Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Urusei Yatsura Fan Fiction ❯ Poke Walk ❯ Logic Must Take Care Of Itself ( Chapter 3 )

Poke Walk: Chapter 3 - Logic Must Take Care Of Itself

Disclaimer:

Pokemon is a copyright of Nintendo. The characters of "Magical Twilight" are the property of Pink Pineapple {Japan} and SoftCel Pictures {USA} from the ideas of Akane Shinshakan and Kinya Watanabe. The characters of Tenchi Muyo are the property of AIC, Hiroki Hayashi, and Yousuke Kuroda. The characters of Urusei Yatsura are the property of Kitty Films - Fuji TV, AnimEigo, and Rumiko Takahashi. The characters of Bubblegum Crisis are the property of Studio AIC (Anime International Company), JVC and AnimEigo.

Some other characters and situations used with permission.

Special Disclaimer:

Pokegirls and Pokewomen come from the Pokewomon Forum at http://disc.server.com/Indices/169881.html.

"Wild Horses and Pokegirls" is the creation of Metroanime.

C&C, MSTs are welcome E-mail: kelvins.choice@att.net

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.

And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily, joyfully, playfully watching me.

But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical.

And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable, clinical, intellectual, cynical.

     The Logical Song Lyrics - Supertramp

There Are Times When All the World's Asleep

     Mara walked out of the office grinning from ear to ear. Even Misato standing just outside the office didn't dim her good feeling.

     "You are disgusting," Misato said, "Taking advantage of him that way."

     "Jealous?" Mara asked, as she brushed by the now blushing Seraph, "Just because you aren't interested."

     "Just because I don't think rutting like an animal - "

     "You used to," Mara told her as the Seraph followed her. Storage closet should be private enough, she thought as she entered, then closed the door behind Misato, then confronted her. "You know, if you were back to being an Armsmistress, we wouldn't be having this conversation. You used to try to Tame anything that wasn't fast enough to get away. They used you to Tame half the battalion, human and Pokègirl."

     Misato stood speechless, looking around and drywashing her hands.

     "What, are you em - barr - ass - ed by what a hose monster you used to be?" Mara teased the stricken Seraph, "You ARE!" Mara laughed in Misato's face, dodged the answering punch. "Well, now that I have your attention, you and I are going to come to an accommodation."

     "Why would I deal with you?" Misato said disdainfully, "He will eventually know you for what you are."

     "Yeah, well neither of us is who we were, not you and definitely not me. Has it occurred to you that his guy seems to think a pack a Widows, two platoons of armor and a company of infantry are just a day at the office?"

     "He's a fighter, so what?" Misato asked, "He fought them with advanced weapons."

     "A fighter, advanced weapons, did your evolution cost you your brain along with your sex drive?" Mara asked in frustration, "I can feel what he feels, when I'm close enough, I can even get glimpses of what he thinks."

     "So you . . . have relations, to read his mind."

     "No, I Tamed him because I know what he's afraid of, and it sure as Hell isn't dying in combat. You know, he doesn't care about dying, doesn't that worry you at least a little, not just for what would happen to us if it happened, but what it would do to him? So, why don't you apply that supposed `strategic brilliance` to the analysis of the situation we find ourselves in."

     Misato frowned and stared at her rival for a while.

     Come on, I already know part of the answer, she thought, I can give you that part, I'll still have all the leverage I need.

     "So he doesn't care about dying," Misato said, then frowned, "He doesn't care about living."

     "Bingo," Mara taunted, "That's one point, see if you can get the next. And just to stretch your imagination, assume I did what I did and how I did it for altruistic reasons." She looked at Misato's frown. "I didn't say it was true, it's just to ease your analysis."

     "He's . . . afraid of Taming?" Misato asked incredulously.

     "Why not? You certainly are, now," Mara told her frowning rival, "Quite a change I must say. So I gave him a `pastel` Taming, showed him it isn't as bad or dangerous as he thought." She shrugged. "I think he rather enjoyed it. Maybe after a while, he'll start initiating it. Something for all of us to look forward to."

     "How generous, and uncharacteristic," Misato replied crossing her arms and glaring at Mara, "You're a Demon, you never do anything, unless it's in your best interests."

     Mara approached to with inches of her adversary. "Fine, it was in my best interests, but you remember how you felt when your 'CHAD!' was getting his brains screwed out - by you? When his every thought and emotion were directed towards you and nothing else? So maybe I like that feeling too. My Master feeling happy and contented - because - I - am."

     "Philosophical, aren't you, all of a sudden?" Misato scornfully said.

     "Better than that, I know you're going Feral," Mara said casually, "All those glances at our Master, all those little blushes you try to hide, I know what you're thinking about. What you are needing with greater desperation every moment." She laughed.

     Misato unfurled her wings, intent on finally thrashing Mara. "Then I should remove you."

     "You ought to know what he's really afraid of then," Mara said confidently, seeming to ignore her obvious danger, more fascinated by her fingers as she studied them, "The one terror that was foremost in his mind, even when I had my lips around him, even when he was telling me he hated being called 'Master'?" She waited for Misato to relax out of her battle stance.

     "What?"

     ; "Oh no, you and I are going to come to an agreement," Mara said, "Don't make a face, I am willing to let you stay in his Harem. I even support it, after all, your new job is to fight preternatural e - vil, well you won't have to go anywhere, it's going to be right in front of you."

     "I've felt . . . something," Misato admitted, "But it wasn't an Infernal, not Dark-aspected," she said in confusion, "A human doesn't have more than a tendency to the Celestial or the Infernal. Without a Blood Gift they can't be aspected."

     "That's why you're going to agree, or I won't give you the rest. You obviously can't find the answer on your own. I have, oh let's call them, special insights." It was all Mara could do to maintain her disinterested facade and not start vomiting as she recalled those `insights` into their Tamer and his one-time tormentor.

     Misato sighed, bowed her head. "Name your terms."

     "First, you won't oppose my selection of Alpha, relax it won't be me, or you."

     "Nor, Liv, she is inexperienced," Misato said.

     "I'm aware of that, but you've got no say in the matter. Second, you will not only not oppose my efforts to keep him happy and healthy, but you will assist," Mara said with all the seriousness and gravity she could manage, "If I tell you to go Tame him, then you will Tame him."

     "You're insane," Misato shouted.

     "That's not a 'no'," Mara said flatly, matching Oyuki's wintry gaze. While she and Misato fought their staring contest, she considered her plans for victory. This is fun, I've got her over a barrel and there's nothing she can do about it, Mara thought, And both of us know it. I haven't even brought out my last, best image. It'll be better if I can beat her without it, let her know I beat her without my best attack. Then drop it on her.

     "I refuse!" Misato insisted.

     Mara shrugged, glanced around the supply room. "You know, he's just circling a darkness," Mara said idly, "A darkness beyond anything we can understand. You don't want to lose a human soul to such a darkness . . . or do you?" I sure as Hell don't, Mara thought, But I won't have anyone's bumbling do the job either.

     "Of course not," Misato insisted, "But . . . Taming . . . how is that involved?"

     "Sukebe's balls, did you ever get any argument out of a man when you had him between your thighs or in your mouth?" she laughed at Misato's aghast look and whole body blush, "That's the best time to get them to do what you want. You can't stick a man in a Pokèball, but you can keep him happy, too happy to think about all that dark emptiness. And you'll enjoy this, keep him focused on keeping us happy. That gives him pleasure and a mission, purpose and reward. It doesn't hurt that his entire Harem are good looking and sexy."

     "Very well," Misato said, too despondent to be embarrassed.

     "Last condition."

     "Haven't you asked for enough?" Misato demanded.

     "Last one," Mara said quietly, waiting as if she had all the time in the world.

     "What is it?" Misato asked, seemingly surrendering, "Submit myself to you? For . . . "

     "Don't be disgusting," Mara told her, wrinkling her nose and curling her lip at the suggestion "It might have been fun when you were more open-minded and adventurous, the way you are right now, I'd be better off with a fur-lined knot hole, or a smooth stick. This one won't be too bad, be gentle with him. You seem fixated on how powerful he is in combat, and how forceful a personality he is. I know better, outside of fighting, and knowing which fork to use for salad and what spoon to use for soup, he's just a scared kid." She waited for Misato's nod. Oh good, now to celebrate, she thought. "But there was one terror always at the back of his mind."

     "You already said he's terrified of Taming," Misato replied.

     "Do you agree to my terms?" Mara asked smugly, "I need more than a nod. I'll need your word. I'll be . . . reasonable about how I interpret them."

     "Very well," Misato said, then towered over Mara, "But if you make me regret this, I'll make you regret ever existing."

     Mara ignored the threat. "There was one more terror, something that filled him with dread, it really kicked up when I started Taming him, but it had been hovering around like a black cloud since we all decided to go with him."

     "And what's that?" Misato asked angrily, turning her back on her.

     "Somebody, a woman, nice rack." She poked Misato's breasts. "Bit lacking in the ass department," Mara said as she smacked Misato's bottom and smirked at the answering slap, "Long, plum hair, dark brown eyes."

     "You have a point?" Misato asked.

     "That woman hurt him, and his friends, psychologically, sexually, usually by her neglect and carelessness, or I should say callousness."

     "I'm nothing like that," Misato told Mara sternly.

     "Except you're a dead wringer in appearance, build, clothing choice and tone of voice, that stern countenance and pitch are hers to a T. Her name was Misato Katsuragi. That's why I know without my help, you'll go Feral. He may be disturbed by Taming, for reasons I'll explain. But there's only one thing in this world that fills him with dread, and it isn't Widows, Spinnenangsts, it isn't dying or even an attack by a dozen Legendaries. It's you, how you act and how you look."

     Poor kid looks like I just ripped her heart out, none of that Seraph arrogance now is there? Mara thought, Well, serves you right, but I do need you, so after a little more fun, I'll throw you a bone.

     "Let me tell you what she did to a girl who might as well have been his sister. He loved her, more than his own life, even did his own version of the Orpheus bit, marched down to Hell to get her back. You see, all that girl really loved was - "

The Questions Run Too Deep for Such a Simple Man

     The better part of two hours later, the Warcat officer escorted Jeff out of Captain Spaulding's office. Wonder why they're so worried about giving their names. It can't be just because I'm a mage, he thought, They are used to magic, I would think.

     "I bet Kiyone is loving this, she always wanted to be a police officer," he said. All he got was a grunt in return.

     Mara and Misato were also waiting there. Mara had her 'canary that ate the cat' smile, and Misato looked like she just run a couple of sequential marathons, she looked totally exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Then she looked at him with such haunted eyes.

     "Is she all right?" Jeff asked, trying to ignore who she looked like, and concentrate on the person she was, a person in such deep distress. Misato seemed to brighten a little at his concern for her.

     Mara intercepted him. "She's going into the beginning stages of Feraldom," Mara whispered, quietly enough no one else heard her. Mara drew away, let him see her actual concern for an instant, then she dropped back into her devil-may-care-cause-I'm-a-devil attitude, "Seraphs always get nervous about Taming, talking about it, actually doing it." Mara stepped closer, rubbed herself against him. "Especially when someone talks about what they did with her Tamer," she whispered loudly, Misato blushed furiously and stared at the ground with the same intensity the Warcat was staring at Jeff. "You were soooo naughty," Mara purred, "I just had to share, now she has to protect you from nasty-whasty lil' ole' me." She kissed his ear, licked it slowly. "She does need a Taming, Master," Mara whispered quietly, "But don't blow my cover, jealousy'll get her over it faster'n anything. Now spank me."

     "No," Jeff said, pulled her hand off him, "You need to learn to behave. Besides, I haven't even seen one of those since I got here, and why would you want me to use one of those anyway? It would hurt I think, a lot."

     "But PLEASE," Mara sobbed and dropped to her knees, hugging his ankles with her arms and wings, "I was a good Pokègirl, I made you feel so good!"

     Jeff sighed, "Outside of Redding, is there someplace I can purchase some really big feathers?" Jeff asked the Warcat.

     "Oh thank you, Master, thank you!" Mara sat up, tears of joy streaming down her face.

     Probably at the pain of not laughing so hard, Jeff thought sardonically.

     "See Misato, you won't have to use your feathers!" Mara `assured` the Seraph, who looked ready to kick the Storm Demon's butt clear across the Pacific Ocean. Mara stood and carefully straightened Jeff''s lapels. "He's almost as bad about Taming as a Seraph himself, but for very different reasons" she purred as she brushed his coat off, "You didn't hurt me, Master, really you didn't. But I wouldn't mind if next time, you did." She smiled wickedly. "Just a little."

     Mara ran a finger over his jawline as she walked away smiling. She took Misato's hand and led her away.

     From that white-knuckle grip Misato's got on you Mara, Jeff thought, I bet you're having a hard time retaining that smile, or you're loving every second of it.

     "How do you manage to control her?" the Warcat asked once Misato and Mara left, "I met her when she and the military came through here, and she threatened to tear me to pieces."

     "Jalapeno peppers," Jeff said.

     "Just feeding her Jalapeno peppers calms her down?" the Warcat asked.

     "Did I say 'feed'? Did I?" Jeff asked.

     They arrived at the break room that the officers, the Pokègirl officers, used. The Warcat's head hair was long enough to reach past her tail. She broke off one long strand and tied one end to Jeff's wrist and the other to the leg of the table. She laughed outloud as she left.

     "What makes you think I won't steal your table?" he yelled at her, setting off laughter in every Pokègirl in the place. Well, at least I'm a successful comedy act, he thought as he glanced around, The place needs a thorough scrubbing. He dragged the table over and began to work.

     The next shift was informed of the situation, and that transport of some of the hardcases to the mainland by Naval forces. Jeff was amazed, and a little disturbed by the officers' reaction to his presence and that he was working.

     Since I am in the coffee room, I made coffee, he thought, Cleaned the cups, refilled the ice cube trays and gave the place a decent cleaning. What's the big deal, I was bored? And trying to be useful. None of these people has tried to hurt me, so I cleaned up my `cell`. He'd also memorized the officer's preferences, from the residue on the cups.

     He saw another officer approaching, he quickly prepared the coffee the way she liked it.

     Well, another fearful and catty reaction, from such a canine officer, he thought in mystification, I wish they'd charge or release me, I don't object to playing these games, but I'd like to see more of the world than this police station. Maybe this is protective custody. The remnants of Team HyperRocket might come looking for me, their funeral. Maybe they want to capture them before I can get to them. He smiled at that thought.

     I've also gotten a look at the darker side of this world I've found myself in, by listening to the officers. First among them: that the male officers are in charge, and excepting Captain Spaulding, were universally useless in the field, fit only for paperwork. The Pokègirls and Pokèwomen do almost all the work of patrol, investigation, technical support, and combat. However men have to give the final approval of anything, he realized, I hope I don't have to take that role. The girls I travel with, I'd be happier if they showed some initiative and backbone.

     The older, and primarily canine hybrid officers would stare at him, he knew enough not to stare back directly but look in their general direction. The younger, and primarily feline-based officers, seemed to be playing peek-a-boo: quick glances when he wasn't looking, or thought he wasn't. And they seemed mortified when he `caught` them. He heard speculation about getting him a special unlimited license. Whatever that is, he thought, Besides universally hilarious to the officers. The other comments confuse me. Threshold, Watcher, Tamer, although I can easily guess that one, versus pet.

     By morning, he was feeling confused and a little annoyed and sensitive by the odd behavior. I wish one of the girls I traveled with would stop by, but I heard all of them were elsewhere. At least they're enjoying themselves, he thought.

     The blast from the gun was unbelievable. It echoed and reechoed through the underground firing range. Kiyone watched the armorer put her Master's pistol aside. "What kind of maniac carries a cannon like this, Kiyone?" the tall, Doberman-looking Growlie asked.

     "The kind who guns down Spinnenangsts and Widows with three shots from that 'cannon'," Kiyone answered, adjusted her hearing protectors.

     "Minotaura shit! You'd need artillery to take one of those monsters down, and only if they were stupid enough to stand still long enough."

     Kiyone glanced at Misato standing in the corner of the firing range. "Ask her about the Spinnenangsts, Colt, she was there. I watched him kill Widows with one shot to the head of that other monster of his. That I saw," Kiyone replied defensively, "And he acted like the weapons, not him, was the decisive factor."

     "So, he any good in the sack?" Colt asked as she began bolting down `The Gun`.

     "I don't know, I was planning on finding out at the rest stop past the Miller's. Since, then, we really haven't had a chance to get him alone for any quick Taming."

     "Mara did, took him coming out of the shower," Colt grinned, showing all her teeth, "The Captain's shower."

     Kiyone growled at that, she saw Misato blush and grimace. Decide whether it embarrasses you or you're jealous, Kiyone thought to the Seraph.

     "You know, I don't think he's ever seen a Pokègirl before, in his life, other intelligent species yes, but not Pokègirls."

     "Yeah," the Growlie sighted down the barrel of The Gun with the breech block out, she glanced at the breech, the shell, and decided not to test fire the weapon, but left it in the stand. She took the pistol over to the table and began disassembling it for cleaning. "You're not the 'Pokègirl Rights!' Crowd. They're nice, but more than a bit condescending. I almost prefer the bigots, at least they're honest about their thinking we're inferior, and sometimes we favorably surprise them. I'll take that over smug condescension we get from the parity crowd. I say get them both out of our way and let us succeed or fail as individuals."

     "Well, I brought the Captain, and your Master, some breakfast while they were `talking`, it's Saturday, so it was salmon steak and eggs. Your Tamer asked, 'Where did you get those? I haven't seen an animal, except squirrels, since I got here.' I wonder if Captain Spaulding would have minded if I got a Taming right then and there?" the big Growlie asked wistfully.

     "We do have one more slot. He's a Field Researcher. Me, Sylve and Ritsuko are his Harem, Misato, Mara, Liv and Oyuki are his research project, a Megami, a Witch, a Storm Demon and a Seraph all together: group dynamics and behavioral interactions."

     "Yeah, I read his prospectus, and it was pretty radical. The idea of using the 'fundamental selfishness of the Infernal- and shadow-aspected to drive the weal of the group while utilizing the inherent benevolent nature of Celestials to give the Infernal- and shadow-aspected further emotional and psychological support.' There were a few other things in there I really don't think you should know about, how he's planning to manipulate you. It's the Storm Demon I can't figure out, I'd say Recognition, or at least a real strong Delta-bond. I saw her worrying, while he was healing those Team HyperRocket morons, and then the kids. Stoic as he is, he couldn't hide how torn up he was from her."

     "Except he never Tamed her, until today, as far as I know. She's nasty enough that she'd be lording it over us if he had."

     "Weird, not that, this gun." Colt pointed to the pistol. "It's gas-operated, like some machine guns. I was hoping to reverse engineer it, big slug like that could founder a Rapitaur at a full gallop or give a Widow pause. But the gas cylinder, et. al. are beyond my skills."

     "You could ask him yourself," Misato said from her place in the corner, "He seems to want to dispense the knowledge."

     "Good point. At least it isn't likely to be Forbidden Tech, it just seems a logical extrapolation of existing tech. Maybe I should actually talk to him," Colt said, chuckled, "Ask the guy, except he's human, you don't go bothering humans with Pokègirl stuff, like getting your hands dirty with machining and maintenance. I guess the humans aren't the only prejudiced ones. You miss it?"

     "Colt, why couldn't I work on the force, was it just Milgrew? I'll admit, I'm bitter about it. I passed the physical, all the tests of my intellect, knowledge of the law, about my reflexes. I passed the background check, the esper types and the local Megami vouched for me," Kiyone seemed to deflate as she made her speech.

     "It was Milgrew, but not for the reason you think. Guess who has a real phobia about spiders," Colt said.

     "Oh crap! I'd like to stick him and watch him dance himself to death. Bastard," Kiyone said darkly.

     "Oh no, absolutely pure-strain. Much too good for Pokègirls like us. Besides, Spaulding's a lot nicer to look at anyway."

     "You're trouble," Kiyone said.

     "Just speaking the truth. How's Liv behaving?" Colt asked.

     "You know Liv," Kiyone said, shrugged, "Big, bad, evil magic-slinger. Suddenly she sees one who could eat any of her idols alive with sauce. I think she's in shock. Especially because he's so `nicey-wicey`," Kiyone said, mimicking Liv's usual tone.

     The three Pokègirls laughed. "The poor witch was always trying to be `bad`," Kiyone said.

     "Yeah," Colt agreed, "But her heart really wasn't in it."

     "Typically the OfficerJennies and the other Pokègirl officers took care of any of her `indiscretions`," Kiyone explained to Misato.

     "Their amusement was a sharper lash than anything else that could reasonably happen," Misato said, nodding her understanding.

     Liv sneezed as she watched the cops mooning over her Master.

     "Problems," Sylve asked.

     "No."

    &n bsp;"You always were a rotten liar," Sylve said, "That's how grampa always knew you'd gotten in trouble again."

     Liv grimaced. "Okay, I guess I'm jealous, but I . . . I'm also gloating. They can look, but I can touch."

     "So why aren't you over there - touching?" Sylve asked as she smiled.

     "In the middle of all those cops?" Liv asked, aghast, "Just how nuts are you?"

     "You also need to be Tamed, soon," Sylve said sympathetically, "You saw him almost a day before the rest of us, and spent more time with him. You've Triggered."

     "I'm . . . fine," Liv replied firmly, forcing the thought from her mind. The thought of him touching her, the thought of him running his hands over all of her most intimate places, the thought of him Taming her.

     Sylve leaned near. "But have you smelled him?" she whispered lasciviously.

     Liv squirmed, felt her desire rising. Yes, he . . . he smells so good, even with the other smells overlaying his, I can still pick it out. It smells salty and sweet and - She shook her head and stared daggers at Sylve. "I am not going Feral," she said firmly. I'm not, I just . . . she thought defensively, then sighed. I am lonely, and I do want to be Tamed, by him.

     "I never said anything about Feral," Sylve said innocently, "I just don't want you to forget your job, if you want to be Alpha. If you do want to be Alpha, you have to be Alpha." Sylve headed towards the coffee room.

     Liv couldn't bring herself to follow.

Won't You Please, Please Tell Me What We've Learned

     Mara had perched on the edge of the roof of the police station, sunning her wings and looking off over the town and the surrounding ocean. Town, small town, she thought, I don't want to go back to the military. The League technically doesn't have any hold on me or Holy Hot Pants, but they do know the military's phone number. I wonder what Misato wants, go back to the fight, or stay? Mara saw the limo approaching. I wish those Rocket idiots would have waited until right now to attack, she thought, Get us a couple of extra days. She stood and looked straight down over the parapet as the limo arrived in the police lot, and the woman in the elaborate gown stepped out. Mara felt real terror.

     "Oh, no," Mara breathed, "Not her!" Then Mara froze as the Megami-mama looked up at her, and smiled.

     No! No! NO! NO! she thought as her fear grew and ran to the door on the roof, and found it locked. She ran to the parapet, spread her wings and leapt off the building.

     Jeff calmly noted the `suits` arriving and sitting down in the coffee room. He produced several clean cups and poured coffee for each of them. What can they do to me? he thought, Either I'm really dying on the floor of my apartment, and this isn't real. Or it's real and they'll give the girls to someone better suited and qualified. Neither possibility is very bad. Mara might miss me, but considering what I may be in for, it's better she's clear of it.

     "Hello, Tsunami-sama, are you well?" he asked the blue-haired Pokèwoman, who seemed shocked by his recognition of her.

     "I am well," she stammered her response, her eyes wide and staring. The other suits merely gazed at her.

     "And Sasami-san? She is also well?" he asked, throwing the Pokèwoman's `dramatic entrance` completely off stride.

     "Yes, very well in fact," Tsunami said.

     He caught the confusion on the suits becoming fear. Time to depressurize this, he thought, I made my point. "Good, good, coffee, tea?" he offered, then Jeff spotted what Tsunami had clutched in both hands. "Will someone tell me what is so fascinating about that damned hat?!" Jeff asked in exasperation. He turned to the suits. "I lay dollars to donuts that one of the females tries to walk out with it."

     The female suit seemed slightly miffed by the suggestion, she sniffed haughtily.

     Oh, you think you're immune? Do you? he thought to her. "Allow me to demonstrate," he said with a smile, as he took the hat from Tsunami, who looked a little put out by its loss. He set it on the female suit's head. The woman adjusted it, before she suddenly yanked it from her head, tossing it on the table.

     It never touched down, Tsunami snatched it out of the air before it landed. "Perhaps you put a spell on it," Tsunami said carefully, glanced around the room smiling broadly, "You have claimed you are sorcerously capable." She set it on her head, protectively.

     "I'm a shaman, and I just bought that hat two weeks ago, when another girl stole its predecessor. And if I could cast a spell like that, I wouldn't waste the time and energy casting it on hats."

     "Yes," the lead suit commented as Tsunami adjusted how it sat on her head. "I see you point. I don't believe I've . . . ahem . . . seen that kind of reaction . . . before."

     "Well, down to business," Tsunami said, clasping her hands and smiling happily, "How about a Taming?" she asked.

     The suits looks like they swallowed wrong, he thought while trying to keep his face impassive. "I might break my fetter," he replied as he held up the hair that still bound him to the table.

     The perplexity of the suits was manifest. The goddess look-alike bent to examine the hair, giving a good look at her impressive cleavage on the way down. She seems miffed I'm not impressed, he thought, Sorry, this is an interview not a rendezvous.

     "Someone is being clever," she said in a delighted tone, "Coffee, double strong, double sweet, half iced."

     Jeff stood to prepare the beverage.      "Are you aware that Dark Forces cannot heal each other?" Tsunami asked.

     "I didn't really heal others, I absorb their injuries, then heal myself."

     "Reports from the military forces indicate you bonded Mallier the Storm Demon," Tsunami said.

     "There was a Storm Demon, but she's called Mara," he replied as he poured the mixture and handed it to Tsunami, then looked at the others who shook their heads.

     "She gave you her name?" one of the men stammered.

     "Yes, willingly," he replied. He looks like he's going to faint, he thought, What is the big deal?

     "She seems to have taken to you, she hasn't tried to murder you in your sleep?" Tsunami asked.

     Gently rolling her coffee in the cup, the same way Ritsuko Akagi back at NERV did, when she was getting ready to drop a bomb, he thought You'd be rotten at poker.

     "You are death and corruption personified," Tsunami said with only a little moi of distaste, then sipped her coffee as if it didn't matter.

     "Abhoth and Azrael fell to me, I took their powers as well as their intrinsic nature."

     "Yet you healed those children, quite expertly," Tsunami said, "Can you explain?"

     "Yes, death and decay are part of the natural order. Things weaken or change, new things take their place or force them to adapt. Embodying those aspects are merely a responsibility, not a crusade. Eventually everything will die and decay, I'm not required to do it now, just see to it that it occurs as necessary. However, I no longer have those powers."

     "You also seemed well able to employ that ability to sterilize burns and wounds," Tsunami commented, ignoring stunned looks from the suits, although one was frantically taking notes.

     "As I said, when I use my abilities, I should use it thoroughly," he replied.

     "The Malakim, now Seraph," Tsunami began, paused, glanced around the room and smiled again, "What about her?"

     "She followed me to the Masaki Ranch, I thought she'd want to return to her previous occupation, she seems to want to stay, either with me or to keep an eye on Mara the Storm Demon." Jeff shrugged. "I don't know. She doesn't seem eager to fight her, either she, either her except the intermittent insults, usually about Taming from Mara. I hadn't had time to Tame them, except Mara today." Not that I tried to find time, he admitted to himself, And I was shocked when Mara took the initiative.

     "That's impossible," the female suit complained.

     "I didn't know it was impossible, so I succeeded. I intend to study it."

     "Do you think your research will be applicable to all Tamers?" the male suit asked quietly, studiously.

     Are you studying me or my answer? Jeff wondered. "Having met a few Tamers, I doubt the Law of Universal Gravitation is applicable to all of them. So no, but enlightenment doesn't come to all equally, " he replied, gauging their reactions. Miss Suit seems uncomfortable anytime we deviate from facts, Mister Suit One is trying to look wise, or he's got heartburn and is on the nods, Mister Suit Two is the stenographer, he'd copy down the phonebook if I started reading it, but Tsunami-oid is the one trying to set me off to see which way I'll jump, while the others watch. Test me when someone else's fate isn't resting on me being a `good boy`, and I'll show you how I play the game, he thought darkly.

     "The attack on League personnel," Tsunami asked, with a hint of sharpness.

     "They were firing indiscriminately at non combatants, especially children," Jeff replied equally sharply, staring coldly at her.

     "Pokèkits," the female suit said.

     "No, ma'am, children." He stared at her until she looked away. "I may not be an expert, but even the Widows were showing more restraint. They may have been generally targeting the Pokèkits, but they weren't sparing anyone," Jeff replied icily, biting off each word, "Also, their uniforms and vehicles were striped of all insignia and identifiers. Anyone can wear black, all it takes is a bit of ink, shoe polish or dye. Besides, anyone shooting at kids . . . of any kind, while tanks and Widows are on the field, is not paying attention to the military situation. They are committing an atrocity, and I treated them as such, or are there no laws on such things anymore? Or they don't apply when or Pokèkits are the targets?" He stared at the squirming League officials. They're on the defensive, he thought, I could take their answer to the press, and we are being monitored, I guess you can be prejudicial/speciesist, but as a League official, you can't let it be known you are, he thought, What a nightmare. I must be dying, no real place could be this messed up. Only my subconscious is that dark.

     "Excuse me," the other man who had only been taking notes spoke up to break the tension, "Tanks?"

     Probably the stenographer, Jeff thought. "Armored fighting vehicles," Jeff supplied, "Panzer Kampfwagens, heavy armor and powerful cannons, often in a rotating turret."

     "Ah yes, sorry, ancient history," the stenographer said, "So you saw a group of Widows, a group of Team HyperRocket, and a group of unknown infantry."

     "Infantry and armor, yes. I attacked the greatest threat, the Widows, second the Team HyperRocket and unmarked armor, and then started working my way down engaging the groups committing the greatest atrocities."

     "You're treatment was very harsh," Tsunami said neutrally, "Dropping explosives into the enclosed space."

     "No harsher than they were to their victims," Jeff replied coldly, "I treated the situation as combat, not as a police action."

     The group whispered among themselves. Tsunami seemed to glance up randomly, smile to herself, then rejoin the discussion.

     Mara hadn't found an open door, and short of kicking open a window, couldn't get in, and she was getting desperately worried.

     Tsunami's so good, so pure, she'll have him convinced to have nothing more to do with me! Mara thought as her terror of losing her new Master shook her like a hurricane, I won't hurt him! I'll be good! I'll keep him safe! Please don't take him away! She moved with a frantic speed, checking each opening again and again.

     These doors were supposed to be Pokègirl-proof, she thought as she yanked on them, And are living up to their design specs. I should just rip out a window and the devil take the consequences! she froze with indecision at that thought, Tsunami is famous for taking Infernals away from Tamers who can't control them and putting them through high-level Taming cycles to 'erase their negative proclivities' then giving them to a `reliable` - POLITICALLY reliable Tamer. I want my Master! I don't want to change. I don't want to forget! But the League reps would assume he couldn't `control` me, and they'll send me back to the military, she thought frantically. She could feel his calm, but he seemed calm attacking Widows and Spinnenangsts. She wished for that calm, that infuriatingly smug 'everything is under control and this chaos proceeding according to my plan' smile of his.

     It's the most infuriating thing about him! she thought, pulverizing a brick into powder as she perched next to the front door, Something has to come out of there! she thought frantically, ready to pounce.

Now Watch What You Say or They'll Be Calling You a Radical

     Kiyone was waiting outside the coffee room. Waiting, waiting, waiting, she thought, He's in trouble with the League, that means we're in trouble, maybe the whole ranch. She wanted to rush in there, throw herself on their mercy, plead ignorance for the ranch, But I'd have to disavow my Master, she reminded herself, And he'd be right to never trust me again. He'd be within his rights to sell me back to the ranch or send me through a Level 5 Taming cycle, I would come out barely knowing my own name, then he'd give me to the first Tamer that came along, as damaged goods. She shuddered at that possibility, it wasn't unheard of.

     Despite the open door, she couldn't hear the discussion going on inside. Everyone looking at me with pity, just like when I was stuck with Mihoshi, I still hate that, she thought, But there's nothing I can do . . . yet. She saw Sylve approaching, practically dragging Liv behind her. Oyuki, Misato and Mara were nowhere to be seen. Ritsuko was across the room, sipping coffee. She seems awfully calm, Kiyone thought, Is she calm, or is it just a cover and she's was nervous as we are? She glanced at her Harem-sister, then shrugged when Ritsuko paid her no mind.

     Kiyone walked over to her. Jeff was framed perfectly in the doorway.

     "Moody over an expected Taming?" she joked with the Matron.

     "No, reading lips and watching expressions. I think Mara's method is the best. He's got them laughing occasionally."

     "That's . . . that's - " Kiyone was aghast at Ritsuko's behavior.

     "Brilliant?" Ritsuko said dryly, "I worked with researchers, they never told me what was going on, but they expected me to know everything instantly. So I learned."

     "So, how is he doing?" Kiyone asked worriedly, as if Ritsuko's impropriety might physically taint her. Mark her tangibly as a `bad` Pokègirl.

     "He is in control and confident," Ritsuko said pleasantly, "Unless they want to scapegoat him as enticing the rebellion, which I doubt that they'll be able to pin it on him."

     "So that's why you're so calm," Kiyone accused with a smile, hiding how sick she felt inside. My family, my home, all in the balance, and you act like it's all nothing? Kiyone thought, Don't you care what will happen if they find out you were spying?! If you don't care about yourself . . what about your Master and Harem-sisters?!

     "So we wait," Ritsuko answered quietly.

     "And wait, and wait," Kiyone said, "I'm going to sneak in wherever he is tonight, and get Tamed."

     "Gently," Ritsuko warned, her expression hard and angry now, "His good treatment may be due to ignorance, and his ignorance may extend further than you think."

     "Who doesn't understand Taming?" Kiyone asked. Especially after Mara already got a Taming session already. So why should I wait? She wondered, And what about you? Or are you bucking for Alpha?

     "Well, we'll have to check on the physical and emotional well-being of your Pokègirls," Tsunami said, matter-of-factly "The ex-military especially, with a favorable rating from us, I believe we can apply pressure to allow you to keep them." She reached down and broke the hair loose, `letting` him out of the coffee room.

     "In that case, I'll let you keep the hat," Jeff replied breezily, "Although I do admit, sometimes I think they are keeping me, not the other way around." The suits filed out behind him.

     "That is an arrangement most Tamers would strive for, considering your Harem," the male `suit` said, he looked at some notes of his own, then put them away without comment.

     Jeff had to keep from squirming at the constant assumption that the girls were property, specifically his property, and not people. The fact the Pokègirls in the squad room also had no problem with it, even reinforced the assumption bothered him even more.

     "Well, I'd hate to stand in the way of the military," he joked as they walked. He glanced at the girls who all waited for a clue.

     "I don't think that will be necessary," the female suit assured him, she brought out a small box with flashing lights, aimed one end at him, then put it away without looking at it.

     His next words were intercepted by a crash and a shriek of despair.

     "Jeffrey!" Mara sailed in and straight at him on her powerful wings, Jeff staggered under the impact, both physical and emotional as the girl reacted with joy and desperation.

     Jeff wasn't sure if there was any part of his exposed skin Mara didn't kiss, and no part of his body she didn't touch with some part of hers . . . several times, lips, tongue, hands, legs and wings seemed to be everywhere. Jeff knew this was no attack, but he was severely distracted and concerned by it. Okay, hugging, or kissing her back would be like grabbing smoke, he thought as she muzzled his thigh and an instant later carefully bit his earlobe.

     "There's a Taming room downstairs!" someone shouted.

     Probably one or more of the OfficerJennies, Jeff thought. "Just open the doors, I think she'll get the hint," Jeff said from within the squirming cocoon of terrified and amorous Storm Demon. With the sound of opening doors, suddenly the squirming stopped with Jeff's face firmly planted between her breasts and her arms and legs wrapped solidly around him, he had absolutely no idea how she managed to reach the room, flying down a crowded stairwell, without killing herself or someone else. He knew he was in no danger, that he was sure of, Mara wouldn't allow it, the rest of the universe be hanged.

     "That is most unusual behavior," Tsunami said around the blizzard of papers following the Storm Demon's quick removal of her Tamer, "For a Storm Demon, a Hentai Cute, or a Vixxen, but not a Storm Demon."

     "I do not believe so," Oyuki said calmly, walking through the virtual blizzard as easily as a natural one, "For a Storm Demon with a strong Delta Bond."

     "But their first Taming . . . " Tsunami commented, obvious perplexed.

     "Took place a few hours ago. I am - investigating. But my theory centers around her extensive injuries from Brusselia and subsequent healing by her current Tamer."

     "Does that Taming room have observation capability?" Tsunami asked with obvious interest.

     "Of course ma'am, latest complete sensor suite as well," Colt said as she arrived, "Or my captain would not have suggested it." Colt nodded to Lestroud, who looked embarrassed at being found out.

     "Please go ahead. This should be very interesting . . . very interesting," Tsunami suggested to the League officials, who were not eager to watch a Tamer and his Pokègirl get it on. Tsunami also grabbed Misato's shoulder and dragged the Seraph along as she made her stately stroll to the viewing room. I have a different reason for my interest. A very different reason, she thought, If my protegee is correct, there may be a new and more effective way to create Delta Bonds, or this may be an entirely new form of Bonding. As well as a possible weapon, one already tailor-made for our use and utterly inobvious because of his inherent uncontrolability. She smiled at that, and at her avatar's, little Sasami, her previous encounter in another world with someone just like him, and the extremely rough handling the people mistreating and disregarding her had gotten. Very rough, and still hilarious, she thought, As for his uncontrolability, we may not be able to control how he accomplished our goal, but we can make sure he knows about the problem, and then just let him go. Our enemies will never know what's coming at them.

     She considered, I also want to know how a Seraph, a Storm Demon, an overly emotional Witch and a far too cool and rational Megami all tolerate each other's presences. There is something unusual going on here. And I intend to figure out what it is . . . before Washu does. She found herself grimacing, and immediately smoothed it away, Megami-Mama are supposed to be serene, not consumed by rage at the BLATANT ARROGANCE AND STUPIDITY OF THEIR SUPPOSED ALLIES!! She glanced around at the terrified Pokègirls around her. Calm, Tsunami, she chided herself, Calm. "I was just remembering a Harem-sister," she said wistfully, "She was, enthusiastic. She smiled as they all relaxed, assuming she was referring to Taming, and a Harem-sister who got more than her fair share, she did not correct them. She followed the Growlie to the observation room, practically dragging the Seraph Misato with her. I am not . . . competing . . . with Washu, she thought as she realized she'd missed the foreplay, I can see it on tape later. I am merely proving I am not 'a scatterbrained idiot' to that hypersensitive, responsibility-dodging, micromanager. She composed herself by glancing over at Misato, Another curiosity, the Armsmistress I remember would have given a Vixxen or a Succubus a run for her money in terms of wantonness and sheer exhibitionism, she thought distastefully, Now as a Seraph she seems absolutely timid regarding her once favorite pastime. She looked at Oyuki's expression as the Taming really got underway. She's about the only thing Washu and I agree on. 'The Balance between souls' Granny calls her, Tsunami thought as she watched the rather interesting technique, Perhaps she was right. I didn't know you could do that! Mara's delighted screams penetrated even the soundproofed room. Yes, very . . . interesting . . . fascinating . . . she thought, wondering about threesomes.

Won't You Sign up Your Name

     Okay smart guy, what now? he wondered as Mara landed and began throwing their clothes off, in a very seductive striptease, of both of them. He managed to catch her wrists as they went by and he held them, he pulled her into a tight embrace, felt her heart triphammering. She must be frantic, she's not just horny, or she would have just torn our clothes off, rather than this elaborate show. When her face was framed between their hands, she gave him a heartbreaking look of desperation. "You've got nothing to prove to me," he told her, kissing her and letting her hands go where they will.

     "Fuck me, hurt me," she begged, "Fuck me, hurt me."

     "No. No more pain," he told her firmly, resting his head on her shoulder, "I'm tired of pain, no more." His spell slipped through her, he could feel the terrible fear, confusion and need that dominated her thinking. "A Taming, that I will do," he said, felt her relax in his arms. "But we're being watched," he whispered, "I know that makes you really want to give them a show, but I'm kind of private, are you up for that?" If giving them this answers all their questions and makes them leave the girls be . . . he thought, suppressing a shudder at the thought of `performing` in public, I also wish the same idea didn't excite Mara so much, and that I'm embarrassed by it.

     Mara smiled, at his expression and unfurled her wings to enclose both of them, then finished throwing their clothes off in reckless abandon. "Master," she said, her smile told him she knew how it irritated him.

     Let it go, he thought, trying to relax, She could have hurt you this morning, she didn't. She isn't going to hurt you now.

     "Storm Demons cannot be subdued, supposedly, but there are certain - techniques - " She rolled both of them over, so the weight was on her. "I'm sure you can do, once you know what they are."

     "You make it sound like fighting," he said, caressing her bare bottom, enjoying the squirming pleasure and her anticipation.

     "Funny you should mention that." She smiled. "Difference between have to and want to, remember that Master, I WANT to," she purred.

     "I'm not going to hurt you," he insisted, remembering what she'd asked for.

     "Pain's just a way to take the edge off quicker," Mara told him, caressing his chest, "But let's see how your way works," She said as she began sucking on his fingers, slowly closing her teeth on them.

     "It isn't the pain you want, it's the danger and the unexpected," he realized, began to form a compromise plan, wondering why it felt . . . comfortable . . . thinking that way about her.

     "And while I'm ready, my Master isn't," she said rubbing her body against him, "So let your Pokègirl do her work. I won't hurt you," she assured him seriously.

     "Only if you show me where you really want to be touched," he replied, offering part of the compromise with the growing realization these girls were going to be his responsibility, by their choice and insistence, and he'd better be ready for it.

     "OOO! A puppet! Deal!" Her arms gathered him to her breast. "You know what to do, but a little teeth, a little pain for demon-types adds spice, we love spice."

     He turned his head to get his molars over her nipple and grounds down slowly, twisting while biting, while he squeezed the other nipple roughly between his thumb and forefinger. He was amazed at how much harder they both quickly became, and Mara's groans of pleasure.

     Mara hissed, "Oh, fast learner, full marks! I'll be extra - " her scream cut off the rest as he sent a small electric charge through each nipple.

     Ah, the unexpected so much better than hurting her, he thought.

     "Oh, now I'm going to have to make you beg, Master," she panted, grinning lustily at him.

     "Let's just see about that," he said as his hand slipped down between her legs, "Electricity needs two points."

     "You would - " she managed before he fired the charge off and she moaned and thrashed as her clitoris took the long, low charge.

     I'll never complain about my weak elemental attacks ever again, he thought as she smiled evilly at him, then he noted her glowing eyes.

     "You for - get, Master," she purred as she flipped him over on his back, licking her lips between the words, "I'm a Storm Demon."

     "Oops."

      "I . . . ahem . . . see what you moan, mean. I -" Tsunami said, cleared her throat, then stopped as everyone in the room tilted their heads, trying to follow the action. "It . . . seems . . . more like a . . . ah, how does she bend that way, wouldn't that hurt?"

     "A great deal," Misato said, trying to hide in the corner, but surrounded on all sides with the sights and sounds of her Tamer in action, and the smells of the other Pokègirls reacting to it. "But since he won't hurt her, she's taken it on herself."

     Misato could barely stand it, Less than two weeks ago, that would have been me and my Tamer, she remembered the times they had had together, Now I'm embarrassed by the whole enterprise, and terribly jealous that the Storm Demon has had my Tamer twice, and I haven't managed even once. Now, I can't get away from what I have been missing, she lamented silently, watching the others rub themselves with their hands, on the furnishings, against each other.

     "She is still avaricious, but such a lack of possessiveness was," Tsunami said in a dreamy voice, completely unaware how she was rubbing against the table, "But I've never seen before."

     She probably doesn't even know she's speaking either, Misato thought, and scanned the crowd before her eyes went back to the monitors, And I doubt anyone else is listening. She felt her own blush rising on a tide of arousal and embarrassment.

     "I believe that you should continue your studies," Tsunami said to Oyuki, "And direct his attention to Threshold research." Then she leaned close to Oyuki, now that the girl was `awake`, "And get him to collar you, quickly."

     Tsunami left hastily.

     The sex smells are probably getting to her, Misato thought as she headed for the door, and found it locked. She looked at the others who were either already fingering themselves or exchanging knowing smiles with the other girls in the room. You sneaky -! she thought as Oyuki and Colt smiled at her, she had a sick grin and backed away.

     Outside, Tsunami breathed deeply and tried to clear her head. The last thing I need to do is start Taming my own protegee, she thought as her head cleared. She began climbing the steps, regaining her regal and otherworldly bearing as the sex pheromones faded. Storm Demon must have taught him Pokèsex techniques, she thought, And since he's a mage, duplicating them wouldn't be hard, Oh, don't think 'hard'. I miss my Tamer, she thought. She rejoined the other members of the League investigation team. They were nervously clustered together in the coffee room. She'd spotted them slipping out before the pair had really gotten going. Looks like it got to them too, Tsunami thought.

     "I believe that we should support little Oyuki's temporary resurrection of the defunct 'Field Researcher' position, considering that the four `exotics` are what he is researching, and their interactions. I also recommend investing the new type of healing, and he deduced the effect on his Pokègirl's physical and psychological condition, it might even be usable to prevent a Feral state. I look forward to the research that comes out of that."

     "But what of the attack on League - " the woman protested.

     "Renegade League," the stenographer interjected, always the stickler for exactness, "I am reminded of an ancient question: 'Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' 'Who watches the watchmen', or 'who is to guard the guards'?"

     "You're going to let a nameless vagabond act as internal security for the League?" the woman scoffed quietly.

     "No," the other man explained, "I believe we let a rumor assist our internal security."

     "The death of Brusellia, her Spinnenangsts, and those Widows is a fact, the bounty has been approved, on all three, that young man is going to be embarrassingly rich," Tsunami said, advancing the man's idea, "Yet he will continue to wander . . . why? The wanderlust of youth? Why not settle and run through that money?" Tsunami watched the others digest the idea.

     "But how do we rein him in?" the woman asked.

     "Simplicity itself. We have only to revoke his Field Researcher status and he would have to divest himself of at least one of his Pokègirls, unless he's taken the Storage test, even then he'd have to choose one to keep in storage. That should provide a sufficient threat."

     That is a stupid idea, Tsunami didn't say, He'd just find a way around it, or ignore it, or work out a special dispensation. That isn't the way.

     "Also," the stenographer pointed out, "The transfer of the Storm Demon to his possession, that is the ultimate trump card."

     "Foolishness," Tsunami said, "We have seen the devotion the Storm Demon has for him. He has no scruples about killing enemies who would threaten the innocent. You would be inviting a counterstroke. Even Gendo Ikari would not hesitate to recruit the boy. If what he said is correct, his job in his birth world was the extermination of monsters," Tsunami warned, "If he really did such things, and he certainly has the weapons and skills that would indicate he is capable, and if his present actions are an indication, then his definition of monster may be considerably more broad - and human than we would be comfortable with. Let us use the carrot, if we use the stick, we may find it used on us, we allow the possession of Mara, the Storm Demon, Misato the now-Seraph, and Ritsuko the Matron, although their behavior shall be his responsibility, and he will be held accountable. That will give us the leverage and make it palatable at the same time."

     She watched as they realized he might go after humans, who he deemed monsters, and they were painting themselves in that role. But she had given them a way out.

     Set an expert assassin on your own trail, she thought, I don't think that's wise, and now they don't either. Now they can be `reasonable` without looking `weak`.

     "I believe another effective method of control would be to control the information he gets, and to urge him to concentrate on the shadowier aspects of the fighting. As much press as Team Rocket and its offshoots get, Trauma Team and their support network are a greater threat, as are the Limbec Pirates, and other secretive groups working against our anti-Threshold, Anti-Feral research. I believe that it would be better to lead this avalanche against our enemies, rather than try and dam it up and risk it coming after us first."

We'd like to Feel You're Acceptable, Respectable, Presentable, a Vegetable!

     "Storm Demon, Storm Demon, Storm Demon," Mara panted as Jeff lay between her legs, probing with the tip of his tongue.

     It doesn't taste as bad as I was warned, he thought, as he flicked her with the tip. He'd done such things in dreams, but never in real life, he just let his instincts guide him and gauged Mara's responses. But I usually guess right if I follow my instincts, luck or something else? Although she does nudge me if she wants something special, he thought gratefully, I get the oddest feeling she's showing me off. 'Look at the kind of Tamer I've got!' His hands were kneading her behind, as she'd wanted, as he tickled and teased her. Plug her into a light socket, he thought of the effect his electric jolts had had on her, But I thought Feral shock only happened the first time. I'm confused!

     "STORM -!" she shouted as yanked herself loose. She rolled on her chest, waving her butt high in the air. It doesn't take a genius to know what that's about, he thought, And we'd be out in the open, am I ready for that? He scooted over to her.

     "Storm Demon," she whined, waving her butt in the air.

     "None of that," he ordered, and swatted her behind.

     "Storm -" Mara's protest was cut off as he spanked her again, and pushed her over on her side. Then she got the message, smiled evilly at him and gathered him beside her using her wings. "Storm! Demon!"

     Mine, all mine, Jeff mentally translated, Hitting her is like hitting a padded bowling ball. She was more than ready for his entry, and as he slid home, he swatted her butt as hard as he could, quickly he established a rhythm.

     "STORM Demon! STORM Demon! STORM Demon! STORM Demon!" she chanted. Jeff adjusted the rhythm of his strokes and swats to Mara's chants, she caught on and led him to just the right rhythm for her, Mara adjusted herself to receive his attentions at the best angle. "STORM - Oh! That's good! So - o - o good," Mara moaned.

     "Good to have you back."

     "Master talk too much," she panted between strokes.

     "Have to practice somehow," he told her, "Or I wouldn't be as quick with my tongue as I was earlier."

     "Good - point!" Mara rolled him over on his back, she straddled his hips. She caught his hands began massaging them as she slid up and down. "Oh, lightning Master, please," she moaned, "Deep inside your - STORM -!" she shouted as he released a spark inside her, she literally glowed for a moment.

     "Oh, Master . . . " she panted as she slid up and down on him, "Storm Demon want Master to feel good, want Master to feel safe," she said dreamily. She ran her fingers over his face while she was sliding up and down, trying to find the best angle and rate. She also used her wings to hold her upright as she felt her legs weakening. Better than the first time, Mara thought, Master being Master.

     Mara was still having trouble thinking clearly. She was also fighting her instincts, those instincts were to fight and dominate an inferior, or grovel and backstab a superior. Mainly it's to win, and winning here needs balance, domination and groveling, she thought, Master should feel good. Storm Demon want Master to want Storm Demon. Storm Demon wants Master to trust Storm Demon, to know Taming Storm Demon is fun, not a fight or chore.

     "Yesss, Master," she panted as she slid up and down. She could feel the sweat pouring down her body. NO! Almost -spent. High Pleasure Threshold, she thought desperately, Sneaky Master. She struggled to hold off her own climax.

     "Tire - Storm - Demon - make - Storm - Demon - liar. Not - make - Master - happy."

     "I am happy," her Master told her, stroking her leg and smiling.

     She sensed a feeling soaring within her.

     "My fault, not yours, you did all right."

     She felt a glow within her at his words, then her pussy clamped down on her Master tightly, and he released, not his seed, but another electrical discharge. The world went white as she felt everything flying away from her orgasm.

     Jeff sat up enough to hold Mara in place as she suddenly collapsed. If she topples off, he thought, She'll hurt both of us. As her muscles relaxed, he pulled himself free and rolled both of them onto their sides, he gathered the panting girl into his arms.

     "Easy," he told her. It's not you, it's me, he added silently, shamefully, No matter how much you tell me you want it, you need it. It still feels like rape. And a rapist is one thing I've never been. Murderer, thief, manipulator, yes, when required. But never rape, and I won't chain anyone to me that way, I'm sorry. I know you believe it is the truth, but I can't see how it's supposed to fix things. Too many people believed the alternative to simply not rocking the boat believed was too awful to contemplate, and over a hundred million people were slaughtered. I can't take advantage of your `programming` that way. I'm sorry, he thought as he picked her up and carried her to a shower he'd spotted on the flight to the room. She snuggled against him and sighed, staring up at him as if he were the bright center and the totality of her world. That frightened him more than the Widows and Spinnenangsts had, that anyone had such limitless trust in and affection for him. And he'd done exactly nothing to deserve or inspire it.

     She began to revive as he ran the warm water over her, massaging her wings and legs.

     "I'll scrub your back," she offered lazily, curling up against him.

     "Thanks, no," he replied, "I'd be afraid you'd drown halfway through." As much as I know about it why you feel how you feel right now, he thought, Knowing it's a biological imperative, doesn't make me feel any better about it. It's like taking advantage of having to breathe or eat, to get something that should only be offered after you get to know and trust me, or anyone else. But around here, sex is more common and more trivial than a handshake and binds beyond any contract. It doesn't help that you and the others require it. And it really doesn't help that you're all `hardwired` to enjoy it. Maybe I'm just a prude, that I can't see it all and just accept all of a sudden you love me, would serve or die at my command, with a smile on your face. Why me specifically, why not any of the other men here?

     "Hey sailor, got time for a lady?" Ritsuko asked as Jeff was carefully drying the soundly sleeping Storm Demon.

     Even Jeff could smell the sex pheromones in the air, not just from Mara who still held him. Fortunately or unfortunately it doesn't have much effect on me, he thought. "Sure, if you don't mind morose company and existential questions," he replied.

     "Sure." He caught her slight frown before she hid it with a bright smile and she took his arm, leaning against him as he got makeshift bedding for Mara.

     "You could put her in her Pokèball, and neither I nor she would think less of you if you did or didn't," Ritsuko told him.

     "Now that I don't understand," he said, "Mara is all warm and safe, sound asleep. I can smell what half the precinct house must be doing and an attractive, intelligent woman wants to spend time with a mopey teenager in a bad mood. That doesn't make an ounce of sense. The fact it earned him a hug almost passionate as Mara's further mystified him and increased his depression over the world and his situation even more. I know the rules here are different. That's what Sukebe, then society, made you and all the other Pokègirls, it is alien to my way of thinking. Even this system has to have rules, and even by their standards, you should be off enjoying yourself. Not standing there listening to me whine."

     Ritsuko was doing everything she could just to walk beside him, give an occasional encouraging hug and smile. The smell of all the Pokègirls screwing each others' brains out was getting to her. I am still a Pokègirl not a Pokèwoman, she thought, Despite being a Matron. The other thing was listening to her Master talk this way heightened her desire to throw him on the floor and Tame him until all he could pronounce was his name. The other impulse was to just hold and cuddle him until he felt better. She managed to restrict herself to caressing his shoulder.

     A Master thinking like that is adorable! she thought as she stifled her initial reactions and just laid her head on his shoulder. But that's not what he needs if I'm going to be his Alpha, and I do want to be, I'm going to have to give him what he needs.

     "What makes you think I don't enjoy being here?" she asked. I love having a conversation with an intelligent male who both notices I'm an attractive female and not a potted plant, she thought, And who knows I'm intelligent as well, not just a fuck toy who can be trusted only with the most trivial drudgery, but able to articulate actual thoughts and informed opinions of my own.

     "Because, biological imperative aside," he said, "You're a woman of taste and discernment, and don't talk to me about `love`, I've heard that kind of talk from others, and almost every time it was just to get me to let my guard down to cheat or hurt me. Or it meant I was going to lose them. I'm sick of it."

     "You don't believe in love at first sight?" she teased.

     "No, that's infatuation, I never said I don't believe in it or that, I said that people who said it were trying to take advantage."

     Ritsuko felt a little fear, I don't to be `freed`, even 'for my own good.' she thought worriedly, There has to be a way to divert him.

     "You could put it to us individually. There is a festival, Sadie Pokèns Day. Any Pokègirl can exchange Tamers, they can leave their current Tamer and find another."

     Of course we'll keep you tied up and gagged in your room, Ritsuko thought, Half the Pokègirls who hear you talk or see how you treat them will want to be part of your Harem.

     "The holiday occurs at different times in different Leagues," she continued as if the turmoil within her didn't exist.

     "That's all well and good," Jeff replied, "That doesn't answer a big question. Mara stayed with me to the Masaki ranch because she was injured, ditto for Misato, although her injuries were psychological rather than physical." He stopped, stared at her.

     Ritsuko drew back from that gaze. It's as if he's looking . . . through me, inside me, no boy should be able to know the way to look at someone that way. Then it was as if he turned it off, she shook her head. "Oh. I - that is - " she said then paused and took a breath. A pause to regain my wits, she thought as she sat, patted the steps next to her, watched as he sat, she didn't begrudge the reluctant way he did it. It gave her more time to think of something.

     Take yourself out of yourself. He trusts the woman you look like, she reminded herself, You can use that, as long as you speak the truth. "Then try to see the world as I see it," she began, "A man, a human civilian, charged into a Pokègirl battle against Spinnenangsts and some monster, while everyone else, military Pokègirls and their Tamers were just running and fighting for their lives. Suddenly, there he was, standing next to the fallen Storm Demon, a breed so despised even their Tamers don't mourn their passing. He touched her, and her wounds faded, her pain and her terror ebbed away," she explained quietly, forcing him to listen closely, "They didn't disappear, like normal healing, they moved. The man took them, took them for his own. I have never heard of anyone doing that, only a few who have Recognized their Pokègirls would be willing to risk it. And for one whose hatefulness could be felt." She shook her head. "It made no sense. I had to find out why. I was curious. Someone who could gun down Spinnenangsts completely fearlessly and remorselessly, and would willingly heal a Storm Demon by taking the wounds and hurts onto himself. More likely and expected would be to find everything falling upward. The others . . . you've have heard bits and pieces. Kiyone is a Tarantella, she's almost my age and she's never been with a man, most of her sisters are frightened of her. Her chances of getting any Tamer are small, so they whisper where she can hear 'Get her mad and she'll turn into a Widow!', 'if she gets a Tamer and loses him, she'll go mad.' I was only there a few hours, and I heard all that and worse. In two days, I have not heard even a whisper of that kind of talk from your Harem. Liv is . . . troubled. She wants to become powerful, she apparently thought dark powers would get her there quicker. So she has a teacher, who has already been where she thinks she wants to be. Oyuki, she is a Megami, who knows why they want what they truly want. But I heard things about her I will not repeat. What I will tell you is she was often called an Ice Maiden, sometimes to her face. Ice Maidens are cold and logical to a fault, as if she has no feelings. Megami, on the other hand, are passionate representations of various spiritual forces, people of the Edo League think they're Kamis. So the slur is very painful, even if she is very controlled for a typical Megami, that doesn't mean she lacks those passions, merely that they aren't on the surface, or she isn't yet comfortable displaying them to her Tamer and her Harem-sisters," Ritsuko explained.

     "That ranch doesn't seem very nice to grow up in."

     "Have you ever seen how human school girls treat each other?"      Jeff nodded.

     "Now add to that the pressure involved in attracting a Master, the competition to get noticed can be cutthroat and vicious and it doesn't take more than one or two to make things miserable for everyone not her. Christianity might consider Megami Angels, they all work to some vast plan, I suspect that even they don't fully understand it. Being accused of being an Ice Maiden, being without that guidance, being without compassion, would be supremely hurtful. Two followed you from desperate need, one from insatiable curiosity, four because they literally had no where else to go, and no lives worth the living. Now they do. They have a Tamer who worries about their health and happiness, who talks to them, not at them. Who gives them a place, that may not mean much to someone like you, who can carry the entirety of who they are inside, Pokègirls can't. Where you are dictates who you are. Now they have a place, it's confusing and scary, but it's secure, and that's what we desperately want. That tomorrow will be pretty much like today."

     "Even if today is frustrating, danger-filled, etc.? I'm not planning on walking a safe path. I'm going to push until something gives and then I'm going to push harder, that's who and what I am."

     "Even then, as long as we can push alongside you, that's all we want, a home, a place, a life. Are you willing to give them one worth living? We'll fight for it, for you, if that's what it requires. Even if it means hardship, pain, confusion, it will still mean they - we - are doing something."

     "So I'm the last chance, the one last throw of the dice," he said, shook his head, "That I believe. Thank you." He blew out his breath. "That's me, the Forlorn Hope. Yes, they have a place. I don't know if it can be a home. But I have to admit, I'm not comfortable with all the implications and especially all the responsibilities that go with it."

     She turned to face him, hugged him tightly but made no sound. It took a bit before he started hugging her in return. Troubles innumerable with this Master, she thought, Different troubles. Very different. Doubt about his worth, instead of arrogance and certainty. Walking before us into danger, instead of sending us forward. A very different road. She enjoyed the feeling of her Master's body against hers, his breath on her skin, his heart beating, the scent of him. She knew what she wanted, what any Pokègirl in her place would want. Patience, she cautioned herself, There will be time. Give him time and it will all come to you.

     "Where is everybody?" Jeff asked as he glanced around the squad room, "No, don't tell me."

     "All the Taming rooms have surveillance," Ritsuko told him.

     "And of course everyone watched," he said hanging his head.

     "No, just all the Pokègirls." Ritsuko taking and holding his hand, smiling broadly at him, remembering soaping his body and gently rubbing him clean. Well, not Taming this time, she thought, But he's more used to my touch, next time will be easier. Mara was right.

     "And how is 'just all the Pokègirls' better?" he asked sourly, his embarrassment obvious.

     "All Pokègirls are voyeurs," she said breezily, "Even completely lesbian Pokègirls still like to watch a male and female go at it." She smiled and snuggled up against him.

     "Oh God." He hung his head.

     But he didn't pull away, Ritsuko thought happily. "You did very well," Ritsuko said, reassuring her Master, then added thoughtfully, "Had most of them dry humping the walls before you were half-done."

     Jeff watched her intently. "Your face seems impassive, but I'm sure you're laughing at me."

     "No Master." She shook her head and raised her hand as if swearing an oath. "And for your second attempt . . . it was most impressive." It was all Ritsuko could do to avoid smirking. I'd better not tell him how jealous Pokègirls get about other Pokègirl's skilled Tamers, she thought, Especially one willing to learn, and learn quickly.

At Night, When All the World's Asleep

     "This is it?" Liv asked of the camp site. The rest stop wasn't fancy. It had a lake fed by icy run off and volcanic vents, giving it hot and cold spots, several chemical toilets, and a nice view of the volcano Mount St. Helens, which was the source of the entire island.

     "Well, as I understand it, the Waldorf-Ritz is under a hundred feet of water," Jeff told her as he set down his pack and began extracting the tent.

     "Well," Oyuki said as she searched her pack which contained tent parts as well.

     "Well," Jeff said, accepting the poles from Oyuki, "I think you could all use some - "

     "Taming?"

    &nb sp;Jeff shook from the sudden chorus and expectant looks on the face of the girls.

     "Food, actually," Jeff said as he pulled out the cooking gear, and looked at a sea of disappointed faces. I just wish they all weren't so . . . eager, he thought, taking a step backward, Somehow it would be better if they made me work for it. I know it is the way it is, but it still intimidates me. He left Oyuki setting up the tent and he began setting up the fire grates.

     "Also Liv, you were asking about the gold, I took it from the pectorals the Spinnenangsts were wearing. I - "

     "YOU WHAT!?" Kiyone and Liv suddenly had their hands around his throat, lifting him easily off the ground.

     "Those things are cursed!" Liv shouted, trying to shake him while Kiyone held him still, "Everyone who has ever handled them has died within days."

     "I guess that's why you're doing this now," he squeaked, "Right?"

     Liv and Kiyone glanced at each other, then dropped him.

     "There was no curse, believe me, I'm an expert," he told them, rubbing his neck, "Maybe killing Brusellia did it. But I disassembled the pieces, mashed down the gold into those bits you saw. I still don't know what the paper inserts were, but I suspect I may get some answers at a magic guild or university. If a real one exists."

     "You say their curse does not affect you?" Oyuki asked in amazement.

     "Yes," Jeff admitted. The gleam in her eye has me worried, he thought, But at least it isn't directed at me. But my skills.

     "The creatures have been killed before, in small groups or individually. There are perhaps 50 of those pectorals in the hills of Crater Lake Island, all buried together. Assuming that no one has tested the curse lately, they should still be there," Oyuki said offhandedly, but Jeff got a glimpse of genteel greed.

     "Trying to set up your own ranch?" Sylve asked innocently.

     "Not necessarily," Oyuki said primly, "But it is a source of money. Unless you want to enter the pit fighting circuit? Or the sex-battle circuit?"

     "No thanks," Sylve and Jeff said together. Sylve laughed at Jeff's assumption that Oyuki had meant him.

     "But why would you need that kind of cash?" Sylve pressed her question to Oyuki.

     "Collars for one, travel to other places," Oyuki suggested, "Vale is supposed to be the preeminent magical place. Getting there won't be cheap. Spell components aren't cheap either."

     "You aren't kidding," Liv said, "Some of them are very expensive."

     "What are you two talking about? All you need is the spell formula and you can carry that around in your head," Jeff told them incredulously, glanced from Oyuki's to Liv's stunned expressions. "What? You still believe all that liver of fenny toad and eye of newt stuff? That's all just a crutch, a way to enhance concentration." He looked from one to another. "A glass bead or a dime novel could do the same." He glanced around at his audience and their incredulous expressions. "Okay, you want proof? I'll give you proof." He sat at the edge of the firepit. "I studied the magic of shamanism, and the powers of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods. There are spirits hovering around some of you. Do you want to hear what they have to say?" he added, holding up a spoon and a sauce pan lid. Poor substitute for a shaman's drum, he thought, But it will make my point.

     He closed his eyes and began tapping on the lid, making a rhythmic but not a melodious sound. The shamanic trance came swiftly.

     I didn't need the lid and spoon, he thought as he reached out to the spirit nearest Mara. In life, he would have been a chubby, older, nerd-looking man, he was also looking expectantly at Jeff.

     " 'Hey, Mallier,'" Jeff repeated the older man's greeting, "They feeding you okay? Getting you Tamed properly?"

     "Arnie?" Mara asked, covering her mouth in shock, "Is - is that really you!?"

     "Yeah, kinda figured I'd . . . I guess, I'd hang around, see if your new Tamer was any good, treated you right. There's this trick, you put your tongue - "

     Mara leapt at Jeff and clamped one hand over his mouth and the other on the back of his head, as she blushed bright red. Jeff heard the shade of the old man chuckle at this, and told Jeff exactly what to do.

     "So, you think it's me?" Arnie asked, through Jeff, after Jeff had pried a shocked Mara's hands loose.

     "You stupid old man!" Mara shouted balled her fists in Jeff's face, "Why couldn't you stay with the baggage train!? Why couldn't you have run away, she couldn't have beaten me and you know it!" She towered over Jeff, shaking her fists at him, but the anger was gone as soon as it had been raised. "Why couldn't you have run away? Like my `Tamer` did? Why did you HAVE TO DIE!?" she wailed as she collapsed and took hold of Jeff tightly.

     "Had to keep an eye on my girl." Jeff repeated Arnie's words with the old man's tenderness, "Sorry, kiddo. When you get to my age, death, aches and pains get more common. I'd start every morning checking the obituaries, if I wasn't there, I'd have breakfast and go to work." He stroked the sobbing Storm Demon's back. "But I couldn't let you die, a parent shouldn't bury his kids, even his adopted ones. That Poison Demon would have killed you, you saw that you were slower against Brusellia, that was from just the injuries you took. I could only think of one way to get you loose. Sorry, I saw it as either you or me, I chose you."

     "I'm JUST A POKÉGIRL!" yelled back amid the tears, "They could have just made another!"

     "Not like you!" Arnie countered, using Jeff's voice, "Young man."

     "Yes," Jeff said in his own voice.

     "I'm gonna be hangin' around, till Mal . . . Mara gets settled. You treat her right, or dead or not, I'll kick your backside across Hell's half acre."

     "I will do my best. Sir, you have my word," Jeff said in his own voice, "Although I may ask for some advice from time to time."

     "Listen to a long-winded old man and his war stories." The old man laughed through Jeff. "Mara honey, you got a keeper here. I'd better get off the phone. There's a couple of others. Be seeing you." Jeff's face displayed the old man's smile.

     Oyuki watched the changes in posture and tone as the different voices came out. I've heard of Shamanism, she thought with a mixture of amazement and fear, But I've never actually seen it.

     "Marla, it's Chad . . . I -" Jeff's voice and posture changed completely.

     Oyuki watched Misato's horrified and humiliated expression.

     "I - I'm sorry - I can't do this!" Jeff's odd voice broke off and he shook his head.

     "Chad! Please wait!" Misato and Jeff chorused.

     Misato rushed forward, paused before grabbing Jeff. "Chad! Chad?! Chad?" she shouted, as if to a failing radio.

     "He is too frightened to speak," Jeff's voice came out, "Give him time."

     Misato began crying. Ritsuko walked over and enfolded the distraught Seraph in her arms.

     "Young man!"

     Oyuki jumped at the sound of THAT voice, coming out of her Master. She had unconsciously scrambled back and sought to hide.

     "Yes, ma'am," Jeff replied respectfully in his own voice.

     "You mustn't let my daughter get distracted by her flights of fancy," the stern voice came out of her Tamer's mouth.

     "Yes, of course ma'am, Oyuki is your daughter?" Jeff asked carefully

     "Not by birth, but no one would tolerate her frivolity."

     "Frivolity, yes ma'am," Jeff continued the odd discussion while Oyuki sat and cringed.

     "You should continue to discipline her, harshly if necessary."

     "Yes ma'am," Jeff said, matching the stern voice's seriousness, "She's gotten no cheese since I've known her."

     "Dietary restrictions, more subtle than I would approve."

     "I believe in finding subtle ways, until some public discipline is necessary," Jeff explained sagely, "A Tamer has access to methods which were unavailable to you."

     "You are going to be over-tolerant," the voice's disapproval was manifest.

     "No, ma'am, but I do need to find the correct balance, under the new circumstances," Jeff replied respectfully, "You'll find my methods highly effective and well-tested."

     Oyuki felt frozen, her `mother` was a martinet. I always thought she was a Domina, although she always claimed she was a Damsel, she thought as she found herself cringing further with every word, It's no wonder everyone thought I was an Ice Maiden, I was so scared of putting a foot wrong. She watched in horror as the dead Pokèwoman's spirit debated philosophies of discipline with HER Tamer, her Master. She's dead, Oyuki told herself, but couldn't make herself believe it, She can't hurt you, your Tamer clearly thinks her suggestions are ridiculous. So why are you still afraid of her?

     "If I was such a disappointment!" Oyuki blurted out, "Why are you still 'hanging around' me?" Oyuki blushed, in anger and shame, noted the others drawing back from both her and Jeff. They know I'm ready to explode, she thought.

     "Because, you are not a complete disappointment. You never pushed yourself to your full potential," the Pokèwoman speaking through her Tamer said sternly, "You are a Megami, your function is to see Justice done. To see evil punished the good rewarded or succored. You will understand more when you've seen more of the world. This young man has seen it, perhaps more than I. We will speak later."

     Jeff's features went slack for a moment.

     I know how he feels. I always felt that way after a `talk` with `mother`, she thought, felt herself shaking and drawing close to her Master, but ready to run the instant the voice returned.

     "Okay," Liv said with a shaky voice, "I'm convinced I just - "

     "WHO ARE YOU!" Jeff's voice shrieked, but it wasn't him. Oyuki leapt to her feet as the others did, all ready for battle.

     Something about that voice, Oyuki thought, It's just . . . wrong.

     "I am who I am," Jeff's voice replied firmly, defiantly, "Who are you, ma'am?"

     "That one, the Megami knows. 'She-who-must-not-be named'," there was cruel laughter, "The great powers all fear me, to even speak my name. As if that would prevent me from seeing their schemes."

     "You would destroy the human race!" Oyuki blurted out in fury. No! No! We aren't ready! she thought desperately, gauging the power and readiness of her fellow Harem-sisters, and found it lacking, There's nothing I can do. If Washu or Tsunami, or better yet, Granny, were here . . . I'm not strong enough, I know nothing of the spirits or Shamanism. I don't even know how to fight her!

     The wrong voice laughed.

     "Is that what you have deluded yourselves into, not I," Oyuki said with a firmness she did not feel.

     "They!" the wrong voice hissed, "Oh they seek only good, but they will find things better left unknown. The battle will be short, unless all are ready, so I test and challenge. Only the strongest survive. A Storm Demon and a Seraph should understand. Battle is the most Darwinian state of any species, only the best, the most lucky, the cleverest win, survive and pass on their genes, training and philosophy."

     "What are 'they' trying to do?" Jeff's voice was filled with curiosity, his head cocked to the side.

     "You think I . . . " the voice lost surety as it faded, it's sudden surprise played across her Master's face, then became abject terror, "You! You're one of them!" she shrieked, then burst out laughing, a full throated guffaw. "They call me a web-spinner, they pant like near-Ferals after the 'Next Evolution', their 'Great Leap Forward' and they have one in their midst, you could just tell them." She laughed chillingly. "But they'd never believe a 'mere human male', a pet. Ha ha ha ahaha ha! Oh, little Megami, you have had such a joke dropped in your lap, and you'll never understand it. Go, go to the world lace! Find your true servant and be ready to fulfill your function." The laughter faded, everyone relaxed slightly, waiting for the next shock.

     Then Jeff sat up, stood and looked around. "Okay, that was weird. Who was the spooky lady surrounded by webs?"

     "We do not speak her name," Oyuki said gravely. I must tell Tsunami, or Washu or Sasami, this is too much for just me to deal with. She felt terror that `she` had been able to reach her Master, and joy that he had escaped alive, even unhurt.

     "What was that 'Pet' and 'True Servant' garbage?" Sylve asked, her fear making her angry, "We're your Pokègirls, aren't we? Or is that the power that messed you up?"

     Jeff sighed and combed his fingers through his hair. "There are things I haven't told you. Frankly, because I never thought they'd ever come up, and they were none of your business, and honestly, they sounded so insane even I have a hard time believing they all actually happened . . but . . . I just got independent information, I guess I should tell you about it, because I guess it isn't just some strange dreams, unless she put them in there and she's a lot better actress than I think. I saw her face, she was really scared. Not that it will make any of you respect me more," he joked and chuckled. No one joined him. " Jeff said as he sat down, and again ran his hands through his hair. "I was a war machine, created like the first Pokègirls, maybe more like the first-generation Legendaries, except the enemies I was aimed at were called the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods. They were as far beyond the power of the Legendaries as the Legendaries are above an insect. They sleep until the stars are right. Well, the stars were going to be right for a time, so they were awakening. Only by then, they had developed another weapon, called an Evangelion."

     "An Eva evolved with an Angel Stone?" Misato asked in stunned tones.

     "That's not how we got ours. As we killed our enemies, we got their powers, their memories. Finally, we destroyed the master, the one who set the entire operation in motion. I died soon after. Before I did, I divested myself of the powers I absorbed, gave them to my fellow pilots . . . then I found myself here. I still retain the memories of what I killed, I couldn't get rid of those. Part of those memories, was what each of the creatures who became Great Old Ones did to `ascend` to that status. In all cases, they were looking to 'Make the Next Step in Evolution' or 'The Secret of the Universe' or 'True Enlightenment', or similar hogwash, and in all cases, they had removed God or any other higher power from their calculations. They were seeking the perfection of their race."

     "So what happened to them," Mara asked, glancing at her Harem-sisters as she fearfully approached her Master, "I've never heard of these 'Great Old Ones.'"

     "In some places, they're just stories," Jeff said, shivered, Mara took advantage and sat next to him wrapping her arms and wings around him, "In others, they are very real. Ancient, terrible being who see the universe as it truly is. They are insane by human standards. We can no more fully understand them, than they can even acknowledge us. They are so alien you can feel the wrongness of them. Some go mad by looking at them, some die just getting close to them. Mental contact with them is the worst."

     "Wait," Liv said, considering deeply, "You said looking at them makes you nuts, and mental contact is worse."

     "Yes," Jeff said encouraging her.

     "You also said you had memories of them, them, several."

     "And -?" Jeff asked, encouraging her.

     Liv came to the conclusion Oyuki already had and stared aghast at Jeff, who smiled back. It doesn't look like she likes the implications any more than I do, Oyuki thought, I begin to understand the details of my visions. But why would Tsunami want . . . such a person? Why would Granny and Washu go along with it? Oyuki glanced at her Harem-sisters. Even Mara is frightened by this, but Misato is not leaping to the attack, Oyuki thought, This makes no sense.

     "Then you are . . . " Liv stammered, visibly shaking.

     "You wanted to learn from Dark Forces," Jeff said as he stood, Mara released him as her arms and wings fell limp, "Congratulations. Wish more carefully next time."

     Liv backed away suddenly, she snarled, cast a Witch's Curse at him.

     "NO!" Oyuki shouted as he just stood there. That's IMPOSSIBLE, she thought as the spell literally disintegrated before it could take effect. She rushed to Liv's side. "Please don't hurt her! She . . . she was just frightened." Like me, she thought as she trembled at her Master's terrible calm.

     "That is rather the point," Jeff told Oyuki and Liv, turned to face the others, "That's the whole point."

     "So you're nuts," Mara said offhandedly, "That explains a lot." She looked at the others and laughed. "He won't hurt you," she told them all with a laugh, "But it also means nothing short of a Legendary is going to be classified as a threat to him by him, but it will be treated as a threat to us . . . " She stood up, and walked towards him, hips swaying, Jeff took a step back this time. "That you will fight to protect us." She turned to the others. "Basically he's a Pokègirl, 'let's you and him fight, then get out of my sight, you're icky.'" She laughed again. "Like I said, it explains a lot." She stood next to him, obviously enjoying his nervousness, she gave him a friendly but chaste kiss on the cheek then a swat on thee butt, and returned to her seat.

     "It does, doesn't it." Jeff relaxed, laughed sadly.

     "So? We got a mixed-up Master," Mara said dismissively, "Who doesn't fit. He can be - "

     Jeff emitted a laugh that chilled all the Pokègirls.

     Oyuki tried to stop her shivered. That is not a sound I want to hear again, she thought, slowly guiding Liv to a seat near Mara, Forget in a dark forest. I don't want to hear it in a sunny field.

     "Ah, yes," Mara said in a subdued tone, "The rest of the time -"

     "What does everybody want for dinner?" Jeff asked as he collected pans and the canteens and headed for the water.

     "Can we go back to the ranch?" Kiyone asked, "Hanging out with Mihoshi and only getting Tamed by her and the machines doesn't seem so bad now."

     "I don't think it is as bad as all that," Oyuki said. It could hardly be worse, she thought, Could it?

     "Oh, I can assure you," Mara said as she stretched, showing off her body in her now much tighter clothes, "It is worth it." She glanced as Misato. "Even ole' Hot Pants over there may get some action if she plays her cards right." Misato blushed furiously and stared daggers of pure hatred at the Storm Demon, who laughed back at her. "Okay, think of it this way," Mara continued while laughing, "You don't have to go anywhere to fight GRAND PRETERNATURAL EVIL! You can do it all without leaving your Tamer's bed. Too bad you're too shy." Mara laughed at the stricken look on Misato's face.

     It may be worse, Oyuki admitted to herself, It means my patrons have gone mad as well.

The Questions Run So Deep for Such a Simple Man

     "So that's what Taming entails and that's why you have to Tame us," Liv told him as they all sat inside the tent.

     Ritsuko nearly screamed at the bad information that Liv had given their Master, while she and Misato had been at the lake washing the dinner dishes.

     Nobody is disagreeing! Ritsuko thought, glanced at Mara who gave her a little head shake. Just hyperbole? Or are they trying to deceive their Master? To get more frequent Taming? She looked at Mara again, who again shook her head ever so slightly. This is going to be a disaster! she silently tried to communicate to Mara, who just raised her eyebrows, then stared at Misato.

     Okay, Ritsuko thought, She's the one who will really need Taming as badly as Liv is describing. Okay, Mara, I get it. Let Liv and the others fall on their faces, and then have Misato, you and me clean up the mess. She stared at Mara and shook her head slightly. I don't think this is good idea at all, she thought. "I think we should leave him - "

     "Come on," Liv scolded, "Tamers need to be ready any place any time. Even if other people are watching. It's not like anyone really cares."

     How little you understand, Ritsuko thought, she looked at Mara who moved to block her and Misato's escape route, then looked like a student who knew the teacher wasn't going to call on her.

     Oh this is going to be a disaster, Ritsuko thought, shaking her head, And I doubt I can fight my way past Mara to the tent flap. I don't think I want to watch. Do I tell him? Or let Mara's plan go forward, he's Tamed her twice. Doesn't he understand that? Why am I so afraid to speak out?

     "I can't believe it," Liv complained as she sat by the firepit, poking angrily at the cold coals, "Even after boinking that jiggly tub of lard - TWICE - he still doesn't understand what Taming is all about."

     Mara let the 'tub of lard' comment go. I already got my revenge, I sent Misato and Ritsuko out to our Master, while the rest of you sat around and bitched. I love people who's brains, when they can get them out from between their legs, and even then they don't function in the morning. It makes playing them for fools so much easier. Now, a few well-placed grenades, and I'll have gotten Miss Stuck-Up Tamed, and decided who is going to be Alpha. And they'll both know it, and they'll both owe me HA! HA! she thought, Gave you the rope to hang yourselves and you did magnificently. All four of you.

     "I don't think you screaming 'Witch' at the top of your lungs gave him that impression," Sylve retorted, "Although I do admit, I was disappointed. I was expecting more than fingers and tongue."

     "Perhaps you should have given more accurate information," Oyuki said primly, staring at the cold firepit and the coffee pot in her hard.

     "Like YOU had any complaints either," Liv replied cattily, "If you didn't like what I was saying, why didn't you speak up? You know how Tamers are, most of them don't care once they get their Pokègirl off once, they can go on to the next one."

     As if any of you actually know one thing about real Tamers, Mara thought contemptuously, I've heard more than enough, both of my Tamings included penetration, and he'd ejaculate in my mouth, I know he knew his business. I'm not going to hold inexperience against a shy newbie. He gave you fatheads what you said you wanted, she thought as stroked her full breasts as she pulled on a shirt, I may jiggle, but my brains work. Besides, I had to initiate both times, if I want it, I'll go get it, and he can control himself, that can't be easily taught. That's a good thing.

     "Oh, excuse me, I thought there was a pack of Cheshires out here," Mara said smiling evilly at all of them.

     "He up?" Liv asked.

     "Oh, he's been up for over an hour," Mara said as she walked among their little bitch session about the weird Taming they had received, "Dying a little as you dissected and critiqued his 'piss poor performance'." Mara smiled as the others blanched at that. "Oh, he didn't cry, no matter how bad you hurt him, and I comforted him as best I could, but eventually he couldn't stand it, so he slipped out of the back of the tent. I don't think he's going to go drown himself, but I did send Misato and Ritsuko to keep an eye on him."

     "So you're after my job," Liv said, standing to confront the Storm Demon.

     "Not a chance," Mara said, ignoring the implied threat and chuckling at her, because she knew it would further infuriate the Witch, "I don't want your job, but - " Mara was on Liv in an instant, knocking the Witch to the ground, both her hands wrapped around Liv's throat and her knee grinding firmly in Liv's groin. The Witch writhed under assault. "I don't want him hurt either, and I won't mind pointing out how you screwed up." Mara stood setting Liv back on her feet. "You still don't get it." Mara's scathing gaze scythed over all of those around the firepit. "Do you? Okay, teacher will explain it to the slower students. We aren't dealing with someone who has ever been exposed to all the crap that most Tamers are, even if they don't believe it, they've still heard it." She gestured towards the lake. "He hasn't. He uses the dodge that his memories were mucked with, whether it's true or not, he's never seen a Pokègirl before, now for the slow among our group, that means he's treating us as pureline girls. As pureline girls were treated whenever the Hell he does come from." Mara let the others chatter among themselves for a bit. I hope Misato and Ritsuko can do something, she thought, I can feel the effect that their chatter had on him. At least the three of us didn't participate, so we've still got some leverage.

     "Also, you don't know what he's faced. Like he said last night, he's more like the original Pokègirls, not Moltits and Zapdass, or Hy-bra, but Typhonia and Mountaintide, the real power hitters, bio-engineered war machines, not the `cute and cuddly` warriors that came later. Through him I've seen a glimpse of their enemies, they completely dwarf the power of all the second generation Legendaries. They really can kill just by being in the vicinity, and all the rest," Mara told them, she got face-to-face with Oyuki, "So - you've got a weapon against insanity-inducing enemies, and you geniuses went on about needing Taming to avoid loss of intelligence and sanity, and you implied it had to be often, like daily." She got in Kiyone's face. "I was desperate for a Taming, and the second time I wasn't about to take 'no' for an answer, so he's seen how important Taming is to a Pokègirl, up close and personal. He'd do quite a bit to keep need and loss of intellect from getting worse than that, or from the degradation happening at all." She confronted Sylve. "Do you know what was running through his mind the whole time our little performance was making the entire police force hump anything that couldn't run away fast enough? Oh, don't act so innocent, I could smell it on you, all of you, later," Mara told the abashed group who glanced around nervously, "It wasn't 'Oh joy I can fuck this hot bitch any time I snap my fingers, life is good!' He was worried that I was doing it out of a biological imperative, and he was ashamed, that he was effectively raping me, despite the fact I had the knowledge and physical strength to cripple or kill him, if I didn't want him inside me. Yeah, weird, I thought it was a trick to keep the upper hand. It wasn't, he really was worried I didn't want Taming, that I didn't want him Taming me." She smiled at Liv who was looking sick at the revelation, and the implications of what she'd done. "So you set up your little dream scenario of getting a Taming ever day or two, and he turned it into a nightmare, because he figured out a way to service all his Pokègirls in one night, and still be able to travel the next day. Idiots, you got exactly what you asked for. Even though everybody knows the most Feral-prone can go two weeks without Taming, but he doesn't know that, or that `his` girls can service each other, with a little input from him, so that a thorough Taming once a week for each of us is more than sufficient, and anything more is a special treat. Of course maybe he does know and thought his Pokègirls could take a joke, or maybe that's what you all really wanted. He doesn't understand that Pokègirls aren't `people` and that having sex with them doesn't matter. We rarely get pregnant, that changes to never if we get in our Pokèballs about once a week for even a few minutes. He asked for guides, because he's ignorant, not stupid. You, all four of you, gave him bad information and he developed a very logical and rational solution to the impossible situation you described. You did it to yourselves, because you were stupid." She laughed at their downcast faces.

     When she began again, she was truly angry, "So, you told him that to avoid insanity and mental retardation, he had to bring us to orgasm, as often as possible. You lied to him. He isn't going to just assume that 'it's just Pokègirls trying to get more Taming', he's going to know you had the advantage over him, and you certainly took it. He's going to know that Pokègirls, at least you four, will lie to or mislead him if you think it's to your short-term advantage, not even for lasting edge. You also used up your one chance to have him really trust you, now he'd going to question and analyze everything you tell him. Real good! That also means he's going to question me, Ritsuko and Misato as well." She leaned close to Liv, who instinctively shied away. "I can't thank you four enough for that special addition to our relationship. I'm certain Ritsuko and Misato will be equally overjoyed by the prospect." She raked the four with her gaze. "Then not only do you put tremendous performance pressure on him, and the other six of us are all sitting in the tent, waiting our turn and watching. Staring at him, gauging his aptitude, talk about pressure to not just perform but excel. You're going to be luck if the poor kid can make a stand for any of you four in the next month. Forget trusting you ever again, isn't that irony, eh, Megami?" She let the others groan with realization. I'm not completely above hurting them, she thought smugly, then decided to really rub salt in the wounds, "So how are you going to seduce him, and how are you going to regain his trust after you gave him such a load of Minotaura shit?" Mara aimed the last question squarely at Liv. "While you're finally thinking, consider something else, he has read the Pokèdex, the whole bloody thing including the theories, the forward, all the appendices. So think about this, he knows if he ejaculates inside us, anywhere, especially in our wombs. Boom, we're his. We'll know it, even if he doesn't. If he really has seen and done all the things he claims, do you think he wants us not to be able to run away any time he's a danger, to himself or us? What about a basic Alpha Bond? He'll avoid that like the plague. He doesn't want slaves, he wanted counselors, guides, tutors, and maybe friends. And you lot just had to dump such a load of crap on him . . . despite all the clues, you never even considered he might be more afraid of Taming than combat." Mara laughed again. Two never watched, the would-be police officer missed it entirely, the divine Megami never even considered it, Mara thought of how hilarious and tragic it was. "I wanted a real going over, enough to draw blood, and he was barely able to spank me, and then only when he realized how turned on I was by it, and that I was tough enough to take it easily. You're all dealing with a completely new situation."

     "You keep saying 'you'," Sylve said, "As if you aren't in the same boat."

     "He's already had me twice, and he took direction to make it better . . . for both of us," Mara replied, "Neither Miss Holy Pants, nor Ritsuko nor I took part last night, so we don't carry that stigma. All I have to do is make sure it's really nice for him. Eventually he'll want me of his own volition. Besides, while you were out here bitching, I was cuddling with him, telling him how good it was with him, how good it was to just hold him. I don't have your problem." Liv, you really don't understand how the game is played, she thought, Do you? Neither do the rest of you, farm-borns! Bah! Idiots!

     "With this new information," Oyuki began sagely, "We have a new element to consider."

     "Oh, somebody besides me is thinking, I'm all ears," Mara said happily.

     "What we are used to having to give, freely, even eagerly, we now must sell," Oyuki explained.

     "How is that better," Sylve asked, frowning at Oyuki and Mara.

     "As Mara has demonstrated, we control what we sell. We only need to make it attractive to the customer," Oyuki explained.

     Mara smiled at the possibilities.

     "Also," Oyuki said, "Remember, he charged into battle and told us to remain behind. He seems a great deal more . . . durable . . . than normal Tamers. Mara has only taken him while he was exhausted and out of sorts." The smiles among the others began and broadened.

Won't You Please, Please Tell Me What We've Learned

     'Don't be like the other Misato,' Misato remembered Ritsuko telling her. Misato considered the possibility of murdering the `other` Misato Katsuragi, awake or asleep. Maybe it was she hadn't been Tamed recently and was going Feral, maybe it was she felt disturbed that someone with her face and body, and now her name, could act the way her analog supposedly acted. 'After all it was filtered through the boy's perceptions,' Mara told me, and through her's, Misato thought, her wings furling and unfurling from a mixture of raw fury, dread and nervousness at the thought of what she desperately needed, and her Tamer's probable reaction. No, what really concerns me, she admitted to herself, Was my analog's treatment of children. And how that impacts my health, survival and sanity. After all, he's no Chad. Pokègirls are fascinated and love human children, Sukebe wasn't so much of a madman that he would leave that out of the mix. Only the most vicious or depraved species or individuals would choose to harm a child. Accidents happened, a callous creature was still a callous creature, but my analog seemed to accept psychological and physical neglect . . . and violence . . . against her charges was acceptable. She didn't even consider beneficial, she more childish than they, at twice their age, Misato's stomach churned whenever she thought about it. Mara . . . she could have been lying, Misato thought, then shook her head, No, she was enjoying telling me about it too much. It has to be at least partially if not mainly true. It also explains too much of why he shies away from me and is so nervous around me, and why he was so mortified about the idea of Taming me. That brought up the other effect that had a much more dire and immediately physical effect.

     All false modesty aside, Misato knew she had been beautiful as a Malakim, athletic with generous curves, long dark red hair that reached past her wings nearly to her rump, and green eyes that sparkled and drew others to her. She'd delighted in the adoring and admiring looks from men and some Pokègirls, and the envious looks directed at her or her Tamer. Her evolution had corrected what few flaws her beauty had had, darkened her hair to a deep plum and her eyes to a more placid brown, and added an aura that made her an emblem of strength and virtue rather than a woman. It had also cost her her casual attitude towards Taming, the mere thought of how she had been before her evolution embarrassed her terribly, giving Mara endless ammunition for teases and taunts, worse that they were all true and accurate. Worse still, was the similarity to who she had been as an Armsmistress to the Misato Katsuragi her Master knew, and feared.

     Better if he simply loathed me. There are easy ways of skirting around hatred to get Tamed. I'm not used to people, anyone except my foes, being afraid of me. And my foes in combat, I can understand why they would fear, she smiled at that thought, of the fear in their eyes when they faced her blade.

     But aside from that, nobody has ever been afraid of me . . . even the Infernals, until now. I've heard of Pokègirls so abused by their Tamers that they feared them, even evolved into Penances out of fear. But I've never heard of someone terrifying a human to that extent as a means . . . of what? Discipline? Control? But some of the Elemental Demons had called Pokèballs brainwashing, putting them in a situation they couldn't escape from and tortured or praised to break down their will to resist, even their entire personality, she remembered events of the past, But his personality had survived pretty much intact, except for one huge scar, a deep and abiding fear of anyone or anything that looked, sounded or acted like Misato Katsuragi, she considered as she searched the lakeshore for her Tamer.

     My Armsmistress form and attitude might have successfully seduced my Tamer, the different appearance and ease attitude towards Taming would have made it easier, she thought angrily, as she flew above the water looking this way and that, Dealing with someone who acts like being touched is the prelude to a Dynamic Punch, is a pain. And being so embarrassed myself by the whole subject doesn't help either.

     She spotted him and landed nearby, advanced quietly on foot, but made enough noise he would hear her approach. He was sitting with his knees pulled under his chin, on a half-submerged in the lake, his shirt was plastered to him displaying the T-shirt underneath. His entire posture one of abject misery.

     In my experience, Tamers only wear enough, so they can to get into and out of it quickly, she thought as she paused in her approach, But he didn't take his shirt off when he was Taming Mara, until she covered him with her wings. She saw the scars on his bare legs and wondered, Do they go up farther? Is he ashamed of them? It can't be that simple! He covers up and withdraws for that reason? This is going to be a lot of work, she thought morosely, Simple diagnosis, Major League cure required.

     `She pulled herself out of her memories and extended her wings to flutter into the icy-cold water beside her Master. "May I join you?" she asked as he unconsciously made room for her. Or he's shying away from me, she thought. "Do you mind some company?"

     "Sure," he said emotionlessly, "It's not like I can screw up any worse than I already have."

     Oh lovely, Misato thought. She extended her wings, resting them on him. That's something the other Misato could never do, she thought. "I don't know, you took the job as proposed, and got the job done," she said, inching closer, trying to focus not on her Tamer and the spectre of Feraldom, but on the boy slipping into darkness, My War against `preternatural evil`, all focused in one anguished teenager. Mara must be laughing herself sick. "They gave you bad specifications," she said soothingly, moving a bit closer. And he didn't move away, she thought hopefully.

     "You don't want to get too close," he warned her.

     Oh, a challenge, she thought as she wrapped her arms and wings around him, she didn't tighten her grip as much as she'd like to because he froze as soon as her hands made contact. Take it easy, this is the scouting portion of the operations, this isn't necessarily a prelude to Taming - probably isn't she told her self to relax her own anxieties, He's hurt, you received training on how to talk a jumper of a ledge, or catch him when he jumps, this is the same.

     "I'm a Seraph, we like trouble, we seek it out and fight it ourselves," she whispered in his ear, willing him to relax a bit.

     "Not the kind of trouble I'm usually in." He sighed. "And once again."

     "It can't be that bad," she said. Or it may be, he's shivering now, I hope he's not a whiner, I wouldn't think that he'd be, she considered.      "Yes, maybe it isn't for you, but it seems that bad from my end," he said as he turned to face her, "Why didn't you say anything about what they were saying, if you knew it was wrong."

     She was both relieved and slightly miffed that he hadn't noticed she was naked. "Taming . . . is a difficult subject for a Seraph, we - me especially - are very nervous about the subject. Mara said you are too, she called you a 'Seraph in Tamer's garb'. I . . . I admit I was too embarrassed to say anything. Yes, I knew they were giving bad information, but I was too ashamed by the entire discussion to participate. I . . . " She bowed her head. "I beg your forgiveness."

     "Even you," he said disgustedly, "None of you stand up for yourselves when I'm wrong."

     Misato mastered her irritation. He's stubborn, she thought.

     "Look, I can understand, strike that, where I'm from, sex happens primarily after marriage, that it's different here, I can accept. This isn't 1948. But I am never going to be comfortable with this."

     "We enjoy it, and Pokègirls are incapable of reproduction that way, after we become Pokèwomen, that's different. It . . . " She paused, took a deep breath before she blurted out, "With the right person it's special."

     "No, you really don't understand. The battle I talked about," he explained, "I died, really died, end of life, shuffled off the mortal coil and off to join the choir invisible. Suddenly I'm here. Where is here? Heaven, Hell, Purgatory? Limbo? None of the above or below?" He turned towards her, which at any other time she would have taken as a good sign. He wasn't interested in the naked woman sitting with her arms around him, he didn't look like a boy or a young man, especially his eyes, he looked very old and very weary. Eyes that have seen too much, she realized, And understood the dark side of the world a little too well. Taming doesn't matter.

     "Because you really don't care," she said quietly, "Whether you live or die." Her only answer was a wan smile from her Tamer. Frightening, maybe . . . Misato thought Maybe nothing, how do I comfort or confront that . . . emptiness. A roll in the hay will never be enough.

     "Haven't you ever just been tired? Tired of fighting, tired of losing allies? All you wanted was just to let it all go, let it be someone elses' problem?"

     "Yes," she said quietly and nodded. When I lost Chad, I was hoping they'd kill me, she thought, Like you, I didn't care anymore.

     "I'm sick of the responsibility. I figured that it would be over, finally. Either I'd ascend or descend. I've done enough, either way it was a toss up. But instead I went sideways. Maybe the Buddhists are right, you just go sideways forever, until you reach the edge and you fall off. I didn't want the responsibility, but I've got seven lives depending on me and my skill in an activity that, frankly, I've never had too much experience in. The society, your society, tells me I could abandon all of you at a Pokècenter and just walk away, but what is legal, isn't what is moral, or even right. It's extremely clear I'm not living up to expectations."

     And only Mara thinks that is a good thing, Misato considered, But I'm beginning to agree with her. Easier to train on the simple stuff, the fun stuff, than make you a kind person.

     "But I don't want to do the things that are `standard` - for reasons of my own - and a compromise isn't working." He sighed. "I am not comfortable with the level of intimacy required to do this job properly. When someone offered what all of you seem to enjoy and enjoy sharing, I automatically knew I was being set up. It's going to take a while to get over that conditioning."

     "You did fine," she said, taking the opportunity to hug him tightly, to press him against her body. I want my Master comfortable and happy, she thought, I'm still a Pokègirl. And he's my Master. At least he didn't tense up so much this time.

     "We don't, all we - " Misato fumbled with the words, as her emotions and instincts threatened to overwhelm her control and rationality, "I'm really not the best person to explain this, Ritsuko would be better."

     "She didn't say anything either," he lamented, "Why? Because I'm supposed to know better, or . . . ?"

     Misato let him rest his head on her shoulder. The little boy was hurt, and wants comfort and approval, she thought as she held him, So if my namesake didn't start this, who hurt him? And how does that link with what `Misato` did? I want to tell him to just cry, it will feel better . . . but . . . I don't have an answer to that, other than what I am doing, Misato thought as she held the boy, enjoying the intimacy and the trust inherent in it, We don't, all we want is a good Taming, but frankly it's no fun if the Tamer isn't enjoying himself.

     "You don't want to know what I think and feel, believe me," he replied quietly.

     "You don't have to let us in all the way, we all have to have private, secret places even a Bonded Tamer can't enter, but you have to let us in a little. We aren't as . . . judgmental as many purelines are. Some Pokègirls don't care about anything except a regular Taming. Conversation, pleasantries, even good hygiene are secondary considerations. Now we appreciate you like to talk, you don't beat us up or most people would have run away from the pack of trouble that is your Harem, just for privacy!" she said the last as she rubbed him against her. This time he grudgingly accepted it. Hooray, Misato thought. "I'm sure you also wanted to take a bath."

     "Well, I would like some privacy," he admitted, pulling away from her, now blushing at what he saw and what they'd done.

     He's also shy, she thought, a bit embarrassed herself at how happy she was that he'd noticed her, I'll also suggest we get a few smaller tents.

     "No one will see," she assured him, covering him with her wings, "I won't even offer to scrub your back."

     "Except you'll see," he replied nervously.

     "Well, there's nothing you've got that I haven't seen already," she smirked. Shy, that's cute, she thought as she stroked his shoulder with a finger. "But I won't peek, Seraph's are truthful Pokègirls."

     "That's not necessarily true, and that's not what I'm worried about. Well, you are military, maybe you are right," he admitted as he started unbuttoning his shirt.

     Misato's hand drifted over his body, brushing his shirt with her fingertips, when she touched his hip, it was as if something burnt her fingers. She yanked her hand back with a yelp, while she yanked his shirt up with her other hand. What she saw looked to her like a pair of glaring lines from the shoulder to the opposite hip. A demon did this, to mark him, she thought in fury, the fist still gripping his shirt, her other fist clenching and unclenching uncontrollably. Her every instinct demanded she hunt down this scourge and destroy it. Suddenly she was aware of the child she was frightening, as he tried to back away from her.

     "I . . . I am not angry with you," she reassured him, he still looked at her with fear. He attacks Widows without concern, yet I've managed to frighten him, she thought with distaste, My analog has programmed him well.

     But the wounds drew her attention so strongly. Most of the vague disquiet she'd felt about her new Master was centered here on those two marks, the two siblings of evil. She was vaguely aware she wouldn't have cared as an Armsmistress. "Who did this?" she demanded, restraining herself from shaking him to speed his response. The miasma of evil was driving her up the wall. "Who did this?"

     "A demon," he told her, shying away, his voice held no defiance, only fear, directed entirely at her, "It's dead, I'm not."

     She forced down her revulsion. He's not the thing that caused this, she reminded herself forcefully, He's the victim, not the source. "I am going to fix this," she assured him, smiling, then stopped grinning when he increased his efforts to back between her wings to get away from her. She tried to control her temper. But some demon marked my Master, she thought amid a haze of fury, her nature demanded she take immediate and decisive action, it was as much a part of her as her blood and bone, as desperate a need as breathing. "I am going to heal it," she couldn't keep the sternness out of her voice, but she kept her touch gentle. She also knew the power that flowed out to heal, was pleasant to the recipient.

     "Please don't," he pleaded fearfully, pressing against the barrier of her wings.

     "You will not be harmed," she answered him. Impossible, she thought about the resistance to the healing energies.

     "That' isn't what's worrying me," he replied softly.

     She scowled and redoubled the flow and force of her healing energies, ignoring her own growing discomfort. She also ignored the gunshot in the distance.

I Know it Sounds Absurd but Please Tell Me Who I Am.

     Ritsuko watched the 'Team Chrysanthemumemumemumemumemum' idiots land in the snow bank, which Oyuki had generated, and now the Megami converted into a solid block of ice that trapped the trio of imbeciles up to their necks. Ritsuko went and put The Gun away.

     Idiots, Ritsuko thought of them, Just because we were arguing, that doesn't mean we were helpless, or that we'd miss a balloon hovering over us. She smirked as she remembered the delay caused by their speech and subsequent argument three-way over the correct pronunciation of Team Chrysanthemum. " 'Was it three emum's or two?'" she mocked their stupidity. Don't complain, she told herself, It gave you time to shoot out the relief valve at the top of the balloon, suddenly loss of lift and a downward jet.

     "All that practicing did accomplish something," she said quietly.

     Which landed them in Oyuki's conveniently placed snowbank, we couldn't let them land on ice of course, imprisoning them in an ice block, that's okay. She glanced at over where Sylve and Kiyone were collecting the descending balloon with Sylve's barriers and Kiyone's ropes, then to where Liv, Mara and Oyuki were maintaining a close watch on the trio, two humans, and a Tatmon, all shivering more from fear than the ice.

     "What should we do with them?" Liv asked, then dragged a slavering Mara away by her wings, "You can't eat them too!"

     Mara whirled to face her, she snarled, baring her claws and fangs.

     Something she didn't do when she was `discussing` with the others, Ritsuko thought of the extraordinary weapons the Storm Demon was displaying.

     "You will get fat," Oyuki said calmly, "And our Tamer wants you - sleek and sexy - an obese Pokègirl doesn't get Tamed, she gets mistaken for a Snorlass."

     Mara threw her head back and howled mournfully.

     Liv patted her head, and suggested, "We could cut them up for fish bait!"

     Mara bounded over to the trio and drooled hungrily. "Fffffisshhhhh!" Mara said eagerly and did a little happy dance. The two humans looked on the verge of passing out in terror, the Tatmon just stared balefully at them, her expression promising pain to all, if she ever got loose. Then Oyuki sprinkled her with pepper.

     The scream shattered everyone's countenance, both humans fainted.

     "Mara, Liv, GO!" Ritsuko ordered, "Sylve leave the balloon to Kiyone, get over here!"

     The Tatmon looked pale, staring from one of her captors to the other.

     Mara returned a moment later, cradling their Master in her arms. Misato followed, looking terrible, unmarked but hugely guilty. The humans had recovered, took one look at the human being carried into the tent, and fainted again.

     Ritsuko felt as ice-covered as their prisoners, at the sight of her Master's horribly wounded condition Mara will do her best, and he is a healer, Ritsuko thought desperately, What happened?! We would have heard a battle! She headed into the tent to assist.

     Inside, Mara was holding Jeff up by his skull with her wings. As horrible as it looked, it was the only part besides his body that wasn't dotted with burns, scars or scabbing over wounds. As her wings held him upright, Mara's hands worked applying balm and bandages. His hands and forearms were the worst, they looked as though they'd been burnt down to bare bone and then bagged with something resembling scorched flesh. With his eyes closed, she wasn't sure he was even conscious. Considering how extensive the injuries are, Ritsuko thought, I hope he's out cold.

     What happened? Ritsuko didn't ask aloud as she began bandaging the worst trauma, Misato couldn't have done this! She couldn't!

     They finished quickly. Mara laid down several sleeping bags as a mattress.

     "Take off your clothes, all of them," she told Ritsuko tightly, as she left the tent.

     Ritsuko wasn't going to argue with an angry Storm Demon.

     "But it's SILK!" Kiyone whined as Mara dragged her by her arm into the tent.

     "I - don't - care - understand?" Mara said as she combed her claws through the Tarantella's hair, "Now, take off your clothes, all of them." She glanced at the two disrobing Pokègirls. "Okay, I'll explain this once. You two, and Misato, are the closest to his size. What we have to worry about is shock. We keep him warm, it's less of a worry. So you two get naked and - keep - him - warm! See, I did pay attention during your first aid lecture, Oyuki teleported back to the city to get the cops."

     "What about our friends out there?" Ritsuko asked as she slipped in in front of her Master, felt his chilled skin.

     "Considering the condition he was in, and Misato is still out there doing her Cherry Blossom impersonation, I doubt they'll be moving anytime soon," Mara told them before she covered all three of them with every blanket and sleeping bag they had, then she left hurriedly.

     "Will . . . will he be all right?" Kiyone asked worriedly from behind their Master.

     With the spectre of a Level 5 taming cycle to erase you, for letting our Master get torn up like this, she's got every right to be scared, Ritsuko thought, If they don't simply kill us, after a proper hearing of course. She's got every reason to be worried, why aren't I worried? "Mara seems to think so, and - while this sounds strange . . . as far as our Master's health and happiness are concerned, I trust her."

     "Yeah, I guess I do too, I think - I think she's really in love with him. Not 'eyes across a crowded room', but like father was with Achika. After she died, he never took another Alpha. We all figured his . . . proclivities were his way of . . . I don't know, compensating."

     "Yes," Ritsuko said quietly, felt the chill in her Master and snuggled closer, which caused him to shy away in his comatose state. "Careful, I think he's still pretty sore."

     "Not half as sore as out dear Storm Demon," Kiyone answered worriedly.

     Mara stepped out of the tent, kept her `game face` on. I let go now, I don't know if I'll cry till I can't, she silently warned herself, Or start slaughtering those who really deserve it. She smiled at the thought of what she'd like to do to Misato, and aimed that smile at the captives in the rapidly melting block of ice. The two humans fainted again, the Tatmon looked ready to throw up. She stalked over to them, knelt down to be face-to-face with them. "If you three aren't here when I get back," she said as her claws caressed each one in turn, "I kill the ones still here, then I'll feed the escapees to her." She nodded towards Misato. She looked at the male. "Oh, you, cutie, please stay, I'll ride you to death." She thrust her hips at him. "Sure you'll be dead, but I've never had any complaints." She laughed evilly as she walked away. The Tatmon is in charge of that pack, she thought, Parity, HA! I don't want to be equal to anyone, I want the chance to be the best. Or the beast.

     Her target didn't flinch as Mara took her hand and led her off some distance. "What the Hell is the matter with you?" Mara hissed at Misato, shaking violently while struggling not to simply tear the Seraph into bloody bits, "I sent you out for a little kiss and cuddle. It was perfect, he was depressed and down, the rest of the baying pack was occupied, all you had to do was offer sympathy and a warm, safe place to him. No sex, no nothing. How could you fuck that up so bad?"

     "He has these scars," Misato whispered, "They . . . they had to be . . . "

     "Dammit to HELL!" she shouted instead of assaulting Misato, not caring who heard anymore, "Do you have to turn every damn thing into a fucking CRUSADE!?" She slapped the Seraph. "Do you know what's - wait?" Mara stared at Misato, who still hadn't reacted to the slap. "He healed you, didn't he?" Mara asked, and pressed on as Misato buried her face in her hands, "Those were YOUR injuries. YOU got hurt, and you just let him take those hurts!" she screamed in fury, "I OUGHTA KILL YOU!!" She lunged at the Seraph, who looked down and accepted her fate. Only a wall of ice enclosing Mara's forearms, hands and legs prevented her from carrying out her sentence of death.

     "He would not want that," Oyuki told Mara coolly, touching the Storm Demon's brow, "The police are on the way, they are also bringing an ambulance and medical team." Her touch became a caress as her voice abated Mara's rage, a soothing cool filled Mara's mind, letting her hear the logic of Oyuki's words.

     No, he wouldn't. If he wants her dead, he'd do it himself, she thought, nodding to Oyuki, Besides, Oyuki's right, letting Miss Holy Pants live unharmed is the worst thing I can do to her. She, a Celestial hurt our Master worst than even Widows and Spinnenangsts did, and I, an Infernal, saw to his survival and rescue. "Very well," Mara said more calmly than she felt, "But I don't forgive nor will I ever forget. We all know who first Tamed him, and who first wounded him."

     "I did not separate our Master's injury from the Team Chrysanthemum attack," Oyuki added guiltily as she dissolved the block of ice that restrained Mara.

     "You can add one more little trick to our Master's repertoire," Mara told the two Celestials, moving carefully, trying to keep herself calm, "His healing, can fully cure a Feral condition. She was halfway there, why do you think I sent her out there?" She got into Misato's face, "I will have my revenge. Don't doubt it."

     "How - uncharacteristically generous," Oyuki said diplomatically.

     Mara grabbed Oyuki by her kimono collar and lifted her off the ground. "Let's get one thing straight, my smug little ice cube, I did it for him, because he had an irrational fear of her. So much for my plan, now he's got a reason." She pushed Misato away as the Seraph walked towards the pair to intervene. "Also for me, to the rest of you, a Feral Seraph will look at trees and butterflies and fly amidst the birdies, but to me it's a knife in the throat if I sneeze wrong." She set Oyuki down, brushing her off and straightening Oyuki's clothes with obvious sarcasm. "So I may honey-coat it with altruism to get you lot to swallow it, but all I care about is him, and me."

     "The characteristic I was referring to was - logic," Oyuki said in a vaguely amused tone as she stepped out of Mara's reach and adjusted her own clothes, "A plan worthy of a Daimon or Sexmet herself, rather than the Dark Lady you wish everyone to think you are."

     "Megami, if I could find the insult I know is in there," Mara threatened Oyuki, "I would be very annoyed."

     "If you could find it, so would I," Oyuki agreed, then shot a dark look at Misato, promising worse for her fellow Celestial than anything Mara could conceive of.

     Jeff's Harem
Oyuki - Megami
Kiyone - Tarantella
Sylve - ShieldMaiden
Misato - Seraph
Ritsuko - Matron
Mara - Storm Demon
Liv - Witch

SERAPH, the Heavenly Defender Pokegirl

Type: Near Human
Element: Flying/Magic/Fighting (Celestial)
Frequency: Extremely Rare
Diet: vegetarian
Role: defender of love and justice
Libido: Average
Strong Vs: Bug, Dark, Fighting, Ground, Normal, Plant, Steel, infernal pokegirls
Weak Vs: Electric, Flying, Psychic, sex attacks
Attacks: Dive, Typhoon, Evade, Punch, Kick, Bear Hug, Focus, Focus Energy, Resist, Double Kick, Dynamic Punch, Reflect, Heal, Magic Fist, Magic Kick, Mana Bolt
Enhancements: Enhanced Strength (x15), Enhanced Speed (x3), Enhanced Reflexes (x4), Toughness, Endurance
Evolves: None
Evolves From: Armsmistress (Valkyrie-based winged Armsmistress only; Angel Stone)

     Seraphs are the most militant of celestial pokegirls. They are ever-vigilant to defend good and innocent people from the depredations of those whom they consider evil, which especially includes infernal pokegirls.

     Seraphs don't look much different from their previous form, having long, flowing hair, which may now be of any color, not just red, eyes that can likewise be any color now, and large, feathery white wings. These wings are not part of her arms, allowing her to fly and attack simoultaneously. However, doing so is more difficult for her than it would be for a true bird pokegirl, making the Seraph weak versus Flying-types. Most Seraphs are quite busty, and have breasts that are a generous C cup at least. They are obviously muscled, but their toned form hides an incredible, disproportionate strength. They aren't as strong as their previous form, but what they lose in strength they gain in the way of combat prowess and magic.

     Seraphs take themselves and their duties very seriously. They see themselves as having a sacred responsibility to defend people from evil forces. They prefer to look to more preternatural evils than mundane ones though, and are prone to ignore things like robberies and thefts in favor of mystic evils, such as hauntings and dark cults. They regard infernal pokegirls as the worst sort of evil, and though they don't attack them on sight, any minor provocation is enough to set them off. Seraphs get along well with other celestial pokegirls, considering Angels and pokegirls who are Blessed to be like younger sisters. Megamis and such tend to regard Seraphs with a sort of exasperated affection, like how one would treat a slightly crazed younger sibling, since they feel that Seraphs are both too militant and are wrong to ignore the "lesser" evils of the world.

     When in a fight, a Seraph's first concern is to get any innocent people out of the way, and will willingly and unhesitatingly place themselves in front of someone to protect them trusting their defensive moves, such as Resist and Reflect, to help them get withstand the assault, along with their Toughness enhancement. Should an innocent be injured, they will immediately use Heal on them. Once any innocents are safe, a Seraph quickly wades into battle, using her various Punch and Kick attacks to pummel her opponents into the ground. Seraphs always use their weakest attacks first and gradually increase their attacking power as the fight goes on, since even on evil creatures Seraphs are loathe to cause unnecessary damage, being defenders and not sadists. This can cause the Seraph to take some otherwise avoidable damage early in a fight, but they tend not to mind this. Seraphs can last a long time in battle, thanks to their Toughness and Endurance enhancements, their defensive moves, and their ability to Heal themselves. Should a Seraph get desperate to win a battle, she will use Focus or Focus Energy to power up a move and then unleash it to devastating effect. Should a Seraph not be able to close the distance between herself and her foe, she relies on Magic Fist, Magic Kick, and Mana Bolt to win the day for her.

     While serious, even stern, when fighting or looking for some evil to combat, Seraphs are just the opposite when it comes to Taming. Sex talk makes them blush and lose their composure easily. When about to be Tamed, they tend to blush, giggle, and avert their eyes, acting almost ditzy. Despite their great strength, they never need to be restrained, since never once has a Seraph lost control so much that she injured her Tamer. A Seraph's embarrassment about sex works against them on the battlefield though. They have a hard time resisting sex attacks, and know none themselves. They tend to be very humiliated when defeated by being brought to orgasm, and will be even moodier than usual about it for a while afterwards. For the most part though, Seraphs do well in a Harem. They see themselves as having to guide their Harem-sisters and her master by persuading him to champion the causes of good, and she judges herself based on how well she can convince her Tamer to fight the same supernatural evils that she herself does. She usually doesn't try to be the Alpha, seeing herself more as a guide and mentor than a leader by necessity. However, Seraphs are totally opposed to having an infernal pokegirl in the same Harem as her, and the two invariably bicker non-stop until one of them leaves, submits to the other (which virtually never happens), or dies.

     Feral Seraphs are quite docile, and won't attack anyone unless it's to defend themselves. Even then, they tend to just use Punch, Kick, and Heal when the fight is over. Capturing a Feral Seraph is thus much easier than it would be to otherwise fight a non-Feral Seraph. They do need to be restrained when being Tamed out of Feral though, since they aren't intelligent enough to restrain themselves. There has never been a known case of a Threshold girl becoming a Seraph.

GROWLIE, the Puppy Pokegirl

Type: Semihuman
Element: Fire
Frequency: Uncommon (Crimson, Indigo)
Diet: near human diet (omnivore, but mostly fish and nuts)
Role: originally tracking and frontline, make excellent pets
Libido: High
Strong Vs: Bug, Fire, Ice, Plant, Steel
Weak Vs: Ground, Rock, Water
Attacks: Flamethrower, Ignite, Growl, Slash, Bite
Enhancements: Increased strength and sense of smell, High endurance and loyalty
Evolves: Growltit (Fire Stone)
Evolves From: Goth (Sarcastic Goth sub-types only; Fire Stone)

     Growlies make good pets as they are loyal to a fault. Unless you don't leave very much, it's not recommended to have only a single Growlie as the family pet as they require lots of love and attention. Another pokegirl is recommended as the Growlies can then occupy themselves by 'playing' with the other pokegirls. They are very competitive with any and ALL amorous or lustful pokegirls.

     It's strongly suggested that you _not_ have any of the Domina-type Pokegirls, though. Growlies and Domina-types do NOT like each other.

WARCAT (aka BATTLECAT), the Powerful Pussycat Pokegirl

Type: Near Human
Element: Fighting
Frequency: Rare
Diet: carnivorous
Role: protecting her Tamer and Harem-sisters, tracking opponents
Libido: Average (seasonally becomes High)
Strong Vs: Bug, Dark, Ice, Normal, Rock, Steel
Weak Vs: Flying, Psychic
Attacks: Growl, Bite, Glare, Slash, Scratch, Tackle, Leap, Fury Swipes, Slice 'n' Dice, Sabre Claw, Counter, BearHug, Resist, Head Butt, Tail Slap
Enhancements: Enhanced Reflexes (x3), Enhanced Strength (x12), Enhanced Hearing (x3), Enhanced Sight (x3), Toughness, Endurance, Enhanced Sense of Smell (x5), Enhanced Speed (x2), Night Vision
Evolves: None
Evolves From: Wildcat (battle stress)

     Every so often, a Wildcat will meet a foe that sex attacks don't work against. There are some opponents that are just either too tough to let her get that close for as long as she needs, or are disciplined enough to shake her off before she can bring them to orgasm. Usually when this happens, the Wildcat is just defeated, her confidence obviously falling when she meets such a foe. Sometimes however, she can't afford to lose. When such a situation happens, when a Wildcat is in a match that she absolutely has to win and sex attacks won't win the fight, she evolves into Warcat.

     As a Warcat, she gains several inches of height, and quite a bit of muscle mass. Her breasts don't gain any size, but do firm up a little, bouncing less when she moves. A large majority of all Warcats have lime green fur, with yellowish-green horizontal stripes across their back. Exceptions to this rule are not unknown however. Warcats prefer to have short hair so it can't be grabbed easily in combat. All of her previous form's sex attacks are lost, given up so she can use more punishing moves. She becomes less playful as well, her personality more resembling a soldier on leave than anything else. A Warcat has learned the hard way that there is more to life than just sex (although sex remains a significant part of it), and that she can't afford to focus on that part to the exclusions of all else. Warcat's have a very large ability to hold a grudge, and can track enemies by scent to give them what they deserve.

     Whereas her sister type, the Boobcat is made for speed and agility, a Warcat is built to both absorb damage and dish it out. She doesn't have any long-range attacks, relying on Leap to help her close the distance to her opponents. When that happens the match is usually over, since she uses her prodigous strength to begin raining heavy blows down on her opponent. Few foes can last long against a Warcat in battle.

     In bed, a Warcat usually has to be laden with heavy restraints to make sure she doesn't injure or kill her Tamer with her powerful muscles. Warcats don't mind this at all, and rather enjoy being in a position where they can let their guard down. Beyond that, they have few real preferences for Taming, although individual Warcats remember all the positions and techniques they tried as Wildcats, and may have developed a personal favorite from among them.

     Feral Warcats tend to leave other people alone if left alone themselves. Tamers trying to capture one are advised to send in several strong Flying and Psychic pokegirls to take advantage of the Warcat's natural weaknesses. There are virtually no known cases of Threshold girls becoming Warcats, with only two being reported in the last century. Both cases resulted in accidental death of family members because the Threshold Warcat didn't know her own strength. Needless to say, if a Threshold girl were to become a Warcat, she would most likely be quickly sent away to a pokegirl ranch for the safety of others.