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Chapter 3
Faelan shivered as the icy waters of the stream swirled around his thighs. Finished soaping his hair, he ducked under and rinsed, surfacing to shake the water from his body. Midori stood guard while he, Josephine and Svetlana bathed. Once they were done she would get her turn while someone guarded her.
What do you think?
Faelan glanced around to ensure everyone was out of earshot. “Please elaborate on the question.”
As a Tamer, how would you rate today’s training?
“As a fifteen year old Tamer I would have to say that my harem is excellent. Everyone is more than fairly competent and I’m pleased with the results of the day’s training sessions.”
As a man who spent a year working with the Clan Tsukkiken militias, how would you assess them?
“I would have to say we are screwed.” He sighed. “Individually, they are everything any militia commander would want. She’d want them over me, to be honest. But as a group, they stink.”
“If this great threat is anywhere as great as Svetlana keeps hinting, I’m going to be lucky if any of them survive the encounter.” He began stripping the water from his hair as he waded for the shore. “They have no idea of how to work as a team. As their Tamer and therefore their titular commander I don’t even know all of their strengths and weaknesses, but what I’ve seen does not fill me with hope.”
What about you?
“I’m fairly practical and when the last of my pokegirls falls, unless this threat is ready to pack it in and die, I’m going to retreat.” He sighed. “I have no idea of what the threat is, how it is composed, what its goals are or anything else.” He grimaced. “I have someone who does know, but she won’t tell me.”
“In short, I don’t know my team, I don’t know the enemy, and I don’t know squat.”
“It is really a shame, because in six months I could field a team that I would be willing to enter into the regional militia trials and expect to place in the small unit categories. I’ve got two days, according to my trusty oracle, and one of those is now gone.”
Faelan looked up to see Svetlana wading towards him. He felt anger surge. This was not a good time for her to be making an appearance.
The Megami-sama smiled. “I see you are done bathing. Has Josephine checked you for pheromones yet?”
His face went expressionless and his ears flattened themselves against his skull. “No.” His voice was taut with anger.
She edged away from him. “What is the matter?”
He almost snarled at her. “How many of us are you going to kill?”
Svetlana flushed and looked away. “I can’t tell you how many are going to die.”
“Everyone dies. I want to know how many of us you are going to kill because you won’t give me any information or help.”
“I can’t tell you what is going to happen.”
His voice rose. “What is the nature of this threat? Just how great is it? How many members does it compose? What are my options? Where is it?” He glared as she shook her head helplessly. “You don’t get it, do you? Or maybe you do and you just don’t care. I am a Wolf, and we do not take our responsibilities lightly. You have delivered into my care three pokegirls, including yourself. I am responsible for them. Now you are telling me that I have to watch some of them die.”
“I didn’t say that,” Svetlana tried to protest.
“I don’t know if everyone here is an idiot and that’s all you are used to working with, or maybe you think I’m stupid, but I just asked you how many you are going to kill and instead of saying no one was going to die, you told me that you couldn’t say. That tells me that some are not going to live.” Svetlana turned white. “Yeah, I tricked you. It wasn’t that hard.”
“Only you have the tools necessary to defeat this threat.”
“Then leave them out of this.”
Svetlana shook her head. “You need us to succeed.”
“If I have to watch them die then I don’t care about succeeding.” He nodded towards Josephine and Midori. “You three are my only responsibilities. I don’t care about anyone else.”
Svetlana’s shoulders slumped. “If you won’t help then I will have to go by myself. I won’t succeed, but I will be able to buy others time to intercept the threat.”
Faelan stepped up to her and stared into her eyes. “Are you going to release me from the responsibility of your welfare?”
She looked away. “No.”
“Then you must know full well that I cannot let you go. You know that my code of honor demands that I assist you and that it is going to get some people killed. My people.”
“Yes, I know that some of us will die.”
“And you know who.” She nodded slowly. “And you won’t tell me.” She nodded again. “Take me instead. Let them live.”
She blinked. “I can’t do that.”
“I don’t care who is supposed to die. If you let them live you can have me.”
“I can’t make deals with you, Faelan. No one can. The future is already set.”
“You lie.” His voice was quiet. “I know more about time than you think and the future is never immutable. If it was, then you wouldn’t have been concerned about making sure that I picked up Josephine. You are deliberately manipulating events to ensure the resolution that you want.” He looked at his other two pokegirls. “I am going to do this because I choose to do this. But it is my choice to make. They don’t get that luxury and I am not going to forget what could be going to happen to them.”
He turned to look at her squarely. “If you die, then I will mourn you as someone I worked with. If you live, I am going to get rid of you. I will never have another celestial pokegirl in my harem again.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “You can’t say what the future will bring to you.”
“You don’t get it. I don’t care if I find celestial pokegirls by the case; I’m not keeping one of them. I’ll fill my harem with nothing but Dark Ladys if I have to.” He gave her a hard look. “You might want to pass that along to your cosmic consciousness.”
Svetlana gave him bewildered look. “What do you have against doing something good?”
“Nothing, as long as everyone involved gets to choose the price they are willing to pay. I haven’t been asked if I am willing to do this. They haven’t been willing to do this. You decided who was going to be involved and what it is going to cost them. You alone.”
“That is not true, Faelan. I do not choose who lives and who dies. The future exists as lines of probability and we have to try and chose the lines that cost the least number of lives.”
“Well, at least you acknowledge that the future isn’t set. Now who is this we?”
“The ones you refer to as celestials. We have the job of guiding the world towards the greatest good.”
Faelan sneered. “Who gave you this job?”
“We assumed it. There was no one doing it before.”
“What about the gods? How do they feel about what you are doing?”
“They have been quiet on the matter.”
“So you decided that you were the best authorities to decide the path that everyone is supposed to travel, did you?”
She gave him an odd look. “We’re trying to help.”
“You help by commanding others to do your will and choosing who lives and dies. It sounds kind of dictatorial to me.”
She gave him a helpless look. “That isn’t how it is at all.”
“I guess we have a fundamental difference in philosophy. Someday, when things are quieter, maybe you can try to convert me to your beliefs. However, right now is a bad time.”
She gave him an exasperated look. “I thought some of your people were kami. Those are agents for good.”
Faelan snorted. “Not really. Kami are agents of enlightened self interest. If it is in their best interests to be beneficial they are, but if it isn’t then they aren’t.”
“But I’ve never heard of evil kami.”
“That is because they aren’t called kami at that point. They are called oni, or demons. The truth of the matter is, however, that they are the same kind of creature.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I think I remember saying that this isn’t the time.”
She nodded. “I’ll get Josephine to check your pheromone levels.”
“No, you won’t. Manipulate the cosmic consciousness to keep lustful pokegirls away from me if you want, but don’t pull anything else with me. My patience with you is hanging by a thread right now.” He started pulling on his clothes.
***
Faelan stepped out of the woods and looked around. He could see some fields and a cluster of buildings about two kilometers away. Heavy billows of smoke rose into the air from at least one of the buildings.
Svetlana landed and dismissed her wings. “That is the village of Tongue. Therein lies the great threat that you must destroy.”
Is she suddenly giving out useful information?
“So what is the nature of this threat?”
She gave him a ‘you’re a dummy’ look. “You must ascertain that for yourself.”
It was too much to hope for, wasn’t it?
“So, hop your pretty butt up into the air and give me a recon flight so you can come back and tell me what the threat is.”
“You’re mad at me and you say my bum is pretty.” She was looking at him oddly.
“That was two days ago. I don’t stay mad long.”
“So, are you still going to get rid of me?”
“I haven’t decided yet, although until you stopped obeying my commands I was inclined to keep you.”
“I do what you order me to,” she protested.
“Then why don’t I see golden wings flapping for that village?”
She gave him a sour look. “Oh, that. It’s a waste of time. Only you have the tools to identify this threat.”
Faelan’s ears twitched. “Then drop me off on yonder rooftop so I can identify it.”
Svetlana shook her head as she summoned her wings. “I advise against it. It’s too dangerous for you.”
“Noted. Eventually I have to step into harm’s way. It might as well be now.”
She sighed and turned him around to wrap her arms around his chest. “Try not to squirm. I really don’t want to drop you.”
“I don’t want to be dropped.”
Svetlana carried him to the village and dropped him on the roof of the local pub before landing beside him. Faelan glanced at her. “Get out of here.” He offered her Josephine and Midori’s pokeballs. “Take them back to the edge of the woods and tell them what you can.” She nodded and lifted off.
Faelan looked around. A house about fifty meters from him was burning merrily and the one next to it was caved in. None of the other dozen domiciles he could see were undamaged each had meter wide holes punched in them at random places on their walls and roof. Several parts of bodies were visible in the street. Some of them were crushed or partially so and quite a few of them looked as if they’d been torn apart. He noted idly that he couldn’t see enough parts of any particular corpse to make a whole body.
What does your nose tell you?
Faelan took a deep breath of air through his nostrils. “The blood is moderately fresh. I’d say they died within the last day or so.” He sneezed suddenly as smoke drifted across the rooftop.
Some of the still standing parts of the caved in house collapsed, sending rubble skittering out into the street at the same time as a muffled thump sounded.
What was that?
“I’m not sure.” The thump came again. Faelan swiveled his ears, trying to locate the sound. “It’s coming from the crushed house.” The thump sounded again, this time slightly louder.
I didn’t see anything. Did you?
“No, I didn’t see anything.” He frowned suddenly. “Oh, crap. Gestalt authorized.”
Gestalt? Are you sure? There was a pause. Beginning gestalt.
Faelan swallowed as the world twisted around him, or at least appeared to. When it settled down his surroundings appeared to be moving in quarter speed as his mind merged with that of his twee.
I want to review the memory of the first sound event.
Very well. Here it is. Once again Faelan saw the crumbling house as the first thump sounded. He watched carefully as the house collapsed further and this time, as he watched, he recognized the fact that the wreckage was being levered outward by some unseen force.
End gestalt. The world went back to normal speed and Faelan suddenly jumped fifteen meters onto the next roof. An instant later the roof of the pub exploded inward.
Faelan ran down the line of buildings back toward the clearing, jumping from roof to roof as he needed. When he hit the ground he accelerated to forty kilometers an hour and headed for the cluster of pokegirls.
What is going on? What was that?
“I don’t know, but whatever else it may be it is definitely invisible.”
Ah, that makes sense. That explains why only you have the tools to identify it. I doubt there is another mage of any caliber near here. The only organized magical academy is the Vale Academy and it is far from here.
“There is a school for mages? That may be where I’m going next. If mages are rare that would give me an advantage I’d be foolish to pass up.” He skidded to a stop in front of his pokegirls. “Gather round, ladies.” He waited until they’d joined him.
“Whatever this threat is, it is invisible, so I’m going to have to use my blood magic to let you see it. I’ll be dabbing blood on your eyelids in order for the magic to affect you.”
Josephine gave him a hesitant look. “If you say so.” Midori merely looked determined and Svetlana looked expectantly at him.
Faelan cupped his hands and sank his canines into the meaty part of his tongue. Blood began filling his mouth and a wave of pain stabbed. He ignored it, knowing that the pain to come would be much worse. When his mouth was full he let the blood drain into his hands.
He unleashed his magic and whispered, “Show me what I must see. Show us what we must see.” The pain increased a hundredfold and he moaned quietly once before squelching it. He tilted his hands and let the blood flow over his fingers to spatter on the ground. “Close your eyes.” He dabbed blood on each of his pokegirls eyelids and watched the blood soak into their skin and disappear before doing the same to himself.
“Ok.” The pokegirls opened their eyes, which now glowed a soft blue to match his. “Let’s see what we have.” He turned around to look at the village.
The magic made the standing form visible, but still she wavered at the edges. She stood at the edge of the village, towering over the building she stood next to. A huge club dangled in her right hand and the left hand glowed brightly.
I’d put her height at a good eighteen meters. Aim the pokedex at her. Faelan complied hastily. That is a Giantess. The pokedex entry essentially says run away from them and gives only minimal tactical data, however there is a comment that the bones just above the nose and between the eyes are very fragile. Caution is advised. They are considered a major threat across all of the leagues.
Josephine stirred. “What is that?”
“That is a Giantess.” Faelan sighed. “And we have to kill her.” He glanced at Svetlana. “I don’t suppose we could just call for help?”
The Megami-sama shook her head. “There isn’t a champion close enough to assist. She’s going to head for Wick next and she’ll kill everyone there before going to the Harris Conservatory on her way to Lairg. She has to be stopped here and now.”
“I take it no one in Wick could stop her?”
“You are the only one in the entire highlands who has the magic needed to make her visible. While invisible she is unstoppable.”
She looks pretty unstoppable visible too.
Midori was still staring at the Giantess. “Why does her hand glow like that?”
Faelan had noticed it too. “She’s got a magical item on her hand. Hopefully all it does is make her invisible. We’ll only know for sure when I remove it from her corpse.” He thought hard for a moment and looked at Svetlana. “Can nonmagical weapons hurt her?”
“Not very much. They are incredibly tough.”
“Great. That makes me the primary and everyone else the distraction.” He glanced at Midori’s sword. “I’m going to have to learn to use my magic on your sword.” He sighed. “Too bad it won’t help today.”
“Here is the plan. Josephine, Midori, Svetlana, I want you to use distance attacks to keep the Giantess busy. Try not to close with her. Josephine, if you can, try to hit her between the eyes with your rock throw attack. Supposedly Giantesses are weak there and a lucky shot can kill her instantly. Think lucky.”
“Svetlana, I want you to use bestow luck on Josephine before she gets started and then hit her with whatever you can, lighting, power bolt, whatever. Keep an eye on the others and heal them if they need it.”
“Midori, use confusion and psychic on her and keep close to Josephine. Help to protect her. Josephine, you do the same for Midori.”
“I’m going to circle around the village and come up behind her. The only weapons we have that can really hurt her are my claws, so I’m going to have to go to point blank range.”
“Don’t stop any of your attacks if you think I’m going to get in the way. I can take massive damage and keep going. Just keep hitting her and keep her attention focused in front of her.” He smiled. “I’m not a glory hound, by the way, so if you can drop her before I can, I won’t be upset.”
Svetlana nodded. “I can teleport you back to the rooftop where I dropped you off. That will keep your travel time down.”
“Excellent. Svetlana will give the order to commence the attack when she returns. Let’s be about this ladies and everyone be careful.”
Svetlana took his hand and the terrain flickered as they moved to the pub roof. There was just enough room for them to stand where they appeared. The Megami-sama leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “For luck.” He felt energy waft through him as she used her bestow luck ability.
“Thanks, but don’t you already know we are going to be successful?”
She stuck out her tongue at him. “You are impossible.” She vanished.
Faelan dropped off the roof and started trotting towards the Giantess. How are you planning to hit her in her weak spot?
I’m not. I’m going to use the first rule of dragon hunting.
Hire some other poor shmuck to kill the dragon? While good advice, I hardly think it is appropriate for the situation.
No, the first rule of the dragon hunter, not the first rule of hunting dragons.
Find a safer line of work?
Ok, the second rule.
Never attack the end that the bad stuff comes out of. Ok, that one makes more sense, even though I don’t see what attacking the Giantess’ rectum is going to accomplish.
Never mind. Watch and learn, grasshopper.
I prefer to think of myself more as the hand in Vampire Hunter D.
But the hand is useful. It even protects D when he’s injured. When have you ever done that for me?
I’m pacing myself. You wouldn’t want me to run out of help when you need it the most, now would you?
Up ahead, Faelan could see the Giantess. She bellowed as a power bolt took her in the face and a thrown rock smashed into her cheek. She moved backwards and grabbed the chimney pots from a couple of roofs before slowly moving out into the clearing.
Faelan slowed down as he left the cover of the buildings and silently moved towards the lumbering Giantess. She hesitated as another power bolt took her in the chest. Suddenly she hurled the chimney pots at Josephine and Midori.
The Heroine had moved forward to block them when they hit the ground a meter in front of her and shattered like a bomb. Fragments sleeted across her and the Sabretooth Tigress like shrapnel and they both went down in a flurry of limbs.
Faelan tumbled into the turf as sudden pain slashed through his body. He fought his way back to his feet to see the Giantess put on a sudden spurt of speed and race towards his fallen pokegirls. She was much faster than he thought she would be.
The pain must be due to the delta bond you have with Midori. You have to get moving.
Faelan tried to put the pain out of his mind and fell into a dead run. He wasn’t fast enough as the Giantess got to his pokegirls first and her club fell with a dreadful finality. He crumbled to his knees and skidded as his head exploded in agony. She struck again and again, pounding her foes into the ground. Lightning smashed into her face and chest but she shrugged off the blows as Svetlana tried to drive the Giantess from her fallen harem sisters.
Faelan snarled and charged towards his enemy as she continued to smash the dead pokegirls. He came to a halt a dozen meters away and jumped, landing on the Giantess’ back just as another series of lighting bolts smashed into her. His claws dug in just below her shoulder blades.
Hanging by his left hand, Faelan extended the claws of his right to their full ten centimeter length and struck, cutting horizontally across the right side of the Giantess’ back. He fully expected the pokegirl’s skin to be tough, but he didn’t think it would be like cutting concrete as his talons cut a furrow only a centimeter deep.
Her skin must be more than six centimeters thick. I don’t even think she noticed the hit, much less your presence.
She does happen to weigh about a thousand times more than me, so I guess that isn’t unexpected. Once I get through her epidermis I expect her to notice me right away.
Svetlana continued to rain lighting down on the Giantess as he clawed at the back of the leviathan. The Giantess lurched into motion, trying futilely to close with the Megami-sama.
Faelan hung on grimly as he continued to cut his way into the Giantess’ back. Finally a spot of blood appeared after a cut. He took a deep breath and focused his ki as he dug the claws of his left hand more deeply into the tough skin.
The Giantess screamed and ground to a halt as he struck and the flesh parted beneath his claws like water. A pair of ribs the size of his thigh gleamed in the sun on either side of the cut. Faelan retracted his claws as he whipped his hand back and drove it between the ribs, angling across and under the spine. He felt warm, wet spongy material and then a void and then more warm sponginess as his hand slid into the Giantess’ body. Extending his claws, he ripped his hand back, blood swirling around it as he cut across both soft bodies.
His left shoulder exploded in agony as it was crushed and he realized as he fell free that the Giantess had reached her club up over her shoulder like it was a tremendous back-scratcher to strike at him. He dropped to the ground heavily and ran between her legs as she turned.
The Giantess struck at him and missed as he accelerated and dodged, cradling his left arm with his right. His skin tried to shudder away from his shirt as he realized that the club’s strike had left blood and other bits from his pokegirls stuck to it.
The Giantess lumbered into pursuit and quickly picked up speed. Faelan knew that he was faster than any speed he’d seen her use before, but she had a lot of reach on him as another near miss peppered him with shards of rock and turf.
Suddenly she slowed and halted. Faelan grinned and ran for a couple of dozen more meters before halting and turning to face his pursuer. He ripped his shirt off and threw it away.
“Faelan, get out of there!” Svetlana screamed at him from the safety of the sky. He waved to her absently as he gave the Giantess a searching look. She was gasping and had surprised look on her face. He peered more closely and grinned before sinking cross-legged to the ground as he slowly rotated his left arm. The pain was still bad, but the wound was slowly starting to knit. He knew that he wouldn’t be using it for at least an hour though.
“Faelan, run!”
He never took his eyes from the Giantess as he yelled back a reply. “It’s ok! Why don’t you come and join me!”
Faelan stared into the eyes of the Giantess and smiled broadly at the glare of hate she gave him. She knew.
The grass stirred and a brief breeze blew against his back as Svetlana landed behind him. “Faelan, you need to get out of here now!” She grabbed his left shoulder and he stifled a scream.
He batted at her hand. “It’s over.” Her hand slipped away as he raised his voice, hoping that his opponent could understand him. “You know it don’t you? You don’t know why, but you know.” She growled and tried to raise her suddenly heavy club. It slid from her fingers to the ground with a crash. “Hard to breathe, isn’t it? You killed two of my pokegirls and I’m going to sit here and watch you die.”
“Faelan, what is going on? Why isn’t she attacking and more importantly why aren’t you running?”
He glanced up at the Megami-sama, who stood there with her wings trembling. “She can’t. If you went around behind her, you’d see that I managed to cut a hole in her back. Right over her lungs. Which I shredded. So right now, she’s got shredded lungs and a hole in her torso. She will never be able to breathe again. So all she can to is stand there and suffocate.” He smiled. “I’m going to watch her slowly die.”
Svetlana looked appalled. “Don’t you think you could get close enough to finish her off?”
“Not right now, but in a couple of minutes she won’t be able to stand so it would be easy. Not that I intend to do anything. She’s already dead, and I have no urge to put myself in anymore danger to speed the process along. Only magical healing would save her now, and she’s not going to get that.”
“That’s inhumane.” Svetlana sounded almost sad.
“Perhaps, but I’m not human.” With a crash, the Giantess crumbled to her knees. “I’m willing to submit to your squeamishness on certain things, but I’m going to let her die at her own pace.” He smiled. “I’ve already decided that I’m going to let all of that meat go to waste because I figured that it would upset you, what more do you want?”
Svetlana gave a startled gasp. “You were going to eat her? That’s sick!”
“I do have a smashed shoulder to heal up and several kilos of one of her thighs would certainly speed that process along, but like I said, I’m not going to do it. As long as I have you, pokegirls are off the menu.”
“Pokegirls should never be on your menu.” Svetlana sounded mildly outraged.
“I guess that means you’ll have to stick around, doesn’t it?” The Giantess was now supporting herself with her arms, but they were starting to tremble. Her lips had turned blue from cyanosis.
“I am sorry that I failed you, Honored Lord.”
“You didn’t fail me, Midori,” he relied absently and then froze as Svetlana gasped. Slowly, he turned his head.
She wavered in the sunlight like a mirage and Faelan swallowed past a sudden lump in his throat. “Midori?” His voice was a whisper.
“Yes, Honored Lord.” She slowly became more solid. “I am sorry that I was unable to protect Josephine as you commanded me to.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You did everything that you could. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to save your life.”
Midori slowly reached out a hand in his direction. “You are so warm and I am so cold.” Her eyes were suddenly filled with hunger.
Pokedex. Faelan pulled it out and aimed it. She has become an Astral Heroine. I would recommend caution. Astral pokegirls feed off of life energy.
Faelan suddenly looked tired. “I failed in my charge to you, Midori. Take what you need.”
Svetlana turned white. “No, Faelan!” She moved to stand between them only to have Midori step through her effortlessly.
Midori wrapped her arms around Faelan and he felt her coldness sear his very soul as she fed. His vision began to dim and he heard a roaring in his ears as his breathing slowed.
Release your magic. He obeyed without thinking and the magic roared through him, for once without pain. It filled him up and spilled over Midori, filling her as well.
She snapped into solidity and kissed him gently on the cheek before rising. “Thank you, Honored Lord.”
Faelan took a deep breath. Not even his shoulder hurt. “You are welcome, but I thought we talked about the Honored Lord nonsense.”
She smiled mysteriously. “I now know the truth, Honored Lord. You are indeed my kami and I will serve you forever.”
I guess that makes sense considering your father is a necromancer. Apparently you have your first ghost.
“Midori, you can’t call me that. I am not a god. I’m only fifteen, for blood’s sake.”
“Yes, Master Wolf.” She bowed her head and then looked directly in his eyes. He noted idly that they were still blue. “I know that you no longer have any living worshippers and I intend to correct that as soon as I return to the shrine near my home.”
Faelan slowly pulled Midori’s pokeball from his belt and activated it. “I can’t have you doing that. You have no idea of the trouble you could be causing if you created a cult to me.”
When the containment beam struck her and nothing happened, Faelan’s mouth dropped open in shock.
Midori smiled. “It seems, Master Wolf, that the other gods feel otherwise. This is for the best.” She gave him a suddenly shy look. “Please, don’t be angry with me.”
“I’m not. I just don’t think this is going to turn out well.”
“Everything will turn out well, Honored Lord. I know it.” Midori touched his cheek gently. “May I still be your pokegirl as I was when I was alive?” She cocked her head. “I crave your touch more than ever.” A seductive smile grew on her face. “I know more now and will be able to please you as a wife should.”
Faelan gave her an unreadable look. “Yes, you are still mine.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You are mine, now and forever, until the end of time. This I swear.” The air shivered with the power of the oath.
“Thank you Honored Lord. Summon me when you want me.” She vanished.
Faelan sighed quietly and glanced around. “Blood and darkness!”
Svetlana jumped and looked around quickly. “What is it?”
He gestured angrily at the slumped over Giantess. “She died and I missed it! I can’t believe this!”
***
Faelan looked down at the remains of Josephine and Midori and then over at Svetlana. “I suppose you want to bury them?”
Svetlana gave him a wary look. “What else would we do with them?” She searched his face carefully.
He grinned suddenly. “Nothing like that. My people burn their dead.”
“Oh, is there any particular reason why they do that?”
“There are several reasons why we burn our dead. First, there isn’t room for vast cemeteries. Also, we burn our dead to ensure that the bodies aren’t vandalized. Third, we burn them so that the remains can be cycled back into our flower and vegetable gardens.
We burn our opponents for the simple reason that it makes sure our enemies stay dead. There has been more than one episode where they popped back out of the ground before we started burning them.”
Svetlana stared at him. “You have got to be kidding.”
“I can’t lie, remember. Kidding like that would be telling an untruth.”
“I never thought about it that way.” She looked the bodies over critically. “It would be hard to separate them enough to bury them individually. I guess burning them wouldn’t be an issue.” She gestured towards the dead Giantess. “What about her?”
“We remove the head to get the bounty and leave the rest. Since you won’t let me scavenge through the remains of the town, whoever shows up can deal with her.”
“You wanted to loot the entire town! That isn’t right.”
“You still haven’t given me a good reason. We didn’t find any survivors, and the people who will inherit what is left should be grateful that anything is left, regardless of how much I glean.” He gave her an amused look. “All I wanted to take was some food and drink and any lose money. I was going to leave any jewelry and anything else that might be a family heirloom.”
“That’s still not right.”
He shrugged. “A matter of opinion. I just wanted some stuff and to use one of those houses for a nice hot bath and a soft bed.”
Svetlana looked hesitant. “I don’t see where they would begrudge us the bath and a dry bed.”
Faelan shook his head. “I’m not willing to allow any half measures. Either those are fair game or they belong to someone and we shouldn’t trespass at all.”
The Megami-sama gave him a sad smile. “Then we shouldn’t trespass at all.”
“I guess that is your decision.” Faelan shrugged. “I need you to go back to Wick and find someone who can come here to verify that we killed the Giantess and who can authorize the bounty.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going into the town to scrounge something flammable to start a fire and then I’m going to start collecting firewood for the funeral pyre. I suspect that there isn’t a crematorium in the village. After that, I’m going to get that magic item off of the Giantess.”
Svetlana nodded. “Ok, I’ll leave right away.” She vanished.
Faelan grabbed up his backpack and started jogging towards the village. He figured that he had time to do some quick looting and get some alcohol or petrol before Svetlana returned.
I thought you said you weren’t going to do any looting?
“No, I agreed with her that she thought I shouldn’t do any looting. I never gave her my opinion. I’m hoping I get lucky and find some pokeballs.”
Svetlana knows you don’t have any other pokegirls.
“I wouldn’t keep them. It’s just that if I find one, then I have an excuse to search the whole village just in case there might be any others who need rescued and you never know what might fall into my backpack.”
What about any heirs of the property in the village?
“I just killed a great threat to the entire Blue Continent, remember? They can blow me.”
***
“We want to thank you for rescuing the pokegirls.” This OfficerJenny was much more pompous than the one he’d met before. Faelan suspected from Svetlana’s smug look that she’d been careful not to bring that one. “You can trust that we’ll make sure that they get returned to the survivors of the families who died here.”
Faelan nodded humbly. “Just trying to help.” He’d found the first filled pokeball while getting some accelerants from the ruins of the pub and had then found another half dozen while searching the rest of the village. He’d been careful not to take anything that might be missed, just loose cash and spices. He’d also swiped some fragrant soap to use as presents for Svetlana. He’d just wait a little while before presenting them to her. “What about the bounty?”
The pokegirl frowned. “That is a little more problematic. You shouldn’t have taken a Giantess on by yourselves and so the powers that be may be a little hesitant about rewarding someone who is trying to buck the system.”
Faelan gave her an unfriendly look. “My Megami-sama told me to take her on and I did. She said it would minimize the loss of life and I expect the whole bounty to be paid.” The really aggravating part was that he had little recourse if they cheated him out of the bounty, but he had to play the game like he didn’t know that and while threats would most likely be counterproductive, a little constructive anger just might help to get things moving.
The Jenny glanced at Svetlana who nodded emphatically. “Faelan Wolf was chosen to be the champion who would destroy this Giantess and he deserves his reward.”
The Jenny nodded. “I agree with you, but my superiors will make the final decision.”
What will you do if they don’t pay it?
I need that money. I wonder how long it would take to steal ten million credits worth of Blue League equipment. I’d leave receipts, of course.
I never doubted it for a second.
Svetlana gave Faelan a look that said that perhaps she had a pretty good idea of what was going through his mind. “You might want to mention that if they choose to rob a hero of his reward then, when I plaster this all over the nets, it is very likely that other Tamers will probably become much more reluctant to assist the authorities.”
The OfficerJenny suddenly looked like she’d bitten into a lemon. “I’ll let them know.” She shrugged. “I think he should get the bounty. He didn’t break any laws and there is a bounty. The only problem I could see would be that my superiors are sometimes slow to process the paperwork for bounties.”
Bureaucracies are apparently a universal affliction.
“I see. How slow are we talking and would there be a way to speed up the process?”
The lemon had apparently started to rot as the OfficerJenny’s expression grew bitterer. “You would have to talk to them about that, but off the record I’ve seen where some largess often speeds up the process.” She brightened and gave Svetlana a smile. “There may be something that will help you in the meantime. All I’m supposed to do is verify that the Giantess exists and was killed. I wasn’t given any instructions as to the disposition of the body and so I’m going to let you have it. If you contact the Harris Conservatory, they might be interested in purchasing it or might know someone who would.”
“I don’t suppose you would let me borrow your com?”
“I don’t see where that would be any problem.” She pulled her com off her belt and punched in a code before handing it over. “I entered the com code so all you have to do is press send. I’m going to go survey the town. Just come find me when you’re done.”
Faelan smiled cheerfully. “Thank you very much.”
The OfficerJenny winked. “While I have to work for humans I sometimes don’t respect very much, they can’t keep me from being helpful.” She turned and headed into the ruined village.
Svetlana watched her go with a mildly annoyed look. “I don’t know if she should be rewarded or punished for that attitude about working around the system.”
Faelan grinned. “Definitely rewarded and as soon as I get my money I think I’ll take care of a reward for her.”
“Why don’t you just Tame her? That seems to be what every pokegirl wants.”
Faelan smirked. “She didn’t give a me second glance, but I think she might appreciate a Taming from you.”
Svetlana gave him a startled look and then turned to look at the retreating back of the OfficerJenny. “I didn’t notice.” She looked suddenly conflicted.
“Proud. You are a beautiful woman and should be proud when someone notices, even if you don’t want to be with them. Unless, of course, they are scum.”
“How did you know what I was thinking about?”
“Lucky guess?”
Her eyes narrowed. “That was another question, not an answer.”
“Was it?” He scanned the number on the com and pushed send.
I have the calling information for your own com unit.
The com link connected and he was looking at a pretty Bunnygirl. “Thank you for calling the Harris Conservatory, how may I…” She broke off as Faelan’s face registered. “Faelan, why are you calling on a security com number?” She sighed. “Let me guess, Poppet didn’t tell you that she changed her private number, right?”
Faelan blinked. “Uh, that’s right, she didn’t tell me.”
The Bunnygirl grinned and rattled off a com number. “That’s her new private number. She changed it because we’ve had some recent problems with internal security.”
“Ah, is everything fine now?”
“It looks like it. Let me go ahead and transfer you.” She vanished and a hold symbol appeared.
Svetlana gave Faelan a hard look. “I didn’t know you two knew each other?”
Faelan shrugged. “Neither did I. We’ve never met.”
“Do you know how this could be happening?”
“Actually I might. Let me ask you a question. I want to go to the magic school at Vale. What do you think of the idea? More importantly, what does the cosmic consciousness think of the idea?”
She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Going to the school would make many things easier in the future, but right now is not a good time.” She gave him a direct look. “While I can’t say a whole lot about it, the near future is likely to be very busy.”
“I thought that might be the situation. What about say, ten years ago?”
She gave him an odd look. “That would have been fine.”
“Then all I need to do is remember to talk to my father when I see him next to make the arrangements to send me back in time ten years or so.”
She shook her head. “Your mind just snapped.”
He grinned. “We’ll see.”
Svetlana jumped as there was a quiet popping noise and a leather satchel appeared in the air in front of Faelan and dropped to the ground with a soft thump.
Faelan grabbed it just as the hold signal was replaced by a pretty blonde with a horn in the middle of her forehead. “Faelan, it’s good to hear from you again.” She smiled. “I don’t suppose you are coming by to visit?” Her eyes narrowed as she peered more closely. “You’ve changed.” She glanced off to the side. “Ah. I see.” She looked directly at him again. “This is the first time you’ve talked to me, isn’t it?”
Faelan’s ears flicked. “It sounds like you and I know each other pretty well.”
She nodded. “Yes, we do. You’ve recently been helping me to keep an eye on some projects for me. We were also lovers for a time. You were willing to help me out with that ever since Cameron stopped paying attention to me until I found someone else.” She smiled. “It was only recently that you told me a little about the fact that you did a little time traveling.”
“What did I tell you?”
“Only that you had gone back in time a decade to go to school at Vale and that the younger you would be calling sometime soon.” She squared her shoulders. “So, what are you calling about?”
“I’m outside of the remains of the village of Tongue and I’ve got a dead Giantess that I’ve been told you might be interested in purchasing.”
“A Giantess, here in the Highlands? I would be very interested, depending on how long she’s been dead.”
“A little over two hours.”
“I’ll dispatch a collection team at once.” She leaned back. “I’d be willing to pay three quarters of a million credits for her.” She shrugged. “All I really want are her ovaries. The rest of her will get ground up into pokechow.” She smiled. “Waste not, want not, as you always say.”
Faelan grinned. “Since it looks like I’m going to need the money, done.”
“What is the problem?”
“I’ve been informed that the Blue League may be a little slow about paying my bounty and right now I don’t have any other source of income.”
“Were you? I’ll take care of that. You’ll have all of your money by morning.” She smiled grimly. “Recently the Blue League Security Forces have managed to smear their reputation pretty badly and I’m sure they wouldn’t want to make things worse.”
“Oh?”
“They had a real cock up in Glasgow recently and then a member of the Blue League Council died under, let’s just say unusual circumstances.” She gave him an appraising look. “Tongue isn’t that far away, so why don’t you come by and I’ll give you all the details.”
Faelan glanced at Svetlana, who quickly wiped the angry expression off of her face. “I’m not sure that would be a good idea right now.” She threw him a grateful smile.
Poppet laughed. “Svetlana huh? That pokegirl has never liked me. Well you are always welcome in my home.”
“I have to ask, are we still lovers?”
She smiled. “No. We were lovers for only a short time. You helped me over some rough spots and once I was better you gently pulled away from me. I was upset at the time, but now I realize just how good you were to me.” She grinned. “You can tell your Alpha that all we do now is talk. It is just nice to be able to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t want to kiss my feet for some purpose of their own.” She frowned. “Or is always angry at me.”
“If we are such good friends then I would recommend giving the older me a call. He is probably keeping away to keep from confusing you about the two of us and I’ll be gone tomorrow or the next day.”
Poppet nodded. “You have always given me good advice. I’ll call him tomorrow. Do you have any messages for him?”
Faelan shook his head. “No, but I thank you for the offer.”
“Fine. I’ll get cracking on getting you your bounty then. Do you want it sent to your regular account?”
Faelan blinked. “I don’t have an account yet, so no.”
“Oh, how about I have the money converted to cash and teleported to you instead.”
“That sounds great. Then I can take it with me when I leave.”
“Done, then.” She glanced off to the side. “Look, I have to go. Do you need anything else?”
“No, for someone I’ve never met you have been wonderfully helpful.”
She dimpled. “Thank you. You’ve always been good at flattery.” The screen died as the connection ended.
Svetlana looked amused. “No goodbye, that was rude.”
Faelan shook his head. “Apparently not if you are good friends.”
“I don’t like her.”
“Noted.” He grabbed the pack up and opened it. “Ah, here we go. A letter from dad, some gold and jewels.” He frowned. “A collection of music CDs? Oh, negotiable valuables.” He went back to rummaging. “What else have we got? A small computer, some upgrades for my twee and other odds and ends. What, no weapons?” He sighed and shut the pack. “I was really hoping for a plasma rifle or something like that.”
Svetlana smiled. “That is forbidden tech and you couldn’t keep it anyway.”
Faelan glanced at her. “You’d turn me in, wouldn’t you?”
“If I had to, but I know you would make the right decision on your own before it reached that stage.”
This is going to be fun. What are my upgrades?
I’m not sure. There looks to be some data modules and some enhancements. We’ll deal with them later.
I want them now. Now now now now now now now now now now.
Later. We have work to do now.
Faelan pulled out a scroll and opened it. “Here is the spell I’m going to need.” He read through it. “Looks ok. We should go back in time twelve years. That will be plenty.”
I have it. Later you will be able to reproduce it if you feel brave enough and I get my upgrades soon.
Svetlana looked curiously at the scroll as he rolled it up. “Is that safe?”
“As safe as it can be. There is only a small chance that something will go wrong.”
“What would happen at that point?”
“Who knows? We just might get to find out what dinosaur tastes like or what life is like in medieval Scotland.”
“Oh. I don’t think we should do that.” There was a flash of red light as Faelan put Svetlana in her pokeball.
“I thought you might try that.” He shook his head. “Midori.”
She appeared. “You summoned me Honored Lord?”
“Tomorrow we are going to go back in time twelve years. You might want to wait to start anything until then.”
“Hai, Honored Lord. That is a very wise request.” She smiled. “What would you have me do instead?”
He grinned. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”
***
Shiagari
GIANTESS, The Really Effing Big Pokegirl
Type: Humanoid
Element: Rock
Frequency: Extremely Rare (Thank God)
Diet: Anything small and wriggly they can catch
Role: Plundering & Pillaging, Fortress raids
Libido: No one's dared to try and find out.
Strong Vs.: Normal, Rock, Steel, Ice
Weak Vs.: Psychic, Flying, Ghost
Attacks: Punch, Kick, Pummel, Club (similar to Hammer, although they do not have to summon it)
Enhancements: Enhanced Strength (x30 Human), Toughness (Presumed x30 Human), Giant Club, TALL
Evolves: Hopefully Nothing
Evolves From: Giant Trollop (Diamond Stone)
Bounty (for confirmed kill): 10,000,000 SLC
Bounty (for reporting sighting & getting out alive): 900,500 SLC
Recommendation if you see one: Evacuation is the best bet for survival. If you can't evac, try to strike it between the eyes with a solid blow, as that is the only weak point of a Giantess.
Found in the year 210 AS by an expedition headed by Mishima International Research, one of the few companies to survive Sukebe's Revenge, only five people lived out of the one-hundred that went on the expedition. Giantesses, after some research into discovered notes written by Sukebe himself, have apparently been living in the mountains for years, keeping humans from using them as staging points during the war of Sukebe's Revenge and attacking human fortresses. Any venturing into mountainous regions is now strictly monitored and in some cases forbidden completely until research into Giantesses is completed. What little is known about Giantesses is that they are basically human in appearance (and ironically rather attractive, a drastic change from their previous forms), save for the fact that they are 30 feet tall at the minimum and are heavily muscled, like a human bodybuilder (only bigger).
(Ironically, there are also the most physically attractive of their evolutionary line, their faces usually having soft, delicate features.)
No mating habits have been discovered through aerial and psionic surveillance, as Giantesses seem content to spend their days eating whatever and whomever they catch, sleeping, patrolling the caves that they make their homes in, smashing huge boulders with their giant stone clubs, and relaxing in the sun on summer days.
Tamers are strictly forbidden to go after Giantesses, and if one is spotted in a non-mountainous region, a reward similar to the kind offered for information on Widow sightings will be given if the Giantess is reported. There are only a few confirmed reports of Giant Trollops evolving into Giantesses via a Diamond Stone, so anyone with both a Giant Trollop and a Diamond Stone are hereby ordered to IMMEDIATELY turn either one or the other, or possibly both, into the authorities immediately or face criminal charges.
It should be mentioned that a Giantess is not entirely invincible. Right between their eyes is a soft patch of bones that, if struck hard enough, will kill a Giantess instantly. There is a legend about a tamer named David who killed a Giantess with a rock shot from a sling, although no one can seem to remember where this legend started.
ASTRAL (insert name here), the Spectral (insert title here) Pokegirl
Type: as per base type
Element: Ghost/base type
Frequency: Very Rare
Diet: life energy
Role: as per base type, if applicable
Libido: as per base type
Strong Vs: Bug, Fighting, Ghost, Poison, Psychic, Rock, plus base type “Strong Vs”
Weak Vs: Dark plus base type “Weak Vs”
Attacks: Night Shade, Energy Drain, plus base type’s attacks
Enhancements: Incorporeal, Invisibility, Sleeplessness, plus base type’s enhancements
Evolves: None
Evolves From: base type
An Astral (insert name here) pokegirl is one who refused to let go of this life, even after dying. While in rare instances, a pokegirl who dies can evolve into a Spectra, an Astral pokegirl is one who has died but had enough emotional distress to keep on existing after death, but without the requisites (whatever they may be) to become a Spectra. Any pokegirl may become an Astral pokegirl after dying if they were emotionally distressed enough, save for Ghost-types, who cannot become something else after death.
An Astral pokegirl appears exactly as she did in life. Her dying wounds do not show, nor do other disfigurements. It is still apparent she is dead however, because Astral pokegirls are naturally incorporeal. They may become corporeal with concentration, which allows them to be Tamed still, but once they cease concentrating, they fade back to incorporeality. Astral pokegirls are in, in their natural state, visible but transparent, when they become corporeal; they become solid, and can usually pass for living pokegirls as long as a pokedex or another pokegirl able to detect types doesn’t give them away. When in their normal incorporeal state, an Astral pokegirl may pass through solid objects, but still naturally doesn’t sink through the ground unless they deliberately try to; they can interact with solid objects only by becoming solid themselves. Astral pokegirls cannot fly unless they could in life. If an Astral pokegirl sinks through the ground and wishes to rise back up, she must solidify herself and climb back up; doing this works even when she is underground in solid earth since Astral pokegirls are composed of ether instead of flesh (living creatures who somehow solidify themselves in another object become permanently grafted to that object are bound to it unless they can somehow phase out of it). An Astral pokegirl may make herself invisible at will, but this takes just as much concentration as making herself solid. An Astral pokegirl cannot become both invisible and solid at the same time. Astral pokegirls do not need to (and cannot) sleep, but they can still be exhausted from becoming solid or invisible too long and/or too often. Exhaustion is cured by a new infusion of life energy.
In addition to needing to be Tamed as much as they did in life, an Astral pokegirl also needs to absorb life energy from another sentient creature. If she doesn’t do this at least once every ten days, she can no longer sustain her own existence, and fades into death. She can also use the energy she has to unleash the powerful Nightshade attack. Beyond that, her attacks, strategies, and enhancements remain the same as they did in life.
Astral pokegirls obviously can never bear children, since they are not alive. Astral pokegirls are also forever locked into their current form; they can never evolve (nor devolve if that is ever an issue) nor have any other status changes. Despite no longer suffering the rigors of age, Astral pokegirls do have something of a “lifespan.” Eventually, they feel less and less attached to this life. It may take decades, but eventually, as the companions she knew split up and succumb to old age, ennui sets in, and the strength of personality that let her defy death to begin with begins to erode. The Astral pokegirl begins wanting her next infusion of life energy less and less, until she quietly lets herself fade away.
There have been no known Feral Astral pokegirls ever. It is suspected that an Astral pokegirl who goes Feral loses the force of will necessary to sustain her own existence, and fades very quickly. Threshold girls never become an Astral pokegirl directly, though they have as much chance of becoming one after death as any other pokegirl if they are distressed enough at their time of death.