::introtext::
Chapter 7
Geno was not amused a week later, as he stumbled out of the dojo, his body hurting, which was quickly becoming the normal for him. No longer did he train from ten in the morning until noon. No, now it was eight in the morning until noon, as Taki had found out that he had the recovery and endurance bloodgifts as well. But he was not going to complain, no, not yet at least. He was much more skilled at dodging now, and could do so endlessly, as long as his opponent was not considerably faster than he was. And he was now allowed to use a wooden, weighted staff, both with wooden blocks on the end instead of blades, so he could not hurt his sparring partner. He was getting used to the weight, but he was still having a hard time controlling the staff when he tried to change directions with it.
No, he thought, he was not unamused about his progress, nor of his pokegirls, both of whom were being taught both basic defensive techniques, and were being trained as well. Helaine was putting on a good amount of muscle, and her attitude was improving toward combat, no longer being so cautious, but learning how to gauge an opponent, and react accordingly. If her opponent was a fighting type, at least. It would be interesting to see how she did against a feral of another type.
He stretched, and headed to the Pokecenter to get Tiria and Helaine healed, as they had taking a beating today, as Taki had had Masaki help her today. He had been the sole student of Taki, again, while Masaki fought with Helaine mostly, and a bit with Tiria. He was most pleased with her progress, as she was able to learn a few simple techniques that would make her defenses much more efficient. He was very proud of both of them and made a point to tell them both later. He stretched sore muscles as he walked to the pokecenter, and as soon as he entered the Pokecenter, his wrist computer beeped at him. Giving the two pokÈballs to the attendant Nursejoy">Nursejoy with a smile and thanks, he glanced at the computer and saw that he had...nine messages?
Frowning, he navigated to the message window, but looked up as the Nurse Joy Catherine asked, "Is it alright if Tiria stays here to visit for a while? It was nice having someone my age to talk to."
Looking up, he smiled tiredly at her, and said, "If she wants to, of course. It is not like I need her immediate and constant attention. And besides, I have Helaine to keep me out of trouble."
The smile on her face was reward enough, and he made a note to mention that Tiria could spend her time up here if she wanted something to do. Leaning on the counter, he yawned, and gave his head a shake, rolling his sore shoulders, and flipped through the messages. Eight of the messages were trade offers for the two Hounds. Several of them had been posted before he had woken up this morning, and he wondered why he had not noticed the messages earlier, but remembered that he had nearly been late, and had not had time to check for new messages this morning. Shaking his head and smothering another yawn, he opened the messages looking to see what offers he had gotten.
The two Hounds were not very powerful, so he was not expecting much for them. And the offers, while not as bad as he had feared, they were not as good as he had hoped. Six trade offers, for a Titmouse, a Pidgy, a Titodile, a Witch, a Drow Zee, and Bunnygirl. Looking at the offers, he sent polite refusals to the offers of the Titmouse, Pidgy, Bunnygirl and Pidgy, but kept the two offers for the Witch and Drow Zee open. Looking at the other two offers, one offering 75,000 SLC for the Hound, the other a thunderstone, he hummed to himself. Sending another refusal to the offer of the thunderstone, he looked at the three remaining offers and felt a bit guilty. After all, who was he to decide what happened to the Hounds? They had simply been defending their home, when he brazenly wandered through it, and now they were about to be separated, probably never seeing each other again, nor the track of land they once called home. And the way the world was now, he could not even soothe his conscious be telling himself that they were going to a better home.
Shaking his head, he went back to considering the three offers. The two pokegirls offered in exchange for the pokegirls were perfect for what he wanted, but the money offer, while low for the pokegirl that was not common, would be good for getting some of the supplies that he would need to survive in this harsh world. Sighing, he closed his eyes, and brought up the information on the two pokegirls. The Witch was more powerful, but she was also older than the Drow Zee. But as the latter had longevity, that was what decided him. They had something in common already, he thought, sending a message of regret to the Witch tamer, saying that he was not in need of a Witch at the moment.
Sighing, he sent off two messages accepting the trades to the person offering to buy the pokegirl, and the Drow Zee tamer. The Drow Zee tamer was offered the more powerful Hound, small revenge against the buyer for such a low price, but he accepted both offers. Closing his eyes, he leaned back, and waited for their reply, but jerking back to awareness as he remembered that he had had nine messages, but only eight were for the two Hounds. Bringing the messages back up, he deleted the eight messages about trades, and saw that the last message was an announcement from the Academy, about a school meeting of the top twenty students, about welcoming a new student to the Academy, and that their presence was required, as the transfer students GPA was high enough to qualify for one of the three rare pokegirls, whatever their breeds were. He glanced at the time of the meeting, which was two in the afternoon, allowing the student to settle in before meeting the others in the running for the pokegirls.
He leaned back again, as Catherine came around the counter, carrying two pokÈballs, and Geno waved, saying, "Over here."
Catherine gave him an amused look, and said, "Really, I was having such a hard time picking you out of the crowd, especially since everyone has such striking wings and a tail."
Geno laughed and said, "Well, just wanted to be sure."
Catherine handed Geno his pokÈballs, and he promptly released both of them. Both girls stretched, and Geno said, "We have an hour before I have to go to a meeting. You two don't have to go, and I really feel like taking a nap. Catherine would like for you to stay here Tiria, for company. I intend to take that nap right here, just wake me up in an hour, alright?"
Tiria nodded, and grabbed her fellow Nursejoy">Nursejoy and friend's arm, and walking back to the back rooms, eagerly chatting with Catherine. Geno smiled at the joy that his Nursejoy">Nursejoy radiated, and made a note to let her come back to help in the pokecenter more often. He held his arms out to Helaine, who promptly climbed into his arms before she playful bit his neck.
Geno jerked at the sudden bite, and said, "Okay, you wanna-be vampire, behave. I am tired, and need a nap."
Helaine pouted for a moment, before snuggling up against him, and said, "Alright, lazy, I will keep the mean, evil humans from bothering you."
A slight snore answered her, and she looked up at him in surprise, but he was truly asleep, his head resting against hers. Giggling softly, she snuggled closer, and fell into a half doze herself, ready to come awake and defend her master at a moments notice.
An hour and a half later, Geno was sitting in the largest lecture room, with Tiria sitting in the chair beside him. The other top twenty students were scattered in small groups about the room. The Head Mistress was talking and the new student was standing behind her. The student was somewhat hidden, but Geno would have had to have been blind to not see the tail and fox ears.
His wings flipping out in surprise, he quickly brought them back to rest behind him, and watched the student, not really paying attention to the Head Mistress. The other students were being a bit insulting, not very overt, as that would get them into trouble. Geno, however, was studying the new student, and wondering what he would think of another ‘pokÈfreak', as the other students called him. The new student's tail was black, with a red tip, and his ears were black as well, again with a dash of red on the tips. Black boots, dark blue jeans, and a red and black t-shirt with a single white stripe. A standard utility belt, with a few pokÈballs on it, and fingerless gloves completed the rest of his outfit. The only oddity was what appeared to be a sheath on his utility belt, empty of course, but still, the fact that he wore it was slightly disturbing. It was about the length of a short sword, if not a bit shorter.
Geno looked him over, and noticed he stood a hair or two taller than the Head Mistress, which was strange, he thought, as she always seemed much taller. The Head Mistress gestured for the student to move forward, and he complied and said, clearly, "My name is Kaigan Fox, I like my canine and fox-type pokÈgirls, and my wakizashi. I dislike dumb people. My hobbies are training with my pokegirls, and dreaming. My dreams are to none of your business. I hope we can be friends."
Several of the more pure-blooded students snickered at that comment, and the Head Mistress glared at them, and said, "Harrick, you should not be laughing, as his joining our school just pushed you out of the running for the rare pokegirls. He is currently rated 9th in the school after adjusting his GPA for the classes, which means everyone from Yarlsa and down just dropped a rank."
Another student looked up in surprise, and Geno recognized him as Terrick, who was looking at Kaigan as if he knew him from somewhere. But he then shook his head, before turning to his friend and whispering something, which made the other student burst out laughing. The Head Mistress glared at Terrick and the other student, but they quickly silenced themselves, and she said, "Alright you are dismissed. And I expect you to treat him with the courtesy that all of you SHOULD show your fellow students."
The other students piled out of the room, returning to their own pursuits, while Geno stayed behind, wanting to welcome the student to the Academy. However, as he waited, the Head Mistress turned and led him out of the auditorium, leaving Geno alone in the room. Shrugging, he turned and left the auditorium, and headed back to his room, wanting to get some sleep.
The next three days were routine, but on the fourth, as he was just finishing his stretches, Taki turned to him, and said, "Are you ready to spar against another student?"
Geno did not stop his stretches, but his head turned to look at her, curiosity in his gaze as he watched his teacher. She smiled briefly, before saying, "The new student has some skill with a weapon, and I have taken him on. Giving you a sparring partner will give you more insight on what you are doing wrong, as well as what you are doing correct."
Geno shrugged as he rolled around to stretch the other side of his body, and said, "I am ready, if my teacher believes that I am. After all, a sparring student would help me improve faster."
Taki nodded, and stepped outside, to speak quietly with someone outside. A moment later, she returned, and Geno bowed slightly to the student following her. It was the fox boy, Kaigan, and he said, "I am Geno Rathin, and I saw you at the assembly. I don't know if you saw me though..."
Kaigan, he noticed, had his eyes shut, but did not reply, walking to the wall with the sparring weapons on it, and drew a single bokken, shortened to the length of a short sword or wakizashi, and returned to the mat. Geno looked at him oddly, and grabbed his staff, before setting himself to receive the first attack.
As he waited he let his mind wander, his reflexes at a hair trigger, and wondered why he had not gotten a reply to the tamer of the Drow Zee, it had been four days already, and the other tamer had already funneled the 75,000 SLC to him, and he now...
Throwing himself to the side, his staff lashing out, he barely knocked the shorter weapon his opponent was using aside, wondering how the hell his opponent had managed to break his guard so quickly. He blurred his weapon into a circle, the weapon aiming for the center of his opponent's mass, but the fox boy deflected it with his sparring weapon, and rolled over it, leaving Geno suddenly unbalanced, as he expected Kaigan to block his weapon.
Flipping backwards, he barely avoided the flickering wooden blade, still trying to remove from his too powerful attack. Dear gods, he thought, as he rolled away again, his opponent still following him, even with his eyes closed. What the hell, his thought continued, how the hell is he following me, much less pressing me this hard?
Throwing himself back AGAIN, as Kaigan continued to press him, he slammed his wings down, getting more distance between himself and the unnaturally fast student, even though he was only moving at human normal. Getting a bit of distance, he whirled; attempting to slam the butt of his staff against Kaigan's stomach, only to find when he finished his turn and attack that Kaigan was no longer in front of him. Even as his mind tried to process the fact that his opponent had disappeared, he felt something cracked against the back of his neck. Turning, he stared in shock as his opponent stood with a annoying grin on his face, before Kaigan turned and walked back to the center of the room, ignoring his opponent.
Kaigan turned to Taki, and said, "I thought you said he would be a challenge."
Geno stiffened, but forced his anger down, and returned to the center of the room, setting himself again, ignoring the slightly superior smirk on the student's face. Taki yelled, "Begin."
This time, Geno heard her because he was paying attention, and he lashed out with one end of the staff, moving at full speed, immediately upon the announcement to begin, refusing to give his opponent time to get his feet set. The sudden attack seemed to take Kaigan off guard, but he managed to deflect it and move to the side. Geno responded by swinging the other end of his staff around, while is tail, not visible if Kaigan was using his eyes. He deflected the other end of the staff, and then stepped on Geno's tail, making him cry out in pain. Kaigan twisted his foot, as Geno blurred his staff to the left again, and a fraction of a second later his wing lashed out.
Kaigan caught the staff again, his arms moving a bit sloppily, but the sudden attack from the secondary limb caught him full in the side of the head as his numbing limbs could not get around fast enough to block the limb. He staggered, and Geno smashed the end of his staff into his gut, before clocking him on the top of his head with the second end of the staff, helping him measure his length on the dojo floor.
Taki saw where this was going to end up, and quickly said, "Enough, that is all for you two today."
Geno shrugged, and turned to put up the staff, and heard Taki helping Kaigan to his feet. He put his staff up, and turned to Taki, who glared at him, and said, "Leave, you are done for the day."
Geno felt his head come up at the reproach in her voice, but he simply bowed to his teacher, and walked out of the dojo. Taking care to shut the door carefully, not slamming it, he then left the dojo, before punching the trunk of a tree on the way back to his dormitory. He snarled to himself, knowing that Tiria and Helaine would be out of training with Masaki in over two hours, so he was alone for a bit. He had done nothing wrong damn it, but for some reason, he was in trouble. AGAIN!
His wrist computer beeped at him, and he cursed it, flipping it open with more force than needed, but calmed when he found the message was from the Drow Zee tamer, and that she had accepted the trade. Ah, he thought, which is why the tamer is trading the Drow Zee. They are female. Forcing himself to calm down, he ran to the pokecenter, sending quick message, accepting the trade, and sending another to the Nursejoy">Nursejoy at the pokÈcenter to accept a trade offer for a Drow Zee in exchange for his hound.
Running quickly, he arrived at the pokÈcenter in time to see the on duty Nursejoy">Nursejoy taking a pokÈball from the transfer machine, and turned as the door opened. She smiled when she saw it was him, and said, "Your trade was completed successfully, and I have updated your records to show your new harem member. Is there anything else that you would like done?"
Geno nodded, and said, "A healing and cleaning cycle for her please. And can I also get all her information sent to my wrist computer?"
The Nursejoy">Nursejoy hit a few buttons on her keyboard, and Geno's wrist computer beeped at him, before she went and put the pokÈball into the machine, and activated the two requested cycles. Sitting down in one of the nearby seats, he pulled up the information, and immediately frowned at the information. If what was listed was correct, he had gotten a steal. The hound was a weaker than the elf, considerably weaker, and the she knew some basic spells as well. Moving further down the list, his frown deepened, as the elf had a problem with authority, or so the records from the Crimson League tamer said, and tended to ignore her tamer in battles, making her a liability.
No name was listed for the Drow Zee, and he wondered how much of the pokÈgirl's problem was simply that she had had an ineffective and mediocre tamer, and how much was actual attitude. He brought up the pokÈdex listing for Drow Zee's, humming to himself, before looking up as the Nursejoy">Nursejoy asked, "Will you be taming her right away?"
Geno nodded, and said, "Yes, and can I use the room meant for dark type pokÈgirls? I think she will be more comfortable in the dimmer lights."
The Nursejoy">Nursejoy nodded, and said, "Alright, I will go prepare the room for your use. The cleaning and healing cycle will be done in about ten minutes."
Nodding again, mostly to himself this time, he said, "Thank you," before returning his attention to the information about Drow Zee. After about eight minutes, he shut the wrist computer, and pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing as much about the Drow Zee as he could without actually meeting her. But he had a few concerns about her from the file, but if the Crimson League tamer had been abusing her, then most of his concerns would vanish when she was treated like a person, instead of a slave.
Shoving his thoughts aside, he stood up as the PHU pinged indicating that the machine was done with the Drow Zee. He sighed again as the Nursejoy">Nursejoy returned, and wished that the tamer had sent her name with the information. And while he was at it, he thought, why not wish for a harem containing every dragon types as well.
He bowed to the Nursejoy">Nursejoy as he took the pokÈball, and then let her lead him to the room for taming dark types, as well as those pokÈgirls that did not like a good deal of light when being tamed. After the Nursejoy">Nursejoy left, he pulled his shirt off and threw it into a corner, stretching his wings and tail out, before releasing the pokegirl.
He watched the nude Drow Zee form, and stretch before looking around, and spotting him behind her. He looked her over as she did him.
She stood nearly five feet tall, and had a traditional elven build, slim and graceful, with a small B-cup bust. Her movements spoke of the natural elven grace, she had silver hair that fell all the way to her thighs, and her skin was a striking pitch black, making her look like a darker shadow in the room, with a single beam of moonlight behind her. Her eyes shimmered in the darkness, red pools that seemed to glow in the darkness.
His wings flickered out, almost unconsciously displaying himself for her to admire, before saying, "My name is Geno, and you are in the Johto League now. Is there something I can get you to eat?"
The Drow Zee looked at him carefully, before cautiously replying, in a voice that sounded like pure music, "No, master, I am fine. My last tamer fed me before getting rid of me."
Geno nodded, and said, "Alright, but I would like to talk to you about some of the information that she sent along with you."
The Drow Zee immediately looked wary, but said, "As my master desires."
Geno felt his mouth twitch, though with annoyance or amusement was anyone's guess. He said, "Please, my name is Geno Rathin, and I don't do master. Sit?"
The pokegirl moved to the bed, and sat down. She turned as he moved, so that she always faced him. "Yes, Master Geno."
Geno sat down and sighed, replying, "Just Geno, and you can relax. I am not planning on taming you right now unless you want or need me to."
The Drow Zee narrowed her eyes and said, "And if I did not want you to tame me?"
"I don't deal with hypothetical situations outside of combat. I deal with the real situations in front of me. If you don't want to be in my harem, I can send you back to your last tamer, get my hound back, and try for another trade. My question was how much of the information that she sent me about you was correct, and how much was because she was a crappy tamer."
He pulled his wrist computer out, flipped through the screens until he got the one with the information he wanted, and handed her the computer screen. She obediently took the computer, and spent a moment looking at the screen, before moving away slightly, and saying, softly, as one arm went to cover her chest, "I cannot read, mast... Geno."
Geno watched her slowly inch away from him, and said, holding out his hand for the computer, "Well, I guess I will be teaching you how to read. What it said was that you are a troublemaker, defiant, and belligerent. You have some skill with magic, and are intelligent. It goes along the same lines for a while, but I am betting that most of ‘your' problems were actually your tamer's problems, and she just blamed you."
The Drow Zee looked at him with a closed expression, before saying, "You want to trust me. Why?"
Geno snorted in amusement, and leaned forward a bit, his wings rustling with irritation, and said, "I am barely treated any better than most pokÈgirls. I have more in common with you than I do with most humans."
He looked down at his hands, which had curled into fists, and said, "My apologies, I never even asked for your name."
"I have whatever name you want me to have."
He looked up at her, sadness in his eyes, and said, "She stripped you of your name before sending you on to me."
The Drow Zee nodded, anger smoldering in her eyes, and Geno closed his, trying to think of a good name for her. He considered it for a moment, before looking back up at her, and said, "Mayuan?"
She looked at him suddenly, her eyes narrowed in speculation, before she said, "Yes, that name I will keep. Thank you."
Geno flipped backwards, his tail lashing out toward Kiagan's head and his staff and wing coming in from the sides. He knew now, after nearly a month of sparring with him, that he had second sight, and that his eyes were entirely redundant for him. So he had to learn to attack from multiple directions, he had not found anything about his sparring partner out, mostly because Geno was busy trying to learn magic from Mayuan. And they were both stumped.
A call from the side from Taki, "Time," ended the current bout and Geno nodded, turning away to put up the staff. The short bokken Kaigan used smashed against the back of his head and Geno growled, the Rage in him building up. He shook the stars out of his eyes, and said, "Is everyone from your home as dishonorable as you, or were you just cast out because of your inability to follow the instructor's directions?"
"If an enemy calls time, are you going to stop?"
"If the teacher tells you to stop, you stop."
Taki sighed and then yelled, "ENOUGH! Geno, switch your staff out for claws. You will be continuing. Kaigan, if you hit Geno again after I say stop again, you will be removed from my dojo. Understood?"
Kaigan bowed to Taki, and replied, "Of course, teacher."
Geno ignored the conversation, busy putting up the staff, and was gently touching the growing knot on the back of his head, when Kaigan said, in a soft, calm and even voice that completely belied the meaning of his sentence, "Don't worry, the knot on your head can not make you any stupider or uglier. That is impossible, sadly. Your girls must not have any taste to accept you as their tamer."
Geno froze as his mind tried to process what Kaigan just said, as Taki gaped at the student. Nearly a moment passed, and Geno knew when he turned around that the bastard would have the annoying grin on his face. He reached for the claws, when Kaigan continued, "Oh good, the dragon is going to continue. I was afraid he would run crying like the dragons back home do whenever someone hurts their feelings. Insufferable bitches whose only claim to survival is that they are a sign of prestige, instead of being useful"
The mocking tone, and the fact that he had disrespected dragons was what broke Geno's temper. But he refused to show it, calmly removing the wooden blade talons from the wall, as Taki said, "Kaigan, remove yourself from my sight, now."
Geno did not turn around, but instead said, in a soft voice that carried the length of the room, "No, let him stay. I will finish this, now. Either here, where we can be stopped, or elsewhere, where one of us will not get up again."
Taki froze at the strangely cold and dispassionate voice and started to say something, but Geno turned around, and simply stared at her, with red sparks in his eyes. He stared at her, as if daring the Armsmistress to try and deny him. Something in his eyes disturbed her, and Taki was damned if she had to try and name what it was. She found herself staring at his eyes, and realized to her own horror that she was moving away from her student slowly, toward her weapon rack. She suddenly remembered where she had seen eyes like that, on the only Dronza that she and her harem sisters had been forced to kill. Angry, and did not give a damn what happened to them as long as they got to beat someone to a pulp. Her shoulder still hurt from the Dronza nearly ripping it off.
Looking at Kaigan, she said, "I think you two should cool off. However, I doubt either of you are going to listen to me short of beating you both senseless, and then you two will probably continue it the next time you meet. Fine, into the ring, and let me call some help here so neither of you get killed."
Geno nodded, and stepped into the ring, as Taki reached for her comm device. As he entered the ring, Kaigan, who was already inside it, said, "Oh, the lizard with delusions of grandeur. How amusing. Maybe dragons really have lost their nerve."
Geno's reaction was... Taki was not sure how he did it, but one second he was twenty feet away from his opponent, the next his claw weapons where driving at Kaigan, Geno's face completely void of emotion. His right claws went for Kaigan's sneering face, the other going for the student's gut. Taki felt her jaw drop at the sudden display of speed, and grabbed her comm unit, and punched several different numbers in, sending the same message to Masaki, Kaito, Selene, and the Nursejoys">Nursejoys, informing them that Geno had raged again, was trying to kill Kaigan, and she needed their help to stop Geno from hurting anyone.
Kaigan's mouth dropped open as Geno suddenly seemed to teleport in front of him, and rolled to the side as the raging student attempted to blind and gut him. He ducked the blow to the face, and blocked the blow to his gut, and muttered, "Maybe I pressed him too far."
Geno did not change his blank expression, but pressed forward, quickly driving his opponent backwards and throwing blows far faster than he ever had before, his need to turn his opponent into a smear pushing him forward. A sweep kick that Kaigan jumped over was turned into a roundhouse kick that smashed into the side of his opponent's gut, followed quickly by six more slashes from his claw style weapons. Three of the attacks where either blocked or dodged by Kaigan, but the other three landed firmly, ripping across his chest twice, and once on his thigh.
Geno's eyes where fully red now; having fallen much faster than before into a mind numbing rage. He suddenly grabbed Kaigan's weapon arm with his hand, and turned, throwing his fellow student over his shoulder, but not releasing, instead slamming him into the ground and kicking him in the head once. He then forced the stunned student to his feet, turned in a circle once, still holding onto Kaigan's arm, and threw him across the mat to slide into the wall that held all the sparring weapons.
Geno started to advance toward his downed opponent, when Kaigan suddenly flowed to his feet, and grabbed another weapon off the wall, another wooden wakizashi, and then advanced toward Geno. Even with his rage-fogged mind, he could not help but notice that his opponent's irises were blood red now, and his movements were much more fluid than before. The small part of his mind that was not raging thought, ‘Ahh, this is going to be fun. Now to answer the question; who is stronger, the fox or the dragon?'
He did not slow though, advancing toward Kaigan, who moved with equal deliberate movements toward him. He felt his mouth curl into a grim smile, and saw the same smile on his opponent's face. Geno rushed forward suddenly, and lashes out with his left claws toward his opponent's gut, but his right claw was forced to block a stab from Kaigan's left wakizashi as he exploited the opening Geno's attack had left. The right claw was deflected up, and then dove toward Geno's chest, only to find Geno had fallen backwards, aborting his strike to fall, no, flip backwards, and launching himself back upwards with a mule kick, that firmly connected with Kaigan's chin.
The mule kick threw Kaigan backwards to measure his length on the floor, and stunning him for a fraction of a second. Long enough for Geno to jump up and towards him, his wings hammering down to give him more height, and then slamming back up to throw him down toward his prone opponent, left claw leading, aiming for Kaigan's heart. The fox boy never opened his eyes, but at the last second rolled backwards, Geno's claw ripping the back of Kaigan's shirt, before shattering upon the hardwood floors of the dojo.
Geno looked up and caught a kick to his face from Kaigan, and blocked the next attack, a slash from a wakizashi, before grabbing Kaigan's other arm and rolling over the students shoulder, and turning to throw him again. Geno suddenly lost his balance when the resistance from Kaigan's weight vanished, making him stumble down to one knee, holding shirt and bokken. He faked dodging to the left and rolled to the right, and felt Kaigan's remaining bokken wakizashi breeze by his wing, where his head would have been if he tried to dodge right instead of rolling.
Geno whirled as he rolled, and threw the broken handle of his left claw weapon at Kaigan, and then firmly grasped the blade and handle of the bokken wakizashi, and snapped it into two pieces, before tossing them to the sides. Kaigan, with almost contemptuous ease, blocked the former handle of the claw weapon, but stiffened at the sound of his sparring weapon being broken. And then, for the first time that Geno had ever seen, Kaigan opened his eyes, and simply stared at the half dragon, his gaze as implacable as death itself.
Geno sneered, and then rushed the half fox, using a sliding kick to close the last of the distance with him, trying to knock the other student off his feet. Kaigan sidestepped the kick, before slashing for Geno's neck. Geno used his wings again to stop his forward movement, and grabbed the arm as it sailed by, missing his face neck by inches. He then slammed his claws into Kaigan's gut once, before the fox boy brought his knee up into Geno's gut. The blow knocked the wind from his lungs, and then Kaigan's free fist slammed into his face, twice, before Geno was able to recover.
Rolling with the third punch, he swept the legs out from under Kaigan, and then rolled underneath the suddenly falling students, placing his feet against Kaigan's back, and then shoving him up into the air. Removing his claw weapon, he hurled it at the twisting Kaigan, who managed to roll enough that instead of slamming into the back of his head; it glanced off of the side of head. The agile fox student managed to land on his feet, but went down to one knee as he landed, and looked up to catch Geno's fist with his forehead.
Geno grabbed Kaigan by his shoulder, and then pivoted, using his superior speed to hurl the student against the nearby wall, and then charged forward intent on finishing this fight. He threw himself into a running punch, putting every last ounce of his chi and momentum behind it, when something slammed into his gut from the side, exactly at the same time Selene screamed into his mind, loud enough to make his ears bleed, [ENOUGH!]
He dropped like a stone after flying across the room, barely holding onto consciousness long enough to see Masaki moving toward him, and Tiria as well. Then darkness rose like the tide, and took him down.
Geno woke up, looked around, his head pounding, and noted that he was in his bed, and surrounded by women. Mayuan was sitting against the wall, his head in her lap, while Helaine lay down behind, one arm under his arm, around his chest protectively. Tiria was curled up against his chest, her head resting against the hollow of his throat, allowing him to bury his face in her hair. Not the worst way to wake up, not in the least. Now if only his headache would go away...
He grunted in pain, softly, as he shifted, jostling his head slightly. Tiria started awake at his grunt of pain, and said, "What is wrong with you? Why are you incapable of staying out of trouble for more than five minutes when one of us is not around?"
Helaine gave Tiria a sleepy growl of agitation, and Mayuan snapped, "You should show our Master more respect."
"When he is not trying to kill himself or some one else, he gets it!"
Geno held his head, and whispered, "Enough, please, you are making my headache worse."
Dead silence reigned in the room for a moment, before Geno looked up and saw a strange look on Tiria's face, and something similar to fear on Mayuan's. He said, "What?"
Tiria was the first to respond, "You have been unconscious for nearly eight hours, and I had to stopped healing you after using my magic on you for nearly an hour."
Geno tired to look confused, but that made his head hurt, so he settled for leaning back into the warmth that Helaine's chest provided, and asked, keeping his eyes closed, "So?"
Tiria sounded exasperated when she replied, "Geno, it took me three days to heal your broken skull and a level four concussion. The hour long healing should have completely healed you of the rather gentle psychic scream and Masaki's dual punch, since nothing was actually broken, but rather, extensively bruised. The healing for your skull and concussion, however, should have taken a day, at the longest, NOT three days. But when I try to use healing magic on you, it is strange, because I can feel something draining the magic I am using on you away from my spells."
Geno looked at the two magic using pokÈgirls, and said, "Any idea why? Or should we ignore it and keep moving?"
Tiria looked at Mayuan, who shrugged, and said, "I am not sure what we can do about it, without me being able to learn about the topic, or knowing more about it."
Geno sighed and said, "Alright fine, so I will try to be more careful. Now, would one of you go and get a pain reliever from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom for me? I would be really appreciative."
Tiria sighed and rolled off the bed and swayed toward the restroom. Mayuan giggled as Geno watched admiringly as Tiria walked to the bathroom, and said, "See something you like?"
Geno twisted slowly, his eyes traveling over his harem's bodies, making his Drow Zee blush, and said, "Several somethings, actually."
He leaned backwards, his head returning to Mayuan's lap, and his eyes closed, enjoying the warmth and heat of his harem, feeling a bit chilled for some reason. He pulled the heavy blanket up over him, and dozed back off, feeling content for some reason. It was definitely going to be an interesting end of his schooling, if the last month was any indication so far.
He stood in the main auditorium for the school, and reflected on the last five months as the Head Mistress droned on about the honor of graduating, the promises of the future, and the lessons learned from the past. He no longer was as soft as he had been when Kaigan had kicked his ass the first time in the dojo, and had learned that the fox was not the asshole he had acted like. Kaigan just seemed to believe in pushing past limits, but once he learned where Geno's lines where, and which ones were to not be crossed, for any reason, he actually found he rather liked the other pokÈ-gened human.
So much in fact that they had exchanged comm codes, and would be sending messages to the other once they got done with graduation and left to make their way in the real world. Amazing how much beating the tar out of the other student had caused such a shift in his personality, or rather the way he acted around others.
Shaking his head at the about face that Kaigan had done, he returned his attention to the present as Mayuan gently poked him. Refraining from glaring at his Drow Zee, he listened carefully, and realized that she had only poked him because the Head Mistress had gotten to the part where the top twenty students were to join her on the stage. She read off the names of the top twenty, Geno being seventh in the school, and Kaigan the eighth. He stood up and joined the Head Mistress on the stage, accepting the pokegirl that the school supplied every student that graduated, a full pokÈdex, and a pack of supplies. Of course, he now had a four and a half million credit debt to the Johto League, but starting with the Master Tamer status was worth it, as well as training.
Wishing he had a moment to let out his starter, just so he could meet the Charamanda that he had requested, he wasted a moment wondering what starter the other students had gotten. Then the Head Mistress caught everyone's attention, saying, "And now for the selection of her tamer by the pokÈgirls. Tamers, please remember that salvage battles are not allowed on the campus."
A glare at Terrick from the Head Mistress, which the student pretended to ignore, before the three girls walked out from the professor room that was attached to the back of the auditorium. All of the students watched the three of them walk out, and every last one of the students that had not made the top twenty groaned in frustration.
The first one out of the room was an elf type, definitely, her gently pointed ears, almost unearthly grace, and slim build giving that away, but he had never heard of a blue elf before. Idly flipping out his pokedex, he muted the volume, and had it scan the pokÈgirl, and the screen flashed, before spitting out her information:
Wet Elf, The Unseen Elf Pokegirl
Elements: Water/Magic
Diet: Omnivore
Role: Spy
Rarity: Uncommon (Blue League), Rare to Very Rare (Everywhere else)
Geno nodded to himself, before directing his 'dex to scan the next girl that walked out. She looked like a tall Kitsune, but she had strange, white tattoos on her violet colored fur. She had a lithe, almost wiry build, that in no way detracted from the quiet, almost restrained beauty of the fox type. The 'dex flashed again, before spitting out :
Psivyx, The Psi-warrior Fox Pokegirl
Element: Psychic/Fighting
Diet: Primarily fish and meat
Role: Fortune telling, bodyguards
Rarity: Very Rare
The third girl had walked out, but Geno was busy being amused at the thought of a psychic/fighting type pokégirl, but after considering it a moment, he guessed that it made a sort of sense. Figuring that the fox type would chose the fox tamer, he looked up, and damn near dropped his pokédex in shock. For the last one was easily the most desirable of the three to him, a dragon type. And at first glance he thought she was a Draco. But her scale color was a deep red, almost black, and she moved with even more grace than the few Draco's that he had seen before, mostly recordings that he had found in the school library. A few other things made him eventually dismiss the idea that she was a Draco, but he was absolutely certain that she was definitely a dragon type. He could feel it.
He was so distracted that he barely noticed the Wet Elf selecting Terrick, truly conscious only of the dragon type that was slowly moving down the line, past several of the pure blood students, who had looked so hopeful as she had approached, but gave her looks of fury at being dismissed after she passed them by. The Psivyx stopped in front of Kaigan, her simple dress swirling about her as she gracefully stopped in front of him, and announced, "Kaigan, I choose you as my tamer."
Suddenly realizing that he was in danger of dropping his 'dex, he put it back on his belt, and shifted uncomfortably, as one of the pure-blood students beside him whispered, "Don't get your hopes up freak. If she has an ounce of sense, she will choose a real man, not a half bastard such as yourself."
The dragon pokegirl was four students away, and Geno wished she would hurry up, his nerves nearly to the snapping point. She was almost to him when she stopped, and Geno felt his heart stop as the student from before puffed up so much that Geno was surprised that he did not fall over. As she turned to the student, he tried to hide his anger and hurt at a dragon rejecting him, as she stared at the over bearing student beside him. She said, "If you are a real man, and the last on the planet, I would rather go feral than let you tame me."
Turning to Geno, she completely ignored the rapidly deflating student, she said, in a voice that would not have been out of place from an angel, "Geno Rathin, I choose you."
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