"Fallen"
by Sarah McLachlan
Jessie - Dark Lady
Kylie - Denmother
Fuzz Butt - Omegan
Michelle - Angel (evolutions)
Maureen - Ingenue (evolutions)
Heaven bend to take my hand, and lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer to a long and painful fight
Truth be told I've tried my best, but somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer, and the cost was so much more than I could bear
For the first one, write a story about true love, of Recognition.
Heaven bend to take my hand, and lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer to a long and painful fight
Truth be told I've tried my best, but somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer, and the cost was so much more than I could bear
There are time you wonder if it is more merciful to remember or to forget. Even the opportunity to gaze into my Master's eyes doesn't give me my answers. So I put the question aside, for now.
Jasper was a good boy, almost puppy-like in his enthusiasm. Perhaps if I'd been wiser, I could have kept him alive.
I remember the battle. Jasper and three other Tamers closing in on a reputed renegade. A man who used Pokègirls to commit hellacious crimes. Of course we had to catch him! Justice demanded it. Wisdom would have demanded we check out our source's story. He was a petty thief and the `renegade` had defeated and humiliated him. Not that the `renegade` was a good man, but he might have been reasonable . . . if we'd approached him a different way.
Face ground into the dirt, no one could hear the Angel screaming as the Dark Lady tore her wings right off her back.
"Feels good, huh?!" the Dark Lady screamed, "I'll tear you apart strip by strip until -! Arrgh!"
"Enough!" The demonic squirrel put the Dark Lady in a full nelson.
"Let go!"
"The right of the kill is Master's! Or can't you follow a simple order?" the Omegan shouted into the Dark Lady's ear.
The Seething Bitch Pokègirl ceased struggling. "How dare you question my loyalty to our Master!"
"Then remember his orders, Jessie." The Omegan released the Pokègirl, turned her back on and walked away from the furious Dark Lady. The Warbeast vanished, leaving a cute squirrel-girl behind, who headed for the weeping Growlie-like Pokègirl across the field.
"Your disrespect will be punished, Fuzz Butt!" the Dark Lady raged.
The Angel managed to roll on her side, to watch the Dark Lady. She still wept in pain at her destroyed wings. The other huddled bodies drew her gaze, until a man yanked the Dark Lady's head back by her hair and grabbed her throat.
"You'd disobey me?" he almost sounded amused.
The Dark Lady's expression went from furious to terrified. "No, Master," she whispered.
"You want her destroyed, or merely killed?" he whispered again, and waited while the Dark Lady nodded meekly, "Then watch your Master prove why he is your master." He released her and walked towards the Angel, wrenching her head around by her hair, until she could see the weeping Denmother and the Omegan trying to console her. "I don't know what you and your idiot friends were trying to do." He twisted her head around, so she could look at Jasper, pinned to a tree by a knife through his throat. Looking like a puppet with most of his strings cut.
"No . . . " the Angel breathed, "Jasper."
The man wrenched her head around so she was looking back at the Denmother. "Yeah, I cheated that little troll to win those girls, because the little scumbag was cheating too. Had'em hopped up on crystals. Makes a Titmouse think she's a match for a Widow, until her heart explodes." He twisted her head so she was face-to-face with him.
His rage equals or exceeds his Dark Lady's. Because it has focus, she thought as she tried to get away from it, He was trying to save them . . . and we . . . ? she couldn't complete the thought.
"It's not as if they were important Celestials. It's not like they were Angels or Megami, just street trash semi-Ferals trying to get by." He threw her to the ground.
The scream torn from her didn't come from her ravaged wing stumps, but the death of her Master, his entire Harem, and the three innocents they had vowed to rescue.
"You aren't worth my time." The man stood and gently took the Dark Lady's hand, to lead her to his other two Pokègirls.
She felt the weight of her failure descend on her like an anchor, dragging her down into an ocean of despair.
You can see her standing there, so certain and arrogant, Michelle thought of her seething ally, and hid her smile at their Master's approach.
"I'll kill her," Jessie murmured, and planned, until her Master put his hands over the Dark Lady's shoulders and began fondling her nipples.
Michelle felt an odd mix of jealous and relief that she was not the focus of attention.
"Don't let on that she's fooled you," he muttered as he pinched and rubbed Jessie's nipples through her dress.
The little shocks and pleasures that ran through her at his attentions almost drowned her question. "Fooled me?" she moaned softly.
"Of course," her Master teased, pinching her nipples faster, but harder, sending delicious pleasure/pain through her, "What would a real Seraph be doing with him?"
Michelle and Jessie looked over at the fat, breast-obsessed slug who accompanied them. Their Master withdrew, leaving Jessie more confused and frustrated than angry.
Michelle approached. Jessie shook her head. I dress as I wish, my friend, she thought, bracing for another lecture.
"For someone who can make their own clothes . . . " Jessie didn't finish the statement about the collection of leather strips, pink laces and brass buckles Michelle thought were appropriate clothing.
"Jealous?" Michelle teased, far differently than she'd been for months, now she almost demanded that Jessie put her in her place, publicly, and immediately.
'Later', she read Jessie's thought, then the Dark Lady glanced at the 'I've fooled you into thinking I'm a Seraph' Pokègirl. Michelle couldn't read her thoughts, I expect they'll be interesting, except to the Seraph.
"MASTER!" came a voice that made everyone cringe, "What are you doing? Dealing with such . . . " The Pokègirl looked at Jessie and Michelle. " . . . unclean riff-raff."
Downy, the 'I've fooled you into thinking I'm a Seraph' Pokègirl, tapped Jessie on the shoulder, nearly detonating the Dark Lady's volcanic rage at the mere presence of such a creature. "I've heard your kind kill Megami. Can I hold your cloak . . . or something?"
Jessie looked from Downy to the arrogant newcomer, who petulantly tapped her foot awaiting an answer. The newcomer radiated equal disgust at each member of the group. "May be you will be . . . grateful . . . later."
Downy looked hopeful for a moment, then, as if remembering something, "You mean - S - E - X?" she whispered nervously.
Michelle dragged the incredulous Dark lady away.
"Farfuck'd?" Jessie whispered.
"That's the consensus. That Milktit takes her on regularly."
Jessie glanced at the only member of the other group who could actually think, and was obviously considering what reward she'd demand, then returned her rage to the forefront.
"What do you think you are doing?!" the Megami demanded.
"You bitches love bows so much - " Michelle said with a malevolent tone.
"We thought we'd tie you into one," Jessie finished and advanced.
"How's Jessie?" Master asked Michelle.
"Sleeping. Flower said her healing milk will get rid of the rest of the poison. It gave Jessie's milk a piquancy."
"Thank you for letting Kylie keep an eye on her through the night." He shivered slightly at the cold wind. "Please come to my tent."
"Master I - " I can't tell him I'm just too tired for a Taming! Michelle thought, casting around desperately for a better excuse/explanation.
"Just to sleep," her Master assured her, "I don't want to sleep alone, after what we all saw."
"Yes, Master," she replied more enthusiastically. It's too cold to sleep alone anyway, she thought, then asked, "Why - why didn't you kill me? After we attacked you that first time . . . when Jasper and the others attacked you."
"I did kill that Angel. You aren't the same person," he said as they settled in his tent and she let him slip into the oversized sleeping bag first.
His hair's going gray, she thought, He's getting old, maybe too old to keep up this adventuring. She slid in and slipped her wings around him. "How am I different?"
"You think before you act, and you take what is, rather than demanding the world be what you want it to be."
"The world should be better," she replied softly, enjoying the heat emanating from her Master.
"Three hundred kids and Pokèkits freed from a slave labor camp. That's a pretty big 'the world should be better.' Jessie not tearing that Seraph limb from limb. That's a very personal 'the world should be better.'"
Michelle giggled at that. And aren't we all going to pay dearly when she finds out, Michelle thought.
"You didn't lead your young fool into a headlong assault against a superior force."
"There had to have been a better way," she replied as the tears came and her Master pulled her tightly against him.
"Just let it out," he murmured, "It's not your fault. It's not your fault."
"Randy was her mother?"Michelle asked as her Master's depression battered at her. A night of near ferocious Taming left him exhausted. He should just cry, she thought, Just let it out . . . like I finally did. She laid his head on her chest while her arms encircled him.
"His third child bride. She was actually a year younger than me. I can see why that man fell in love with her. I certainly did. Maureen was born, a difficult pregnancy, and before she was weaned, Randy underwent Threshold."
"You left after she escaped?"
"I followed her, discovered she'd found a Tamer. Discovered . . . discovered my `father` had done this before. He followed his pattern, had the Tamer brutally murdered while his runaway wife watched. He took no responsibility for the carnage that followed. I got Fuzz Butt, her own name for herself, and the stones to make her an Omegan. We captured Jessie while she was on a rampage. After a pack of that gentleman's bounty hunters caught up with me, with orders to bring me home, if they had to kill any Pokègirl with me to do it."
Michelle stifled her laugh at the scene in her mind.
"Jessie took out the men, their oversized Harems, while Fuzz But and I kept any of them from landing a killing blow on her. Then I walked up to her and cold-cocked her. She still thinks I sacrificed all those men and Pokègirls just to weaken her enough to capture her."
She would, and when you explained, she knew her Master was even more vicious and intelligent than she thought, Michelle thought, Caught between two powerful forces, her Master had them defeat each other. "I almost don't want to ask what happened next."
"It's not so bad. We exhausted her, then tickled her until she was hoarse and helpless, then we dipped her in a bathtub full of ice-cold water. She knew she'd die of drowning or hypothermia, then I did what the 'dex suggests, which means her head was under the water, banging on the side of the tub part of the time. One time when Fuzz Butt held her head out of the water to gasp some air, she pledged her undying loyalty, and she has been loyal."
"She certainly has been . . . interested in me."
"You're the first person who shared her philosophy, that the universe shits on everyone to amuse itself."
"You don't believe that?" she asked, "Do you?"
"There are enough people who'll do it for the universe - I don't see it needing to take a hand," he replied as he snuggled against her.
Your own father for one, she thought, But you aren't him. You manage a balance. A gray hero who wants to be let alone. "We're much alike," she whispered to her sleeping Master.
The blimp sailed into the air as fast as engines could drive it. The pilot's first loyalty was to his ship, not a loud-mouthed, arrogant, corpse-to-be.
"You should have stayed out of the Sunshine League," her Master told his father, "The big boys here don't like arrogant small fry rocking their carefully balanced boat."
"So you'd let your Pokèbitches have me?"
"We know tainted meat when we see it!" Jessie sneered. The man fumed as the other girls giggled.
"I think I know you well enough to know you'd have some last trick up your sleeve, some lie to keep you alive, or some hidden mine or assassin. But it will be entirely under your control. Mom, Randy, the others, how many lives have you taken at a safe distance? I never understood why you quit sending your flunkies after me, until I read the reports. I was exactly the kind of bastard you could be proud of. Except the reports are wrong. I'm not that kind."
"So you are a disappointment after all."
"And what are you?" Maureen screamed at him, "Why did you do this to me? What harm did I ever do to you?!"
The old man laughed at the Dream Knight. "It's nothing personal. You aren't human after all." He laughed more as Maureen teared up. "So much power, and still just toys." He looked at his son. "So, do we have a climactic battle, where I am finally made to see the error of my ways before I redeem myself through -"
KABANG.
"No, I shoot you in the head and take over. Somebody has watched too much B-vids," he told his girls, "That man never listened to anybody anyway," he said softly, then called, "Go through his baggage - carefully. If he was carrying that stuff, who knows what else he was carrying in that cargo."
He walked over to Maureen who was kneeling on the ground weeping. He drew her up into an embrace. Michelle wanted to go over and console the girl, and her Master.
"He was my father, I loved him," she cried.
"I know, I know," he replied, holding her.
Now you have his mess to clean up, Michelle thought sadly, echoing Maureen's feelings, but not voicing her own.
The lab was an atrocity. Agents from six League governments as well as the DSA agents from the Planetary League Council moved through and were horrified.
Jessie sees the entire scene as proof positive that her view of people and the universe as a whole are absolutely correct, Michelle thought as she was sickened by each new revelation.
Jessie stared into one cage that had three Angels stuffed into it. She glanced at their Master, who looked at the DSA agent. When both nodded, Jessie opened the door and dispatched the crippled, writhing trio as painlessly as possible.
Kylie stood aside, not daring to look at the suffering captives. She and Fuzz Butt were content to `guard` the scientists and technicians who operated this facility. Michelle looked at the frightened mem and woman, I think they would prefer if Michelle and I were guarding them. We'd only kill them.
Her hand brushed a table and her cry of alarm brought everyone's gaze to her. She wanted to scream in terror as the glow around and within her increased. Pain of her live replayed, as if she sought some redemption. The universe answered.
"No," Jessie whispered in despair, sensing the change before even Michelle did, "No, no, no." She shook her head, trying to deny what was happening before her eyes.
Michelle let the spent evolution stone slip from her grasp, and stood up, and looking around as if seeing the world and the people in it for the first time.
I see them as a forgiven being, Michelle thought as her gaze sought her Master's. She felt something odd and wonderful. Understanding, she realized, Everything in him and about him. From his expression he has gained the same.
As Michelle took a step towards her Master, Jessie cried out in loss and alarm. Both suddenly turned towards her. She saw the tears streaming down the Dark Lady's face, her lips quivering and other signs she felt her world was ending.
Michelle stepped towards her. My friend, I still love -
"Go away!" all her raging emotions clear in her voice.
Michelle understood and stepped away, sadness etched in her expression. What have I gained, and what I have lost, she wondered as she looked from the Dark Lady's to her Master's tortured expressions.
"Jessie?" Her once-Master reached out to her. Jessie looked like she wanted to run to him. Then she looked at Michelle, rage, pain and fear warred on her face.
"No, you are not my Master anymore," she said miserably, looking from him to her, "You cannot . . . you cannot . . . "
He cannot be your Master and Bonded to me, Michelle thought miserably, But I will welcome you. I haven't changed so much! Have I?
"Jonathan has favored you, if -"
"Yes, all of us, except her." She pointed at the ArchAngel. "Never her."
"Jessie," Michelle said, "My prayers - "
"Pray we never meet again!" she sobbed as she ran from the room.
Michelle tried to touch her, but withdrew her hand. I won't hurt you any more, my friend, my lover, she thought as she felt her own tears forming.
"I never -" Michelle offered as Jessie passed,"I never wanted that." Her pained voice seemed to echo down the corridors.
The Denmother gathered the others together. "We, know," Kylie responded, "In time she will too." The furry Pokègirl accepted a hug from the ArchAngel, before leaving to console her Harem sister.
"Big brother," Maureen said sadly, "I think they need me more than you do." Maureen ran from the room before he could respond.
"To have gained the other half of my soul, and lost my dearest friends . . . " Michelle said, tearing up herself.
"They will do more good fighting out there, than the boardroom battles we fight."
"Perhaps in time . . . " she said wistfully.
"Perhaps."
For the second, write a story of love that tried and failed, but ended up with a strong friendship nevertheless...
We all begin with good intent. When love was raw and young.
We believed that we could change ourselves. The past could be undone
But we carry on our backs the burden time always reveals
In the lonely light of morning, in the wound that would not heal
It's the bitter taste of losing everything that I've held so dear.
There are times I cannot understand the thinking of my magnificent Master, Jessie thought, At such times I must repeat the mantra: 'He is your Master, you don't have to understand.
The weeping Denmother should sicken me, she thought, Especially that my Master trusts her as our warleader. She looked at the trio of pathetic figures that were the source of the Denmother's distress. They are dead, she wished to tell her, about the three dead Pokègirls who they'd stolen from the vile nothing, and the Angel and her brood of sycophants slew. But my Master would object, she thought then remembered her glorious Master's explanation, 'I need her to believe what she says. It's part of my master plan.'
Although it is . . . pleasant, she rationalized to herself, On a cold and lonely night, to be surrounded by soft warm fur and soothing murmurs, to play as though her ridiculous view of the world were the truth. Instead of the truth that only raw power and cunning rule. She looked at the Omegan and considered another, better reason, Besides, if I spoke the truth, I'd receive another beating at the hands of that malignant squirrel. An experience I have no desire to repeat in my lifetime. So I should not tell her she is being stupid or they were weak, and not worthy of her attention.
"Why, why, why," the Denmother plaintively asked, "Why can't I have ones to take care of?"
The Dark Lady knelt beside her. "Do you not care for us, Kylie?" she asked as quietly as she could, and smiled at the tearful Denmother. I must not flinch, she reminded herself as she was nearly engulfed in the sobbing Pokègirl's arms and a tail. She gave the Omegan a triumphant grin. I will not be bested by you, you psychotic squirrel, in anything! Even as disgusting and foolish an action as this.
A moment later, a cry of absolute rage erupted from the mutilated Angel. The Denmother pulled both Pokègirls behind her to protect them. The Angel's golden hair now shown a brilliant violet. Her black-feathered wings marked that she'd lost the taint of intrinsic arrogance.
"Take a look at her clothes," her Master pointed out, "She only thinks she wants a fight."
The Dark Lady smiled and considered, This is why I do not have to understand my Masters far-reaching and absolute insight and wisdom, just accept and appreciate it.
I see her standing there, so certain and arrogant, Jessie seethed. "I'll kill her," she murmured, and planned, until her Master put his hands over her shoulders and began fondling her nipples.
"Don't let on that she's fooled you," he muttered as he pinched and rubbed her nipples through her dress.
The little shocks and pleasures that ran through her at his attentions almost drowned the thought. "Fooled me?" she moaned softly.
"Of course," her Master teased, pinching her nipples faster, but harder, sending delicious pleasure/pain through her, "What would a real Seraph be doing with him?"
She looked over at the fat, breast-obsessed slug who accompanied them. Her Master withdrew, leaving her more confused and frustrated than angry.
Michelle approached. Jessie shook her head at the Fallen Angel's atrocious sense of style. "For someone who can make their own clothes . . . " she didn't finish the statement about the collection of leather strips, pink laces and brass buckles the girl thought were appropriate clothing.
"Jealous?" Michelle teased, far differently than she'd been for months, now she almost demanded that Jessie put her in her place, publicly, and immediately.
Later, Jessie thought, then glanced at the 'I've fooled you into thinking I'm a Seraph' Pokègirl, Maybe a contest, Seraphs are supposed to be very nervous about Taming. Who can make her scream loudest?
"MASTER!" came a voice that made everyone cringe, "What are you doing? Dealing with such . . . " The Pokègirl looked at Jessie and Michelle. " . . . unclean riff-raff."
Downy, the 'I've fooled you into thinking I'm a Seraph' Pokègirl, tapped Jessie on the shoulder, nearly detonating the Dark Lady's volcanic rage at the mere presence of such a creature. "I've heard your kind kill Megami. Can I hold your cloak . . . or something?" she offered with a wide and expectant smile.
Jessie looked from Downy to the arrogant newcomer, who petulantly tapped her foot awaiting an answer. The Pokègirl who radiated equal disgust at each member of the group. "Maybe you will be . . . grateful . . . later?"
Downy looked more hopeful for a moment, then, as if remembering something, "You mean - S - E - X?" she whispered nervously.
Michelle dragged the incredulous Dark Lady away.
"Farfuck'd?" Jessie whispered.
"That's the consensus. That Milktit takes her on regularly."
Jessie glanced at the only member of the other group who could actually think, and considered what reward she'd demand, then returned her rage to the forefront.
"What do you think you are doing?!" the Megami demanded.
"You bitches love bows so much - " Michelle said with a malevolent, eager tone.
"We thought we'd tie you into one," Jessie finished and advanced.
"Cold," Jessie complained, hating the weakness caused by the poison coursing through her veins. She looked up at Michelle, who had her arms and wings wrapped tightly around her. "Silly bitch, crying over someone as stupid as I," Jessie murmured, "What possessed me to step in the way of that beam?"
"Maybe you know our Master expected it of you?" she teased, then added softly, "Maybe I would miss you. I'm tired of losing people."
"Idiots, all of us," she griped as she snuggled more tightly against Michelle's warmth, "I bet that Milktit's healing milk will be all that's available, and you'll so nobly volunteer to reduce me from my grotesquely gargantuan size." She bit her lip as Michelle rubbed her hot nipples against Jessie's ice-cold ones.
"I'll even get our Seraph to help," Michelle teased her back.
The lab was an atrocity. Agents from six League governments as well as the DSA agents from the Planetary League Council walked among the disgusting experiments and results of them. As if you haven't been backing all this, and that you won't profit from the research. This is proof positive that my view of people and the universe as a whole are absolutely correct.
She found something that deeply disturbed her, and evoked disconcerting feelings. Imagine, she thought as she stared into one cage that had three Angels stuffed into it, Me, feeling sympathy for them. She glanced at her Master, who looked at the DSA agent. When both nodded, she opened the door and dispatched the crippled, writhing trio as painlessly as possible. I guess there are limits to an Angel's healing power, she thought as she left, feeling only unclean, On herself or for another.
Kylie stood aside, not daring to look at the suffering captives.
She and Fuzz Butt are content to `guard` the scientists and technicians who operated this facility, Jessie thought as she looked around, I think they would prefer if Michelle and I were guarding them. We'd only kill them.
The cry of alarm from Michelle brought her gaze around. She and other others watched as the glow around Michelle increased.
"No," Jessie whispered in despair, sensing the change before anyone else did, "No, no, no." She shook her head, trying to deny what was happening before her eyes.
Michelle let the spent evolution stone slip from her grasp, and stood up, and looking around as if seeing the world and the people in it for the first time.
Seeing them a new way, Jessie thought as she felt her dark heart breaking. She watched Michelle lock eyes with their Master. Jessie sobbed as she felt something else precious and treasured slip from her being. She understands, everything in him and about him. From his expression he has gained the same.
Jessie cried out in loss and alarm as what Michelle had become took a step towards her Master. Both suddenly turned towards her. She felt the tears streaming down her face, her lips quivering and other signs of weakness as if the world were ending. I should kill that . . . thing! That thing that was my friend and lover. That thing that loves my Master as I always wished to, but never could.
Michelle stepped towards her.
"Go away!" all her raging emotions clear in her voice.
Michelle understood and stepped away, sadness etched in her expression. Sadness at what she had lost.
"Jessie?" Her once-Master reached out to her. All she was wanted to run to him.
"No, you are not my Master anymore," she said miserably, looking from him to her, "You cannot . . . you cannot . . . " You cannot be my Master and her's, she thought miserably, I will not be abandoned. I do the leaving.
"Jonathan has favored you, if -"
"Yes, all of us, except her." She pointed at the ArchAngel. "Never her."
"Jessie," Michelle said, "My prayers - "
"Pray we never meet again!" she sobbed as she ran from the room. She felt the ArchAngel try to touch her, and was glad she failed.
"I never -" Michelle offered as Jessie passed.
I know, Jessie thought as she raced away, That's why I let you live, and you love and will protect him. As I no longer can.
"I never wanted that," the pained voice of the ArchAngel seemed to haunt her as she fled down the corridors, not caring where she was going or what was in the way.
Marie felt powerful arms sweep her up from the bad men and monsters pursuing her. "Who?"
A darkly beautiful woman gathered her in. "I am an old friend of your mother's."
"The monsters?"
"Your aunt and my friends will deal with them, then help your daddy and mommy."
"Thank you," Marie told her, "Thank you."
And for the final, write a story of unrequited love, of love that was never meant to be.
Heaven bend to take my hand. Nowhere left to turn
I'm lost to those I thought were friends, to everyone I know
Oh they turn their heads embarrassed, pretend that they don't see
That it's one missed step, one slip before you know it
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed
Maureen looked at the door for the hundredth time, knowing, The lock and the bar outside will resist any attempt I made to force it.
She looked at the huge picture windows. Those are more fragile, she thought as she walked over and looked out of them, How I loved looking out that window. She saw the raging sea crashing against the rocks far below. I loved it, when I was still human.
She was careful not to touch the window, and set off the alarms. It's not as if they'd care if I threw myself out the window to the rocks below, she thought as she watched the waves crash against the cliffs over a hundred feet below, That's probably the only reason why they let me keep my room. Although they removed all the furniture, books, even my easel and paints. She sadly looked across the otherwise bare room at the pile of old blankets she used as a nest at night. I guess they have decided I can't think or feel anymore.
She marched over to the door. "I'm still alive!" she shouted as loudly as she could, then fell to her knees and wept. "Just let me go, or kill me. Don't just lock me away . . . away from everybody."
A pair of strong hands on her shoulders shocked her. "What no hug for your big brother?" Michael asked as he stood behind her, "Always the self-absorbed little drama queen."
"Michael!" she shouted as she hugged him fiercely.
"Easy," he croaked, "Pokègirls are stronger than humans, even Ingenues."
"Sorry!" She released him and backed fearfully away. Maybe they did lock me up for a good reason!
"Hey, I didn't say 'stop', I said be careful," he chided as he tousled her hair.
"Grr!" She grabbed him and hugged him again. She eased up a bit when she peeked over his shoulder at the Pokègirls that accompanied him. Those two look okay, she thought of the two furries, then she looked at the pair who appeared as human as she did, Those two look like they'd spit me out, after they took turns chewing me to bits.
"We should hurry," the red-furred Pokègirl said, approaching Maureen and engulfing her in a warm hug, "We are here for you child."
Maureen ignored the disgusted murmurs of the two near humans as she felt herself falling into that soft, warm embrace.
"Michael."
Maureen whirled at her father's voice.
"You were ordered never to set foot in this house again."
"You already have a warrant out against me for kidnaping. I decided it was time to redeem you, make you less of a hypocrite and a liar."
"Please, don't fight!" she urged, and recoiled at the look of disgust on her father's face. She ran back to Michael and buried her face in his chest, so no one would see her cry.
"Randy was mine, to do with as I saw fit. As are you, Michael."
Maureen turned to see her father's bodyguards enter the room. Rather than be frightened by the trio of grizzled Herowu, Michael laughed.
"Against mine? You are a fool."
"Then can we kill them?" the darkly beautiful woman in the dress asked.
She's looking forward to killing the guards . . . and father! she fearfully realized.
"No, we're going to make him suffer," Michael said coldly, "He'll die when I decide and am ready. He's going to spend the rest of his life wondering when we'll reveal what he did to his own daughters, and what happened to his latest wife, after he had her Tamer killed."
"Daughters'! Maureen's mind reeled at the thought, He's done this to my sisters before me? Where are they? What happened to them? Tamer!? When did mother ever had a Tamer, she just ran away?
Michael laughed their father's terrified expression.
"I've noticed you've managed to keep that little tidbit off the nets. 'I hate to say this, but we may have to adopt Sanctuary tactics in terms of protecting the information', my ass. You don't want the truth about all those Widow-deaths dropped on your lap."
"You wouldn't dare!" the man's voice shook with fear and rage, "You'd disgrace your family name!"
"Outside Maureen, nobody I care about even knew my name," Michael said, "You should be glad. Poor Maureen, she thought she was going through Threshold and threw herself to the rocks. The autopsy proved it was just a brain tumor or some such. Due to the damage, the funeral will be closed casket. You can even pretend you're a good father and grieve. I'll send flowers."
Maureen saw, to her horror, that her father was considering it. "Father! I'm still alive!" she told him, as she walked towards him, "I'm still who I was."
"My daughter is no more. There is no one in this room."
"Please," she plead with him, then felt a hand on her shoulder. The woman in the dress.
"I believe we have worn out our welcome," the woman said.
"But I -" then fell silent at the woman's irritated expression, "I'll go quietly."
"Don't ever return. Either of you."
"I intend to piss on your grave old man. After we've drunk your precious wine cellar dry," Michael replied as they all vanished.
"Our Master must always have the last word," the one wearing laces and buckles said affectionately, catching Maureen and Michael in a hug.
"Aren't you cold?" Maureen asked.
"Would you like to see how warm I can be?" she asked as she pressed against Maureen, her smile a predator's grin.
Maureen backed away into the woman with the dress. "This weakling is going to help us?" she sneered.
Maureen suddenly realized she had no powers nor skills to add to this Harem.
"Yes, Jessie," Michael, her new Master said, "After a little help."
The squirrel girl brought out two parcels.
"A steel coat," Maureen breathed, feeling hope for the first time since she revealed she was Thresholding, "A dream stone . . . Michael - it's too much."
"It's necessary. Jessie's right. A Ingenue is in no condition to travel our road," Mich - Master said firmly, "Besides, it will also throw off his hunters. They won't be looking for a Battle Angel, and once we're back in the Sunshine League, nobody will Taming Care."
"I - I don't know how to thank you all."
"He's your brother," Jessie lectured, as both Pokègirls lay panting after a particularly torrid albeit `friendly` sex battle.
"Half," Maureen gasped, "Different mothers." She flopped down beside the Dark Lady. They are supposed to be all rage, she thought, This one seems to have that under control. She saw her `opponent's` nipples were erect and reached over to rub them as a consolation prize.
"I thought you were - OH! - exhausted," Jessie sighed.
"Exhausted, not dead," she replied. And enjoying I beat you, she thought, Defeated my first Pokègirl, and it was a Dark Lady, and a very beautiful one.
"Quiet!" Fuzz Butt shouted as she raised her head from between Kylie's thighs, "I'm eating!" She returned to her tongue lashing.
The Denmother's scream of orgasm shook the walls of their cabin. While in the next cabin, Michelle's softer but more frantic cries of release made Maureen distinctly unsatisfied as her finger drew circles on the Dark Lady's aureola. If that was his, growing, hardening, pulsing inside me . . .
"Put it out of your mind," Jessie told her.
Shocked out of her imaginings, Maureen stared at Jessie.
"Put it out of your mind. The Master has ordered it so."
"How do you know what I'm thinking?"
"All women desire our Master. That is the way of things."
"He's - he was only my half-brother when I was human. Now . . . "
"The Master has proclaimed it, and he will be obeyed. Do you understand?"
It's not that simple, she thought as she went back to drawing little circles, and listening with growing envy that Michelle was getting the night of her rescue alone with their Master. She looked at the Dark Lady biting her lip. "So, do you get your strength back, or will I make you explode?"
The blimp sailed into the air as fast as engines could drive it. The pilot's first loyalty was to his ship, not a loud-mouthed, arrogant, corpse-to-be.
"You should have stayed out of the Sunshine League," he told his father, "The big boys here don't like arrogant small fry rocking their carefully balanced boat."
"So you'd let your Pokèbitches have me?"
"We know tainted meat when we see it!" Jessie sneered. The man fumed as the other girls giggled.
"I think I know you well enough to know you'd have some last trick up your sleeve, some lie to keep you alive, or some hidden mine or assassin. But it will be entirely under your control. Mom, Randy, the others, how many lives have you taken at a safe distance? I never understood why you quit sending your flunkies after me, until I read the reports. I was exactly the kind of bastard you could be proud of. Except the reports are wrong. I'm not that kind."
"So you are a disappointment after all."
"And what are you?" Maureen screamed at him, "Why did you do this to me? What harm did I ever do to you?!"
The old man laughed at the Dream Knight. "It's nothing personal. You aren't human after all." he laughed more as Maureen teared up. "So much power, and still just toys." He looked at his son. "So, do we have a climactic battle where I am finally made to see the error of my ways before I redeem myself through -"
KABANG.
"No, I shoot you in the head and take over. Somebody has watched too much B-vids," he told his girls, "That man never listened to anybody anyway," he said softly, then called, "Go through his baggage - carefully. If he was carrying that stuff, who knows what else he was carrying in that cargo."
He walked over to Maureen who was kneeling on the ground weeping. He drew her up into an embrace.
"He was my father, I loved him," she cried.
"I know, I know," he replied, holding her.
Now we have his mess to clean up, she thought sadly, echoing, but not voicing her feelings.
The lab was an atrocity. Agents from six League governments as well as the DSA agents from the Planetary League Council. Maureen looked at Jessie and Michelle, who were the only Pokègirls willing to walk through the experiments and cages. Jessie stared at one cage in particular as Michelle walked among the specimen racks. Jessie glanced at their Master, who looked at the DSA agent. When both nodded, she opened the door. There were brief whimpers, then Jessie stepped outside the cage with a ahunted look.
Kylie and Fuzz Butt stood guard over the scientists and technicians who operated this facility. Many of these people I knew, she thought, Now they don't even see me as a person.
Why did you do this? Maureen wanted to shake them until they answered, Was a paycheck worth all this suffering, what about ethics? Morality? Even if the law was on your side?
The cry of alarm from Michelle brought her gaze around. She and other others watched as the glow around Michelle increased. Maureen feared to move as much as she feared to stay still.
"No," Jessie whispered in despair, sensing the change before anyone else did, "No, no, no." She shook her head, trying to deny what was happening before her eyes.
Michelle let the spent evolution stone slip from her grasp, and stood up, and looking around as if seeing the world and the people in it for the first time.
She sees us all in a new way, Maureen thought as she watched her Master trying to catch Michelle's eye. She watched Michelle lock eyes with their Master. He's hers, none of us will ever have hs heart again, she thought, understanding Jessie's agony.
Jessie sobbed, then cried out in loss and alarm as what Michelle had become took a step towards their Master. Both suddenly turned towards her. Maureen saw the tears streaming down her face, her lips quivering. A single tear of her own slid down her cheek, unseen and unoticed in the greater drama unfolding before her. She loved my Master as I always wanted to, Now both of us have lost him forever.
Michelle stepped towards Jessie to console and comfort her. "Go away!" all the Dark Lady's raging emotions clear in her voice.
Michelle understood and stepped away, sadness etched in her expression. Sadness at what she had lost.
"Jessie?" Her once-Master reached out to her.
"No, you are not my Master anymore," she said miserably, looking from him to her, "You cannot . . . you cannot . . . "
You are only Michelle's Master now, she thought miserably, You believe you two have enough love for us all, but it would be a thin soup while you banquet every moment.
"Jonathan has favored you, if -"
"Yes, all of us, except her." She pointed at the ArchAngel. "Never her."
"Jessie," Michelle said, "My prayers - "
"Pray we never meet again!" she sobbed as she ran from the room. The ArchAngel tried to touch her, but relented at the last moment.
"I never -" Michelle offered as Jessie passed.
"I never wanted that," the haunted voice of the ArchAngel echoed around the silent room.
The Denmother gathered Maureen and Fuzz Butt to her. "We, know," Kylie responded, "In time she will too." The furry Pokègirl accepted a hug from the ArchAngel, before leaving to console her Harem sister.
"Big brother," Maureen said sadly, "I think they need me more than you do." Maureen ran from the room before he could respond.
Marie felt powerful arms sweep her up from the bad men and monsters pursuing her. "Who?"
A darkly beautiful woman gathered her in. "I am an old friend of your mother's."
"The monsters?"
"Your aunt and my friends will deal with them, then help your daddy and mommy."
"Thank you," Marie told her, "Thank you."
The Complete Story in Chronological Order
For the first one, write a story about true love, of Recognition.
For the second, write a story of love that tried and failed, but ended up with a strong friendship nevertheless...
And for the final, write a story of unrequited love, of love that was never meant to be.
Heaven bend to take my hand, and lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer to a long and painful fight
Truth be told I've tried my best, but somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer, and the cost was so much more than I could bear
There are time you wonder if it is more merciful to remember or to forget. Even the opportunity to gaze into my Master's eyes doesn't give me my answers. So I put the question aside, for now.
Jasper was a good boy, almost puppy-like in his enthusiasm. Perhaps if I'd been wiser, I could have kept him alive.
I remember the battle. Jasper and three other Tamers closing in on a reputed renegade. A man who used Pokègirls to commit hellacious crimes. Of course we had to catch him! Justice demanded it. Wisdom would have demanded we check out our source's story. He was a petty thief and the `renegade` had defeated and humiliated him. Not that the `renegade` was a good man, but he might have been reasonable . . . if we'd approached him a different way.
Face ground into the dirt, no one could hear the Angel screaming as the Dark Lady tore her wings right off her back.
"Feels good, huh?!" the Dark Lady screamed, "I'll tear you apart strip by strip until -! Arrgh!"
"Enough!" The demonic squirrel put the Dark Lady in a full nelson.
"Let go!"
"The right of the kill is Master's! Or can't you follow a simple order?" the Omegan shouted into the Dark Lady's ear.
The Seething Bitch Pokègirl ceased struggling. "How dare you question my loyalty to our Master!"
"Then remember his orders, Jessie." The Omegan released the Pokègirl, turned her back on and walked away from the furious Dark Lady. The Warbeast vanished, leaving a cute squirrel-girl behind, who headed for the weeping Growlie-like Pokègirl across the field.
"Your disrespect will be punished, Fuzz Butt!" the Dark Lady raged.
The Angel managed to roll on her side, to watch the Dark Lady. She still wept in pain at her destroyed wings. The other huddled bodies drew her gaze, until a man yanked the Dark Lady's head back by her hair and grabbed her throat.
"You'd disobey me?" he almost sounded amused.
The Dark Lady's expression went from furious to terrified. "No, Master," she whispered.
"You want her destroyed, or merely killed?" he whispered again, and waited while the Dark Lady nodded meekly, "Then watch your Master prove why he is your master." He released her and walked towards the Angel, wrenching her head around by her hair, until she could see the weeping Denmother and the Omegan trying to console her. "I don't know what you and your idiot friends were trying to do." He twisted her head around, so she could look at Jasper, pinned to a tree by a knife through his throat. Looking like a puppet with most of his strings cut.
"No . . . " the Angel breathed, "Jasper."
The man wrenched her head around so she was looking back at the Denmother. "Yeah, I cheated that little troll to win those girls, because the little scumbag was cheating too. Had'em hopped up on crystals. Makes a Titmouse think she's a match for a Widow, until her heart explodes." He twisted her head so she was face-to-face with him.
His rage equals or exceeds his Dark Lady's. Because it has focus, she thought as she tried to get away from it, He was trying to save them . . . and we . . . ? she couldn't complete the thought.
"It's not as if they were important Celestials. It's not like they were Angels or Megami, just street trash semi-Ferals trying to get by." He threw her to the ground.
The scream torn from her didn't come from her ravaged wing stumps, but the death of her Master, his entire Harem, and the three innocents they had vowed to rescue.
"You aren't worth my time." The man stood and gently took the Dark Lady's hand, to lead her to his other two Pokègirls.
She felt the weight of her failure descend on her like an anchor, dragging her down into an ocean of despair.
We all begin with good intent. When love was raw and young.
We believed that we could change ourselves. The past could be undone
But we carry on our backs the burden time always reveals
In the lonely light of morning, in the wound that would not heal
It's the bitter taste of losing everything that I've held so dear.
There are times I cannot understand the thinking of my magnificent Master, Jessie thought, At such times I must repeat the mantra: 'He is your Master, you don't have to understand.
The weeping Denmother should sicken me, she thought, Especially that my Master trusts her as our warleader. She looked at the trio of pathetic figures that were the source of the Denmother's distress. They are dead, she wished to tell her, about the three dead Pokègirls who they'd stolen from the vile nothing, and the Angel and her brood of sycophants slew. But my Master would object, she thought then remembered her glorious Master's explanation, 'I need her to believe what she says. It's part of my master plan.'
Although it is . . . pleasant, she rationalized to herself, On a cold and lonely night, to be surrounded by soft warm fur and soothing murmurs, to play as though her ridiculous view of the world were the truth. Instead of the truth that only raw power and cunning rule. She looked at the Omegan and considered another, better reason, Besides, if I spoke the truth, I'd receive another beating at the hands of that malignant squirrel. An experience I have no desire to repeat in my lifetime. So I should not tell her she is being stupid or they were weak, and not worthy of her attention.
"Why, why, why," the Denmother plaintively asked, "Why can't I have ones to take care of?"
The Dark Lady knelt beside her. "Do you not care for us, Kylie?" she asked as quietly as she could, and smiled at the tearful Denmother. I must not flinch, she reminded herself as she was nearly engulfed in the sobbing Pokègirl's arms and a tail. She gave the Omegan a triumphant grin. I will not be bested by you, you psychotic squirrel, in anything! Even as disgusting and foolish an action as this.
A moment later, a cry of absolute rage erupted from the mutilated Angel. The Denmother pulled both Pokègirls behind her to protect them. The Angel's golden hair now shown a brilliant violet. Her black-feathered wings marked that she'd lost the taint of intrinsic arrogance.
"Take a look at her clothes," her Master pointed out, "She only thinks she wants a fight."
The Dark Lady smiled and considered, This is why I do not have to understand my Masters far-reaching and absolute insight and wisdom, just accept and appreciate it.
You can see her standing there, so certain and arrogant, Michelle thought of her seething ally, and hid her smile at their Master's approach.
"I'll kill her," Jessie murmured, and planned, until her Master put his hands over the Dark Lady's shoulders and began fondling her nipples.
Michelle felt an odd mix of jealous and relief that she was not the focus of attention.
"Don't let on that she's fooled you," he muttered as he pinched and rubbed Jessie's nipples through her dress.
The little shocks and pleasures that ran through her at his attentions almost drowned her question. "Fooled me?" she moaned softly.
"Of course," her Master teased, pinching her nipples faster, but harder, sending delicious pleasure/pain through her, "What would a real Seraph be doing with him?"
Michelle and Jessie looked over at the fat, breast-obsessed slug who accompanied them. Their Master withdrew, leaving Jessie more confused and frustrated than angry.
Michelle approached. Jessie shook her head. I dress as I wish, my friend, she thought, bracing for another lecture.
"For someone who can make their own clothes . . . " Jessie didn't finish the statement about the collection of leather strips, pink laces and brass buckles Michelle thought were appropriate clothing.
"Jealous?" Michelle teased, far differently than she'd been for months, now she almost demanded that Jessie put her in her place, publicly, and immediately.
'Later', she read Jessie's thought, then the Dark Lady glanced at the 'I've fooled you into thinking I'm a Seraph' Pokègirl. Michelle couldn't read her thoughts, I expect they'll be interesting, except to the Seraph.
"MASTER!" came a voice that made everyone cringe, "What are you doing? Dealing with such . . . " The Pokègirl looked at Jessie and Michelle. " . . . unclean riff-raff."
Downy, the 'I've fooled you into thinking I'm a Seraph' Pokègirl, tapped Jessie on the shoulder, nearly detonating the Dark Lady's volcanic rage at the mere presence of such a creature. "I've heard your kind kill Megami. Can I hold your cloak . . . or something?"
Jessie looked from Downy to the arrogant newcomer, who petulantly tapped her foot awaiting an answer. The newcomer radiated equal disgust at each member of the group. "May be you will be . . . grateful . . . later."
Downy looked hopeful for a moment, then, as if remembering something, "You mean - S - E - X?" she whispered nervously.
Michelle dragged the incredulous Dark lady away.
"Farfuck'd?" Jessie whispered.
"That's the consensus. That Milktit takes her on regularly."
Jessie glanced at the only member of the other group who could actually think, and was obviously considering what reward she'd demand, then returned her rage to the forefront.
"What do you think you are doing?!" the Megami demanded.
"You bitches love bows so much - " Michelle said with a malevolent tone.
"We thought we'd tie you into one," Jessie finished and advanced.
I see her standing there, so certain and arrogant, Jessie seethed. "I'll kill her," she murmured, and planned, until her Master put his hands over her shoulders and began fondling her nipples.
"Don't let on that she's fooled you," he muttered as he pinched and rubbed her nipples through her dress.
The little shocks and pleasures that ran through her at his attentions almost drowned the thought. "Fooled me?" she moaned softly.
"Of course," her Master teased, pinching her nipples faster, but harder, sending delicious pleasure/pain through her, "What would a real Seraph be doing with him?"
She looked over at the fat, breast-obsessed slug who accompanied them. Her Master withdrew, leaving her more confused and frustrated than angry.
Michelle approached. Jessie shook her head at the Fallen Angel's atrocious sense of style. "For someone who can make their own clothes . . . " she didn't finish the statement about the collection of leather strips, pink laces and brass buckles the girl thought were appropriate clothing.
"Jealous?" Michelle teased, far differently than she'd been for months, now she almost demanded that Jessie put her in her place, publicly, and immediately.
Later, Jessie thought, then glanced at the 'I've fooled you into thinking I'm a Seraph' Pokègirl, Maybe a contest, Seraphs are supposed to be very nervous about Taming. Who can make her scream loudest?
"MASTER!" came a voice that made everyone cringe, "What are you doing? Dealing with such . . . " The Pokègirl looked at Jessie and Michelle. " . . . unclean riff-raff."
Downy, the 'I've fooled you into thinking I'm a Seraph' Pokègirl, tapped Jessie on the shoulder, nearly detonating the Dark Lady's volcanic rage at the mere presence of such a creature. "I've heard your kind kill Megami. Can I hold your cloak . . . or something?" she offered with a wide and expectant smile.
Jessie looked from Downy to the arrogant newcomer, who petulantly tapped her foot awaiting an answer. The Pokègirl who radiated equal disgust at each member of the group. "Maybe you will be . . . grateful . . . later?"
Downy looked more hopeful for a moment, then, as if remembering something, "You mean - S - E - X?" she whispered nervously.
Michelle dragged the incredulous Dark Lady away.
"Farfuck'd?" Jessie whispered.
"That's the consensus. That Milktit takes her on regularly."
Jessie glanced at the only member of the other group who could actually think, and considered what reward she'd demand, then returned her rage to the forefront.
"What do you think you are doing?!" the Megami demanded.
"You bitches love bows so much - " Michelle said with a malevolent, eager tone.
"We thought we'd tie you into one," Jessie finished and advanced.
"Cold," Jessie complained, hating the weakness caused by the poison coursing through her veins. She looked up at Michelle, who had her arms and wings wrapped tightly around her. "Silly bitch, crying over someone as stupid as I," Jessie murmured, "What possessed me to step in the way of that beam?"
"Maybe you know our Master expected it of you?" she teased, then added softly, "Maybe I would miss you. I'm tired of losing people."
"Idiots, all of us," she griped as she snuggled more tightly against Michelle's warmth, "I bet that Milktit's healing milk will be all that's available, and you'll so nobly volunteer to reduce me from my grotesquely gargantuan size." She bit her lip as Michelle rubbed her hot nipples against Jessie's ice-cold ones.
"I'll even get our Seraph to help," Michelle teased her back.
"How's Jessie?" Master asked Michelle.
"Sleeping. Flower said her healing milk will get rid of the rest of the poison. It gave Jessie's milk a piquancy."
"Thank you for letting Kylie keep an eye on her through the night." He shivered slightly at the cold wind. "Please come to my tent."
"Master I - " I can't tell him I'm just too tired for a Taming! Michelle thought, casting around desperately for a better excuse/explanation.
"Just to sleep," her Master assured her, "I don't want to sleep alone, after what we all saw."
"Yes, Master," she replied more enthusiastically. It's too cold to sleep alone anyway, she thought, then asked, "Why - why didn't you kill me? After we attacked you that first time . . . when Jasper and the others attacked you."
"I did kill that Angel. You aren't the same person," he said as they settled in his tent and she let him slip into the oversized sleeping bag first.
His hair's going gray, she thought, He's getting old, maybe too old to keep up this adventuring. She slid in and slipped her wings around him. "How am I different?"
"You think before you act, and you take what is, rather than demanding the world be what you want it to be."
"The world should be better," she replied softly, enjoying the heat emanating from her Master.
"Three hundred kids and Pokèkits freed from a slave labor camp. That's a pretty big 'the world should be better.' Jessie not tearing that Seraph limb from limb. That's a very personal 'the world should be better.'"
Michelle giggled at that. And aren't we all going to pay dearly when she finds out, Michelle thought.
"You didn't lead your young fool into a headlong assault against a superior force."
"There had to have been a better way," she replied as the tears came and her Master pulled her tightly against him.
"Just let it out," he murmured, "It's not your fault. It's not your fault."
Heaven bend to take my hand. Nowhere left to turn
I'm lost to those I thought were friends, to everyone I know
Oh they turn their heads embarrassed, pretend that they don't see
That it's one missed step, one slip before you know it
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed
Maureen looked at the door for the hundredth time, knowing, The lock and the bar outside will resist any attempt I made to force it.
She looked at the huge picture windows. Those are more fragile, she thought as she walked over and looked out of them, How I loved looking out that window. She saw the raging sea crashing against the rocks far below. I loved it, when I was still human.
She was careful not to touch the window, and set off the alarms. It's not as if they'd care if I threw myself out the window to the rocks below, she thought as she watched the waves crash against the cliffs over a hundred feet below, That's probably the only reason why they let me keep my room. Although they removed all the furniture, books, even my easel and paints. She sadly looked across the otherwise bare room at the pile of old blankets she used as a nest at night. I guess they have decided I can't think or feel anymore.
She marched over to the door. "I'm still alive!" she shouted as loudly as she could, then fell to her knees and wept. "Just let me go, or kill me. Don't just lock me away . . . away from everybody."
A pair of strong hands on her shoulders shocked her. "What no hug for your big brother?" Michael asked as he stood behind her, "Always the self-absorbed little drama queen."
"Michael!" she shouted as she hugged him fiercely.
"Easy," he croaked, "Pokègirls are stronger than humans, even Ingenues."
"Sorry!" She released him and backed fearfully away. Maybe they did lock me up for a good reason!
"Hey, I didn't say 'stop', I said be careful," he chided as he tousled her hair.
"Grr!" She grabbed him and hugged him again. She eased up a bit when she peeked over his shoulder at the Pokègirls that accompanied him. Those two look okay, she thought of the two furries, then she looked at the pair who appeared as human as she did, Those two look like they'd spit me out, after they took turns chewing me to bits.
"We should hurry," the red-furred Pokègirl said, approaching Maureen and engulfing her in a warm hug, "We are here for you child."
Maureen ignored the disgusted murmurs of the two near humans as she felt herself falling into that soft, warm embrace.
"Michael."
Maureen whirled at her father's voice.
"You were ordered never to set foot in this house again."
"You already have a warrant out against me for kidnaping. I decided it was time to redeem you, make you less of a hypocrite and a liar."
"Please, don't fight!" she urged, and recoiled at the look of disgust on her father's face. She ran back to Michael and buried her face in his chest, so no one would see her cry.
"Randy was mine, to do with as I saw fit. As are you, Michael."
Maureen turned to see her father's bodyguards enter the room. Rather than be frightened by the trio of grizzled Herowu, Michael laughed.
"Against mine? You are a fool."
"Then can we kill them?" the darkly beautiful woman in the dress asked.
She's looking forward to killing the guards . . . and father! she fearfully realized.
"No, we're going to make him suffer," Michael said coldly, "He'll die when I decide and am ready. He's going to spend the rest of his life wondering when we'll reveal what he did to his own daughters, and what happened to his latest wife, after he had her Tamer killed."
"Daughters'! Maureen's mind reeled at the thought, He's done this to my sisters before me? Where are they? What happened to them? Tamer!? When did mother ever had a Tamer, she just ran away?
Michael laughed their father's terrified expression.
"I've noticed you've managed to keep that little tidbit off the nets. 'I hate to say this, but we may have to adopt Sanctuary tactics in terms of protecting the information', my ass. You don't want the truth about all those Widow-deaths dropped on your lap."
"You wouldn't dare!" the man's voice shook with fear and rage, "You'd disgrace your family name!"
"Outside Maureen, nobody I care about even knew my name," Michael said, "You should be glad. Poor Maureen, she thought she was going through Threshold and threw herself to the rocks. The autopsy proved it was just a brain tumor or some such. Due to the damage, the funeral will be closed casket. You can even pretend you're a good father and grieve. I'll send flowers."
Maureen saw, to her horror, that her father was considering it. "Father! I'm still alive!" she told him, as she walked towards him, "I'm still who I was."
"My daughter is no more. There is no one in this room."
"Please," she plead with him, then felt a hand on her shoulder. The woman in the dress.
"I believe we have worn out our welcome," the woman said.
"But I -" then fell silent at the woman's irritated expression, "I'll go quietly."
"Don't ever return. Either of you."
"I intend to piss on your grave old man. After we've drunk your precious wine cellar dry," Michael replied as they all vanished.
"Our Master must always have the last word," the one wearing laces and buckles said affectionately, catching Maureen and Michael in a hug.
"Aren't you cold?" Maureen asked.
"Would you like to see how warm I can be?" she asked as she pressed against Maureen, her smile a predator's grin.
Maureen backed away into the woman with the dress. "This weakling is going to help us?" she sneered.
Maureen suddenly realized she had no powers nor skills to add to this Harem.
"Yes, Jessie," Michael, her new Master said, "After a little help."
The squirrel girl brought out two parcels.
"A steel coat," Maureen breathed, feeling hope for the first time since she revealed she was Thresholding, "A dream stone . . . Michael - it's too much."
"It's necessary. Jessie's right. A Ingenue is in no condition to travel our road," Mich - Master said firmly, "Besides, it will also throw off his hunters. They won't be looking for a Battle Angel, and once we're back in the Sunshine League, nobody will Taming Care."
"I - I don't know how to thank you all."
"He's your brother," Jessie lectured, as both Pokègirls lay panting after a particularly torrid albeit `friendly` sex battle.
"Half," Maureen gasped, "Different mothers." She flopped down beside the Dark Lady. They are supposed to be all rage, she thought, This one seems to have that under control. She saw her `opponent's` nipples were erect and reached over to rub them as a consolation prize.
"I thought you were - OH! - exhausted," Jessie sighed.
"Exhausted, not dead," she replied. And enjoying I beat you, she thought, Defeated my first Pokègirl, and it was a Dark Lady, and a very beautiful one.
"Quiet!" Fuzz Butt shouted as she raised her head from between Kylie's thighs, "I'm eating!" She returned to her tongue lashing.
The Denmother's scream of orgasm shook the walls of their cabin. While in the next cabin, Michelle's softer but more frantic cries of release made Maureen distinctly unsatisfied as her finger drew circles on the Dark Lady's aureola. If that was his, growing, hardening, pulsing inside me . . .
"Put it out of your mind," Jessie told her.
Shocked out of her imaginings, Maureen stared at Jessie.
"Put it out of your mind. The Master has ordered it so."
"How do you know what I'm thinking?"
"All women desire our Master. That is the way of things."
"He's - he was only my half-brother when I was human. Now . . . "
"The Master has proclaimed it, and he will be obeyed. Do you understand?"
It's not that simple, she thought as she went back to drawing little circles, and listening with growing envy that Michelle was getting the night of her rescue alone with their Master. She looked at the Dark Lady biting her lip. "So, do you get your strength back, or will I make you explode?"
"Randy was her mother?"Michelle asked as her Master's depression battered at her. A night of near ferocious Taming left him exhausted. He should just cry, she thought, Just let it out . . . like I finally did. She laid his head on her chest while her arms encircled him.
"His third child bride. She was actually a year younger than me. I can see why that man fell in love with her. I certainly did. Maureen was born, a difficult pregnancy, and before she was weaned, Randy underwent Threshold."
"You left after she escaped?"
"I followed her, discovered she'd found a Tamer. Discovered . . . discovered my `father` had done this before. He followed his pattern, had the Tamer brutally murdered while his runaway wife watched. He took no responsibility for the carnage that followed. I got Fuzz Butt, her own name for herself, and the stones to make her an Omegan. We captured Jessie while she was on a rampage. After a pack of that gentleman's bounty hunters caught up with me, with orders to bring me home, if they had to kill any Pokègirl with me to do it."
Michelle stifled her laugh at the scene in her mind.
"Jessie took out the men, their oversized Harems, while Fuzz But and I kept any of them from landing a killing blow on her. Then I walked up to her and cold-cocked her. She still thinks I sacrificed all those men and Pokègirls just to weaken her enough to capture her."
She would, and when you explained, she knew her Master was even more vicious and intelligent than she thought, Michelle thought, Caught between two powerful forces, her Master had them defeat each other. "I almost don't want to ask what happened next."
"It's not so bad. We exhausted her, then tickled her until she was hoarse and helpless, then we dipped her in a bathtub full of ice-cold water. She knew she'd die of drowning or hypothermia, then I did what the 'dex suggests, which means her head was under the water, banging on the side of the tub part of the time. One time when Fuzz Butt held her head out of the water to gasp some air, she pledged her undying loyalty, and she has been loyal."
"She certainly has been . . . interested in me."
"You're the first person who shared her philosophy, that the universe shits on everyone to amuse itself."
"You don't believe that?" she asked, "Do you?"
"There are enough people who'll do it for the universe - I don't see it needing to take a hand," he replied as he snuggled against her.
Your own father for one, she thought, But you aren't him. You manage a balance. A gray hero who wants to be let alone. "We're much alike," she whispered to her sleeping Master.
The blimp sailed into the air as fast as engines could drive it. The pilot's first loyalty was to his ship, not a loud-mouthed, arrogant, corpse-to-be.
"You should have stayed out of the Sunshine League," her Master told his father, "The big boys here don't like arrogant small fry rocking their carefully balanced boat."
"So you'd let your Pokèbitches have me?"
"We know tainted meat when we see it!" Jessie sneered. The man fumed as the other girls giggled.
"I think I know you well enough to know you'd have some last trick up your sleeve, some lie to keep you alive, or some hidden mine or assassin. But it will be entirely under your control. Mom, Randy, the others, how many lives have you taken at a safe distance? I never understood why you quit sending your flunkies after me, until I read the reports. I was exactly the kind of bastard you could be proud of. Except the reports are wrong. I'm not that kind."
"So you are a disappointment after all."
"And what are you?" Maureen screamed at him, "Why did you do this to me? What harm did I ever do to you?!"
The old man laughed at the Dream Knight. "It's nothing personal. You aren't human after all." He laughed more as Maureen teared up. "So much power, and still just toys." He looked at his son. "So, do we have a climactic battle, where I am finally made to see the error of my ways before I redeem myself through -"
KABANG.
"No, I shoot you in the head and take over. Somebody has watched too much B-vids," he told his girls, "That man never listened to anybody anyway," he said softly, then called, "Go through his baggage - carefully. If he was carrying that stuff, who knows what else he was carrying in that cargo."
He walked over to Maureen who was kneeling on the ground weeping. He drew her up into an embrace. Michelle wanted to go over and console the girl, and her Master.
"He was my father, I loved him," she cried.
"I know, I know," he replied, holding her.
Now you have his mess to clean up, Michelle thought sadly, echoing Maureen's feelings, but not voicing her own.
The blimp sailed into the air as fast as engines could drive it. The pilot's first loyalty was to his ship, not a loud-mouthed, arrogant, corpse-to-be.
"You should have stayed out of the Sunshine League," he told his father, "The big boys here don't like arrogant small fry rocking their carefully balanced boat."
"So you'd let your Pokèbitches have me?"
"We know tainted meat when we see it!" Jessie sneered. The man fumed as the other girls giggled.
"I think I know you well enough to know you'd have some last trick up your sleeve, some lie to keep you alive, or some hidden mine or assassin. But it will be entirely under your control. Mom, Randy, the others, how many lives have you taken at a safe distance? I never understood why you quit sending your flunkies after me, until I read the reports. I was exactly the kind of bastard you could be proud of. Except the reports are wrong. I'm not that kind."
"So you are a disappointment after all."
"And what are you?" Maureen screamed at him, "Why did you do this to me? What harm did I ever do to you?!"
The old man laughed at the Dream Knight. "It's nothing personal. You aren't human after all." he laughed more as Maureen teared up. "So much power, and still just toys." He looked at his son. "So, do we have a climactic battle where I am finally made to see the error of my ways before I redeem myself through -"
KABANG.
"No, I shoot you in the head and take over. Somebody has watched too much B-vids," he told his girls, "That man never listened to anybody anyway," he said softly, then called, "Go through his baggage - carefully. If he was carrying that stuff, who knows what else he was carrying in that cargo."
He walked over to Maureen who was kneeling on the ground weeping. He drew her up into an embrace.
"He was my father, I loved him," she cried.
"I know, I know," he replied, holding her.
Now we have his mess to clean up, she thought sadly, echoing, but not voicing her feelings.
The lab was an atrocity. Agents from six League governments as well as the DSA agents from the Planetary League Council moved through and were horrified.
Jessie sees the entire scene as proof positive that her view of people and the universe as a whole are absolutely correct, Michelle thought as she was sickened by each new revelation.
Jessie stared into one cage that had three Angels stuffed into it. She glanced at their Master, who looked at the DSA agent. When both nodded, Jessie opened the door and dispatched the crippled, writhing trio as painlessly as possible.
Kylie stood aside, not daring to look at the suffering captives. She and Fuzz Butt were content to `guard` the scientists and technicians who operated this facility. Michelle looked at the frightened mem and woman, I think they would prefer if Michelle and I were guarding them. We'd only kill them.
Her hand brushed a table and her cry of alarm brought everyone's gaze to her. She wanted to scream in terror as the glow around and within her increased. Pain of her live replayed, as if she sought some redemption. The universe answered.
"No," Jessie whispered in despair, sensing the change before even Michelle did, "No, no, no." She shook her head, trying to deny what was happening before her eyes.
Michelle let the spent evolution stone slip from her grasp, and stood up, and looking around as if seeing the world and the people in it for the first time.
I see them as a forgiven being, Michelle thought as her gaze sought her Master's. She felt something odd and wonderful. Understanding, she realized, Everything in him and about him. From his expression he has gained the same.
As Michelle took a step towards her Master, Jessie cried out in loss and alarm. Both suddenly turned towards her. She saw the tears streaming down the Dark Lady's face, her lips quivering and other signs she felt her world was ending.
Michelle stepped towards her. My friend, I still love -
"Go away!" all her raging emotions clear in her voice.
Michelle understood and stepped away, sadness etched in her expression. What have I gained, and what I have lost, she wondered as she looked from the Dark Lady's to her Master's tortured expressions.
"Jessie?" Her once-Master reached out to her. Jessie looked like she wanted to run to him. Then she looked at Michelle, rage, pain and fear warred on her face.
"No, you are not my Master anymore," she said miserably, looking from him to her, "You cannot . . . you cannot . . . "
He cannot be your Master and Bonded to me, Michelle thought miserably, But I will welcome you. I haven't changed so much! Have I?
"Jonathan has favored you, if -"
"Yes, all of us, except her." She pointed at the ArchAngel. "Never her."
"Jessie," Michelle said, "My prayers - "
"Pray we never meet again!" she sobbed as she ran from the room.
Michelle tried to touch her, but withdrew her hand. I won't hurt you any more, my friend, my lover, she thought as she felt her own tears forming.
"I never -" Michelle offered as Jessie passed,"I never wanted that." Her pained voice seemed to echo down the corridors.
The Denmother gathered the others together. "We, know," Kylie responded, "In time she will too." The furry Pokègirl accepted a hug from the ArchAngel, before leaving to console her Harem sister.
"Big brother," Maureen said sadly, "I think they need me more than you do." Maureen ran from the room before he could respond.
"To have gained the other half of my soul, and lost my dearest friends . . . " Michelle said, tearing up herself.
"They will do more good fighting out there, than the boardroom battles we fight."
"Perhaps in time . . . " she said wistfully.
"Perhaps."
The lab was an atrocity. Agents from six League governments as well as the DSA agents from the Planetary League Council walked among the disgusting experiments and results of them. As if you haven't been backing all this, and that you won't profit from the research. This is proof positive that my view of people and the universe as a whole are absolutely correct.
She found something that deeply disturbed her, and evoked disconcerting feelings. Imagine, she thought as she stared into one cage that had three Angels stuffed into it, Me, feeling sympathy for them. She glanced at her Master, who looked at the DSA agent. When both nodded, she opened the door and dispatched the crippled, writhing trio as painlessly as possible. I guess there are limits to an Angel's healing power, she thought as she left, feeling only unclean, On herself or for another.
Kylie stood aside, not daring to look at the suffering captives.
She and Fuzz Butt are content to `guard` the scientists and technicians who operated this facility, Jessie thought as she looked around, I think they would prefer if Michelle and I were guarding them. We'd only kill them.
The cry of alarm from Michelle brought her gaze around. She and other others watched as the glow around Michelle increased.
"No," Jessie whispered in despair, sensing the change before anyone else did, "No, no, no." She shook her head, trying to deny what was happening before her eyes.
Michelle let the spent evolution stone slip from her grasp, and stood up, and looking around as if seeing the world and the people in it for the first time.
Seeing them a new way, Jessie thought as she felt her dark heart breaking. She watched Michelle lock eyes with their Master. Jessie sobbed as she felt something else precious and treasured slip from her being. She understands, everything in him and about him. From his expression he has gained the same.
Jessie cried out in loss and alarm as what Michelle had become took a step towards her Master. Both suddenly turned towards her. She felt the tears streaming down her face, her lips quivering and other signs of weakness as if the world were ending. I should kill that . . . thing! That thing that was my friend and lover. That thing that loves my Master as I always wished to, but never could.
Michelle stepped towards her.
"Go away!" all her raging emotions clear in her voice.
Michelle understood and stepped away, sadness etched in her expression. Sadness at what she had lost.
"Jessie?" Her once-Master reached out to her. All she was wanted to run to him.
"No, you are not my Master anymore," she said miserably, looking from him to her, "You cannot . . . you cannot . . . " You cannot be my Master and her's, she thought miserably, I will not be abandoned. I do the leaving.
"Jonathan has favored you, if -"
"Yes, all of us, except her." She pointed at the ArchAngel. "Never her."
"Jessie," Michelle said, "My prayers - "
"Pray we never meet again!" she sobbed as she ran from the room. She felt the ArchAngel try to touch her, and was glad she failed.
"I never -" Michelle offered as Jessie passed.
I know, Jessie thought as she raced away, That's why I let you live, and you love and will protect him. As I no longer can.
"I never wanted that," the pained voice of the ArchAngel seemed to haunt her as she fled down the corridors, not caring where she was going or what was in the way.
The lab was an atrocity. Agents from six League governments as well as the DSA agents from the Planetary League Council. Maureen looked at Jessie and Michelle, who were the only Pokègirls willing to walk through the experiments and cages. Jessie stared at one cage in particular as Michelle walked among the specimen racks. Jessie glanced at their Master, who looked at the DSA agent. When both nodded, she opened the door. There were brief whimpers, then Jessie stepped outside the cage with a ahunted look.
Kylie and Fuzz Butt stood guard over the scientists and technicians who operated this facility. Many of these people I knew, she thought, Now they don't even see me as a person.
Why did you do this? Maureen wanted to shake them until they answered, Was a paycheck worth all this suffering, what about ethics? Morality? Even if the law was on your side?
The cry of alarm from Michelle brought her gaze around. She and other others watched as the glow around Michelle increased. Maureen feared to move as much as she feared to stay still.
"No," Jessie whispered in despair, sensing the change before anyone else did, "No, no, no." She shook her head, trying to deny what was happening before her eyes.
Michelle let the spent evolution stone slip from her grasp, and stood up, and looking around as if seeing the world and the people in it for the first time.
She sees us all in a new way, Maureen thought as she watched her Master trying to catch Michelle's eye. She watched Michelle lock eyes with their Master. He's hers, none of us will ever have hs heart again, she thought, understanding Jessie's agony.
Jessie sobbed, then cried out in loss and alarm as what Michelle had become took a step towards their Master. Both suddenly turned towards her. Maureen saw the tears streaming down her face, her lips quivering. A single tear of her own slid down her cheek, unseen and unoticed in the greater drama unfolding before her. She loved my Master as I always wanted to, Now both of us have lost him forever.
Michelle stepped towards Jessie to console and comfort her. "Go away!" all the Dark Lady's raging emotions clear in her voice.
Michelle understood and stepped away, sadness etched in her expression. Sadness at what she had lost.
"Jessie?" Her once-Master reached out to her.
"No, you are not my Master anymore," she said miserably, looking from him to her, "You cannot . . . you cannot . . . "
You are only Michelle's Master now, she thought miserably, You believe you two have enough love for us all, but it would be a thin soup while you banquet every moment.
"Jonathan has favored you, if -"
"Yes, all of us, except her." She pointed at the ArchAngel. "Never her."
"Jessie," Michelle said, "My prayers - "
"Pray we never meet again!" she sobbed as she ran from the room. The ArchAngel tried to touch her, but relented at the last moment.
"I never -" Michelle offered as Jessie passed.
"I never wanted that," the haunted voice of the ArchAngel echoed around the silent room.
The Denmother gathered Maureen and Fuzz Butt to her. "We, know," Kylie responded, "In time she will too." The furry Pokègirl accepted a hug from the ArchAngel, before leaving to console her Harem sister.
"Big brother," Maureen said sadly, "I think they need me more than you do." Maureen ran from the room before he could respond.
Marie felt powerful arms sweep her up from the bad men and monsters pursuing her. "Who?"
A darkly beautiful woman gathered her in. "I am an old friend of your mother's."
"The monsters?"
"Your aunt and my friends will deal with them, then help your daddy and mommy."
"Thank you," Marie told her, "Thank you."