Chapter 25

CH25 – Raiding a Stronghold

 

Geno let Lendysa’s team go first, and made sure that Asheer was on her way to the front door, before gesturing for Tiamat to lead, keeping Razia by his side. As they headed in, he glanced at his Leopardess, and sighed, his guilt over striking her in anger a few days agoreturning, though he hadn’t found the right time to apologize. “Look, Razia, about a few days ago, I am sorry. I was trying to get things moving, and you were balking, and that infuriated me beyond reason for a moment. I know that is an excuse, and not even a good one, but it is the only one I have for hitting you and…”

 

She put one finger on his lips, her sky blue eyes meeting his. “Master, later. But I know you were guilty about it. If you feel the need to apologize again later, I prefer physical over verbal.”

 

He gave a small laugh, as Tiamat hissed in frustration ahead. She was ready to fight. But then again, he knew she was always ready for a fight. “Very well, later then.”

 

He flicked his claws in and out twice, before stalking after Tiamat, as his radio crackled to life. “Team A, in position.”

 

He didn’t respond except to click his mike three times, letting them know he understood. He continued deeper, trusting Ia to let him know if something went wrong, unaware that she was holding a conversation with Asheer.

 

 

Rathin’s alpha grimaced slightly, before sending a thought back. I am just asking how likely is it that he is going to flip out and start raging. Trying to protect Master in the middle of a battle is not my idea of a good time.

 

She smiled to herself as she felt Ia’s sigh in her mind, as she gestured for Athena to flip that table back upright. They were there to observe, not control the entry point. High chance of a rage. The uncontrolled, attack everything nearby or the go for the throat with his teeth rage? I do not know. Depends on what sets him off. Now focus on your job, Asheer.

Asheer winced at the mental shriek of her title, and made a note to have Tiamat and Mayuan help enforce discipline with that Alaka-Wham later. She was getting tired of her sass, especially since she was not respecting her position within the harem. She could take sassing back, but she would get her respect if she had to beat the short, over-ripe psychic slut to death to get it.

 

 

James turned as Diplomat spoke into the individual radios, before finally finding his voice. “What the hell are you doing, Diplomat? Are you trying to get us destroyed and captured?”

 

Diplomat looked up as the group below in the arena dispersed, groups ranging in size from two to five heading to different stations, following his orders to protect the entire level. “Protecting those high interest pokégirls we still have in the cells below. Or do you want to explain to their buyers why we were not able to deliver the goods to them? The Sphinx in particular is earning quite the bids, nearly seven hundred million credits. The other two are being pulled out as we speak, but I want the entire containment crew to focus only on her when she is being pulled out. Yes, she has been in isolation with her dead tamer for a week, with only enough food and water to keep her alive but not comfortable, and sleep deprived, but I will take no chances with that one. Honestly, if you are that concerned, why don’t you go and take out one of Rathin’s three little squads? The first one should be well within your abilities.”

 

James stared at the tainted human in front of him, idly imagining Cyrsa smashing him flat, but the leader’s Supe-bra Genius and Samurai were staring at him like they knew what he was thinking. He swore under his breath, before stalking out of the room, and slamming the door behind him. The Samurai turned back to the view screen, where the containment teams were pulling the first of the three special cases out of her cell, a rather common pokégirl, a Rack, but she was from one of the forty Johto pureblood families, and they wanted her gone. She had already been through two level 5 conditioning cycles, but Diplomat was a merchant, and he always aimed to please. The second ‘girl was far more rare, a Pinielf, and she would make him another fortune when they finally found an appropriate buyer.

 

Diplomat looked up as his Supe-bra Genius coughed softly. “Are you sure you want to wait that long for the Sphinx? If you are serious about that buyer, we need to get her out now. Rathin is not that far from here, and he can just punch through the floors if he was serious about finding someone that knows what is going on. And I am not a match for an Alaka-Wahm.”

 

Diplomat shook his head, before sitting down at the table in the room. “No, I am not going to touch that Sphinx with a hundred foot poll. What I didn’t tell James was the real price of her. Seven hundred million credits and the animosity of Sexmet. It is an open secret that the Sphinxes are viewed as her daughters, and pissing off a legendary is not a good way to stay alive.

 

Hence the deprivation and isolation. She has no idea who killed her tamer and kidnapped her, and if I want to stay alive, it will stay that way. That was why I dispersed the grunts. Rathin beats them, they all take the emergency escapes down to the teleporter room after he has passed, and when Rathin gets there first, there is no one other than him and her, who is pissed, hungry, tired, and just a little scared. You do the math on what that equals.”

 

 

Geno body checked the fifth tamer his group had encountered since entering, and then brought his knee up into the human’s groin, making him squeal and drop to the ground. A swift kick to the head encouraged him to take a nap, as Ia put the last standing pokégirl, a Chichi, against the wall with telekinesis, before moving on. “Team B, how are you doing?”

 

“Little busy master. Can you hurry up and help?”

 

“On our way.”

 

He turned the mike on his headset off, and gestured for the others to lead. “Squishy last. See I am learning, I just have a hard time remembering that in a fight.”

 

 

Shard looked up as the others from his batch arrived, and nodded to them as his only pokégirl, a Glass named Mira, kept watch on the only entrance that Shade hadreported being left open. Shade was up on the rooftop just behind him, his alpha Umbrea doing the same that Mira was. Clown would be arriving soon, and the three of them would be the primary assault team, though Shard personally thought that the Blood Baron was expecting a bit much from the three of them and their four girls. He snorted in amusement, knowing that Shade would be providing most of the heavy lifting with his harem of three including his Umbrea, and Clown would likely be following Scale’s example of fighting right on the front line, or even a bit beyond it if he could.

 

He looked up as a third Hunter vehicle arrived, and six more enlisted got out to join the ten already in the area. One of the new personnel, a Staff Sergeant, marched over to him, and snapped to attention. “Captain Sheridan, sir, where would you like our squad to deploy?”

 

Shard nodded to himself, the name as unnatural to him as it was when he had first gotten it, but his batch name was not a normal name for a person. “Break your squad into pairs, and each person is to release one ‘girl. Deploy to the back side of the building, that is the west side, second squad is onthe north and first is on the south. Intel says that most of the exits but the main is blocked, your job is to capture any Team Apocalypse members that decide to be cute and punch a hole in the wall to get out. Any idea where fourth… Never mind, there they are.”

 

He waved to the two vehicles that had just pulled up, before snapping to attention and popping off a salute. “AREA! ‘TEN-HUT!”

 

The Blood Baron glanced at him through the mask, as his Samurai fell in step beside and behind him on the left, his Phawhore on his right and equal. Baron approached and returned the salute. “Carry on. Sitrep?”

 

“Squads one, two, and three, are on the south, north and moving to the west sides of the buildings, respectively sir. I was informed that myself, Lt Nox, and SPC Anarch would be effecting entry into the building, with fourth squad behind us to ensure that each floor is secured. I would like to protest this order, though I understand that final protocols have been initiated. This is not the best time to be finding out who gets the check sir.”

 

The Blood Baron nodded, a hint of amusement at Shard’s description of the situation. “Well, you are correct about everything but what is going to be leading the fight. I am going in with you, with my full harem. And we are to capture Rathin, not kill. Confirm and repeat that order to ensure that you understood it. All three of you.”

 

Shade and Shard did as requested, but Clown stayed silent until the Samurai turned to him and slipped her dai-katana from her back. He had been busy flipping his signature stop sign around, making sure he was good and loose, before softly muttering the orders back. Blood Baron gave him a look, and Clown repeated the order again, louder this time, before the Baron nodded. “Alright, let’s move in. Ursula, you have point, royal curse each opponent you can before we enter so prioritize. Yalsa, you keep me intact. Xia will be supporting Ursula, with Julana and Orthella in reserve to plug holes. Sheridan will be assisting the front with his Glass, Nox and his guarding our six, and Anarch will be a happy clown in the middle, where he will be nice and protected.

 

Fourth squad will be clearing the levels behind us while we buzzbreast-line for the bottom basement. I want that leader captured alive, all other persons can be terminated unless they surrender. Same with pokégirls, though they need to be ‘balled ASAP. Now let’s go get your lost brother.”

 

Rathin was being pressed hard, giving ground to a skilled Slicer as the others nearby were too busy to help him, and he could actually keep up with her. His dual claw weapons and superior speed were enough to keep her from mincing him, but he still was getting several light cuts from her when she managed to overpower him. Her eyes suddenly rolled into her head as she started a series of light cuts, trying to get him to open a hole in his defenses, and she bonelessly slid to the ground, Ia’s psychic dropping her without a struggle. He took several deep breaths, looking around, but all the tamers were unconscious, and their harems down as well.

 

He reached up and rubbed Tiamat’s cheek as she licked one of the cuts on his arm, and smiled. “Stop that, we need to focus. Asheer, have you begun to pull back already?”

 

Asheer was not the one to answer, but Athena. “Sorry master, we are heading down the stairs to the first basement. I am carrying Asheer, some pokégirl with a golden mask gestured to her before I managed to shoot her shoulder, and Asheer turned into a gold statue. I don’t know what…”

 

“Athena, enough, succinct and punchy. Did you try to open the statue, and where is Aliza?”

 

“Aliza is in her pokéball, she was nearly cut in half by some pokégirl wielding a sword taller than she was. I am all that is… hold on.”

 

He gestured for the group to keep going onward, and Lendysa led Hamiri and Sara at a jog, while his group walked. After a moment, he relaxed when he heard Asheer, but her voice was… slightly off, higher pitched than the husky purr he was used to. “Asheer here master. I got hit with some curse that made me devolve. I am a Pyrona again, so my combat capabilities are down significantly. We are pulling back to you. Where are you?”

 

He snorted in amusement at her joke, poorly timed though it was, before blanching as Ia nodded, confirming Asheer’s statement. She had indeed been devolved. “Heading down the staircase to the second basement. We will hold here for you, so hurry.”

 

 

Clown cursed as the Samurai literally hauled him back into the room by his collar, before deliberately wiping her dai-katana off on his uniform, and returning to stand by her tamer. Shard snickered as he waited beside Mira, one hand running down her back, and judging from how she was pressed against him, she was getting turned on by the action so far. Lusty minx, he thought, looking over at Blood Baron, who was waiting as his Phawhore finished draining a Mana Stone of its stored power, and slipped the now drained stone back into a pouch on her belt.

 

Shard straightened up as Baron nodded, and gestured for everyone to move forward, before falling into step beside the Hunter Council Member. “Any reason you had her waste a Royal Curse on the Flarebra as they ran? That was probably Scale’s anyway.”

 

Baron snorted as he released his Assamara, since his other girls were not able to guard him now. “Hardly wasted. That was an improved version, lasts for about five or ten minutes before she reverts to her true form. Doesn’t have any permanent effects like the original version, sadly, but more tactically useful now. Besides, I don’t want us having to dodge hyperbeams and fire blasts as we continue to press. How are the clearing squads doing?”

 

A few moments on his radio got him a report from all seven Hunter squads, three more having arrived while they advanced. “They have cleared the first floor behind us, and are waiting for us to give the advance order for the first basement. Got the actual blueprints, should be three basements, with the second one being an arena of sorts. I don’t know why the grunts are spread out among the first floor, this leader is supposed to be smarter than that.”

 

Baron shrugged, as his Phawhore announced it was clear down below. “Don’t know either, feels like a test almost, though not for us. Must be for Scales, though this feels also like what one of you super soldiers might do as a test. Wonder why. Meh, who cares, move up.”

 

 

Geno rolled behind Tiamat as Asheer spat a fireball at the group approaching from behind them. They had been hit hard after wandering around the lower level for a minute or so, three different groups slamming into him from three sides, and now a fourth group was coming up from behind them. Geno jumped into an open room as a bullet hit the wall beside him, before Tiamat turned and rendered the offending Gun Bunny unconscious with a dragon breath attack to her face, Aliza tossing a couple handfuls of Lust Dust down at one of the approaching groups, hoping to distract it long enough to give them a breath. Athena was in her pokéball, Aliza having been healed by the PPHD, and he calmly loaded the Seraph into it, a Ding-ho having used psywave and telekinesis to stagger her and then smash her upside the head with a flung piece of masonry.

 

He could only see part of the hallway, but he released Tiria, having learned a hard lesson in the Ghostly Mausoleum about releasing his healer in the open. He tapped the radio, and then sent orders. “Tiria is out, so anyone too hurt to fight should be tossed in here. Team B, what is your situation?”

 

He was greeted with silence, none of Team B had been reporting in despite several requests for a sitrep, and that had him worried. Sara was too hotheaded to back out of a fight and Hamiri would likely follow the more powerful girls into a bad situation, but he knew Lendysa would keep both of them from overextending, and would happily retreat if she could. Another transmission, and then Tiamat stepped around the corner. “Done… Master.. Alpha… and… sister …down.”

 

Tiria jumped out the door, and immediately began administer healing spells and techniques, as the PPHD finally chimed, indicating that Athena was done. He didn’t release her immediately, instead stepping over and gently rubbing Tiamat’s throat, checking for damage. He smiled as she gently purred in pleasure, leaning into the rubbing, but he couldn’t find any physical damage. Asheer got up, and suddenly began glowing, as she evolved back to Flarebra, the curse having finally worn off after about eight minutes. Geno shook his head, and stepped back into the room, and released Athena, before making a quick count of his girls. Asheer, Aliza, Athena, Tiamat, Razia, Ia, and now Tiria. Everyone that should be with him was. He glanced back down the hallway to the stairs, and began recalling the slower girls. “Gonna need to move fast, Lendysa and her team haven’t been answering the radio for nearly ten minutes, gotta say I am worried. Tiamat, Asheer, Ia, you three are tamer guard. Let’s go.”

 

He didn’t mention that for the last five minutes or so, all he had been getting from Lendysa was frustration and a slowly growing fear. Now, there was only pain and fear.

 

 

Shard looked over at Blood Baron, but snorted as Shade leaned against his Umbrea’s side, one hand stroking her thigh, both of them waiting for the Baron to either put Clown in his place or cut him down. Shard frankly was hoping for the second, since he was fairly certain that Mira couldn’t take him, and he knew for a fact that the only batch brother that could was Scales. He frowned, and considered this Geno Rathin that had replaced Scales, watching Clown as he demanded to hunt down his dragon blooded brother, and compared the three of them. Scales could take Clown, the latter’s rage was too uncontrolled, not like Scales’ rages, but this Rathin felt like a weaker shell. He grimaced, as he followed the thought to its natural end, that Rathin couldn’t stand up to Clown without considerable outside help. And Shard would not be allowed to do so.

 

That thought made Shard snort to himself, stepping behind Mira as she glanced at him curiously, pulling her against him absently, ignoring her grinding her ass against him and guiding one of his hands to her breasts. He squeezed the firm flesh of his glass, considering that he didn’t want either of the two to win, but to kill each other. Final protocol would mean that the batch brother that was the last standing, except for individuals like Shade who were uniquely suited for other roles, like spying in his case, would die fighting each other. He was interrupted by the Phawhore ending the argument with her snake bandage attack, wrapping around Clown and then slamming him against the nearby wall. Baron nodded to her, before he ended the argument. “We will wait until I deem us ready to move on. And since the squads behind us are preventing us from having happen what we will do to Rathin, you can shut up, sit down, and enjoy the quiet. Or else Ursula here can snap your neck.”

 

Clown was chewing his way free of the bandages, but didn’t respond immediately, but eventually he stopped chewing to nod. Shard started quietly counting to himself, and snorted in amusement as, right on cue, when he got to ten, Clown resumed chewing through the bandages. “Clown, some days it doesn’t pay to chew through the restraints. I think right now is one of those times.”

 

 

James moaned in pleasure, wiping his dagger off on the Kishi’s hair, before looking down to admire his handiwork. Raping her had been for the pleasure of the act. The kitsune was already unconscious. Time to get to work on the Whorizard pinned under Crysa. The whore had tried to get loose to stop him, but having both her wings and arms broken had broken her spirit, or at least her active resistance. “I don’t have time to teach you your place like I did those two, I doubt Cinder will be holding Rathin back for much longer. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t be begging by the end.”

 

Geno snarled at the Team Member near the door wearing full plate mail, him and three other tamers were likely the last tamers between him and James, and Lendysa’s pain was only getting more consuming, even as it got more distant. “GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY, YOU BIMBO BITCH BRAINED, SIDEWAYS RUSTY POLEAXE FUCKING THROWBACK TO A REGRESSIVE ANIMALISTIC FAILURE!”

 

He slid sideways, partially to avoid a dark bomb attack that an Umbrea had tried to hit Ia with, but also to try and help his girls. Tiamat was duking it out with an Amachamp, and was carefully keeping her distance, wary of the power of those four arms, having already been caught by two of them, while the other two had battered her until she had spat a hyper beam into the opponent’s chest. Asheer was fighting a Whorizard, the small space helping his alpha more than normal, the Whorizard a more powerful but less controlled pokégirl. And this small battle space required finesse along with power, not sheer brute force. Aliza was keeping half an eye on the Whorizard as she tried to vine whip a Randysnatch into submission, but this one was unusually agile and fast, and was barely keeping ahead of the vine whips that the Randysnatch didn’t cut off with a slash. Ia was taking a beating from the Umbrea, but that was because there was a Charamanda near the tamers and a Charmelons trying to flank her assisting the Umbrea, forcing her to try and keep up with three girls.

 

He flicked his claws out as the bastard in the armor raised both arms, and the Charamanda skulls on the back of each wrist flicked up, revealing a cleverly concealed nozzle. Suddenly recognizing him from the bank robbery in Violet Town that had nearly killed him, he knew was coming. “Incoming flamethrowers. No, from the TAMER!”

 

Aliza was the target, and his warning caused her to look at the Whorizard in confusion, distracting her as the backs of the plate mail seemed to spark, the nozzle burping a pump of gel which only extended a few feet, before the air bubble in the tank cleared, and the attack roared down toward the plant pokégirl. Aliza tried to roll out of the way, trying to copy the Randysnatch, but her balance was wrong.

 

It was Ia, even as pressed as she was, that saved Aliza, a shimmering wall cutting off the line of fire, causing the stream to die only a few feet in front of Aliza as she fell onto her back. The human in plate mail didn’t seem to notice what had happened, as the Randysnatch buzzsawed forward, managing to partially roll onto Aliza before a massive vine whip slammed into her side, knocking the opponent to the side, away from Rathin, giving him the opportunity he was looking for. The human was still firing the flame throwers, and the others had moved around to the other side of him to be able to see the fights, calling out directions to their ‘girls, ignoring the plate mailed human’s glee filled cries. “Burn you whore! Burn, burn, burnburnburnburn, BUUURRRNNN!”

He was laughing manically, as Rathin tossed his poképack to the ground, and sprinted around the wall, keeping just enough room to keep himself from being set on fire. No sense losing his clothing, there might be an ice type ahead. He got halfway between the surprisingly solid wall, and was just about to try a jump and slash down with his claws, when he was tackled by the Charamanda. He grunted as he managed to roll just enough with the tackle to keep her from breaking anything, and brought his knee up into her groin, halting her scratch attack. She whimpered as he rolled her off him, letting her grab her crotch, before burying the claws into her gut, putting her out of the fight as he twisted the claws, and ripped them free.

 

Her shrill scream as he twisted finally made the human in plate mail stop screaming about burning the invisible wall, and look over. Seeing his harem girl holding her gut, blood flowing from the three claw wounds, and Rathin running toward him with his claws still dripping blood, he made the obvious connection, and whipped his arms around. Geno responded by angling toward the wall, his superior speed getting him closer than the flamethrower should allow people, and then he ran up the wall a couple of steps, before wall jumping to flip over the stream of flame. He didn’t attack the plate mail at first, dashing past him, halting his forward momentum by body checking one of the other tamers. He bounced off, knocking the other human into the other two, sending them all sprawling. He then whirled around, as the plate mailed human stopped firing his flamethrowers, realizing that he might hit his allies, which was a pity, Rathin had been planning on forcing his arm around until they were burned to death.

 

He slid from the bounce to a stop just in front of the human, between him and the other three tamers who were still trying to untangle themselves, and dropped down into a crouch. He lashed out with his tail, the blade sliding across the visor, making Geno grimace as the bone grated against the metal rods that kept someone from simply slashing into the helmet, but the attack made the human flinch. His claws lashed out, left then right, and repeated again. The first set slashed the undersides of both forearms, severing the tendons there, and causing his hands to jerk back and up as the upper tendons tightened in reflex, no longer able to use his flame throwers. The second attacks were lower, stabbing rather than slashing, the enchanted claw tips punching through the plate and chain mail under it to shatter his knees.

 

Done making sure that the flamer was down, he whirled around and kicked one of the tamers in the head, before dodging to the side as the Charmelons tried to slash him. She quickly went down as Ia slammed her with a psywave, and Geno went back to inducing unconsciousness in the other tamers by way of introducing the heel of his shoes into the head of the Team Members. That done, he glanced back at the fights, noticing that everyone had their fights well in hand. Ia had finally dealt with the Umbrea with the simple and expedient use of her telekinesis ability, slamming the pokégirl repeatedly against the wall until something broke with a wet snap, and the dark type went limp.

 

Figuring the situation was well in hand, he turned to the door that the human in plate mail had been in front of and reached to the electronic pad. He managed to get halfway to it when he suddenly felt himself becoming aware of everything around him again, noticing Tiamat out of the corner of his eye snapping one of the Amachamp’s arms, rolling under and twisting the broken arm, before using mega punch to the base of the Amachamp’s neck, producing a second loud crack, even as he heard Sara finish her opponent with a fire blast. His finger finally connected with the button, and he stepped through the opening door, as time seemed to slow down around him.

 

He looked around, noticing several empty cells on this level of the room, only one cell still having an occupant, a dead tamer, and several tamer’s in street clothing where watching their girls fight with an exotic looking women with beautiful white wings, and only wearing a loincloth, a tattoo of an unusual eye in the center of her furred forehead. The tamers were slowly turning toward him, as Ia teleported into the room, slightly ahead of him on the left, but out of his immediate view.

 

The room reminded him of an arena, and he looked up, into a room with some sort of glass, or more likely hardened plastic, sheet to prevent attacks from the arena to enter the observation room. He stared into the room, and realized what he was looking at far too slowly to make a difference. James smiled down at him, behind Lendysa. “Oh, you finally got here, just in time to watch these three die.”

 

A sword suddenly sprouted between his Kishi’s breasts, already bleeding from what appeared to be several stab wounds, and she jerked in the grasp of a Galem, though it appeared to be some sort of variant. Ia frantically looked around, even as she slammed the screen with telekenisis, but it had been made to resist attacks far more powerful, and it merely cracked. Lendysa was falling to her knees, as James twisted and then tried to yank his sword free, another crack in the covering appearing as the Alaka-Wham tried again.

 

He felt his heart stop, as Lendysa finally made it to her knees, and heard her last thought along their delta bound. I… love you… beloved…

Then James finished yanking his blade free, and turned in a circle, a powerful double handed strike, and aimed at her neck. Rathin could only watch, helpless and cold, as Lendysa’s head was mostly removed, but the blade hit one of her vertebra, and got caught again, her head rolling backwards, but still partially attached, but her pain was fleeting and distant. Something in the back of his mind was screaming in fury, rage, and loss, recognizing that his beta was gone, but he merely observed the situation impartially. Hamiri was on the ground against the screen, even as Ia finally shattered it, and threw a psybeam up into the room, only for the attack to stop halfway into it. A Ka-D-Bra dropped to her knees with the effort of stopping the much more powerful psychic’s attack, as a fannypack thudded into Rathin’s chest.

 

He felt himself removing the pokéballs that had been in it, dropping the pack to the ground, as Hamiri rolled out and began to fall. He brought her and Sara’s ball up, Sara turning and blasting at the nearby near human pokégirl with a fire blast before jumping out the window, a two story fall much more survivable than the rock that flew through the air where she had been before the jump, the rock shattering against the wall. Even as he automatically leveled the balls, he noted their wounds. Hamiri’s tail had been cut off, her breasts stabbed repeatedly, just like Lednysa’s, but the wounds on her breasts were bubbling and frothing, signs that one of her lungs had been hit. Sara was a bit better, her breasts had simply been cut off, her wings broken in several places, and her eyes were gaping holes.

 

He caught both of them, and then secured the ‘balls to his belt, as both the Ka-D-Bra and Ia glanced at him in horror, as he finally lost control of the emotions that had been surging under the layer of cold calculations and disdain. He looked up as his eyes began to turn red, and met Jame’s sneer, even as the rage surged up, and began to swallow him. “James, I am going to kill you.”