Harris Saga Chapter 18
Karen leaned against Devon as he waited on the bench outside the gym. “Everything is going to be all right.”
“That is what you keep saying.” He shook his head. “And I’ll believe you as soon as I hear from Paulette.”
Karen bumped his shoulder with hers. “So you fancy green haired girls? Is she one of your favorites?”
“She’s one of my wives. I worry about all of them.”
“You’d better be careful about calling them that here in Belfast. Even some of my students aren’t exactly cosmopolitan and might have trouble with your phrasing, much less the average members of the citizenry.”
Devon glanced at her and went back to staring at his PDA. “You aren’t cosmopolitan if you know that your pokegirls are your wives. You’re rural.” He smiled. “You go into the wilds of Scotland and tell a man that his pokegirl isn’t his wife, and if he doesn’t throw you out of his home, she will. City folk are the ones with the silly idea that treating a woman who may be much more powerful than you as some kind of beast is a way to a happy home life.”
“Throughout history, in Scotland you could piss off a man and get away with a lot more than if you angered his wife. More blood feuds were started by women than men. A little thing like the end of the world didn’t change that.” He shrugged. “Hell, in parts of Scotland, I’m not sure they’ve noticed that the world has ended. That certainly seems to be the case where I come from.”
Karen gave him a smug look. “What about all of the shepherds who can now sleep with their Lambchops?”
Devon grinned. “That isn’t just Scottish and the only thing that has changed is that the Lambchop now has a say in what happens.” They shared a laugh.
“Devon, you saw that the transfer went perfectly. The only wait is because there was a long queue at the receiving pokecenter. As soon as she’s released I’m sure she’ll call.”
A voice came from behind them. “And why would she call when it would be just as easy to teleport back as soon as she got to someplace quiet outside?”
Devon jumped to his feet and swept Paulette into a hug. “God, I’m glad you’re ok!”
Paulette gave Karen a startled look over Devon’s shoulder. Suddenly her face softened and she hugged him back, hard. He creaked but didn’t pull away. “You really do care about me.” There was wonder in her voice as she rubbed her cheek against his. “What were you so worried about?”
“You were several thousand kilometers away and I had to trust someone that I’ve only spoken to on a vidcom to actually let you out of your pokeball instead of loading you into a level five conditioning cycle and auctioning you off to the highest bidder.” Devon looked into her eyes. “From here I had no way of making sure that they did what I wanted. I can see why you wouldn’t understand why I might be the teensiest bit concerned.”
Paulette looked startled. “I never thought of that.” She released him and stepped back. “That was a rather far-fetched worry though.”
“Apparently I have control issues.” Devon shrugged. “Perhaps they stem from the fact that the last time I let any of my pokegirls out of my sight, I didn’t get all of them back.”
Karen’s mouth opened in surprise. “You never mentioned that.”
“It happened during my fabulous first visit to Glasgow. It hasn’t been so long that it still doesn’t hurt, but I’m finally beginning to come to terms with it.” Karen unconsciously took a step away from his grim smile and Paulette suddenly looked very alert.
He shook himself. “Anyways, I’m glad the transport went well. Now you need to fly to Wellham so we can all go there. How long will it take you?”
“It’s about 500 kilometers. At full speed I could be there in half an hour or so.” She peered concernedly at him. “How much of a hurry are we in?”
“Airships typically cruise at fifty to seventy five kph. It’s about 8500 kilometers from Durness to Wellham. At airship cruising speeds it would take them from five to seven days to get from Smoo base to Wellham. So we’ve got at least two days before they can arrive.” He smiled. “Most likely they won’t fly nonstop. If I were the one in charge of this operation, I would only fly at night, since most pokegirls are diurnal. If they do that, it should nearly double their transit time. And there are some mountains in the Dusty Sea that they may have to detour around if they try to fly in a straight line.”
“However, we can’t count on that. So get up there as soon as you can and then return for us. Best case scenario, I’d like at least a couple of hours to scout out whatever they have in Wellham before deciding how to approach it.” He grimaced. “That means we have to find it quickly. I wish I had a better idea of how the authorities are going to react if we have to do a frontal assault. Oh, well, one problem at a time.”
He focused on Paulette. “Be careful and stay in touch. You’ve managed to grow on me and I don’t want to lose anyone else if I can avoid it.”
“I will.” She gave him a brief kiss and vanished.
Karen gave him an unreadable look. “You certainly are touchy-feely with your pokegirls, aren’t you?”
“For the most part, pokegirls were designed to be companionable, like humans. Most of them respond well to frequent physical contact.”
“What do you mean, like humans?”
Devon smiled and took her hand. He rubbed his cheek against hers and then switched sides and repeated the process. Karen’s eyes closed as she savored the feeling. She made a small frown and her eyes flashed open when he stopped. “That doesn’t prove anything.”
“All right, you may have hated it, but Ienjoyed it.” Devon twined her fingers in his. “Let’s go.”
She gave him a suspicious look. “I remember your last visit, you brute. Just where are you trying to take me?”
“Why, lunch, of course. Once Paulette gets to Wellham, I expect things are going to start happing quickly and hot meals may be just a fond memory for a while.” He tugged her along with him.
She suddenly pulled back, bringing him to a halt. “Aren’t you worried about Paulette anymore?”
“Of course I am. But she’s a big girl and can outrun anything she can’t outfight. I was really worried about getting her out of the pokeball. Now that’s past, I know that our delta bond will let me know if she gets into trouble. Besides, she can always teleport away if things get too hairy.”
“If you know that she can take care of herself, so what were you so worried about with her?”
He sighed. “I’ll tell you about Maeve over lunch. That was bad enough, but while I wouldn’t mind reading the report about what might happen if a pokegirl someone is delta bonded to is run through a level five conditioning program, I certainly don’t want to live through it.” He shivered suddenly.
“On the other hand, I think I just lost my appetite. I’ll tell you about Maeve while you eat.”
Karen squeezed his fingers. “If you don’t eat something, I’ll tell Kathryn.”
“Now that is entirely not fair.”
“So?”
***
Devon swiped at his face with his sleeve. Since his clothes were sodden, the effect was minimal. It was raining around Wellham and the humidity was unbelievable. While warm at 29 degrees, he’d been in warmer. A humidity of ninety seven percent wasn’t anything to sneeze at, but he’d never been in rain that was so warm it made him sweat.
Seraphina gave him a glare. “Can you book us someplace dry next time? I’m starting to forget what it feels like.”
He snorted a fine mist of water. “This is not my fault. You’ll have to blame Team Viper. They’re the ones who set up our travel plans. I guess that means we should have expected them to suck.” She grinned sourly.
Devon raised his binocs and took another look at the facility.
The Team Viper base was hidden in some jungle covered hills that lay about eight kilometers outside of Wellham. The facility was heavily screened by jungle and while in actuality not that far from town, it might as well have been on the surface of the moon as far as the local residents were concerned.
Devon had only located it by taking as working hypothesis that Team Viper would have at least one agent planted at the pokecenter. He’d taken Ming Die in for a checkup and according to her passive scans; sure enough there were two agents. One was a member of the medical staff while the other monitored and operated the transporter system.
Poppet had recently been given the coordinates for sending the pokegirls, and wonder of wonders they were for the pokecenter in Wellham. The time for the transfer had been set as well, a week from yesterday. Since they had demanded mass transfer late at night, Poppet figured that Team Viper would commandeer the transporter system during that time.
With the discovery of Team Viper personnel on the staff, Devon had figured that they would arrange to be the duty personnel at the time of the transfer.
He tapped his earpiece to knock the water off it. “Paulette, what have you got for me?”
Her voice sounded in his ear. “Ming Die says that some of the base personnel know of a secret entrance somewhere in the hills. We’re trying to find someone with detailed information for her to probe without being spotted.”
“Ok. We’ll stay put.”
This would go faster if you would stop distracting my transport. Ming Die’s voice echoed in his mind. Devon ignored her.
“Hey!” Devon protested as Zelda slid a hand into his pocket.
She pulled out a pokeball and bonked herself repeatedly in the head with it. “Damnit.” She gave Devon a slightly worried look.
He grinned and she relaxed as he took the pokeball back and returned it to his pocket. “I would have to say that cursing at this time would be entirely appropriate. If I could climb into a pokeball and get dry I think I would too.”
Seraphina harrumphed. “So, can I get into mine?”
“Nope. You have Devon duty, remember?” She just glared. “If you think you can explain it to Kathryn and Hatsumi, go right ahead.”
She glared again. “No thanks. Your killer would have me half digested before I could finish explaining.” She yanked up her shirt and grabbed a handful of the fur between her breasts. “Do you know what this is? This is real fur! You do not treat real fur this way! Keeping it wet all the time is bad for it!”
Zelda snickered. “I thought you were naturally always wet.” She danced sideways as Seraphina lunged.
“That is enough,” Devon said firmly. “Both of you behave.”
“After this is over I want the chance to kick your Pia’s ass.” Seraphina looked pissed.
Devon shrugged. “Done.”
“What!?” Zelda glared at him. “You can’t let her do that.”
“Actually I can. You opened your mouth and Seraphina took exception.” He shook his head. “You’ve been going on about how you are a full member of the harem, but you still smart off like a kid. It just got you in a fight.”
“You will have to accept the fact that not everyone finds your comments funny all the time.”
“Do you?” Zelda sounded curious.
“What I think of your attempts at humor isn’t important right now. Seraphina apparently doesn’t.”
“I won’t let her hurt you too much, and it will let me see how you should fare in a real pokegirl battle. You are going to be in them eventually.”
“As you are aware, combat is how we train. I was planning on doing something like this sooner or later; I was just going to wait until you evolved before starting you in real combat.”
Zelda drew back her lips in a snarl. “Fine. But if I am going to be treated like a regular member of the harem, I want back in your bed.”
Devon considered for a moment. “Fair enough. I will start Taming you on a regular basis and you will start watching your mouth.”
She gave him an odd look. “Don’t forget you still promised me the twenty-second.”
Devon grinned and blew a mist of water at her. “I haven’t forgotten. I’m still looking forward to it.”
“Eww, spit.” She wiped at her face. Devon and Seraphina laughed.
“Devon, we know where the entrance is to the escape tunnel.” Sideband compression couldn’t rob Paulette’s voice of excitement. “We are on our way back for you.”
“Good.” Devon released Hatsumi and Lamya. “Ladies, this is the Team Viper base. We’re about to go in through some secret passage on the other side. I want you two to watch the entrance and make sure no one escapes. Oh, and I would like as many prisoners as possible.”
“Hatsumi can do this without Lamya. You should take her along with you.”
“I disagree. Both of you will stay here.” Hatsumi bowed her head.
“Hai.”
Lamya just nodded. “Be careful in there, husband.”
“I will. I’m the squishy one, remember?”
She smiled. “You are the one who needs to be reminded from time to time.”
“Hai!”
“I’ll be careful.”
Paulette appeared with Ming Die. Hatsumi grinned. “Konnichiha baka unko.”
Paulette gave her an unfriendly look. “I suspect that when I find out what that means you and I are going to have a long discussion.” She turned to Devon. “Since the bitch is here, I assume you are ready to go.”
“I am.” Devon sighed. “I really wish you two would play nice.”
Paulette smiled. “This is playing nice.” She took him in her arms and with a glance at Hatsumi, kissed him. When she stepped away the landscape had changed.
Devon gave her an unreadable look as Ming Die appeared with Seraphina and Zelda. “You just have to push, don’t you? You do realize that she’s unhappy at you right now.”
“Being unhappy won’t kill her.” Paulette’s voice was flat. “You are going to have to let us fight it out sometime. I promise not to kill her, but I am really getting tired of her attitude.”
You presume that in a confrontation with Hatsumi you would be the victor. Ming Die flipped up a rock to reveal a keyboard. She is much older than you and more powerful. If you do not believe me, take a look at Devon’s pokedex. She punched in a series of numbers and the ground opened up.
Seraphina hurried in and out of the rain. Devon stepped in just to catch the spray as she shook the water from her hair and fur. Zelda stepped behind him quickly. Ming Die followed him in and the hatch slid shut.
On a nearby hilltop the air seemed to shimmer as the Cheshire moved. She smiled gleefully. “We’ll need a special reception to welcome our unwelcome guests. Your survivors will learn not to mess with Team Viper.” She vanished as she teleported into the base.
***
As soon as the hatch was shut, Devon released all of his pokegirls except for Dima. She still had a problem with confined spaces, although she was getting better. Kathryn turned to him as Zelda stripped water out of her hair. She waved a hand at the tunnel which stretched of into the distance, intermittently lighted by a feeble light fixture. “I see that ye found that there is indeed a tunnel into the base, as ye thought. What is yer plan?”
“Infiltrate and capture. We need prisoners, both human and pokegirl. I’d like to capture everyone that we come across. The humans will provide us with information, and the pokegirls should be able to be convinced to assist with making it look like Team Viper still controls the facility.”
“And if they dinna want to go along with yer plan?”
“Then we’ll figure something out.” He raised his voice slightly. “Ladies, shake down into teams. Team Two you have the point. Team One is behind them. Kate, your team has the rear guard. Zelda, you are with me.” He tapped his earpiece. “Team Five, report.”
“Everything is fine out here.” Lamya came through clearly. “The rain isn’t heavy enough to interfere with visibility and Hatsumi and I are ready to either disable or drive anyone back into the base. So far it has been quiet.”
“Good. Ladies, it looks like we have the element of surprise. Move out, but stay sharp.”
Vivien and Seraphina slid into the darkness, followed by Tess and Paulette. Devon followed with Zelda while Kathryn and Ming Die brought up the rear.
Vivien and Seraphina padded quietly down the passage for the three hundred meters that it ran until it ended at a hatch with another keypad. Vivien glanced back at Devon as he felt a whisper of transmission from Ming Die.
The Foxx nodded. “Thanks,” she murmured. The hatch opened under her touch and she and Seraphina charged forward.
The room was filled with crates and boxes. Seraphina and Vivien moved to cover the only door, waiting until everyone else was in the storeroom before opening it and surging through.
Tess and Paulette were right behind them as they swept into the larger room. There were three other doors leading out of this room. Devon pointed to the one on the same wall that they had come out of. “That one.” Seraphina ripped the heavy door open and charged in, closely followed by Vivien.
There was the muffled sound of a yell which was followed by some crashing. Devon started to lunge forward only to be brought up short by Kathryn grabbing his arm. He swept her with a quick glare as Tess and Paulette slammed through the open doorway. Ming Die kept her attention on the other doors.
Tess appeared in the doorway, blood trickling down one cheek. “We’ve got her.” She stepped aside to let Devon enter the room.
There were a several cells along the back wall, but two of them had been joined together and were filled with torture devices. Paulette and Seraphina were busy strapping a struggling Killer Queen into some wall restraints while Vivien was tamping a ballgag into her mouth.
Devon snickered. “Hoist on your own petard.” The Killer Queen glared and tried to talk around the ballgag.
“Please, don’t put yourself out. We’ll have the opportunity to talk at length later. Promise.” He gave her a grim smile. “You may even enjoy it for a while.” She blinked and began struggling more violently.
Vivien finished and stepped back. “Little miss attitude here was busy cleaning some of her toys when we took her by surprise. It wasn’t much of a fight.” The Umbrea licked blood from her muzzle. “She cut a couple of us with that whip she can summon, but nothing serious.” She reached up and pinched shut the Killer Queen’s nose, watching as she struggled to breathe. “You know, some bondage might be fun.” She shot Devon a look over her shoulder.
“Let her go. We don’t have time right now.” He shook his head. “Oh, you’ll never get me into those things, so forget that right now. However, you might be able to convince me to try them on you.” Vivien grinned.
“Humph. Maybe I’ll will.” She followed Seraphina back into the main room. They entered another door and quickly returned.
Seraphina jerked a thumb behind her. “Looks like a pokegirl storage device. There’s a place marked for a transporter, but the space is empty.”
Devon slipped into the room and pulled up the software. “The storage is empty.”
He turned to spot Kathryn giving him an angry look.
“Ye canna go haring off by yerself.”
He sighed. “Fine.” He returned to watch as Seraphina pulled the last door open. She and Vivien lunged up the stairway that lay behind it.
Ming Die suddenly looked upwards. They are waiting for us. Her warning came just too late.
There was the sudden sound of yelling and the hiss of a flamethrower. More yelling was followed by the crackle of ice. Whiteness spread down the stairs and onto the floor, stymieing Tess’ attempt to go up them. Suddenly there was a crashing coming down the stairs and Vivien appeared, entwined with a strange pokegirl. They tumbled down the steps and came to rest at the bottom, the stranger struggling to pull her arm from where it was trapped in Vivien’s chest.
Devon snarled and charged forward, only to be pulled to a halt by Ming Die as Paulette flew into the stairwell and grabbed the leg of the strange pokegirl. She slung her and Vivien at Tess, who was waiting with her sword ready. She smashed the enemy pokegirl in the head with the flat of the blade, hammering her to the ground with her massive strength.
The pokegirl ripped her hand from Vivien’s body and slung the heart she’d pulled out at Tess. She lunged behind it, only to be met with a powerful roundhouse kick. She skittered along the ground at Kathryn and suddenly stopped and then slammed sideways into the wall as Ming Die caught her with telekinesis. There was a crunch and she lay still.
There was a sudden cackle of laughter from up the stairs. “Here, have your other friend back too.” Serephina’s head bounced down the stairs and into room.
Devon released Dima from her pokeball. “Ming Die, take Dima, Kate and Zelda and guard the stairs. Tess, Paulette, with me.” He returned to the storage room as the sounds of a hydro pump slashed up the stairwell. The sounds of cursing came drifting back down.
Someone up there was susceptible to water attacks and just went down. Ming Die sounded pleased.
Devon looked at Tess. “Drive your sword into the floor.” She shrugged and drove her sword point down into the concrete. With a soft grinding noise, the point went in an inch.
“Good. It’s not too loud. Now give me a hole in the ceiling large enough for Paulette to see through. Then she can teleport up there and we’ve got ourselves another invasion route. We’ll see who has the last laugh.”
Paulette and Tess shared a grim smile and then Tess drove her sword into the ceiling.
Suddenly the building rang like a huge bell. Dust sifted from the ceiling and formed a drifting cloud.
Paulette gave Devon a startled look as Tess wriggled her sword deeper into the timbers overhead. “What was that?”
He grinned. “That was Hatsumi giving us a distraction.” The grin faded. “And she’s venting the anger I can’t let consume me right now.” His eyes seemed to flare in the dim light as the building rang again.
Tess shoved again and hissed in triumph as the sword broke through. Working it free she looked at Paulette. “Enough?”
Paulette peered upwards. “That’s fine.” She glanced at Devon. “Now what?”
“Teleport up there and see if the area is clear. If it isn’t, grab whoever is up there and bring them back down here.”
Paulette grinned. “Remember how I said I liked sneaky?” She winked. “You’re fun to work with. Be right back.” She vanished as Devon drew his khukuri.
A second later she reappeared, holding a struggling pokegirl. “Help me!” Devon and Tess waded in, intent on using the flats of their blades. Devon had just gotten a good grip on the girl’s long hair when she teleported, taking him and Paulette along for the ride.
Sunlight blasted into Devon’s eyes, making him squint as he hammered the butt of his knife into the pokegirl’s head repeatedly. Finally she went limp under the blows from the Neo Iczel and him.
Paulette glanced around and then looked up at him as he tapped the unconscious girl with a pokeball and she vanished. “Nice beach. We’ll have to come here when we have some time.” She took his hand and they flashed back to where Tess was standing.
The Armsmistress smiled briefly. “Nice to see Ming Die was right. She was reassuring me that you were ok.” She gave him a fierce hug. “Please stop scaring me so often.”
“I’ll try. Paulette, see if there is anyone else up there.” She left and returned so quickly that she seemed to just flicker.
“The room is clear.”
“Good, come with me.” Devon returned to the main room. “Kate, take Ming Die and Zelda and go with Paulette and Tess. I want all of you to teleport to the room upstairs and get into position to hit our stair guards from the rear. Signal when you are ready to go and we’ll hit them simultaneously. I recommend you start with lust dust on everyone up there.” He grinned at Dima. “You are with me.”
“Dima understands. They hurt harem wives.” She gave him a fierce look. “We hurt them good and take new wives.”
Devon blinked. “Aye, that is exactly what we are going to do.”
“Dima goes first.” She poked him in the chest. “Husband break easy. Dima tough.”
He sighed as Kathryn giggled. It just didn’t seem right for the moment. “Go.” He drew his katana as Dima ricocheted a water gun attack up the stairs and the others disappeared back into the storage room.
He tried very hard not to look at his two dead pokegirls. Suddenly he noticed that the unconscious pokegirl was gone. “Uh, Dima?” He gestured behind him. “Is she awake?”
“Mind girl have Dima put cat in cell. She no get out even if wake up. Mind girl very mad at cat.”
Devon risked a moment to glance in the prison. The pokegirl had been stuffed into one of the empty cells. The metal bunk that was previously fastened to the wall had been pulled free and wrapped around the pokegirl, trapping her limbs. He grabbed his pokedex and scanned her before returning to Dima.
“Slutton, the fighting wolverine pokegirl. Slutton is one of the evolved forms of Mynx.”
Devon snorted. Slutton, the soon to be dead pokegirl, his mind corrected the entry.
Suddenly a snake pokegirl vaulted down to the bottom landing. “There’s only two of them left,” she yelled as she launched herself at Dima. She wrapped her tail around Dima’s legs, spilling them both to the floor.
Dima shrieked as the pokegirl crackled with electricity, pouring it through them both. Her hands slid up the pokegirl’s body as she sought a way to separate herself from her attacker.
Devon moved without thinking and struck. The katana entered the pokegirl’s body below the right shoulder and exited near where the left hip would be. Dima twisted, her hands around the pokegirl’s head, and popped it off like a cork. Blood sprayed them both. He swiped at the blood on his face with a sleeve.
Devon offered Dima a hand and helped her to her feet. He watched the stairs as she cupped her hands over her face. Pink water sprayed from between her fingers as she used the contained water gun to clean herself.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Dima was frowning at him as she lowered her hands. “What?”
“Dima not sure who get kill.”
He stared at her for an instant. “Fine, you killed her.”
She gave a predatory grin. “Good. Dima want to kill them all, only know husband want prisoner.” She flashed him a suddenly shy look. “Or as Hatsumi say, husband want food to play with.”
Devon grinned in reply. “Good joke.” She beamed. He was pleased. She’d certainly come a long way since he’d caught her.
Dima cocked her head as both their radios clicked. Kathryn’s voice was clear. “Shit!” Yelling and the sounds of fighting came from upstairs. Tess’ voice sounded. “Devon, get up here!”
Devon lunged for the stairs as a glittering powder he recognized as lust dust drifted down them only to be pulled back as Dima grabbed his shoulder and shoved past him. She leaped around the landing to surprise a human male who had apparently been creeping down the stairs, when the activity had exploded upstairs; he’d turned to listen to the tumult sounding above him.
Without hesitating, Dima grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled. The man flew past Devon to smash into the wall at the bottom landing and bounce bonelessly off of it in a spray of blood and teeth. Devon smashed him in the head with the hilt of his katana for good measure.
Dima kept pounding up the stairs with Devon close behind. She stepped up to where her head was level with the first floor and unleashed a hydro pump attack. It hammered a blue feathered bird type in the back. She flew across the hallway and into the wall only to try to struggle back to her feet until Tess hit her with thunder bolt. It blasted her past Devon and down the stairs.
Devon found himself facing a pokegirl who was wielding a katana. In seconds he was fighting for his life. She was much better than he was and only his superior strength and armor kept him alive as she rapidly connected with several cuts to his torso. He crowded her, getting inside her attack radius and backing her against the hallway wall.
She suddenly catapulted sideways as Dima hit her in the head with a crushing punch. Before the Baleena could recover, a DragonQueen hit her repeatedly with rage. Dima rallied and struck back with crushing punch, which only intensified the DragonQueen’s blows. Dima finally went down beneath her onslaught.
Devon saw the opening as the DragonQueen turned to engage him and he struck, the entire move flowing in a waist level horizontal cut like he’d been trained. Her belly armor was little protection against his enchanted blade. The DragonQueen suddenly lost interest in him as she tried to hold her intestines in.
He stepped carefully past a Dragoness who had pinned a human male to the floor and was frantically riding him. Fragments of the fellow’s pants made the footing slightly treacherous.
The hallway was a madhouse. His harem had apparently come from a side hall and been attacked from both sides as a door at the other end had disgorged three additional pokegirls. One violet furred cat type was sprawled on the floor, not far from Kathryn’s supine form. Zelda’s unconscious form was just visible in the entrance to the side hall.
Tess was advancing on an Oni, her sword ready as she appeared to shrug off thunder bolt after thunder bolt. Seeing that she still had several meters to go, Devon yelled, “TESSFOCUSENERGYFEATHERSHURIKEN!”
She glowed briefly as her wings appeared and then her feather shuriken attack blew the Oni back through the open doorway. As the Oni reappeared she yelled back. “Master command me!”
“CHI BLAST!” The bolt took the Oni in the throat and slammed her against the wall next to the doorway. She bounced off and slid along the floor. This time she stayed down.
As Devon ran towards Tess, he glanced down the side hall as he went by. Ming Die stood at the end of it, unmoving. Just inside the hallway were two pokegirls, a Wolf Queen and some plant type. They were being methodically slammed together by her telekinesis. The plant type was unconscious and bleeding heavily. “Drop the plant girl.”
Ming Die glanced at him. This Wolf Queen and her Thorne Slut partner almost killed Kathryn.
“So go ahead and finish the Wolf Queen off. The Thorne Slut is obviously way past resisting.”
The Thorne Slut fell to the ground and the Wolf Queen flew past Devon to crash against the wall. She slid down it, leaving a wide smear of blood, to lie unmoving on the floor.
Devon focused his mind. Were you playing with them?
After taking these two out, your harem was in no real danger. I must still be cautious not to reveal the true extent of my powers. Ming Die sounded defensive. We must still be careful of my sisters and their observation until they are satisfied with our bond. No more of our wives have died this day, and I could not have saved Seraphina or Vivien.
He sighed. “Take out the Dragoness and her fuck toy.”
Ming Die floated past him. He turned to watch as both of the rutting forms suddenly went boneless under her psychic attack. Her mind was distracted by lust and he was only a human.
Are you going to let the DragonQueen die?
“My girls come first.” He looked around. “Where is Paulette?”
Almost on cue, she appeared, holding a limp cat. “I was making sure that this Cheshire couldn’t give anyone another warning.” She looked at Ming Die. “Thanks for showing me where she was going.”
You are welcome. It is good to work with a competent team again.
Devon nodded as he returned Kathryn and Dima. “Good work.”
Tess was using a potion on herself. “I’m sorry, Devon. I kind of lost it when they took out Kate. Thanks for the orders.”
“What are Tamers for?” He tried to smile and failed.
Pokeballs flew from his pokepack under Ming Die’s direction and captured all of the enemy pokegirls except for the DragonQueen. Zelda, the unconscious man and a woman Devon had never even noticed were the only other forms visible besides Seraphina’s headless corpse.
Devon approached the DragonQueen, closely guarded by Tess and Paulette. Mind Die looked at him. I have to go and get you something to help your pokegirls. I will return in a few minutes. She vanished at his nod.
The DragonQueen was white from blood loss and shock. Some of her bowel had been cut and she stank of excrement. Devon approached her cautiously. Wounded pokegirls could be dangerous. Ones that thought they were going to die were even more hazardous.
“I am willing to heal you if you will surrender to me.” She lifted her head to meet his gaze and slowly nodded
“I don’t want to die.” She appeared terrified.
“You don’t have to today. Let’s get you lying down so I can work on your wounds.”
Slowly they laid the DragonQueen on the floor. Devon carefully opened up the wound and sprayed her intestines, watching closely to make sure that all of the cuts closed up. He then motioned to Paulette and Tess, who carefully pulled the cut closed. He sprayed as the DragonQueen passed out from the pain. Then he put her into a pokeball.
He stood and walked over to Seraphina’s body. Squatting, he took her hand.
“I’m sorry I failed you,” he whispered. He closed his eyes for a moment.
You could not have saved her life. We did not know that they were waiting for us and without any way to reconnoiter the base beforehand; a rapid assault was the best way. However, you will now have other options, should you choose to add the Cheshire or some of the others to your harem.
Now take what I have brought you. You will find it very useful.
Devon opened his eyes. Ming Die was kneeling in front of him, her eyes intent on his. She offered him a cube which was 20 cm on a side.
“What is it?” Devon turned it over. The box was split in the middle and there was a small light on the top.
It is a PPHU or Portable Pokegirl Healing Unit. Once it is attached to a power supply you can use it to heal your injured pokegirls back to full strength. Be careful though, it won’t make a tired pokegirl rested. They will still require a night’s sleep before being useful again.
You should be able to run it off of your batteries or your pokepack in extremis. You could even hook the converter up to Tess or Zelda and power the unit from their electricity.
“You would think that something like that would come with an integral power supply.” He pulled a power cord and battery from his pokepack and plugged it into the PPHU.
That would increase the weight and cost appreciably. The manufacturer is trying to engineer a model with that capability but it is very power intensive and the going is slow.
“How do I run it?”
Just put a pokeball into it and close the lid. Everything runs in automatic, just in case the operator is injured himself. The cycle runs for two minutes and then it will beep or flash a light, depending on the position of the indicator switch located inside the lid. You can even set it to give both indications at the same time.
“What happens if the lid gets opened early or the power gets cut off?”
The pokegirl comes out the way she went in and you just wasted a large amount of electricity.
Devon opened the PPHU and pushed the annunciation switch to ‘light’. He placed Kathryn’s pokeball inside the cushioned receptacle and shut the lid. There was a quiet click as it locked. He fidgeted for the two minutes. Finally the machine flashed its light once and he heard the lock disengage.
Opening the lid, he removed the pokeball and released Kathryn. She shook her head and looked around. “I feel like a building fell on me.”
You were knocked out but have been healed. You still will need to rest, but now you can fight if we need you.
“Ok.” She gave Devon a wry look. “Did we lose anyone else, husband?”
“Dima and Zelda are still out, but no more dead.” He fed Dima’s pokeball into the PPHU.
Zelda will have to be treated the old fashioned way until she comes of age.
Devon glanced at Paulette as the cycle ran. “Come here.” He sprayed her with a potion.
“You could have saved that. I’m not hurt that badly.”
“That is my call to make.”
She looked into his eyes and smiled suddenly. “Yes, my husband.”
Tess muttered something. Devon looked at her. “What was that?”
“I am the Tamer, I decide when we heal. Now we heal.”
He gave a ghost of a smile. “And who is channeling movies now?”
“The Aristocats was not a bad movie and Rafael and Lafayette were cute.” She blinked. “Dima’s done. I saw the light.”
“Great, now it sounds like she’s a cake.”
“Husband, ye know that the joking,” Kathryn looked briefly at Tess, “Feeble though her attempts may be, is still a good thing. We will mourn our lost when this is over. Until then we need to finish securing this facility if we intend to rescue yer father.”
He glanced at the battery gauge as he put Dima’s pokeball into his belt. “You really weren’t kidding about this thing being energy intensive. We might get two more healings out of this battery if we’re lucky. Good thing my battery can be recharged, but I think we’re going to need to pick up a couple more of them. I’ll save the power that’s left for use on the critically wounded.”
He started to stuff the PPHU into his pokepack and stopped. “Damnit.” He set the unit back up and loaded the DragonQueen’s pokeball into it.
Tess patted him on the head. “You’re doing the right thing.”
“I’m glad someone thinks so.”
“No, she’s right. You will need to decide who you are going to be keeping, and you need to treat them right from the beginning, like you did me. Well, after you tore my throat out.” Paulette gave him a wry look.
“At the time it seemed the appropriate thing to do. If I hadn’t you’d still be with Ogilve.”
She grimaced. “Point made. I guess I’m grateful.”
Devon tucked the DragonQueen’s pokeball into his pocket and put the PPHU up. “Let’s finish clearing this place.”
He frowned. “Lamya, report.”
“We have captured two individuals attempting to sneak out the secret exit from the base, one human male and an unknown pokegirl. Both are injured but expected to live. How are things in there?”
“Later. Keep up the good work.”
Have you considered the suggestion I made yesterday?
“About Lamya? Yes, I have. I think we should do it.”
I’ll take care of it tonight.
He turned to Kathryn as he dug a case out of his pokepack. “I want you, Paulette and Tess to clear the rest of this floor.” He considered the two unconscious humans briefly. They had a total of four human prisoners so far. He made a decision. “If you have any difficulties, I think we have enough prisoners.”
“Aye, husband.” She led them off.
Devon removed a pill from the case and shoved it down Zelda’s throat. She choked and opened her eyes. “By the gods, I feel like shit.” She gave him a worried look out of the corner of her eye.
He smiled. “I think that was appropriate, given the situation.”
She relaxed and sat up. “How long was I out?”
“Just a couple of minutes. It is quite possible that there is going to be more fighting before we are done, so I woke you up.”
“Good, I want some revenge.” She levered herself to her feet and gave the closest of the prone humans a vicious kick. “Bitch.”
“Now that is enough.”
She gestured in the direction of Seraphina’s body. “That doesn’t even come close to being enough.” She spat on the woman. “Even though she was a freak, I’ll miss Vivien. Seraphina was my friend, even if she was going to kick my butt.” One ear swiveled in his direction.
“I was even going to invite her to my birthday party, at least for a little while. I wanted her and you to do to me what she’d told me you two did to Jennifer.” She looked up at him, her eyes narrowed with fury. “And they kidnapped your father which put her in the position to get killed. It’s their fucking fault and I want to see them all burn for it.”
The humans have little intrinsic value to us. Although I suppose we could sell the female to a breeding consortium. Perhaps we could allow your Pia’s request after we have sifted through their minds for information and they are of no further use to us. Ming Die carefully beamed her thoughts only to him.
“I didn’t think breeding ranches for humans actually exist.”
You have to know people, but yes they do. The woman looks fit, and they would have to scrub her personality away no matter where she came from, so they wouldn’t care that she was from Team Viper. We might get a good price for her.
“I think I’d rather kill her.”
“What are you two talking about?” Zelda gave him a curious look.
“Ming Die just told me that she knows somewhere we could sell the woman for brood stock. I think it is kind of gross. I don’t really like pokegirls being in that situation, and I think the forced breeding program should be ended, not expanded. Of course, prisoners have no rights…” He looked thoughtful and then shrugged.
Zelda snorted. “I think that she’s probably brain damaged anyway, considering what I’ve heard about these Teams, so we probably wouldn’t get much. Why would any female voluntarily work with them? She’s lucky they didn’t stuff her into one of those illegal pokeballs.” Zelda brightened. “Hey, could we do that? Turn her into a pokegirl, I mean?”
What if she wanted to join our family?
“Yuck. Ok, kill the bitch.” Zelda flashed a grin. “Besides I don’t think the world needs another Bimbo.”
Kathryn returned with the others. “There’s a large office down at the end of the hall, and it looks like someone tunneled through the floor into the basement. We searched it, and while no one has let our prisoners go, there is no sign of anyone down there. They were probably the ones that Lamya reported.”
“I guess that leaves the upstairs.” He turned to Ming Die. “What do you detect?”
I sense three lives up there and none are near the stairs. They are clustered there. She pointed at the southwest corner. You have one human male and two pokegirls.
“What is his name?”
She gave him a look before replying. Wilhelm.
Kathryn gave her an odd look. “Why couldn’t you detect anyone before?”
I was operating in what you would call passive mode. I was only sensing thoughts, not seeking them out. Other psychic types would have detected my scans and we would have lost the element of surprise we thought we possessed.
Unfortunately, in passive mode, psychic pokegirls and anyone who has been properly trained may be able to hide their thoughts from me.
“I see.” The Ladyien nodded. “Can you keep us from being surprised again, now that you are looking for them?”
I will try. It is unlikely that any psychic pokegirls that may be here would be powerful enough to block my active scans. Even if such a pokegirl were here, I would be able to detect her interference and deduce her presence.
Tess muttered to Paulette, “Humble, isn’t she?”
I am three hundred years old and have been training my entire life. I have a right to be confident of my abilities.
“So you were alive before everything fell apart.” Zelda sounded excited. “So can you tell me what a booty call is? I read about it in one of my dad’s books and never found anyone who knew what it was.”
Ming Die sent a tightbeam thought at Devon. Tell them the truth, you said. They’ll respect you, you said. Now I get to be an encyclopedia source for a child to learn that she’s been wondering about slang for Taming from the 20th century.
He thought back at her. So tell her. She’ll be impressed since no one else knows what it means. Oh, and tell her never to call it that here. It sounds silly.
Ming Die looked at Zelda. It was a slang term for Taming. It is no longer in use and Devon would like it to stay that way.
“That’s a stupid thing to call it.” Zelda shook her head. “It sounds like you want it shoved in your bum. Yuck.”
Paulette chuckled and gave Devon an amused glance. “Sometimes that can be fun.”
“Eww.” Zelda shuddered.
“Let’s go upstairs and capture the rest of the base personnel.” Devon glanced around. “Kate, Tess, Paulette you are team one. Ming Die and Zelda are with me.” He drew his katana. “Team one, you have the lead. Shall we try the stairs again?”
Paulette turned to Kathryn. “With your permission, I’ll fly to the top of the staircase and look around. If there is any trouble, I’ll teleport back.”
“Aye, you zip on up there.”
“I do not zip.” Paulette looked offended. She quickly flew up the stairs, summoning her energy as she did so. Tess stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched her. She made a summoning motion to Kathryn and the two of them dashed up the steps.
Devon gave them a second. “Team one, report.”
“It looks clear. We’re in a hall with a couple of doors leading off from it. Come on up.” Kathryn came through clearly.
“Let’s go.” Devon swore as Zelda pulled him back to allow Ming Die to go up the stairs first. “What is this, some kind of conspiracy?”
“Yeah. We all promised to watch out for your butt. We’re tired of having you fight our battles for us.” She cocked her head. “Actually it’s the fact that we’re tired of you getting chewed up fighting our battles for us.”
“Crap.”
Devon could hear the laughter in Zelda’s voice as she slipped up the stairs in front of him. “Now, husband, you’ve been doing entirely too much cursing today. You need to keep it for a time when it will have the most effect.” He just glared at her back.
When they got upstairs, Ming Die was opening both of the doors that lead off of the hall. Paulette raced to quickly peer in each one. “Another hallway here,” she murmured over the com. She moved to the next door. “Nice bedroom. I think Devon will get this one.” She flew back. “It’s got a bathroom in it, and I can’t see into the entire room. Tess, will you cover me?”
The two of them moved down and disappeared into the bedroom while Kathryn watched down the other hall. Zelda moved to join her. Electricity crackled faintly as she summoned her powers. Kathryn sidled a little ways away from her.
Your kit wants so badly to grow up.
“In this day and age you either do so quickly or you get eaten. You know that.”
Yes, but I’ve noticed you encouraging her to stay young as long as possible. Do you regret the fact that you never really had a childhood?
“Since I never had one, I don’t really know what to regret. All I do know is that she is happy and that means a lot to all of us.” He glanced at her. “Even people who claim to not have emotions.”
I have emotions from you. That is why I am trying to be so careful. You have a lot of anger and it would be very satisfying for us both if I just leveled this building. However, we have need of it. Have you given thought to your next step?
“Yeah.” He broke off as Tess and Paulette appeared.
“Empty. Sumptuous, though. Nice rumpus sized bed.” Tess winked at him.
“Onward. Let’s get this done before Lamya rusts in her armor.”
Paulette smirked. “I liked the extra large hot tub, myself.”
We’re in the Dark Continent. Who in their right mind would want a hot tub?” Devon shook his head. “Not that I’m not going to use it.” Someone chuckled.
Team one took the point, opening and investigating all three of the bedroom that lined the hall. Finally only one door remained, the one Ming Die said the human and the pokegirls were behind.
Devon shoved his way to the front. “I want to try something.” Paulette looked ready to haul him back behind everyone else.
He knocked on the door. “Wilhelm?”
A scared sounding voice called back. “I’ve already called for help. They’ll be here in just a little while, so you’d better go now.”
He lies. The base commander recently changed the access codes and he hadn’t been given them.
“I know that you haven’t called for help. You can’t. You don’t have the codes. Your boss didn’t trust you.” Devon leaned close to the door. Paulette tensed. “If you surrender, I will send you back to the Blue Continent and let you go.”
“How can you do that?”
“I have a pokegirl who can teleport. She will transport you to Belfast or Buncrana.”
He’s put his pokegirls into their pokeballs.
“I must be allowed to keep one of my pokegirls. The other is useless and you can have it.”
Devon took a deep breath and suppressed the flash of anger. “Fine, but she will only go with you if she wants to.”
“Oh, you’re one of those. Don’t worry; she wants to go with me.” The door was unlocked and pulled open from within. Paulette grabbed Devon and shoved him behind her as it opened.
Wilhelm was not going to be gracing any Team Viper recruiting posters, Devon decided. He was short and his Team Viper shirt was smudged and bulged out in the middle and sides. He peered around Paulette. “There you are.” He flipped a pokeball at Devon. “You can have her. She’s more trouble than she’s worth.”
Paulette plucked it out of the air and gave it a quick examination before handing it behind her. Devon scanned it “Nogitsune, the Can’t Get Any Tail Pokegirl. Nogitsune evolves from Kitsune when she is dishonored. Nogitsune is the only Kitsune evolution without a tail.”
“Who thinks up these titles? The ‘Can’t Get Any Tail Pokegirl’.” Devon looked at Zelda. “On three. One. Two. Three.”
Zelda grinned. “Eww.”
He stepped around Paulette as he tucked the pokeball into his pocket with the others. “I’m Devon. When can you be ready to leave?”
“I’ve got some stuff to pack, so maybe half an hour.”
“Fine. Let your pokegirl out so I can verify she wants to go with you.”
Wilhelm pulled a pokeball from his belt and released his pokegirl. As she coalesced, he asked, “What would you do if she didn’t want to go with me?”
Kathryn spoke. “We’d keep her from ye.”
“And the deal would be off and you would be dead meat.” This came from a smiling Zelda. Wilhelm swallowed hard.
Devon scanned the yellow furred cat who appeared. “Electrocat, the Excitable Electric Cat Pokegirl. Electrocat evolves from Merrowl with the use of a Thunder Stone.”
“What is your name?” Kathryn nodded to let her know who’d spoken.
“I am Dilara. That is my master, Wilhelm.” The Electrocat spoke up proudly, her ears up and forward.
“Wilhelm says you will want to go with him. Is this true?”
“Yes, I do. He’s been a good master to me, as much as he could.” She gave Wilhelm an affectionate glance. “He’s not very strong and so he couldn’t keep Mark from Taming me himself or giving me to Ciel whenever she wanted.” She shrugged. “Ciel is the one who really runs this base.”
“Who is Ciel?” Tess looked curiously at Dilara.
“She is the Killer Queen who owns Mark.”
Wilhelm interrupted. “That isn’t entirely true. Mark is the base commander, under Lord Crimson’s direction. Ciel is Mark’s pokegirl, but he is entirely submissive to her. I think she broke him about a year ago.”
Tess snickered. “If she’s the one we tied up in the torture chamber I’m sure she’s pretty angry right now.”
“Oh, most definitely. She hates not being in control.”
I would not recommend trying to keep that one in the Harem.
Devon gave her a look. “Do you think I am that insane?”
You do have a Neo Iczel and a Demon-Goddess in the same harem.
“That was a special case. They both agreed to it.” Devon sighed. “Fine. I was that crazy, but as far as I am concerned, we can add the Killer Queen to Zelda’s bonfire.”
Zelda spun as footsteps sounded behind her. It was Lamya. “So, can we come in now?”
“Obviously.” Devon looked past her. “Where is Hatsumi?”
“She’s bringing in the ones we caught outside.”
“Good. Kathryn will show you where the prison is.” Devon swung his attention to Wilhelm. “When is the airship from Scotland supposed to get in?”
Wilhelm looked surprised. “Not for at least another four days. How did you know about it?”
Devon ignored his question. He glanced at Ming Die. Is Wilhelm likely to contact Team Viper once he gets to Belfast?
Ming Die gave a small shake of her head. No, he wants to go far away from them and spend his life with Dilara. He intends to flee to some other continent or the Orange Isles. I will not have to kill him unless you just want him dead.
Devon shook his head. “Paulette, start getting the other human prisoners into the prison too. Tess, stay with Wilhelm and keep an eye on him and Dilara. Zelda help her out. As soon as he is ready to go, let me know. Paulette, would you have any trouble taking him to Belfast?”
“None at all.”
“Good. I’ll send Ming Die along with you as backup and I think we can put together a quick shopping list for supplies.”
“What are ye going to do, husband?”
“I’m going to find some sheets or something and take care of Seraphina and Vivien. When you get done with Lamya and Hatsumi, anyone who wants can help me.” He gave her a bleak look. “We’ll have a service for them tonight.”
Dilara exchanged a look with Wilhelm. “I’ll show you where the linen closet is.”
Devon favored her with a smile. “Thank you.”