organized. Compared to them, we are, too.”
“They want a nursejoy.”
“I’m sure everyone will.” The kami rubbed an ear thoughtfully. “We’ve got a medic from the Tropic refugees and he’s interested in becoming a full physician. Candace has been grooming him to take one of the Glasgow nursejoys and I’ll talk to her about sending him here to do some medical work.”
“How long are you staying?”
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow evening. Don’t worry, Jamie; I’ll back in a few days.”
“What do I tell them when they ask about your harem?”
Kerrik sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, tell them the truth, that I’m picky. When I return, I’ll look through the inventory of what’s available.”
Jamie nodded. “I’ll tell mother Candace to send you your tamer’s exam.”
“Thanks a lot.” Kerrik scowled at him. “Remind me why I’m bothering to aid you when you threaten me with stunts like that?”
“I’m your favorite non-blood related grandson?”
“I suppose that will have to do.”
***
(4/13/06 1930 Marco Island)
Carver waved her hand over her glass. “No more for me, thank you.”
“Very well.” Kerrik put the wine bottle down and looked around the table. “I think we should move on to the reason for this dinner.” Wilkes and Weinstein looked up alertly. Up to this point, the dinner conversation had been kept deliberately light and every time one of them had tried to turn the conversation around to pokegirls, Kerrik had changed the subject.
“Over the last decade or so, all of humanity has had several shocks, not the least of which was Sukebe and his creations. Others include the devastation of humanity and the discovery that magic and magical creatures are real.” His ears flicked slowly. “First of all, I want to assure each of you that I am not in any way one of Sukebe’s creatures. Pokegirls are almost exclusively female and, while males can express certain pokegirl traits, that can only come about after several generations of breeding with pokegirls. The pokegirls that are not female per se are either hermaphroditic, can assume a male form or have no normal gender.”
Carver raised an elegant eyebrow. “What are you, colonel?”
“I’m a kami, a Japanese spirit creature.”
“You’re a long way from Japan,” Wilkes observed.
“I am. My family was under attack and we’ve moved here to avoid a major war. Cuba was empty and it’ll make a nice home as the Kingdom of Haven.” Kerrik smiled slightly. “We understand that the area is primarily filled with English and French speaking people and, between the two languages, we’re more comfortable with English.”
“Why are you helping us?” Carver didn’t look suspicious, but she didn’t look convinced either.
“Jamie promised he would and we keep our promises.”
“It’s that easy?”
“Yes, Teresa, it is.” Kerrik’s ears flicked. “I’ve spoken to him and he’ll think before making more promises like that.”
She chuckled. “So you’re not happy with what he’s done.” It wasn’t a question.
“I did have other plans for right now,” Kerrik admitted, “but I can’t see a reason why we shouldn’t help you for a while. And that is the reason why we’re having this meeting.” His eyes met each of his guest’s in turn. “Jamie thinks that each of you would make a good tamer for one of the pokegirls that we’ve brought and, after talking with you, I tend to agree. The question is whether or not I can convince you to become one.”
He smiled. “Magical creatures such as I happen to be are sometimes bound with what you might consider a curse that constrains their actions. I have one such limitation. I cannot lie. So please understand that what I’m going to tell you is the truth.”
“Is it the complete truth?”
“I just said I can’t lie. Truth, regardless of what others might say, either is or is not. There is no middle ground for truth.”
Carver nodded. “You do realize that we can’t take your statement as gospel since we don’t know you.”
“I understand that, but in the years to come, you will come to realize that I am being honest.” He smiled slightly. “Since that’s all I can be.”
“Why might we not want to become a tamer?” Weinstein picked at the remains of his pie.
“Have you ever had a pet, Joshua?” Kerrik continued without waiting for a response. “Pokegirls require a special individual to care for them and, unless you give her to someone else, she’s a responsibility that will not end. If you become a tamer, it’s pretty much for the rest of your life. A pokegirl will bond with you and most of the time, as she spends more time with you, that bond will deepen, eventually forming what is called a delta bond. In a delta bond, you have a minor psychic link with your pokegirl and she’ll always be able to find you. As the years pass, she may end up becoming more or less your wife and may bear you children once she becomes a pokewoman.”
Wilkes looked stunned. “They can have human children?”
Kerrik pursed his lips. “Is it Douglas or Doug?”
“Doug.”
“Doug, a pokegirl can bear only pokekits while a pokewoman can have pokekits or human boys and girls.”
“Oh.”
“That’s right. Since the life of a pokegirl revolves around sex, you will be having it with her on a regular basis. You can’t withhold sex from a pokegirl as punishment or because you’re pissed at her. While the actual need varies from species to species, all pokegirls have to have regular sexual contact with humans to stay sane. The ones who don’t get it slowly lose some, if not all, of their higher mental functions and become what’s called feral. Feral pokegirls are what have been attacking your town and what almost killed Teresa here.”
Carver touched her cheek unconsciously as he continued. “The really big problem comes from the fact that pokegirls have three life stages, two of which can reproduce and one of which requires no sperm to reproduce. Pokekits are what they’re called from birth until they enter puberty, usually around the age of fifteen years or so. At that point, they become pokegirls. Pokegirls can reproduce parthenogenically, which means, as I mentioned earlier, they require no sperm or even sex. That means that feral pokegirls will spread as they have kits. Part of a tamer’s responsibilities is to go out and catch feral pokegirls to keep the feral population down. He then needs to either awaken them himself, or sell or give them to someone who will.”
“You mean have sex with them.” Wilkes was looking intently at his host.
Kerrik’s voice hardened. “I mean you have to fuck them until they become nonferal, although it’s called taming. Some of them aren’t exactly what you’d call pretty, either; although almost all of them have some redeeming features and will probably be desirable by someone. It is pretty obvious to determine, though, by looking at the various pokegirl species, that Sukebe was a tit man.”
Weinstein nodded and grinned.
“There are some species of pokegirl that cannot be tamed and all of them are instinctively hostile to most life and definitely towards human life. We call them menaces. However, they’re pretty rare and I’m working to make them even more so by a systematic program of eradication whenever I find them. Regardless of the existence of the menaces, your two biggest problems are attacks by ferals and the Indigo League’s tamers, who appear to have taken a hard line approach to consolidating their new lands.”
“That’s why I’m evaluating you three as prospective tamers. You’ll be tasked with repulsing feral pokegirls as well as either driving off the Indigo League’s men or making them deal fairly with your community.” He smiled slightly. “Capturing ferals and giving them to other people in the community is preferable to just running them off or killing them, since it adds to your forces.”
His smile changed, becoming predatory. “The group of pokegirls that a tamer has is called his or her harem. You can also keep the pokegirls you capture for yourself and add them to your harem. Note, however, that while they can have sex with each other in order to stay sane, they will prefer contact with you; unless you impose order on them, they will fight to be with you.”
Joshua blinked. “I can have more than one?”
“You can, but if you have more than one high libido pokegirl, you will be spending a lot of time fucking them. High libido pokegirls are ready to go almost any time or any place and if you put them off, they’re likely to become sexually aggressive about it. Don’t forget that many pokegirls are far more powerful than a human and can kill one quite by accident.” He grinned and fangs gleamed in the lantern light. “She’ll be very sorry afterwards, but you’ll still be worm food.”
“In addition, I think your league has restrictions on how many pokegirls you can own at a time. If you go over that number, they’ll probably confiscate the extras.” He gave them a grim smile. “And we all know you won’t get to choose which pokegirls to give up.”
“One of the things we’ll be leaving is a portable computer that has a database of what we know about pokegirls. It is by no means exhaustive, but it will be of great help in teaching you how to battle properly. It can also function to communicate with us on Haven, like a cell phone, or access the internet once we set up a transmission station. As we ramp up our manufacturing capabilities, more of these digital indexes, which we call pokedexes, will become available. For the time being, you’ll only have the one to share, although I’ll leave a copy that you can access through a computer. Hopefully, the powers that be won’t take your pokedex away from you and cripple you out of their own greed.”
“We’ve also brought a taming hostel, which has all of the necessary equipment and restraints to safely tame just about any pokegirl. We’ll be leaving you a selection of restraints as well, with more that will be available for sale later on.”
“What will you take as money?”
“We have our own currency, but we’ll take valuables and other items as trade. We also accept pokegirls, but ferals won’t get you full price. After all, the more work we have to do to make them usable, the less we’ll pay you for them.”
“What else will you be selling?”
“There are some storage devices for pokegirls, called pokeballs, we’ll be marketing. We’ve also got a line of healing potions for pokegirls and humans, as well as some to allow you to recover faster from sex. You will probably be having more sex than you have ever imagined you’d get.” He nodded to Carver. “We also will be selling birth control for humans, so you can avoid pregnancy until you’re ready to have children.”
She gave him a bitter look. “I can’t. The plague made me sterile.”
Kerrik shrugged. “See me later. Not all plague related sterility is permanent.” She nodded as he continued. “One of the things we’ll be leaving here is a catalog of what we can provide to you and to the community.”
He looked around the table again. “It’s a rough job and it will get careless people killed. That’s why we’re vetting them for the time being, to keep the body count down. It is, however, the absolute best way for you to take on feral pokegirls and have a good chance of coming home alive, at least with current technology. Each of you has already proven that you believe that the protection of others outweighs protecting yourselves and we believe that each of you will bond well with your harem and treat them as more than fungibles to be used and tossed aside. They didn’t ask to be what they are, and they need humans to be more than beasts. You now have to ask yourselves if you are willing to take on the responsibilities of caring for one or more pokegirls, protecting the community with them and not smashing the mayor flat when he starts giving you orders that you disagree with. He’s a civilian and he’s going to do it.”
“Again.” This was from Carver.
“You will be in the position of the noble knights of chivalry, even if they are more than half fictional. In your hands will be the power to help this community or to utterly crush it like the Indigos seem to be doing. It is likely that, in time, you will rise to positions of leadership here and you need to remember that if you make the town hate you, at that point they won’t lift a finger to help you when someone with a more powerful pokegirl comes to town. And it will happen eventually.”
Kerrik smiled slightly. “And if it turns out that the community becomes someplace utterly unsuitable for you to live in, we in Haven understand tamers very well and, unless you’re a spree killer, we’ll always be willing to offer you a home.”
“I want to be a tamer.” Joshua looked fiercely at Kerrik. “I want to help.”
“Are you sure it’s not that you just want a piece of ass that won’t throw you out?”
The young man flushed but didn’t look away. “I am looking forward to that, but I want to help most of all.”
The kami nodded slowly. “Very well, what about you, Doug?”
“This is a lot to take in, but I’m tired of watching, um, ferals trashing my home and killing people. It has to stop.”
“Teresa?”
Carver stared at the table. “My brother was among the ones killed by the Leaguers.” She looked up at him. “Can I kill them for that?”
Kerrik shrugged. “You can try. Remember, they’ll have pokegirls, too. I’d work against them until I was really ready and then strike.”
Anger glittered in her eyes. “Will you teach us to fight?”
“I have an errand to run tomorrow, but I’ll be back in a couple of days. Jamie will be working with you and, when I return, I’ll help to train you.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
***
(4/14/06 0500 Marco Island)
Ginevra appeared as she teleported onto the deck of the lighter. “My master wants to have a final word with you before you leave, old one.”
“I don’t suppose ‘no’ would suffice as a final word, would it?”
She snickered. “I doubt it. Will you come?” She offered her arm to him. He put on a pleasant face and took it.
Jamie was waiting when they appeared. “Thanks, Gin.”
Kerrik shook out his braid and looked around. They were way outside zone alpha and off of Marco Island, standing in the parking lot of a gas station. Madison was leaning against a brick wall and had the dreamy look that said she had constructs patrolling. Ginevra moved to be close to her tamer and became motionless. “What is it?”
“We have a problem. Satellite surveillance has shown some tamers less than fifty kilometers from Marco Island. I think they’re from Indigo.”
“Virtue?” Kerrik pulled out his handheld and activated it. “Why haven’t I heard about this?”
“Sir, he is correct,” Virtue replied in her sexy voice, as the holographic display lit up and zoomed. “Yesterday, a growlie was seen operating under the instructions of a human while fighting an arachnae that attacked them.” The view zoomed more and showed a quick version of the fight as seen from above. “The human was injured in the fight and the arachnae was captured. You were not informed as it was not considered a high value threat.”
The kami’s ears went flat. “From now on, I want you to note all incidents of tamer activity within a hundred kilometers of Jamie and inform me if they appear headed in his direction. Also, note anything unusual and report it to me at the end of each day; or immediately, if it appears to be a threat to Jamie on the order of greater than thirty percent.”
“Yes, commander.”
“Sometimes I wonder about her and Vice.” Kerrik tugged on an ear tuft. “I’m going to go ahead with my errand but, if there’s a problem, contact me and I’ll teleport back immediately.”
“Yes, colonel.”
“Don’t start with me, whelp.” Kerrik shook his head slowly. “I’ll be paying more attention, but you stay in touch. I really don’t want to have to listen to your mother for the next twenty years as she bitches at me for letting you get killed.”
“I’ll try not to let you down, grandfather.”
“I will keep him alive, old one.”
“Good. Watch out for Carver, she lost a brother to the Indigos and she’s out for revenge. We can work with that, but it means she may be a tad aggressive in training and may become a loose cannon if any leaguers show up.”
“Thanks for the info. I’ll be careful.”
“Can I get a ride back to my ship?”
A few minutes later, the lighter lifted off and turned northwest. It rose to a hundred meters and accelerated to two hundred kph. Once Marco Island had faded into the darkness, Kerrik pressed his thumb against part of the wall. An opening slid silently open to reveal another set of controls. He touched a cyan button and turned back to the controls as the wall opening cycled closed.
A gentle voice spoke. “Voice controls online.”
“Keep current heading and increase to maximum speed. Deploy the canopy.”
A metallic shell spun up out of the side of the lighter’s hull and slid over the open cargo space. “Canopy deployed.” The lighter surged forward to three hundred kph and steadied out.
“Arm security element and tie it into Virtue.”
Six metallic spheres, each a half meter in diameter, exited a hatch in the stern of the lighter and floated into position around vessel while the hull became alive with color. From above, a viewer would have been able to see that the hull looked just like the terrain passing below, while a viewer from below would have seen the sky and a faint outline. Even the spheres were affected.
“I am tied into security. Do you wish me to take over navigation as well?” Virtue’s voice came from the control panel instead of the speaker in Kerrik’s backpack.
“Go ahead.” Kerrik pulled a reader from his backpack. “Our ETA is around fifteen hours, so I’ve got time to take Candace’s fucking test and get that over with.”
“Won’t you need a starter pokegirl?”
He glared at the control panel for a brief moment and then grinned ruefully. “I’ve got more than enough people harassing me about the fact that I don’t have any pokegirls. I don’t really need you piling on, too.”
“Logic would dictate that a tamer should have pokegirls. I can start evaluating the ones in storage for a good match, if you’d like.”
“No, thanks. I’ll worry about it later.”
“Yes, commander.”
***
Name: Wolf, Jamie Harris
Age: 17
Residence: Kingdom of Haven
Status: Active
Rank: NA
Security Clearance: Theta
Licenses
Tamer Y
Master Tamer Y
Researcher N
Watcher N
Breeder Y
Active Harem
Species Name
Demoness Ginevra
Duelist Madison
Foxymaiden Paige
Alpha: Ginevra
Beta: None