Harris Saga Chapter 16
Devon sat on a rock watching the ocean crash into the nearby rocks while Paulette stood guard nearby. He focused his mind and as he had done so on two previous times in his life cast a thought outward. Ming Die.
A moment passed and the Alaka-Wham appeared out of nothingness, clad in a Conservatory labcoat and jeans. Devon motioned to Paulette to let her know everything was fine.
You do not call me often. She sat down next to him and eased the side of her body against his.
“Are you cold?” When she nodded, he continued. “Sorry to disturb you, but you need to know some things that have happened here.” He glanced at her but she was silent, looking out over the waves.
“This is Larne, on the coast of Ireland. When we got here a week ago, there was some difficulty with a Tamer. It turns out that he came into Larne about three weeks before we arrived here and when he realized that they had no fighting pokegirls, he took over the community. When we showed up, he took exception to our presence and I was forced to take him into custody. There is no local constabulatory and the rangers will be by in another week to collect him.”
“He wasn’t a complete bastard, and actually paid for some of the stuff he took, including paying for an abandoned residence on the edge of town. The mayor gave it to me as a reward.” He shrugged. “It needs some work, but it’s livable.”
“Paulette here was the reason he was able to dominate the town so easily, but now she’s part of my harem.”
And how do your Demon-Goddess and the Neo Iczel feel about each other?
“It’s complicated and part of the reason I asked you to come here.” He picked at a loose piece of rock. “This town is dying. The fishing is outstanding, but the community is isolated and there are only ten families here. The handful of young men and women they’ve had went on their Pokegirl journeys and most of them settled elsewhere instead of returning here.”
Why do you feel a responsibility to this community?
“I’m not sure. However, I do. And I have a solution that should prove beneficial to all parties. That beach down there is pretty nice. The water is a constant three or four meters deep out for quite a ways.”
“The Conservatory has been negotiating with people along the coast of Scotland for decades trying to get some property with which to set up a water type rookery. As you know they have been asking for far more then the land is worth. The mayor here has made it clear that he is almost willing to give the land to us in return for certain considerations.”
What are these considerations?
“They want us to establish a full research station and security element. The initial expenses would be high, but they would be so even if we’d gotten the land somewhere in Scotland. Also, if we put in a full pokecenter as part of the research station we’d be eligible for operating funds from the Blue League as an offset.”
“A pokecenter would draw Tamers which would allow us to start farming out starter pokegirls from here. That might save us some expense associated with the Ranches that we have to ship our Tamer-ready ones to in England. And a pokegirl center would have a transporter that would reduce our shipping costs to almost nothing.”
“It also might help to economically revitalize the region, so if we bought a lot of extra land, we could sell it off later to recoup our initial investment.”
It seems that you have thought this out fairly completely. Are you making this suggestion as a young man who wants to help people or as the future head of the Harris Conservatory looking to improve our status?
“I think I can be both at the same time.”
That is not why you called me. You could have presented this over the vidcom. Poppet will jump at the opportunity.
“I think so too. And, yes I did call you for something else.” He tossed the rock away and started loosening another one.
“Hatsumi and Paulette and I performed some ritual spell last week and ever since then I’ve been getting flashes of information that I’m pretty sure are coming from them. Normally that wouldn’t be any of your business, but some of the stuff I’m getting involves you, I think.”
What kind of spell was it?
“Hatsumi called it a blood oath. It involved us putting cuts together while reciting an incantation.”
Ming Die turned to look at him. He showed her his forearms. She studied them for several moments and traced one of the glyphs with a finger. This is a very old magic. It predates Sukebe. It is supposed to promote the magical equivalent of a delta level bond. She stared into his eyes. What did it do to you?
“I think it is something like that. I sometimes feel what they feel and see what they see.” He gave a brief smile. “We’re still coming to terms with it. There was one amusing episode a couple of days earlier when I ate three large steaks before I realized that it was Hatsumi that was hungry.”
“I know things from each of them. And they know things from me.” He looked at her. “It’s just bits and pieces but some of the things from Hatsumi are extremely odd.”
“She knows you.”
We did meet in Glasgow when you Tamed her.
“She knows you from before. I think it was during the war.”
I do not see where that would be possible. I would remember a meeting with one such as her. She is very impressive.
“You have no idea.” He grimaced. “Anyway, in her mind she refers to you as ‘One of the Thirty’. Do you know what that could mean?”
He felt Ming Die tense against him. I have not heard anyone use that phrase in quite some time. What does Hatsumi think about this ‘One of the Thirty’?
“I get the impression that at one time she was supposed to kill you, but that she no longer wishes to. Does this make any sense to you?”
What makes you think that she does not want to kill this person?
“Actually I get the impression that it was a group as opposed to being an individual. You didn’t answer my question.”
No I did not. She gave him a direct look. Nor am I going to. Some knowledge is dangerous. Knowledge of this sort could be deadly for you.
“What is a Hunter?”
Mind Die froze for an instant. During the war, Sukebe sometimes felt the need to dispense with the use of some of his personnel. Hunters were specially created pokegirls sent out to destroy them.
“Was Hatsumi a Hunter?”
Don’t you know?
“I can’t tell. I do only get fragments from her.” He frowned. “I wonder how much Hatsumi has gotten from me.”
That is a good question. Perhaps you should ask her about it when you get the chance. Is that all?
“There is one other thing. Remember when the incident happened at the Conservatory? When I bit those pokegirls and they went almost instantly into heat?”
Yes.
“We thought at the time that my saliva transmitted pheromones while I was going through an onset of Tamer’s Disease that would throw any pokegirl into a heat. It may be that isn’t entirely true. I bit Hatsumi and Paulette during the blood oath and they both suddenly acted very aroused.”
I will need a sample of your saliva.
Devon produced a sample bottle and filled it. “Here you go. I was expecting that.”
Thank you. Are any of your pokegirls currently under the suspected effects of your bite?
“No.”
Later I will need to see this effect. We will arrange a time when you will not be traveling for a while. I must go now.
Devon stood and offered his hand. Again she took it while he was still performing the act.
You must be more careful in the future. If Poppet finds out that you are getting seriously injured, she will worry and may assign you guardians.
“Do you think that Hatsumi was assigned to me by Poppet?
Hatsumi just bonded herself and Paulette to you for the rest of your lives. I doubt that one of Poppet’s agents would take such a step.
“I didn’t think so either. Take care.” Devon kissed her on the cheek. She stared at him for a moment.
What was that for?
“I’m very grateful to have as good a friend as you. Not many people would have dropped whatever they were doing to go talk to a bizarre fifteen year old like me.”
Ming Die looked intently at him for a moment and then gently kissed him on the cheek. The next instant she was gone.
***
Devon stretched and slid to his feet. “I’m going to bed.”
“Have a nice night.” Tess glanced up and went back to the repair work on Devon’s armor. The fight with Paulette had left the breastplate pretty beaten up. “Would you mind if I gave this to Lamya for a couple of weeks so she could enchant it to be more protective and harder to damage?”
He grinned. “If you think I can go that long without picking a fight with a pokegirl, go ahead.”
“If you put it that way,” she looked thoughtful for a second. “We’ll just have to assign you more bodyguards during the interim.”
“I can’t go to the bathroom right now without a guard. How much more guarding do you think I can take?”
She gave him an arch look. “Has anyone asked you if you want one shake or two?”
“I’m sure you think you are very funny.” Devon made a disgusted noise. “If a pokegirl held it I wouldn’t need to go at that point. I’d have other problems, like having to tuck it back into my pants without damage.” He shook his head. “Goodnight, all.”
A chorus of farewells followed him up the stairs.
He had to admit the house they’d been given was pretty nice. It was a small two story with three bedrooms and an attic space that had been partially converted into a fourth. If he were going to be staying, he’d have been planning on finishing the attic room right away.
It turned out that the previous inhabitants had simply moved to Belfast, rather than falling foul of anything. It made for a nice change. Ogilve had picked it up rather cheaply and the mayor had presented it to Devon as a reward. Devon suspected it was more in order to keep the building on the city tax roles than any sense of gratitude on the part of the local government, of which the mayor was the only member.
Rumor had it that the mayor had been receiving some kind of payoff from Ogilve in return for his not trying to contact the rangers based in Belfast. There had to be some reason he’d not tried to contact them in the month that the renegade Tamer had been here. Devon wondered what might happen to the mayor if the villagers found any truth to go with their rumors.
It was also very nice that the house was wired for electricity. Many houses he’d seen on his trip, even in Glasgow and Belfast, had no electricity and he didn’t like the smell of oil lamps.
On his way up the stairs he thought briefly about taking a bath, but the door to the bathroom was closed and he could hear splashing. Besides after Taming this evening, he’d really appreciate a bath in the morning.
He stopped outside the door to his bedroom and gave Hatsumi an annoyed look as she stood sentry duty outside his door. “Is this really necessary?”
“Hatsumi agrees with Kathryn. You always get into trouble when we leave you alone.”
“So who is posted outside my window?”
Hatsumi smirked. “It is not necessary to post a guard outside your window anymore.” Devon opened his door. The light from the lamp next to the bed showed that the window had been boarded up from the outside. “Hatsumi will hear anyone trying to open your window long before they can get inside unless they blast their way in and Hatsumi will hear that too.”
“Whatever. Good night, Hatsumi.”
“Good night.” She patted him on the arm as he went past.
As he climbed into bed, Devon wondered who was to be his partner for tonight. He remembered that Kathryn had mentioned that there were going to be some changes in the rotation, primarily to accommodate new members of the harem as well as some other things like the fact that Vivien was showing signs of a much higher libido than the monthly that the pokedex indicated was typical for an Umbrea and Lamya’s libido was slowing somewhat since her encounter with the Zeromer. He was happy to be able to verify that it was still on the high side.
His musings were interrupted as the door opened and Zelda came in. She was wearing a robe and her wet hair left dark streaks across it as her curls swayed.
She gave him a nervous smile, slid out of the robe and climbed into bed with him before he could protest.
He noted with a portion of his mind that he was trying to ignore at the moment that her body was warm and still damp from the bath as she snuggled it against his side.
Her body trembled as he pushed her slightly away. “What are you doing, Zelda?”
“I’m taking my turn with you. Kathryn put me into the rotation.” She gave him a defensive look. “You told her to treat me like everyone else.”
Devon considered. She was right. “I didn’t intend for her to do this.” He gave her a stern look. “You can stay as long as you promise to be good.”
She gave him what she thought was a sultry look. She still needed to practice. “I’ll be very good.”
“You’ve been watching Lamya. And you haven’t been observing her for quite long enough.”
“Devon, I want to get Tamed. I need to get Tamed. You are my Tamer.” She wrapped her hand around his throbbing cock and stroked it. “You want to Tame me.”
Reaching down, he carefully peeled her fingers from his cock. “My cock may have a head, but I do the thinking for it. When do you turn fifteen?”
“In thirty-four days.” She gave him a puzzled look, obviously unsure of where he was going with this question.
Devon counted quickly. “September the twenty-second. Remind me a day or so beforehand and I’ll make sure that Kathryn knows that will be your day. We’ll stop whatever we are doing and spend the whole day in one spot. It will be just me and you. How does that sound?”
“Do you promise?”
“I promise that unless we are in a running battle, that day will be just for us.”
She smiled and kissed him. “Ok.” She gave him a look and kissed him again. “Can we practice this before then?”
Devon smiled. “Not while we are in bed together.”
She suddenly grinned. “Don’t think you can wait until my birthday?”
“Not if we keep kissing like this.”
Her smile widened and she carefully snuggled against him. “What do we do about that?” She made a motion towards his crotch.
“We ignore it. A night off won’t hurt it.”
“Do you think that will work?”
“I certainly hope so.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Her eyes darkened with worry.
“No, I don’t. You do need to get used to being with me.”
“Ok.” Zelda squirmed against his side until she was comfortable.
A little while later she sighed sleepily, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder. “Can I ask a question?”
“Of course you can. What is it?”
“You’ve had Paulette for over a week. Why haven’t you given her a new name?”
I haven’t given her a new name because it’s my only way of protesting the fact that Hatsumi didn’t give me any choice in bringing her into the harem. Naming my pokegirls is one of the few ways I have to show favor to them. Aloud he said, “She hasn’t asked me if I was going to, so I figure she’s not interested in having her name changed.”
“We were just talking about it and couldn’t decide. I guess your reason makes sense.” Zelda yawned hugely and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Devon slowly drifted towards consciousness as the bed quivered. He opened his eyes.
Apparently he’d rolled onto his side during the night for he was looking at a close-up of Zelda’s face. Her eyes were half lidded and her face was slack with concentration. She had slipped his cock between her legs and was stroking her pussy along the line of his shaft. Her breath came in short spurts as she rubbed along it and she shivered as she came again.
She shifted her hips slightly and tried to impale herself on him. Devon pulled away as he realized what she was trying to do.
She whimpered and her eyes came fully open. Devon peered in each eye and couldn’t see her pupils amidst the blue of her irises. “Pia! Pia pia!” Her hips searched vainly for his cock.
He stared and murmured to himself. “I guess I owe Kathryn an apology. Apparently you are of an age to Tame, since you just alpha bonded to me. You win.”
He lifted her leg and slid between them, rolling her flat on her back. She raised her groin and thrust it at him. He slid her legs up onto his shoulders and slowly pressed the head of his cock into her pussy. She was very tight. She was also very wet, and that was the only reason he could force the head into her at all. Her eyes slid shut and she moaned.
Devon pulled the head back out and before she could protest, slid it back in, this time shoving it a little deeper. Each time he pulled back and slid in he went a little deeper until he hit bottom, the head of his cock bumping against her cervix.
He stopped moving and let it soak, feeling her pussy adjust around him. She moaned the whole time and suddenly screamed as her pussy clamped down and her whole body arched. Her legs tried to wrap around his head, but the angle was wrong. She wrestled with him briefly, trying to get him to move.
The door to the bedroom burst open and Hatsumi charged into the room. Devon froze as his head swiveled to look at her. She stared back at him as Zelda slammed her legs against his shoulders, again trying to get him to do something.
Suddenly a grin bloomed across Hatsumi’s face and she backed out of the room. “Hatsumi will keep the others out of your room.” Her grin widened as she pulled the door shut.
Zelda pulled at him again. He turned his attention back to her.
***
Devon crested the rise and looked around. Up ahead he could see the ancient walls of Derry, which stuck into the sky like broken teeth. Derry was one of the many towns that had been completely depopulated during the fall, but it had never been rebuilt. Most people cut around it as local superstition had that it was haunted by the spirits of the dead. In fact, the place did have a large population of ghost type pokegirls. He was hoping to make it through before nightfall.
Paulette came down to hover next to him. “I don’t like the looks of the ruins ahead.” She’d calmed down a bit ever since Devon started rotating her and Hatsumi into long term storage alternately. They were only together when they had to train together.
Devon wasn’t happy to have to start keeping some of his pokegirls in long term storage, but he’d better get himself and his pokegirls used to it before they had to spend any amount of time in a city. So two girls had to be in stasis at any given time and it would only get worse once Zelda became old enough to go into a pokeball.
Today it was Hatsumi and Kathryn. Tess was the acting alpha. She spoke up. “According to the information we got in Larne, we can use the ruins of one of the bridges to cross easily. Otherwise we have to lose a day traveling up the river Foyle before coming to a place to cross as well as a day coming back.”
Devon nodded. “And if the bridge can’t be used for any reason, either you or Tess can carry me across the river. Once we are across we’ll strike almost due north to Buncrana and hopefully take a gym badge on the first attempt.”
“I want to be on the other side of Derry before nightfall, so let’s get moving.”
Derry was a crumbling ruin. It had been hit by some kind of wind storm and then the red plague had finished off any survivors. Several times they had to backtrack around buildings that had slid sideways into the street and choked it closed.
They had several brief encounters with feral pokegirls, most of whom eyed Devon speculatively, but when they saw his harem decided to seek easier prey elsewhere.
Devon let them go, as he figured that his plate was full enough right now that he did not to want more pokegirls in his harem.
He recorded constant notes on his PDA about what kinds of pokegirls he saw as well as the territorial markings they ran across. There were scratch marks and scat marks and some enterprising feral had used some chalk to mark her territory. Another had used a fire attack to make soot marks on the walls of her territory. Each soot pattern was identical, suggesting a higher level of intelligence than was usually believed to be present in feral pokegirls.
Devon was tempted to take the time to try and identify this one, but understood that they should be moving on instead.
Seraphina informed him when they ran across any scent marks and Paulette informed him of any lairs she’d seen from the air.
Zelda, Lamya, Tess, and Vivien stayed close to Devon, mostly to protect him. Dima was spooked by the surroundings and Devon had put her into her pokeball to calm down.
When the shadows were creeping towards them from the walls of the buildings, Devon conceded defeat in his race to the other side of town.
He waved at Paulette to land and turned to Tess. “Remind me again how long until those radios I commissioned in Belfast will be ready?”
“They’ll be ready in another week, Devon.” Tess had dropped the ‘my lord’ stuff for the most part and Devon appreciated it. He had a perfectly good name. It was nice to hear it being used.
“As soon as those things are ready, Hatsumi is taking me back to get them.”
Paulette glared. “I could take you instead. I can teleport too.”
“I know. Have you been to Belfast?”
“Oh. No, I haven’t.” Zelda stuck out her tongue at Paulette’s back. “Sorry, master.”
“I value your enthusiasm, Paulette. I wish you weren’t quite so competitive with Hatsumi, but I understand why.” He shook himself and started pulling pokeballs from his belt. “Now let’s get everyone into their pokeballs. Tess, I want you to carry me to the river. Paulette, you carry Zelda.” Zelda made a mean face but subsided when Devon just looked steadily at her over Paulette’s shoulder.
Soon Paulette carried Zelda into the distance. Tess gave him an odd look as she summoned her wings. “Why didn’t you have Paulette carry you? She doesn’t have wings and the ride would probably be much smoother.”
“Just shut up and hold me.” Tess gave him a startled look but wrapped her arms around him. A moment later she draped her wings over his shoulders. He sighed and leaned against her.
“What is the matter?” When he didn’t answer she rubbed her cheek firmly against his. “Devon?”
“Florence called while we were hiking today.” He growled low in the back of his throat. “She’s pregnant.”
“I take it you don’t feel like celebrating,” she said in a wry tone.
“What do you think? I’m fifteen bloody years old and women are carrying my children. This scares the shit out of me.”
Her arms tightened around him. “What do you want me to say?”
“Gods, but I wish I knew. Even though I don’t really know her very well, Letitia is very special to me and Florence is, well, unique, but I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that I’m going to be a sire.1 And what if Florence wants me to be a father like Letitia does? What do I do then?”
Tess gave him a soft kiss. “The first thing you do is inform them that they cannot live on separate islands.”
Devon chuckled. “Thanks, that helps.” He sighed and straightened up. “This sucks. I guess we need to catch up with Paulette and Zelda, now that my wimpy moment is over.”
Tess gave him a stern look. “You are not showing weakness. The fact that you are worried about it is a good sign for your possible parental skills.” She smiled. “Remember, someday members of your harem may want children.”
“Gee thanks.”
She nibbled his cheek. “You’ve got over a decade before you have to worry about your harem. Your lifespan will have doubled. Your attitude will probably be very different at that point.” She laughed quietly. “Face it, husband. Other than Zelda, you are the youngest one here.”
“Your sexy comments are making me soo hot.”
She chuckled. “Trust us not to lead you wrong.” She winked. “And stay away from NurseJoys.”
“You are preaching to the choir, reverend.” He gently pressed his lips against hers.
She gently laughed again as she unwrapped herself from him. “If you keep doing that to me, you’re going to convince me to help you give the ghosts a sex show.”
“So what is wrong with that?”
“First of all, they are attracted to sexual energy and so we’d have quite a crowd. Second, you would be leaving Zelda alone with Paulette. How much time do you think would pass before Zelda got herself murdered?”
“I suppose you are right.” Devon frowned. “Let’s get going.” He winked. “Going my way, baby?”
Tess turned him away from her and slid her arms around him carefully, pressing her armored chest against his back. Her breath tickled his neck as she whispered to him. “After that comment, you’d better hope I don’t drop you.” She spread her wings and climbed into the air.
***
The Demon-Goddess spiraled in for a landing. “Hatsumi can see Buncrana up ahead. It is about five kilometers from here.”
“Oh, good.” Zelda looked tiredly at Hatsumi. “I can finally get a break from training.”
Devon glanced at her. “Zelda. That rock. Thunder shock.”
She gave him a look and held out her hand. There was a crackle and a ball of electricity shot from her palm to hit the rock. Moisture in the rock flashed to steam and the rock cracked with a loud noise. “See what I mean! He does this all day until I’m exhausted.” She glared. “I think it is all just because you know I’ll be wiped out at the end of the day, and you were upset when Kathryn put me in the sleeping rotation.” She sniffed. “You did tell her to treat me like everyone else.”
“And that was my mistake.” He smiled.
“Stop that!”
His smile widened. “What?” He gave her an innocent look.
“You know I hate it when you do that.” Her eyes narrowed. “My father and my brother never apologized, even when they were proven wrong. You doing it all the time is just, oohh!” Her fists clenched with frustration.
Devon shared a grin with Hatsumi. “Lead the way.” She took to the air again. He pointed off to the right. “Zelda, agility, bring me that flower.”
“It’s halfway to the bloody moon.”
“Watch your language. If you save swear words until you are actually upset, they’ll have more emphasis. And as for the flower, fetch, girl, fetch.”
“You’re singling me out for persecution.”
“No, you need the most training and you keep opening your mouth and reminding me that you are here. Now bring me the flower.”
“Yes, sir! Fetching flower, sir!” She zipped off at full speed and quickly returned with the flower. “Returning with flower, sir!”
Devon shook his head as he took the flower from her. “Keep that up and I’ll teach you to salute and make you do it every time. Now come here.”
She made a face, but came closer. Devon slowly threaded the flower into her hair. She started to smile, but quickly turned it into a glare. Devon carefully scratched her behind one ear.
She glared again and pulled away when she realized she was leaning into his hand.
They continued on to Buncrana. It was a tiny community that primarily existed because there was a gym here. It was located on the site of an abandoned city of the same name and nestled against the Crana River.
Once you entered the town, the first thing you saw was the gym. The Buncrana Gym was a tremendous building that covered six acres of land. The pokecenter next to it looked like a child’s toy by comparison.
Devon put Hatsumi up and got Kathryn out. He preferred to keep a low profile on the way to the gym. He didn’t suspect any trouble would take place, but it was a good habit to cultivate. Flaunting powerful pokegirls was a good way to call every idiot out for a challenge who might want her. Devon was just here for a gym badge.
Devon headed for the front door of the gym. Beautiful topiaries lined the sidewalk to the main entrance, each one a painstakingly created representation of a different pokegirl. He noted idly that while they were due for another trim, they were still very impressive.
He reached the automated sliding glass doors of the entrance and stopped. He stared at a small hand lettered piece of paper that was taped to the door.
The Buncrana Gym is Closed Until Further Notice
Zelda read the sign. “Uh, Devon?”
“I saw it. I don’t understand it. There was no entry in the pokedex about the gym being closed. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.” He scratched his ear. “Closing without updating status with the Blue League is a serious act. They could get censured.”
Kathryn sighed. “Why canna anything be easy when ye are around, master?”
“Just lucky I guess. Let’s walk around the perimeter of the building. Maybe they have another entrance we can get in through.”
Behind the gym was a small garden. A young man was seated at a bench, throwing a ball for a DigTit to throw back.
“Excuse me, but may I have a moment of your time?” Politeness was usually a much better way to start a conversation than “What the fuck?” even though the latter question was more along the lines of what Devon wanted to ask.
The man looked up. “Of course, but I suspect you are here to ask why the gym is closed.”
“That would be correct.”
“The short answer is that the gym leader quit.”
“I beg your pardon?” Devon couldn’t believe his ears. “Look, I sometimes function in an official capacity for the Blue League so why don’t you tell me the long answer since I’m going to have to write a report about this.”
“Ok. Ian was the gym leader here. He turned forty last month and promptly went into what they call middle aged crisis. Do you know what that means?”
“I believe it means that he started missing the things he did as a younger man.”
“That’s right. So he started reminiscing about when he was an active Tamer, and one day last week he locked up the gym and took his harem to the Johto League to go on another journey. He didn’t bother to tell anyone he was going and he took his most powerful students with him. He also took his keys to the gym.”
“Why didn’t anyone contact the Blue League?”
“All of the long range com equipment is in the gym. Right next to the satellite vidcom is the list of who to call. A Tamer who came through a few days ago said he’d notify someone when he got back to Dublin.”
“Why didn’t someone break down a door?” Devon was appalled.
“Damaging gym property is a pretty serious offense. No one was willing to take responsibility for it.”
“Good god.” Devon unclipped his PDA and punched up Karen Cooper’s number.
A young man answered the call. “Belfast Gym, how may I help you?”
“This is Devon Harris. Is Karen available?”
“The gym leader?”
Devon took a deep breath. A wide range of answers presented themselves but none of them would help the situation. “Yes. I need to speak with her right away.”
“She’s busy right now but I’d be glad to take a message and she’ll get back to you as soon as she can.”
“You know, that might sound more believable if you pretended to take some time and check her schedule. I’m calling on official Blue League business, so why don’t you get Karen.”
The man’s smile melted like ice on a summer day. “I’ll see if she’s available.”
Devon smiled. “If you tell her it’s me and that it’s an emergency, I bet she’ll become available.” If you lie to me and tell me she’s not available, then I am going to teleport to Belfast and when I get there I’m going to be very upset.
“Let me check.” The man put the vidcom on hold and pleasant music started to play.
A couple of minutes later Karen’s face appeared. “Devon!” She grinned. “What can I do for you?”
“While I would love to make some unpleasant suggestions about what you could do to your receptionist, unfortunately I’m calling on business. We’ve got a problem in Buncrana and I’m trying to keep it unofficial.”
“Ian McKenzie has got to be the most exasperating gym leader in the Blue League. What did he do now?”
“He locked up the gym and went to Johto along with his students. There’s no one here.”
She stared at him. “Please tell me this is a joke.”
“I wish. I’m hoping you can send your best student up here to take temporary control of the gym so we can pretend the gym never closed and therefore it won’t lose its accreditation. Can you help?”
She frowned prettily. “I don’t know. Could you take over until I can find someone?”
“I don’t know anything about running a gym. I’ve also never been a student at any gym. Your gym was the first one I’ve ever been in.”
“Why didn’t someone from the village call us?”
“All of the long range com equipment is inside the gym and no one wanted to be responsible for breaking a window.”
“By the breasts of Isis,” Karen murmured. She closed her eyes for a minute and thought. “I don’t have anyone who’s ready to run a gym, but the gym leader at Aberdeen has a student who he claims is ready. I can give him a call and see how soon he can come out. What can we do about opening the Buncrana gym?”
“I’ll take care of that as long as no one minds a little wind damage to a window.” Devon smiled.
“Ok. I’ll call the Aberdeen gym and find out what I can. Let me call you back.” Karen’s face vanished.
Devon slung his PDA from his belt and examined the back door. It was glass and a close look at the lock showed that it needed a key from both sides to unlock. He pulled out a pokeball as he looked back at the man on the bench. “What is your name?”
“I’m Paul.”
“Paul, do you know the layout of the interior of they gym?”
“Not really. I’ve been in it, but not very much.”
“Thanks.” Guess that means I don’t have a guide. Devon released Hatsumi.
“Master.” Hatsumi bowed.
“Good afternoon, Hatsumi. I need you to teleport me to the other side of this door.”
“Hai.”
“Ye’ll be taking me as well, master.” Kathryn’s voice was firm.
Zelda grabbed his hand. “And you won’t be leaving me behind, either.”
“I’m not leaving anyone behind.” Devon gave Kathryn an exasperated look. “Hatsumi will come back for Zelda, and you are going in your pokeball.” He returned her to it while she was still frowning.
Hatsumi stepped into his arms, her body swaying against his. “You are loved, my master. Do not fret over such a thing. Enjoy it.” Her lips touched his. “Many search their whole lives for what currently annoys you.” She stepped out of his arms. “Hatsumi will fetch Zelda.” She vanished.
Devon released Kathryn and Seraphina from their pokeballs. “We are inside the Buncrana gym and there isn’t supposed to be anyone else.” Hatsumi appeared, holding Zelda by the hand. “We need to find the gym leader’s office. I’m hoping there is a second set of keys there. If not, we’re going to have to use force to open one of the gym entrances. First, we’ll try the office.”
The rear entrance to the gym lead into a hallway that stretched into the bowls of the building. The lights were off. Devon looked around and found a light switch, which he pushed. The hall lights came on. “I guess we’ll be turning lights on as we go.” He pulled a flashlight out of his pokepack.
“Seraphina, you have point, Hatsumi, you are rear guard.”
“Kathryn grinned. “That leaves me with Devon watch, husband.”
Devon grunted sourly. “I guess you are right. Zelda, stay close to me.” They headed off.
They tried each door as they went. Most of they gym was given over to training rooms, Taming rooms, and battle arenas. There were only a couple of sex battle rooms, but that wasn’t unusual. Most people were much more comfortable with the standard combat venues.
After about forty five minutes, they found Ian’s office. It was fairly typical, with a desk and comfortable chair along with a couch and some bookcases. A quick search of Ian’s desk uncovered no keys, but a careful examination of the office itself revealed a small wall safe with a combination lock.
“This would be a good time for me to have an ice type,” Devon muttered as he looked the safe over. “Then I could freeze it open. I suppose I could have Tess cut it out of the wall but then what?”
He released the rest of his pokegirls with the exception of Dima and Paulette, who were in stasis today.
“I have a safe here that may hold some spare keys for the gym, but I’m not sure how to open it. Take a look and see if anyone has some suggestions. I’ll give you a couple of minutes.”
Devon sat on the couch and watched as his pokegirls examined the safe.
“Devon, I may have something.” It was Lamya. She was standing at the desk, holding a drawer that she’d pulled out all the way. She turned it over, dumping the contents on the top of the desk and showed him the slip of paper taped to the underside of it. “This may be the combination.” She gave him a smile. “I’ve seen people do this before. After all, you don’t want to lose the combination, but you don’t want it found too easily since that would defeat the entire purpose of having a safe.”
Devon gave her a rueful smile back. “And to think I only value you for your beauty. Good job. I never would have thought of that.” She flushed and then grinned. “You found it, go ahead and give it a try.”
There was a cheer when the safe opened to Lamya’s deft touch. Among the safe’s contents was a ring of keys. When they made their way back, one of them proved to be the key to the back door.
As they stepped outside, Devon’s PDA chirped. Vivien gave him a curious look as he pulled it from his belt. “What is it?”
“I’ve got three messages from Karen. It looks like they are all variations on ‘why aren’t you answering your vidcom’.” Just then his PDA signaled an incoming call.
It was Karen. “Why haven’t you been answering?”
“I was in the gym. It looks like the gym is a Faraday cage.”
“What is that?”
“The gym is constructed in such a way that it won’t allow electrical signals to pass through its walls. I suppose it might have been built that way to prevent people from using radios to cheat in battles, although that sounds a little far fetched. It could also have been built that way entirely by accident.”
“But I’ve talked to Ian on his personal com before when he was in the gym.”
“There is probably a receiver on the outside of the building that is hardwired to a repeater inside. It wouldn’t recognize my com. So what can I do for you?”
She grinned suddenly. “You’re too far away for that.” She sobered. “I was calling to let you know that Jeff Palmer will be coming up to take over the Buncrana gym tomorrow. He’s got a grav car so he’ll be up there quickly.”
“What about the accreditation issue?”
“We backdated his appointment so that the gym was never without a leader. It helped that Ian never sent in a resignation.”
The Blue League rules specified that a gym always had to have a gym leader assigned to it. He didn’t have to be physically present, but he had to be assigned. If a gym was without a leader for over twenty four hours, it could lose its status as a gym.
This rule had been put into place back in the beginning of the Blue League. At that time the number of gyms hadn’t been standardized and it had still been fairly easy to become accredited. There were a lot of gyms in those days, and Tamers often only went to ones that were closest to them, leaving some gyms with few, if any visitors.
Gym leaders would get bored, close their gym, and move on to other things. Often they wouldn’t bother to file the paperwork to change their gym’s status. So the Blue League had made it possible to disqualify a gym from a single complaint from a Tamer who’d traveled there to challenge the gym.
While the rule hadn’t been enforced since early in the League’s history, it was still on the books. Devon didn’t want to see Buncrana lose its gym, especially since once the number of gyms had been standardized, the Blue League had made it a lot harder to get accreditation. Now the process could take years.
“Thanks, Karen. You are a godsend.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Her eyes twinkled in glee. “When are you coming to visit?”
Devon blinked in surprise as Hatsumi’s words of warning drifted through his head. “As soon as I can,” he vaguely replied.
“Good. I’ll be looking for you.” She turned her head to listen to something outside the range of her pickup. “Someone wants another go at a badge. I’ve got to explain to them that I sincerely doubt they’ve improved all that much since yesterday. See ya.” The screen went black.
Tess had been standing guard nearby and had heard the entire conversation. “I understand that Karen is Catholic. Before you go see her again you might check at the local Catholic church and see if she’s made arrangements to have the bans posted.”
Devon shuddered. “I think I don’t plan on going near the Belfast gym until I’m in my twenties or maybe my forties.”
He thought quickly. “Well, if this Jeff Palmer is coming up tomorrow, it will be a couple of weeks before he’s ready to take on challengers for badges. I don’t think there’s any reason to wait around for that. We’ll stay until he shows up and then I guess we’ll head for Ballycastle so we can cut over to the Carradale gym.”
“So, if all goes well, we will be leaving tomorrow or the day after.”
***
They had crossed through Derry on their way to Ballycastle and had camped about six kilometers to the east of the deserted village as night fell.
The moon was full and heavy as it hung low in the sky and crickets serenaded each other in the darkness.
Lamya watched from the post she’d chosen in the top of a tree as eyes glinted briefly in the darkness and vanished again when Zelda shied a stone in their general direction.
The fire crackled and sizzled as drops of grease from the rabbits fell into the fire. Seraphina tried to catch each one in a spoon and when she succeeded popped it into her mouth with obvious relish.
Kathryn shook her head as the sight while she slowly ate some of the summer’s ripe berries, pausing to enjoy the flavor as each one slid down her throat.
Vivien sat near the border of light and darkness, watching the ground intently. Suddenly her hand snapped out and down, then slowly lifted to reveal the cricket she’d caught. She looked around briefly to meet Devon’s eyes. When he gave her a small nod and a smile, she popped the insect into her mouth. A crunch and it was gone.
Devon was quietly dictating his daily journal entry while leaning back against Dima, who had one arm draped over his chest. Tess leaned back against a nearby fallen log, her eyes closed.
Suddenly all of the crickets went silent. Lamya tensed and Tess grabbed her sword from its scabbard as she popped to her feet. Dima stood abruptly, dragging a forgotten Devon along with her. Sometimes she still forgot her own strength. He shrugged free of her and pulled his katana free of its scabbard.
Cold began to seep through the camp, bringing with it the first wisps of fog, which streamed in slow circles around the edge of the firelight. It quickly grew thicker, swallowing up everything outside the circle.
Lamya dropped to the ground and moved to stand near the fire.
Devon looked around and realized that everyone had moved closer to the light. It put all of them in an uncomfortably tight circle. “Spread out, people, but don’t go into the fog. Kate, let’s have a gust to blow this away.”
Kathryn slammed a blast of air through the fog without any visible effect. Lamya’s eyes narrowed and she stepped forward, running her hand through the cloud. “It’s an illusion. I don’t feel any magic, so it must be either a ghost or something psychic.” She suddenly stumbled backwards towards the fire. “There’s something glowing out there.”
An indistinct figure slowly materialized out of the fog. It moved to the edge of the firelight and paused briefly before moving out of the fog and into the light, revealing it to be hovering Alaka-Wham. She looked badly hurt, with burn lines radiating up her nude body. Cuts laced her upper arms and one antenna was shattered off at the base.
A chill swept through everyone as her mind voice drifted through them. Devon.
Devon went pale and dropped his sword. “Mother?” He lunged forward and through the drifting figure as he vainly tried to wrap his arms around it.
He spun to face his mother as she rotated in the air to look at him.
Devon, my time here is short so listen closely. Your father has been taken captive by kidnappers. You and your harem are the only ones who can rescue him. All else will fail. You are his only chance. Your search must begin in Durness.
“Where are you?”
I and the rest of your father’s harem are beyond help. You must rescue your father. Only you can succeed.
“I will do as you ask. I am also going to rescue your body and the bodies of the rest of Da’s harem. Where do they lie?”
Your father can tell you that. Rescue him. She floated forward to look deeply into his eyes. Do this for me.
“I will.” Tears glittered in his eyes. “Goodbye, mother.”
Farewell, my son. I love you. She faded from sight. The fog faded with her and the temperature slowly rose.
Devon took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. He turned to Kathryn and spoke in an unnaturally calm tone. “Strike the camp. We’re leaving in an hour.” He unclipped his PDA and began trying to find out where Durness was located.
“I’m so sorry Devon. We all are.” Kathryn placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Devon looked up from the display at her as the camp burst into a flurry of activity.
“Thank you, but right now we have to save Cameron. I’ll have time to mourn my mother once he’s free.”
“Where are we going to go?”
“We’re going to teleport back to the Conservatory. We’ll restock our supplies and head out in the morning. By then I should know what our next step is going to be. It all depends on what or where Durness is.” He gave a grimace. “Besides, I should probably tell Poppet about this in person, lest she teleport here and make me explain it twice.”
Kathryn nodded and swept a professional eye over the progress made so far. “We’ll be ready to leave in half an hour.”
“Fine.” Devon bent back to his work. By the time they were ready to go, Devon knew that Durness was the name of a village on the north shore of Scotland. It had been abandoned during the fall. He also knew approximately where it was.
He released Hatsumi from her pokeball and put everyone else up as he brought her up to speed.
“We are to hunt them, then.”
“Yes, and when we find them you are welcome to eat your fill. Now, let’s get going.”
Hatsumi stepped into his arms and kissed him gently. When she pulled back they stood in front of the main house at the Conservatory. Devon frowned slightly. “There is supposed to be a teleport block that prevents teleporting closer than 100 meters from the buildings.”
Hatsumi smiled broadly. “It is there. It would stop any less skilled than Hatsumi.”
“I see. Now go get Zelda.” He rang the doorbell as she vanished.
Hatsumi reappeared with Zelda as a Catgirl in a Conservatory jumpsuit opened the door. “Yes? Devon! What are you doing here?”
“Good evening, Pam. I’m going to need to talk to Poppet and Ming Die right away. I’m afraid there is an emergency. Could you also have a light meal for ten put together? I’m afraid we didn’t get to finish dinner.”
“I’ll see to it right away. Do you want to wait in the library?”
“No, I’m going to be in the guest house. We’ll be staying the night and I need to get my harem settled in.”
“Very well. I’ll have the tray delivered there.”
“Thank you, Pam.” Devon turned away and headed to the guest house.
The tray of bread, meat, cheese and fruit along with a tray of tea showed up before Poppet and Ming Die. Devon grabbed some bread and cheese and turned the rest over to his harem.
After a brief time Tess showed up with the tea tray. It still had some cookies and such on it. As she put the tray on the table she told him, “You’ll need this for your guests.” Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek and left.
Poppet looked mildly irritated when she and Ming Die arrived fifteen minutes later. “Pam tells me that you are involved in an emergency. What has happened, Devon?”
Devon looked at her calmly. “Cameron Harris has been kidnapped. Tea?”
Poppet blinked and asked in a calmer voice. “What did you say?”
“I said that Cameron Harris has been kidnapped and asked if you wanted some tea. Would either one of you like some?”
I will have some tea. Devon poured Ming Die a cup as Poppet tried to digest what he’s said.
“I haven’t heard anything about your father being in any sort of danger. Where did you hear this?”
“My mother told me. Well, actually my dead mother’s shade told me, to be accurate.”
Poppet stared at him. “That is absurd.”
“I thought you might see it that way.” He looked at Ming Die. “If you would be so kind as to verify that I am telling the truth?”
Are you sure you want to do this?
“I’m fairly sure I don’t, but I have no other choice. I suspect we’ve got a small window of time available before the kidnappers contact us and if I can start following the trail before they know we officially know about the kidnapping then I can hopefully surprise them.”
Ming Die inclined her head respectfully. You will need to relax. You’ve spent your whole life cultivating defenses against telepaths and have been surprisingly resourceful. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.
Devon tried to clear his mind, and winced as imaginary spiders went crawling through his brain.
When he was four years old, he’d fallen through a rotten log and into a nest of spiders. The feeling of all of those spiders crawling frantically over his body as they sought to escape was the exact feeling he had in his brain when a telepath scanned him. He’d always hated it.
He is telling the truth. His memories match with those of his harem’s exactly. This was not his imagination or the work of a pokegirl or mage. Cameron has been kidnapped.
Poppet shook her head. “What do they want?”
“Mother didn’t go into that much detail. All she said was that I and my harem were the only ones who could succeed in rescuing Cameron and that I had to start looking in Durness.”
“Where is that?”
“It’s an abandoned village on the northernmost coast of Scotland. It’s about a hundred kilometers north of here. We’ve had a full day, so we’ll stay the night here and then we’ll head out there in the morning. I’d like to have someone drop me off about twenty kilometers from there and I’ll proceed in on foot.”
“I’m coming with you.” Poppet’s tone brooked no dissent.
“I’d really prefer that you stayed here. You have to keep an eye on the heir to the Conservatory.”
“That’s why I’m going. I need to keep an eye on you.”
Devon shook his head. “At this point Tobias is the heir, not me.”
“Tobias is your younger brother. You are the eldest and you will inherit.”
“I don’t think that may be the case anymore.” Devon took a deep breath. “You are aware that Cameron and I haven’t exactly seen eye to eye for most of my life. In fact we hardly agree on anything anymore.”
“Of course I am. The fights you two have had are legend here. What does that have to do with you being the heir?”
“Cameron has always gotten along much better with Tobias. You and I both know it.” Devon shrugged. “And with my mother’s death, Cameron no longer has any hold over me. Tobias can have this place. I’m going to rescue Cameron because my mother asked me to. After that, I think there is going to be fundamental reassessment of our relationship.”
“I didn’t realize that you disliked your father that much.”
“Well, see, there’s the problem. He’s never been a father. He drops by a couple of times a year and tells me what a horrible child I am. I must admit I’ve gotten used to that, and frankly would be happy if he stopped even the occasional visits.” Devon’s eyes flashed with anger.
“However, recently he dropped to a whole new level of disgusting. While we were in Belfast he tried to make Lamya his entertainment for the evening. If that is the kind of relationship I’m going to have to have to be the head of the Conservatory someday, I pass.”
“I’ve recently come into a small but nice house in the village of Larne. It would work nicely as a good place to start. Letitia likes working here, but if there’s going to be any problems with that, I’ll just have to see if she’d be willing to move to Larne.”
He stretched. “But all that is for the future. I’m leaving at dawn for Durness. Can I presume upon the Conservatory for a lift to the area?”
“I am still coming with you.” Poppet gave him a hard look. “You can’t stop me.”
“Then find yourself a comfy pokeball. Mother specifically stated that only my harem could come with me.” Devon shook his head. “I cannot stop you from going to Durness and trying to find Cameron. I can and will stop you from traveling with me.”
“I have never been in a pokeball and I will never be in a pokeball.”
“Then your butt is staying here.” Devon met her glare with one equally hot. “You are not going to screw this up.” He leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. “Because if you do, I am going to disappear, and you can spend the rest of your very long life trying to find me.”
Poppet visibly contained her anger. “And just where would you go? There is nowhere I couldn’t find you.”
“Keep going this way and you may get the chance to test that hypothesis.” He gave her a bland look. “On the other hand if you behave and I get Cameron back alive I’ll consider playing your game for a while longer.”
He took a deep breath as Poppet visibly swelled. “I’m sorry.” She looked startled as he continued. “I’ve had to face some things while on the road and I’ve learned that just about everyone who’s older than I am seems to feel that they can give me orders and I tend to resent it.”
“I’m pretty stressed right now, what with everything that’s been going on, and I’m probably not thinking very clearly. Pissing you off is counterproductive at this point, so how about we call a truce. Our fighting is not going to help anyone, much less Cameron.”
He chuckled. “And I would really appreciate it if you didn’t mention our little spat to Kathryn or anyone else in the harem. They already think I need a keeper whenever I go outside. I don’t need them thinking I always need one.”
“However, mother specifically stated that I and my harem are the only ones who can rescue Da, and that everyone else who tries will fail. She didn’t say that if I went with anyone besides my harem I would fail too, but she also didn’t say I wouldn’t.”
“I don’t want to take any chances at this point. I have to get him back. As soon as I do, you are welcome to go in and obliterate any survivors so horribly that it will be at least a century before anyone dares try this again.”
Poppet looked at him levelly for a long moment. “Agreed.”
“Then I strenuously suggest that you remain here. Mother specifically stated that Da had been kidnapped, and that means they have demands. They will contact the Conservatory with them and you are the best one to decide how to deal with the situation.”
“You also need to keep an eye on Tobias, since if I fail, it is very probable that I will die and it is possible that Cameron may die as well.”
Poppet nodded and snagged a cookie off of the tea tray. “So, how do you propose to proceed?”
“Considering the paucity of information at my command my plans are going to have to be flexible. I’ll keep you updated as I go, but I suspect that most of my planning is going to have to be on the fly. I will have some tactical radios ready for use in a couple of days, and those should increase my flexibility somewhat.”
The discussions continued long into the night.
***
1. In the odd little reality that I live in, I do not believe that when your sperm manage to win the race to the egg you get to call yourself a father. If you can make a baby you are a sire, like a horse or a dog. A father is someone who is willing to make the commitment and sacrifice to actually raise a child with all of the love and attention it needs. Any less and all you have is sperm that can swim.
***
Name: Harris, Devon Jamie
Age: 15
Residence: Highland County, Blue Continent
Region: Scotland
Status: Active
Rank: 35
Security Clearance: Theta
Licenses
Tamer Y
Master Tamer Y
Researcher N
Watcher N
Breeder Y
Active Harem
Species Level Name
Demon-Goddess 85 Hatsumi
Armsmistress 40 Tess
Neo-Iczel 37 Paulette
Foxx 31 Seraphina
Ladyien 29 Kathryn
Enchantress 27 Lamya
Baleena 27 Dima
Umbrea 27 Vivien
Pia 19 Zelda