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 22
(5/14/06 1330 Marco Island)
How can you eat that?
Misery grinned at the cabbit. “Just because you can’t eat cooked food doesn’t mean I’m not going to.” She hefted her burger and took a huge bite. “Mmmmm.” The mini-top swallowed and grinned. “It just leaves more for me and Wolf. Besides, you don’t hear me bitching about your meal, now do you? It and I are practically related.”
Whisper looked down at the rabbit she cuddled in her arms. I suppose you have a point. It’s just I know that if I try your food it’ll make me sick, but it tastes so good to you and Kerrik that I sometimes want to try. She lifted the rabbit’s ears and sank her fangs into the back of its skull, killing it instantly. I wonder if I’m missing anything. Her bronze dagger appeared and she quickly drained, skinned and dismembered her meal.
Misery paused to watch the cabbit begin neatly stripping meat from bone with her teeth. A slow smile appeared. “Oh, you may wonder no more, you are definitely missing something. You’re missing something from your meal, too.” She frowned when her glass of soda rose to hover over her head and eyed it warily. “Just kidding.”
I know that insults are an extensive part of your repertoire, but you might want to aim them at people who are not part of your new family. The glass settled back onto the table. Of course, if you like changing clothes on a regular basis, feel free to insult me again.
“I’m good.” The mini-top went back to her burger.
Do you also seek revenge over what happened to you? Caitlin did and that was for her sister’s death. What happened to you was much more profound.
Black eyes peered at her over the remains of the burger. Misery put it down and wiped her face. “I thought briefly about demanding something like that. If I kill you, then Kerrik will have more time for me. However, I get the impression that he wouldn’t allow that. Disobeying him to kill you, only to get evicted or killed myself, is pointless. I have a family now; even if you and Raven don’t want me here, Kerrik does, and he won’t let you kill me unless I really screw up.” Fangs flashed in a quick smile. “So, I’m good.”
That is an interesting and yet fairly accurate summation of the situation which currently exists. We have a meeting with Jamie and his harem three hours after lunch. Kerrik and Raven will be there, too. In the meantime, we’ll be training with the militia pokegirls.
“It’s interesting that he’s willing to trust me alone with the humans. Does he care so little for them?”
I think that, instead, he wants to believe in you so much, Misery. What I have seen in his mind is that he trusts until that trust is betrayed. He believes that you can function without destroying everyone around you.
Misery frowned. “You think he’s wrong.” Her eyes narrowed slightly.
I think that your past record shows what it shows and it reveals you as a problem around humans and other pokegirls.
“Bite me. Just for that, I’m going to make you eat those words.”
Will they be garnished with the bodies of those you’ll slaughter during your next rampage?
“There isn’t going to be a next rampage, bitch, unless I decide to rampage on you.” The mini-top jumped to her feet and stomped out of the room.
We will see.
***
(5/14/06 1330 Indigo League (Florida))
Dan groaned when he came out of the house to find Sue licking Trevor clean. “Man, if she blows you any more, you’re going to grow calluses on that thing.”
Trevor grinned as his catnip carefully tucked him back into his pants. “I can’t help it; she’s just so damn good at it.” Sue gave him a pleased look as she cleaned herself up.
“Trev, if you spent less time with her and more time walking, we’d be back in Tampa already.” Louis gave him a sour look as he joined the other two tamers. “You were supposed to be on guard.”
“Give it a rest, frenchie.” He pointed at the roof of the house where an arachnae perched, scanning the surroundings alertly. “Bev’s on duty. Did you find any good loot?”
“You’ll get your turn next time. What you find is yours, which is the rule. What I find is mine and none of your fucking business.”
“Fuck you too, Louis.”
“I think that’s Sue’s job. When’s the last time you banged Bev?”
“She’s my pokegirl, Louis, and you stay out of what I do with them.”
“If she goes feral, I’ll have Nancy turn your brains to mush.” Louis sneered. “Whatever brains Sue hasn’t sucked out the end of your cock, I mean.”
“Hey, both of you shut the hell up.” Dan glared at them in turn. “You two calm down or Tampa will have your heads, assuming we can make it back with you two sniping at each other. Louis, it’s not your job to threaten Trevor if Bev isn’t getting enough dick. That’s my job. Your job is to do what I tell you or get a down-check from the major when we get back to Tampa. God damn it, you are tamers who represent the league, not a couple of five year olds. Start acting like it or some feral is going to rip off your face.” His eyes met Louis’ until the younger man looked away; then he turned on Trevor. “Bev needs tamed and she needs it after we make camp today. Either you do it or I’ll claim her and I’ll do it. Today, Trevor. If you didn’t want her to tame, you shouldn’t have kept her.”
Trevor shrugged. “I don’t mind her, it’s just she likes to tie me up and pretend I’m food. It’s kind of creepy.”
“Then get a bird and beat it out of her when you can. You do not let her go feral, is that clear. If she does, I’ll let her eat you before I claim her.” He grinned nastily. “And Sue.”
Trevor went white. “Yessir.”
Dan shook his head as a growltit came out of the house with a comfortable chair and carefully placed it next to him. “Thanks, Paris.” He dropped into the chair and motioned for the others to sit on the ground. “Ok, barring anything unforeseen, we’ll be reaching Marco Island in two days. While I think they’re going to still be frightened from the contact team, it’s also possible that someone might want to fight us. If that happens, we do the standard drill and smash them flat.”
“Our orders are pretty clear; we’re supposed to take over the town, impose league law on them, and put them to work getting ready for the next phase of development. Same old, same old.” He eyed both of them for a few seconds. “That means when you have to stick it in someone, you’d better use your pokegirls. No romantic entanglements with the humans. No rape, either; and if someone is hooking, stay away from her. Or him. We’ve had ops come apart because someone was involved with one of the locals and got squeamish when they started breaking the rules. It’s also a good way to have information leaked.” He leaned forward slightly. “That is not going to happen here. Tampa is two hours flight by pokegirl, but two days by foot. I don’t want to be running from an angry mob for that long. If one of you makes that happen, rest assured I will be very unhappy and so will Tampa.”
Louis nodded. “I understand. Pokegirl pussy is better than human anyway. Did anyone ever hear from Andrew?”
“No, and that’s got me more than a little concerned. He was supposed to be whipping the town into shape already. We know he was headed that way but after that, he dropped off the map. Abby was very powerful and she could teleport, so he shouldn’t be out of communication unless they’re both badly hurt.”
“Maybe he’s trying to carve out his own little kingdom,” Trevor said slowly. It had happened more than once already. A new league tamer got a little power drunk on what his pokegirls could do and set himself up as the local potentate. He was likely to have little resistance until someone else with a pokegirl came along, and that was unlikely until the league sent someone to see what had happened to him.
“Andrew’s been with us from the beginning and if he was going to go AWOL he would have done it when everyone was dropping dead and nobody knew what was going on. No, something happened to him. If it was the villagers, then maybe someone might have managed to turn Abby.” Faces lengthened as they considered the ramifications of that particular event. “Still, that’s really unlikely. I was there when Andrew caught her and it took my harem plus another three pokegirls to subdue her enough for him to do what he had to do. She’d kill anyone trying that without pokegirls, and then flee to Tampa or go feral again.”
“Why didn’t you keep her?”
“She’s a one pokegirl harem and I wanted more than that. Dark ladys are as hard on the other members of a harem as a neo iczel is and, frankly, I didn’t need that. I like having Paris and Nicole around and I’m not getting rid of either one of them.” Dan patted the growltit on the arm and she smiled proudly. “Anyway, we need to be careful when we approach the island. I don’t want to get taken by surprise by another idiot with a deer rifle. We go in alert and we smash anyone who thinks they can stop us. Is that clear?” He smiled when Louis and Trevor nodded. “That’s it, show some team spirit. Remember, we get to take a cut of whatever the town has as taxes and pass most of it along to the league. Most of it.”
All three shared a grin before Dan continued. “Tomorrow, Louis will be taking Nancy and teleporting back to Tampa to see if there’s been any new information or if our orders have been changed. Then we’ll go to Marco Island and get started.”
***
(5/17/06 0600 Marco Island)
Kerrik looked at the assembled Marco Island tamers. “Ok, recon reports that the Indigo tamers should reach the sentry post sometime today. Right now, they’re about three hours from here and sleeping. As we discussed, Captain Hernandez will be coordinating the defense while Major Wolf and I will stand by as a ready reserve.”
Nobody looked particularly happy at his words, but the mayor’s orders to the militia’s commanding officer had been very specific. Kerrik and Jamie were on the outs ever since the meeting two weeks before, and they’d been carefully excluded from both the command structure and the planning for the defense.
It was obvious that the presence of the foreigners was winding down. Cesare and Emily had already returned to Haven amidst howls of anger from Dr. Sanchez at their leaving. People were unloading the container of food while others were working on modifying an abandoned gym into a taming facility for pokegirls.
A week ago, Mayor Jackman had begun making noises about commandeering the lighter for “the use of the people” and, before noon of the same day, Kerrik had loaded up the taming hostel and sent the transport back to Haven on autopilot. Jackman had been furious and the news of the split between the islanders and the Havens had been leaked to the populace that evening. Jamie wasn’t sure what that had been supposed to accomplish; for the vast majority of the locals, it had merely confirmed what rumor had been hinting at.
What it meant for the militia was that, suddenly, the entire job of planning the defense fell on Hernandez. He’d been doing that all along, but now he couldn’t use Kerrik or Jamie as part of his planning staff. He also couldn’t use the resources they represented in planning the defense of the island.
Not openly, at any rate. This explained the designation of the two Haven officers as the ready reserve, a position that Weinstein and Wilkes had been filling up to this point. While it did free up over half his fighting strength, it also still allowed him to make use of the two Havens if the wheels came off.
Hernandez took over. “Mayor Jackman has vetoed the idea of a preemptive strike against the leaguers, so we’re going to defensive plan alpha. The sentry posts will be used in their planned role as a tripwire while we stand at a central point in case they approach the island from another direction. The fact that they didn’t the first time means nothing, since I’ve reviewed the pokegirls our intelligence reported they’re using and they have a flying type and at least one psychic type with teleportation.”
He shook his head slowly as the human woman in the briefing cocked her head curiously. “Sorry, Carver, but this is a different group. None of the reported pokegirls matches what we now know was the salamandra that killed your brother.”
Teresa Carver’s eyes filled with disappointment as she nodded, while Rosemary, her ladyba, hugged her from behind.
“There are three of them and four of us, but the pokegirl count only gives us an edge of one, so we’ll be working in teams of two and massing each team’s pokegirls against one of theirs until she drops. If a league tamer gets in the picture, the mayor has given me orders to order you not to kill him, so don’t deliberately target tamers.” Hernandez scowled. “Now, if your or your pokegirl’s life is in danger, you do what you have to. I haven’t had Raquel for long, but my daughter is not going to lose her new mother, and I don’t expect any of you to give up a pokegirl either just to satisfy his honor. If we have to, we’ll blame it on collateral damage.”
Raquel’s face was a curious blend of pride and worry over her tamer’s chances of getting into trouble with his words.
Wilkes looked around warily. “Wasn’t there supposed to be one of the mayor’s men here with us?”
Kerrik flashed a smile. “He couldn’t make it after he came down with a pretty nasty stomach virus. It’s a shame Emily is gone; she could have fixed it up in a trice.”
“Yes, a real shame. I really wanted his input.” Hernandez rolled his eyes and glanced at the colonel before continuing. “The teams are Weinstein and me while Carver is with Wilkes.” That put the strongest tamer, Joshua, with the captain, who’d had his pokegirl the least amount of time. Carver was stronger than Wilkes, and her presence on the other team gave each one an officer to command it. “Kerrik and Jamie will be free to get involved if and only if one of us is in trouble or someone makes it through the perimeter we’ve established.”
Jamie nodded. “We understand what ready reserve means, captain. We expect that there will be a breakthrough instead of someone being in trouble. All of you have come along quite well, especially considering the short amount of time we’ve had to work with you. You all have the right to be proud of what you’ve done.”
“That’s a fine speech, major; now we just have to prove you right.”
***
(5/17/06 1330 Marco Island)
The radio clicked. “I see them.” It was Private Patterson, a cute blonde that seemed interested in Joshua now that he had pokegirls. She was the sentry on the road today. “There are three men and some pokegirls.”
Raquel activated her mic. “Patterson, be more specific. Counts and possible IDs.”
“Yes, ma’am.” There was a pause. “Three tamers and six pokegirls. I’m not sure on the types, ma’am.”
“That’s fine, Ellie. Confront them like normal, but be ready to evacuate if they become threatening or on my order.” Hernandez managed to sound like it was just another training exercise. Only his eyes betrayed his anxiety.
“Yessir.” Patterson sounded calmer. “Sentry post out.”
Hernandez nodded to Joshua as he changed frequencies and hit the mic again. “Showtime. I say again, showtime.”
At the converted gym, Jamie looked at Carver. “I know we didn’t discuss this since Kerrik and I thought the mayor would shut it down, but we’ve thoroughly scouted the area around the sentry post. Care for a teleport deployment? It would cut down on your transit time by several minutes.”
The lieutenant glanced at Wilkes and nodded. “That sounds great. You will be staying out of the fighting, right?”
“We’re the ready reserve. We’ll drop you out of sight so they don’t know you have access to teleportation, and stand by there.”
She glanced to his right, where Kerrik and his harem were seated at a table. He was watching a holographic display that was tuned so that only he and his harem could see it. “What about him?”
Kerrik glanced up. “I’ll be right here, Teresa. Jamie will be the initial contact if anyone gets past your teams, while I’ll be watching the whole island in case we missed something. Anything getting past him will face Raven, Whisper and Misery. We’ll do our best to keep the civvies safe.” Next to him, Whisper gave a cat’s lazy yawn, all white teeth and redness.
She nodded. “I’m sorry about what the mayor did.”
“Don’t worry about it. After this, the mayor won’t have to worry about us and he’ll settle down. Unless there’s some overriding reason, I won’t be back here for decades and it’s likely to be the same way for Jamie. His Honor is likely to have moved on by that point. We’ll set up someone else as your regular merchant.” His smile faded. “The only reason I can think to return would be if something were to happen to that merchant. In that case, it’s unlikely our visit would be friendly and I’d look forward to the coming chat with His Idiocy.”
She kept her voice low and neutral. “And if someone wanted picked up so they could emigrate?”
The smile returned. “You’re right, that would be another good reason to come by for a brief visit.”
Carver watched him for several seconds before nodding. “Good. I’ll tell the sergeant that we’ll be teleporting.” She turned and headed to Wilkes.
“Jamie, be careful. After Andrew and Abby, we know that they don’t care who they hurt; I don’t want to have to put you back together again before we can get back home and you can become kami.”
Ginevra stirred slightly. “We will protect him.”
“And who will protect you, Ginevra? You are a part of this family, too, and I don’t want to see anyone else from our family getting killed.”
Jamie gestured at the battledress he wore. “I’m wearing the best armor we’ve got and, trust me, I’ll stay out of the fighting as much as possible.” He picked up his rifle and slid the sling onto his shoulder. He glanced at Madison and Caitlin, who wore uniforms almost identical to his. “We’re not as colorful as your girls are.” Ginevra wore her normal equipment belt.
Kerrik shrugged. “They don’t want to wear body armor, at least not yet.” He, too, was wearing battledress, but none of his harem did. Raven was wearing a minidress the same color of amethyst as her hair and eyes. Whisper was wearing a leather corset and fitted leather miniskirt, both of which had been dyed blood red. Her knee length boots matched the ensemble and, just like the bodice and skirt, laced up the back. Misery was wearing a thigh length blue, black and gold qipao, or cheongsam, as it was known in the West.
“We’ll be available if you need us.’
“That’s good to know, Jamie, and we’ll be ready should you need us.”
***
(5/17/06 1345 Marco Island)
Ellen Paterson carefully put the rifle where it couldn’t be seen from outside the sentry post. Then she made sure that the exit tunnel was unlocked and open before locking down the transmit button on her radio.
She didn’t want to die any more than the next person and decided that cute and dumb was the order of the day. When the group was close enough, she slid open the cover and leaned on the edge. “Hi,” she said brightly. “You’re from the league, right? It’s good to see you. We were wondering when you’d show up.”
The leader, a slender man with an unruly shock of sandy blonde hair, looked surprised. “You are?”
“That’s right. You can keep the ferals away, right?” When he nodded slowly, she beamed at him. “Then we can certainly use your presence here. We’ve seen several ferals around the area.”
One of the pokegirls standing nearby, an orange one with antennae on her head, suddenly frowned. “It’s a trap.”
Jamie’s head came up as his twee overheard the pokegirls words over the radio and passed them along. “The ka-d-bra figured it out. Time to go.” Inform Captain Hernandez that we are deploying. He took Caitlin’s arm while Ginevra and Madison took Carver and Wilkes. The group came out in a grove of bushes next to the marsh and less than twenty meters from the sentry post. A thin scream filled the air. “Gin, Maddy, go get Hernandez and Weinstein. Come out on the other side of the road.” He slid his rifle off his shoulder as Carver and Wilkes released their pokegirls and charged through the bushes onto the road. “Caitlin, let’s move along the road in case someone decides to flatten these bushes.”
The demon-goddess grabbed him and teleported again, coming out in a stand of trees several meters down the road and closer to the town.
Jamie watched through the scope of his rifle as Carver and Wilkes burst onto the scene. He activated his radio. “Carver, the first target should be the orange pokegirl, the ka-d-bra. She’s psychic and dangerous.”
***
(5/17/06 1350 Marco Island)
“Wilkes, the orange one is the first target!” The ka-d-bra had used telekinesis to jerk Patterson from the sentry post and was dangling her in the air while the arachnae had used stringshot to attach a line to the human’s right leg and was jerking on it, trying to pull the limb from the joint. “Annette, firestorm! Rosemary, shuriken!”
“Chosovi, feather shuriken! Beth, chi blast.”
Energy swirled around Annette and grew into a half dozen glowing balls that hovered around her while Rosemary buzzed into the air. The ladyba’s wings glowed the same color as her wing cases and then she dropped, as she bent forward and shot the modified feather shuriken at the startled ka-d-bra. Beside her Chosovi did the same thing while the amazonchan fired a chi blast.
The three attacks smashed into the psychic type and she was unconscious before her feet left the ground. Patterson fell heavily to the earth and immediately limped as fast as she could for cover.
Louis screamed in fury. “Fancy, avenge Nancy!” A tall armored pokegirl turned and spat a bolt of water that knocked Rosemary spinning. The blastits tracked the ladyba and hammered her again, knocking her into some trees.
Chosovi launched a spray of chi energy at the blastits, but the water type twisted around and took the feather shuriken attack on her shell with no apparent damage.
Dan raced forward. “Paris, Nicole with me. We’ll get to the town and put a stop to this shit! Trevor, assist Louis!”
At the same time, Louis was yelling at his remaining pokegirl. “Get the fighter!” The blastits obediently changed targets.
The globes around Annette flared brightly as she finished charging the fire blast and launched at the group of attackers. The arachnae took a direct hit from one and was engulfed in a cloud of flame as it detonated. She screamed and ran forward on six legs to escape. The blastits hit the one aimed at her with a watergun pulse and it went out in midair, while the catnip dodged hers. It set the woods behind her on fire when it hit. The other balls detonated around the attackers and left smoking craters in their wake.
“Bev, get the ladyba! Sue, help Fancy with the fighter!” Trevor was white with fury and fear from a near miss by a fireball.
The catnip’s razor leaf was in motion before Trevor finished speaking and Beth was forced to come to a halt and use gatling punch to deflect the multiple flying razors. Fancy’s water gun centerpunched her and knocked her sprawling. The amazonchan roared with anger as she rolled to her feet. It broke off when she was forced back to using gatling punch to defend herself as Sue continued to attack.
Bev’s stringshot hit Rosemary in the leg and stuck. The arachnae grinned toothily and began reeling in the suddenly frantic ladyba.
Carver made a decision. For the moment, Beth was the one in the most danger. Rosemary would have to wait. “Annette, flamethrower the catnip!”
Wilkes couldn’t remember what the blastits was called. “Chosovi, Beth, focus on the water type!” The amazonchan could only continue to protect herself, but the rack ripped forward as her wings began glowing again with feather shuriken.
Sue screamed when the flames washed over her, but merely stepped three blurred paces to the right and unleashed another attack on Beth. This time it was a single seed that shot like a bullet at the amazonchan while the catnip wrapped herself with leaves that grew to form a shield around her body. Beth automatically blocked the attack and yelped when it burrowed into her fist.
Sue immediately began looking better as the leech seed fed her the amazonchan’s life energy.
Bev pulled Rosemary down to her and jumped on her, grinding her into the dust and twisting the ladyba’s wings into uselessness. Then she opened her mouth and fangs gleamed as she leaned down to poison her opponent. The ladyba panicked and buried the muzzle of her pistol in underside of Bev’s jaw. The arachnae’s eyes grew big but she still pressed forward to finish off Rosemary.
When Rosemary pulled the trigger, the gun exploded like a bomb, shredding the ladyba’s hand and blinding her while sending shrapnel into the arachnae’s throat and chest. Bev threw the ladyba from her and went into convulsions as she fought to breathe.
Carver retrieved the crippled ladyba. “Rosemary is down! Annette, continue as ordered!” Glowing spheres appeared around the foxymaiden again as she activated fire blast once more.
Chosovi slammed her wings forward and the gust attack picked the blastits from her feet and spun her around. Beth took the opening to charge forward at top speed, and smashed into Fancy with mega-punch. The blastits cried out in pain as she skidded across the battlefield. Beth tried to follow up but wobbled as more of her energy went to heal the catnip.
Louis danced backwards to avoid her body. “Get up and get the fire one!”
Annette launched every sphere at Sue. They hit around the catnip and the blasts tossed her around like a rag doll. Her leaf shield burst into flames for a heartbeat and was gone. Beth gave a loud sigh of relief as the leech seed died.
Trevor returned his arachnae to her pokeball and ran, only to screech to a halt when Weinstein and Hernandez came out of the brush on the other side of the road. “Yonit, Jolene, grab the tamer for that blastits and get them to surrender.”
Hernandez leveled his assault rifle at Trevor as the corporal’s pokegirls loped off. “Raquel, tell Jamie he’s up. You, drop the pokeball and any other weapons.” He pulled a pokeball from his belt and, without taking his eyes from Trevor, returned Sue to it. Trevor’s eyes got big and he shucked all his gear. “What kind of pokeball is that?”
Hernandez wasn’t going to explain that it was the one that had held Sue when Jamie had captured them. “It’s special.”
Yonit grabbed Louis and spun him in a circle before slamming him to the ground. She took his head in her hands and twisted until he screamed. The blastits whirled around at the sound. The tigress grinned. “Stand down or I’ll pull his head clean off.”
Fancy’s shoulders slumped and the battle was over.
***
(5/17/06 1410 Marco Island)
Dan came around a bend and slowed when he saw the redhead waiting for him a dozen meters ahead. His face hardened when he recognized the fatigues she was wearing and noted her pistol. She raised her voice. “I’d just surrender if I were you, and save yourself a lot of trouble. You’re not going to win this.”
“Paris, barbeque her.”
The growltit stepped forward and Madison activated her first card. A woman wearing wisps of blue fabric appeared and, as Paris breathed flames at them, she raised her hands and replied with a blast of water mixed with ice that not only put out the flamethrower attack, but also continued on to blast the growltit off her feet.
“You’re a fucking pokegirl! Nicole!”
The thundrix hit the water girl with thunderbolt and Dan’s jaw dropped when the construct wavered around the edges and vanished.
Madison activated another card as Paris rolled to her feet and all three of her opponents stared as the sapphire dragon appeared and roared before lunging at them, mouth gaping.
Nicole glowed and hit the construct with thunder while Paris used flamethrower on it. A green tube shaped in a U appeared in midair and the thunder attack was sucked in one end and shot out the other to blast Paris while the flamethrower washed over the dragon and it vanished.
The tableau froze for a heartbeat as Dan stared at Paris. The growltit smoldered as she lay motionless.
Madison activated a third card and her dark magician appeared. Its forehead glowed and a horn sprouted from the center of it. “I really recommend you surrender,” she called as it lifted off to hover in front of her. A yellow shield appeared behind it, floating in the air in front of the duelist. She held up another card. “This is your last warning. My tamer will be here in a moment and he’s likely to be quite firm with you.”
In the trees behind her, Caitlin’s eyes bugged and she glanced at Jamie and Ginevra. “I will master that technique.”
“I will first. He will not surrender. He is too stupid.”
Jamie shrugged. “Hush and watch. If he doesn’t surrender, you two help her end this.”
Ginevra’s head cocked and she began chuckling softly. “Yes, sir.”
Dan’s eyes narrowed and he spoke very quietly. “Nicole, ignore the whatever-it-is and hit the pokegirl with thunder.” His voice rose. “Now!”
Plasma flared as Nicole used thunder again. The shield jumped sideways to intercept the attack and vanished once it dissipated. The dark magician leveled his staff and a beam of purple-black energy blew the thundrix past Dan in a spray of yellow feathers. Her scream broke off in mid note as Ginevra teleported in behind Dan and hammered her with a stone punch that shattered the bones in her chest. Nicole bounced back in front of Dan, a bloody froth leaking from her mouth and nose. Caitlin appeared next to Dan and broke his shoulder with one swipe of her staff.
“See if he’s got pokeballs and capture them if he doesn’t.” Jamie broke cover and pulled Madison in for a hug and a kiss. “Good job.”
She pressed against him and then pushed away. “Yessir. I’m your guard now, until Caitlin is free to resume her post.” She dropped an eyelid in a wink. “Then you can thank me as I deserve.”
“Hey, we helped too!” Caitlin glared at them before turning to Ginevra. “Does he have any pokeballs? You can see faster than I can search and we shouldn’t let them die for no reason.”
The demoness gave her a surprised glance and nodded. “No, he does not and it is good that you remembered that fact.”
“I do have total recall. Sometimes it’s actually useful.” Caitlin tossed two pokeballs with one throw and hit both fallen pokegirls with them. “Yes! I still have the touch.” She looked at the moaning Dan. “Do we heal him?”
“Jamie did not say to, so I say no. When did you get this touch?”
The demon-goddess grinned. “I can live with not healing him. He abandoned his friends.” She smirked. “During the war, pokeballs were used for two reasons. They were used for deploying large groups of pokegirls quickly, but a large portion of the forces we commanded were normal troops and didn’t get that treatment since supplies of pokeballs were limited. They were pokeballed when they were injured and needed to be quickly medivaced for treatment. Flying pokegirls were used to find and pokeball them. As in most things involving more than one pokegirl, it became a competition to find the most wounded and being able to capture more than one at a time helped me to frequently come out on top in these contests.”
“Is there anything that you did not compete over?”
“You know better than to ask that question. The milktits even competed over who could produce the most food or healing draughts for us, or maybe it was to see how many of us they could make lactate.” She shrugged. “We are a competitive species and that’s why we fight. We wanted to beat the humans, which of course was the ultimate competition since our master pitted us against humanity. I was having fun and it’s a pity they stabbed themselves in the back. I’m not sure how what they did to themselves made us lose, but it did. And, of course, losing Sukebe didn’t help.”
“There are indications that he may not be dead and that he planned most of what happened.”
Caitlin blinked. “Then he abandoned us.” Her eyes hardened. “I’d better not find him or he’ll have a lot to answer for. I lost friends and lovers after his leadership stopped.”
Jamie came up and looked at the two of them. “How about you restrain and give basic medical care to our prisoner instead of chatting like bunnygirls?” He dangled a Desert Eagle from a finger. Even though of smaller caliber, the pistol was much larger than the 10mms that they used. “The idiot did have a gun and could have shot someone squishy, like me.”
Caitlin blinked and flushed. “Sorry, sir.”
He turned to Ginevra as the demon-goddess moved to secure Dan. “I really expected my maharani to pay attention to that sort of thing.”
The demoness let out a long breath and nodded. “You are correct. I was remiss in my duties. It will not happen again.”
“I hope not. I do prefer you as my maharani, but I might point out that Madison recognized the problem and pointed it out to me.”
Ginevra started to snarl and stopped. Her voice was carefully neutral. “Will she become maharani?”
“No, but be more careful in the future. If someone gets hurt because you’re not paying attention, I’ll have to evaluate your leadership potential.”
Her head came up and he knew she was looking into his eyes as best she could. “I will, Jamie.” A smile flickered. “Thank you.”
She stiffened and then relaxed against him when he hugged her.
***
(5/19/06 1030 Marco Island)
Captain Hernandez’s smile was filled with satisfaction. “Everyone on our side has healed up nicely, including Rosemary. I’m just glad the PPHU was able to grow back her hand. On the league side, we didn’t have to kill anyone, either, and that will help in the long run.”
Jamie nodded. “What are you going to do with them?”
Suddenly Hernandez didn’t look quite so happy. “His Honor has already released Louis and his harem to convey a message to the league authorities in Tampa to initiate negotiations.” He sighed. “I’d liked to have kept that ka-d-bra since a teleporter gives a lot of tactical maneuverability.”
“I’m sure you’ll get some eventually.” Jamie glanced at Madison. “Magic types can learn it, too, and Annette is one of those.”
Hernandez dropped his voice. “That would be fine if she were staying, but I don’t think she will. If I were you, I’d be looking for her to show up in Haven sometime in the near future.”
Jamie exchanged another glance with Madison. They both knew that Teresa had already made up her mind to leave just as soon as she thought the island could get by without her and that was why she was out hunting ferals.
Ricardo smirked. “It’s a good thing His Honor has no doubts about her loyalty to the league. If he did, things might get dicey since she’d probably have to leave before we could get along without her.” He chuckled at Jamie’s surprise. “Yes, I know what she’s planning. She has been my friend for a long time and I only want her to have what she needs. Teresa’s more likely to find that in your kingdom than here.”
“Revenge?”
“I think it’s more along the lines of justice and maybe some peace. Her brother lived with her and helped to take care of her daughter. I know that house has lots of memories she could do without.” He rubbed his eyes and leaned back into the shade. “I’m just glad Wilkes will be staying. Weinstein, too.”
“What about you?”
“This is my home, Jamie. My daughter has friends here and we’re not going anywhere unless things get a lot worse. I don’t suppose you’d like to emigrate?”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. They’ve already come very close to killing me. My father is unlikely to do that.”
“He sent you here.”
Jamie shook his head. “No, I sent myself here and Kerrik came along to help. Father would much rather I be home right now and helping out. We’ll probably have a spot of trouble with the tropic league, before it’s all said and done, and father could use my help.”
“I wish I had more men with your loyalty.”
“Get Raquel pregnant when she becomes a pokewoman and you should.”
Hernandez blinked. “So it’s true that they can have human children. That’s hard to believe.”
“Ricardo, my mother is a pokegirl.”
“No offense intended.”
“None taken, my friend.” Jamie rubbed his temples. “When do you want us gone?”
“Never.” They shared a laugh. “However, I think the mayor mentioned he’d like to see your backs in less than three days.”
“I’ll let Kerrik know. Is there anything else?”
Hernandez shook his head. “No, nothing other than wishes.”
“You’ll have to find someone else for those.” Jamie looked around slowly. “The funny thing is that I’m going to miss this place. I’ve spent a lot of time here and a lot has happened.” He turned back to Hernandez. “You’re off to a good start here. Take the ferals you’ll be catching and use them to train more tamers. You might want to consider Joshua’s girlfriend as one of the potentials.”
“Patterson? Why her?”
Jamie grinned. “Let’s just say Joshua mentioned something in passing that makes me think she’s getting along very well with his harem. Tamer well, in fact. I doubt he recognized what he let slip and I don’t want to embarrass anybody, so just see if she’s interested.” He shrugged. “The responsibility of caring for pokegirls of her own might scare her too much to become a tamer.”
“Jamie, you do realize that the kind of tamers you’ve trained us to be is at odds with the way the league sees pokegirls.”
“Yes, but you’ve seen the results our methods gave you when pitted against them. Which do you think is the better system?”
Hernandez nodded. “I know. I didn’t say that I wouldn’t train new tamers that way, I was just noting what you did.”
“I teach what I know and to me, pokegirls are just as much people as you are. Once upon a time, women weren’t people, at least in the eyes of the authorities. Later, it was people of different colors or religions who weren’t considered truly human. In the end, it was realized that they were people, too. On Haven, we’ve already had that epiphany in regards to pokegirls.” He gave Hernandez a bland look. “Would you really like to explain to Monique that Raquel isn’t a real person, or to the children that you two may eventually have? The leagues are teaching their children that they come from non-humans. It’ll get even worse when the girls start thresholding, although that shouldn’t start for seventy years or so.”
Hernandez gave him a troubled look. “No, no, I wouldn’t. Raquel is wonderful with her and Monique is so happy to finally have a mother. The fact that her mother flies only makes Monique jealous and her four hands doesn’t mean a thing to her, except when Raquel holds her and tickles her.”
Jamie looked at him intently. “What about you? Is Raquel human or a creature to be treated however you want?”
“I get your point Jamie. However, I can’t make everyone feel that way about them, can I?”
“You can lobby for their humanity, or if you’re worried for the safety of your family, you can just live as an example to others.” He smiled. “I can’t make everyone feel that way about pokegirls either, but I will help those I can convince I’m right.”
“What about the ones you can’t bring around to your beliefs?”
Jamie sighed. “While I’d like to beat them into a pulp, the truth is that pokegirls need tamers more than I want them to be nice tamers. Later, when there are more people, hopefully producing more humane tamers can become a more of a priority. Besides, not all pokegirls will want what I consider a nice tamer. Some need to be dominated and controlled or they’re not happy, and I can respect that. Others are just destructive no matter what and they need put down, both to save lives and to help the reputation of pokegirls as a species.”
“You don’t put down a human.”
The young man gave him a sour look. “Then let me state this properly. They need executed, and to answer your next question, yes, I’m willing to be their executioner.” Beside him, Madison nodded vigorously.
“At least you’re consistent.”
Madison glared at the captain. “You need to face a rampaging panthress or widow before you start judging people. A widow would level this place and eat everyone here just so she could lay hundreds of eggs and die. A mantis would kill anyone threatening and torture everyone else to death out of a sadistic sense of pleasure.”
Hernandez paled. “Mantis are pokegirls? Those monsters? My unit was attacked by a group of them during the war and, out of twenty men, there were only three survivors.” He shivered at something only he could see. “Those, I’ll agree need killed on sight.”
The duelist snorted. “You were attacked by one of them. Two or more would have made sure that nobody escaped. They’re very fast and seldom leave witnesses.”
Jamie touched her arm and she settled down. “Sorry about that, but for reasons of her own, Madison believes in pokegirl rights as much as I do. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that she is a pokegirl.”
“With all due respect, it’s because I wasn’t always one.” The duelist gave Hernandez a sad smile. “Jamie mentioned threshold, but I doubt you know what it is. Because there are so few fertile human women, men will start having children with the members of their harems. Three kinds of children will be born, pokegirl kits, human boys and human girls. As pokegirl blood enters the population, over time, humans will begin to express some pokegirl traits. In men, they’re called blood traits and if they’re useful they’re blood gifts. If they’re not, then they are blood curses. For girls, it’s different. Some might express blood traits, but eventually, and from what we know about our world’s history, it’ll happen in seventy-three years, a special girl will be born. When she hits puberty, the changes in her body will cause her to spontaneously become a pokegirl.”
Hernandez’s eyes went wide.
“The first one died during attempts to return her to human, but the process started popping up around the world and the decision was made by the leagues that once a young woman becomes a pokegirl, she is governed by pokegirl law. That means she has to have a tamer and since, she’s no longer human and has no rights and no protection by legal or moral law, often her first tamer is a member of her immediate family.”
Madison folded her arms as Ricardo’s jaw dropped. “One day she’s a girl and loved by her family, and the next she’s confused and scared by what’s happened; her family deals with it by letting a brother, sister, uncle or even her mother or father rape her. Even if they don’t, she has to have a tamer and so they usually get rid of her, usually by selling her off. They no longer think of her as human and what they’re doing as rape or incest. Even if she’s a pokegirl, she still thinks of herself as human, and it is still wrong.” She took a deep ragged breath and her voice became strangely wooden, almost distant.
“In my case, it was my older brother. After I was ‘settled’, I was sold to Marvin Gerrold, who ‘captured’ me. If I had been human, I would have been able to say that I was first raped and then discarded. However, I was a pokegirl at the time; so I was tamed to keep me from going feral while my family was looking to find me a good tamer.” She leaned against Jamie when he put his arm around her and shivered. “I know I have to be tamed. I’ve been feral and I don’t want to ever be that way again. But I’m a person and I want other pokegirls to be people too, and you don’t treat people that way.”
“They are, Madison, they are.” Hernandez shook his head. “I won’t let anyone put someone through what you’ve been through. How could humanity have fallen so far, so fast?”
“The leagues control the schools and they’re the ones who teach the future tamers. I’d suggest home schooling.” Jamie gave him a wry smile. “Don’t get killed trying to convert the masses, just do what you can. If a lot of people do that, much can be accomplished.”
“He’s right.” Madison wiped her eyes. “Don’t do anything that will let them take Raquel from you and Monica. It would hurt all three of you and I don’t want that.” She took Jamie’s hand. “I now know what it’s like to have a good tamer. I thought Marvin was one, but now I know he was only a decent one. Be a good tamer for Raquel and she’ll be happier than you can understand.”
“I will.” Hernandez looked relieved when Jamie’s watch chirped. “You need to be somewhere else, don’t let me keep you.” He hurried off.
“Was I that pathetic?” The duelist’s hand tightened on his fingers.
“No, you raised several uncomfortable points for a devout Catholic. He’s got a lot to think about, but I think he’s on the right track. The way he treats Raquel shows that.” He tugged on her hand. “Now we’re supposed to go help with some construction, and Raven is supposed to help us. She’s not likely to be very patient if we’re late.”
***
(5/21/06 1430 Haven)
Ginevra appeared and released Raven. Then they both vanished. A few minutes later Ginevra appeared and let Jamie go. Soon after that, Raven appeared with Kerrik.
Jamie looked around. They were standing on a hill overlooking the new town. “Do you think it has a name yet?”
“I don’t know.” Kerrik released Whisper and Misery. “I’m sure it’s something cheery or full of hope for the future.”
“What would you name it?”
The kami smiled softly. “I’ve always wanted to name a town something silly, like Jittery or Bug Juice. I’ve seen too many places named after the founders or something like that. However, Shikarouville or Faelanberg would sound pretty silly.” He chuckled. “Poppeton would be nice. I think I’ll try to make sure they name a place Poppeton.”
“You’re odd. If you want silly, why not call it Townsville?”
“It’s been done already.” He blinked. “Please, not Wolf City or Wolf Town. I’ve seen so many of those.”
It is named Covenant as a promise to pokegirls all over the world of what they can find here.
Jamie blinked as his twee contributed to the discussion. “Well, apparently they went the hope route.” When Kerrik gave him a curious look, he smiled. “Covenant.”
“That’s better than Peacetown.”
“Why are the roofs green?” Raven was looking through some binoculars.
“They’re a genetically engineered type of plant that happen to be waterproof and self repairing.”
Raven whipped around as a violet haired pokegirl dropped from the sky. “Jamie! You’re back!” Gwen hugged him hard enough to make him gasp. She gestured at Kerrik. “I see you couldn’t lose him, either. Ah, well, better luck next time.”
She froze when the tip of an energy blade appeared in front of her nose. Caitlin smiled humorlessly at her. “Neo, why don’t you let my tamer go?”
Gwen slowly released Jamie as she paled with anger. “I see Jamie forgot to put out the trash before he came home.”
“That’s enough, Caitlin!” Jamie didn’t turn away from Gwen, trusting his demon-goddess not to stab anyone without permission. “You, as well. Mary is your tamer, not me. I am glad to see you, but Mary is going to be upset if you revert back to primitive neo.” He matched her glare as she shifted it to him. “And so will Father, Dame Gwen, when you besmirch his honor.” He sent a message via his twee. “Gin, no!”
Gwen whipped around to see Ginevra and Madison watching her. The demoness smiled. “While I share much of your opinion of the goddess who is not, she is in my harem and Jamie shows some affection for her. I would like you to respect that, Dame Gwen.”
Gwen looked around and turned to Kerrik. “What about you?”
“I don’t have any demon-goddesses in my harem. This is Raven, Whisper and Misery.” He smiled. “Caitlin is part of Jamie’s life and she’s still learning about him. Apparently, you came as surprise. How’s Nina?”
Gwen’s face lit up. “She said her first word. Of course, it was mama, as was only proper.”
“To you or to Mary?”
“Fortunately she said it to Mary. I think Mary would have burst an artery if she’d said it to anyone else.”
Kerrik looked at the uncomprehending looks on the faces of Raven, Whisper, Misery and Caitlin. “Dame Mary is Dame Gwen’s tamer and Nina is her daughter. Apparently we missed her first word.”
Caitlin blinked. “There are children here?”
“Not many, at least not right now, but yes. There are two, Nina, and Jamie’s sister Melanie, who is a vampire kami.”
The four native pokegirls exchanged a look and Caitlin nodded before turning to Gwen. “I was out of line and I apologize.”
Gwen’s mouth dropped but she recovered quickly. “I accept your apology and offer one of my own for the insult. Jamie wouldn’t have trashy pokegirls in his harem.”
Madison frowned. “What is going on here?”
“We want to see the children,” Raven said simply. “There are so few of them.” She turned to Kerrik. “Can I have a child someday?”
“I don’t see why not. You do understand that she may share your problem, so I’d like to do some research first to try and avoid that. It may take several years.”
“I am willing to wait. I don’t want my daughters to be like me.”
A unicorn appearing next to Jamie interrupted the conversation. “It’s good to see you home. You said there was a problem.” She looked around and suddenly went very still. “Jamie, what are three of the faces of death doing here?” Her voice was higher than normal, but still sounded calm.
“I would prefer that you not refer to us as such. I am Raven and I am maharani to Kerrik. This is Whisper and she is Misery. We are his harem.” Raven stepped forward and sniffed Poppet. “I do not know you, and Kerrik has explained that most of the people here are not from this world. How do you know us?”
She knows of the ones who are us who lived on her world. She engineered the death of that Misery and Whisper. Whisper looked at her curiously.
“That must have taken some doing, or else the me was sloppy as hell.” Misery grinned. “You aren’t going to try that with us, are you?”
“Poppet is my daughter in law and nobody is going to hurt her, is that clear?” Kerrik’s voice crackled with anger.
You have never spoken to us in that manner.
“You have never threatened anyone in my presence that hasn’t done anything to anyone before. If Poppet had your analogs killed, then they deserved it. She is not someone to expend that kind of effort for no reason.”
Raven nodded without taking her eyes from Poppet. “Why did you have them killed?”
“They were threatening my operation and my chance at a happy life with my husband. I would have depopulated the world to protect him.”
That is an excellent reason. Why did they threaten you? Were they sent for you?
“No, they just decided it would be fun to terrorize the area where we were living. I think they went mad after being alone for several decades.”
Kerrik’s pokegirls looked at each other. “It is as we feared, then. Madness lies in our future.”
“Ladies, you have me now and I’m not going to let you go insane. It’s different this time. You’re not alone and we have each other.”
Misery reached out and took his hand. The tension seemed to flow out of her and she relaxed. “He’s right.”
“They’re staying here?” Poppet gave Kerrik a worried look. “Is that safe, considering what they are?”
She blinked when Kerrik’s ears went flat and he gave her an icy look. “These women are my harem and part of my life. If they are not welcome here, then I am not either.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, Kerrik,” Poppet began, only to be cut off brusquely.
“I know when you lie, Poppet and you weren’t. You really think they’re going to be like the ones you had to kill. Well, they’re not. However, if we worry you so much, then we’ll be on our way.” He held out his hand to Raven. “You wanted a house on that mountain, didn’t you?”
She chuckled. “Can you do that green roof?” When he nodded, she grinned. “Misery, since you can track him, you bring Whisper and follow us.” In seconds they were gone.
Jamie wondered if he looked as shocked as Madison. “Mother, you just made a mistake. I’ve known them for weeks and they haven’t been a problem.”
“I don’t want to take that chance, Jamie. Those pokegirls kill on a whim. It’s better that they’re gone. I’ll give Kerrik a little time to get over being offended and we’ll work out the ground rules for his future visits.”
Ginevra laughed. “Apparently you don’t know him as well as we do. He will not be back until he’s ready.” She turned to Jamie. “We will have to go to him for the ceremony.”
“You’re right. I was hoping to do that here, but that’s not an option anymore. I’ll contact Virtue or Vice and see what we can set up.”
Caitlin shook her head. “You will need to ask Bastion to relay the message. So far, this Cassiopeia is the only being that they listen to consistently.”
Poppet took his arm. “What ceremony, Jamie?”
“I’m going to become kami, mother.”
She blinked. “When?”
“Soon.” He shook his head. “I almost died on Marco Island and I don’t want to do that again.”
“Why can’t your father do it?”
“Kerrik can make sure I don’t grow claws or anything else strange.”
“Claws and some fangs would make you more attractive.”
“Thanks, Gin, but I’m not interested. When you become kami, you can get bigger claws and fangs of your own.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
Poppet sighed. “I’m going to have to make my peace with Kerrik soon, if I want to watch this.”
“You have to find him first.”
“We’ll just go to this mountain. Where is it?”
Jamie shrugged. “I think it’s somewhere in Texas. I’ve never been there. We’ll just have to hope he gets back to me soon.”
Fini
***
Name: Wolf, Jamie Harris
Age: 17
Residence: Kingdom of Haven
Status: Active
Rank: 45
HRA Rank: Major
Security Clearance: Theta
Licenses
Tamer Y
Master Tamer Y
Researcher N
Watcher N
Breeder Y
Active Harem
Species Name
Demoness Ginevra
Duelist Madison
Demon-Goddess Caitlin
Alpha: Ginevra
Beta: None