Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Urusei Yatsura Fan Fiction ❯ Poke Walk ❯ No Good Deed . . . ( Chapter 7 )

Poke Walk: Chapter 7 - No Good Deed . . .

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:

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

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

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

He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars;
General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer:
For art and science cannot exist but in minutely organized particulars.

Jerusalem, ch. 3, plate 55, line 60 - William Blake

How Far That Little Candle Throws His Beams!

    Jeff watched the entire kampfgruppe come charging down the lava tube as he stood and rocked the sleeping girl.

    'Blessed Widow?' he wasn't sure if Kiyone shrieked, or the whole chorus.

    "Interesting conundrum," Jeff told them brightly, "Isn't it." He saw murder in every single eye, so he decided not to continue teasing them. "If you are assuming I don't know it - she - is a trap, then you aren't giving me enough credit. She was placed here as part of a trap. I believe I've dealt with the trap in the most effective way possible."

    "That - that - that - " Perry said, her finger shaking as badly as her voice.

    "Whatever she is, I am a Field Researcher, I think this could be an important point of research. Do I believe she is a young Widow who has received some special blessing? Don't be naive, but I do believe she was especially created. Even if she can't be kept on our side, she may be the beginning of the ultimate Widowslayer."

    "You're insane!" Mackie voiced what none of the Pokègirls dared.

    "Anymore than the rest of this world?" Jeff countered angrily, "You people are living in a technological Dark Age where things we had licked in the 1940's kill thousands every year. 'Science doesn't work, so let's go back to old superstitions' means average lifespan is forty-seven years. Infant mortality rates among humans are so high as to be unbelievable. So, yes, maybe I am crazy, but so are all of you for simply accepting what's around you. Is she part of an evil plot? Perhaps, but I think ending inoculation for smallpox is a greater evil plot than anything I've heard of."

    "You can't - " Misato began.

    "Can't I?" Suddenly Jeff wasn't a scared and uncertain kid, but something else. An ancient something that breathed death and power, the Pokègirls got it immediately. "She's coming with me, whether she's coming with us, that's your choice," Jeff said. "If you object, we're going to the Sadie Poken's day Festival in Redwood, you are more than welcome to make your protests there," he told them as he turned and walked to the nook where the girl slept. He collected her worn out bedding and a few trinkets: shiny stones, bits of metal, a picture that looked like it had torn from a clothing catalog. A smiling mother and doting father who held a child who looked a lot like the girl. "I think I'll call you Gem," he told the girl as he rearranged her in a more comfortable draping, and headed off down the lava tube.

    Ritsuko fell in behind him, followed by Misato and Mara, who glared at each other, but kept their fight private and silent. The rest of `his Harem` were left with Mackie's Harem.

    Jeff heard bits and pieces of this argument bouncing off the walls of the lava tube as he walked away. They either trust me, or they don't, he thought, I wouldn't leave her to get eaten anyway.

    They found the body of a feline-type Pokègirl and several chests. Jeff handed Gem to Ritsuko, who took her with good grace, duplicating Jeff's earlier rocking that kept the girl asleep. Jeff noted the chests weren't even locked. "Either nobody got this far, or they got away," Jeff said, extending his senses, searching for a curse.

    "Is that safe?" Liv asked as she hurried towards them, "The curse I mean."

    "Do you detect a curse?" Jeff asked and waited for Liv to check.

    "No," she answered.

    Jeff opened one of the chests, revealing the gold inside. "Nor do I," Jeff admitted, "So the last test." He touched one of the pectorals. "Not even a tingle," he told them as they blanched or prepared to offer help.

    "Couldn't they shield it?" Liv asked worriedly, moving up to kneel beside him, peering into the chest.

    I wonder if any of them realize how much money this represents, he wondered. "Not that well," he told her, "I think they're safe. As safe as gold ever is."

    "What's that mean?" Mara asked.

    "Money, especially in large sums, has a strange effect on people."

    "I think having a 'Blessed Widow' with us, will distract everyone from anything as mundane as mere gold," Mara advised, as she opened another chest, then closed it, "Besides, wasn't this your payment for Sylve?"

    "Yep." Jeff looked up. Liv, Misato, Ritsuko and Mara were there, Oyuki and Kiyone were not. No point thinking about that now, he thought as he pulled out one of the chests, Mara and Misato split the remaining six between them. Competitive to the last, Jeff thought, Nothing I can do about that either. They walked back to the others.

    "I know the contract was to get us here, but if you want our help dealing with the people who stole your Harem, you'll have to offer transport."

    Mackie threw up his hands and marched off towards the exit.

    Is that a 'yes' or a 'no'? Jeff asked himself as he followed.

    Gem awoke to the rocking of the boat, her incipient panic at not seeing Jeff around, was mitigated by the shirt they'd wrapped her in.

    It certainly smells like him, Ritsuko thought, as she watched the little girl, Slept right through the sponge bath.

    Gem wrapped the shirt around herself more tightly and glanced worriedly at Ritsuko. Ritsuko was only too aware the danger that she faced.

    "Don't worry," Ritsuko assured her, "I won't eat you." Ritsuko smiled at the girl's frown. Okay, so she understands English, or my tone, Ritsuko thought. "Jeff is up on deck, you need to rest and let me check you out." And I intend to find out how much of a threat you really are, she thought.

    Gem frowned at her, crossing both pairs of her arms over her chest, lips out thrust.

    You're just begging for it, Ritsuko thought, Aren't you, Little One? "I think you are - ticklish!" Ritsuko attacked with her last word. The girl tried to fend off Ritsuko, Gem was stronger, had more limbs, but Ritsuko had a much longer reach and greater experience. The girl laughed as Ritsuko struck the vulnerable spots, but did not linger. The girl was soon panting, then gave up any attempt at defense. When Ritsuko was sure she'd won, she picked her up. The girl hugged her automatically. Ritsuko found herself hugging the girl back just as automatically.

    How could you be a trap? she wondered, You had every chance to hurt me, and took none of them. How could you possibly be a danger to my Master?

    The inhuman limb caressed the terrified Megami. "Odd, how things spin out of control . . . isn't it?" the rough speech asked, more a set of clicks and rasps.

    The Megami shivered. "I did as you asked."

    "I know. I just wonder what you did that I failed to ask, yet did not expressly forbid," the clicks and rasps said

    The series of serrations on the limb almost lovingly combed the Megami's disheveled hair out of her face. "The . . . process . . . is less than scientific. There are elements that I have no control over," the Megami pled, "I created what you required, and I think - I know - it will fulfil your desires, exactly how is . . . difficult to determine."

    "Well then, you've made my life more interesting, that is a good thing."

    "Yes, Mistress." The Megami trembled despite the praise, wondering just what she had unleashed upon the world.

    Jeff watched the group arrive. Kiyone was hiding below decks. Jeff noted the three groups seemed vaguely hostile, both among themselves and between the groups. "I'm glad this is a big boat," Jeff whispered to Mackie, who nodded perhaps a millimeter.

    Ritsuko stepped forward. "Colonel," she saluted the man, then the winged Valkyrie who'd carried him to the boat.

    "I was wondering where you disappeared to," the Colonel said, as if no answer Ritsuko gave would be sufficient.

    Jeff hated him instantly.

    "Headed off during the aftermath of the battle," Ritsuko admitted, without being the least bit guilty about it.

    "You and the others are - " the Colonel began.

    "KIYONE!" a blonde-headed, dark furred Bunnygirl wailed as she wandered between them, "KIYONE!"

    "She's gone for the nonce," Jeff told her, ignoring the Colonel's fury at the interruption of his interrogation.

    "Kiyone got eaten by a nonce! WAAH!" the girl bellowed and tried to hug Jeff, who dodged.

    Jeff noted that 'Tenchi' looked a lot like the one he had seen on another world, so did the members of his harem, Ryoko, Ayeka, and Washu, the last girl grinned at him. No I will not submit to being your experiment, Jeff thought with a frown, Now, where is Sasami, she's the only rational one of the bunch.

    The third group was a mixed bag, a grizzled Tamer, who had flown in on a Pidgeota, and a couple of very formidable looking Pokègirls or Pokèwomen he'd released on arriving.

    "I'm glad you could make it Mr. Drake," Perry met the tamer and shook his hand, very gingerly.

    "Always glad to stomp Pokègirl thieves," Mr. Drake replied, glancing with contempt at the Colonel.

    The man's Pidgeota fluttered her wings. Mr. Drake advanced on Jeff and extended a massive hand. Jeff gingerly took the man's hand.

    "Pup like you, ought to have a better handshake." Mr. Drake bore down. Jeff ignored it, stared at the man.

    Jeff tightened his grip slightly, but remained a gentle handshake.

    "Hiya wings," Misato offered, only to receive the glares of both the Pidgeota and the Valkyrie.

    Jeff noted that the Valkyrie and the Pidgeota were the major point of friction between the military and the veteran Tamer, while everyone, including her Harem sisters, seemed to have a problem with Mihoshi.

    "Why are you bringing 'her' along?" the Colonel asked, glaring at Jeff.

    "Because - "

    "KIYONEEEEE!" Splash.

    "Will someone throw her a rope?" Jeff asked, shaking his head, "I think we can use of that. Get her a blanket and take her downstairs to rest, put a guard on her as well. Keep her away from anything that could burn, break or explode. That includes the food."

    "My ears! You're pulling my ears!" Mihoshi complained as Ryoko dragged her aboard by what came to hand.

    "I'll take her down the back," Ritsuko said loudly, warning Kiyone to come up through the bow hatch.

    "I still think this plan is very dangerous," the Colonel said, "I think - "

    "I DON'T WANT TO BE A BOMB!" Mihoshi wailed in a tone that would have elicited pity for any other being in the universe. It only fostered a feeling of glee at her distress. Ritsuko put a piece of tape over the Bunnygirl's mouth and checked the wrist bindings.

    "It's an important job!" Misato told her as she carried her to the target. Liv's spell kicked in, rendering the pair invisible.

    "How certain are you of this location? The patrols haven't found anything," the Colonel said, not hiding his suspicions at all.

    "A quiet region begs the question 'why?'" Jeff replied calmly, "Also, they disguised the place, so it's hard to see. Some powerful magic went in to protecting that place. If anybody can get in there and mess things up - " He pointed in the direction Misato had been headed.

    "It's Mihoshi," Drake chuckled, much to the Colonel's disapproval.

    Liv was also `cloaking` the boat as they headed in. Several immense explosions lit up the sky near where they were headed, throwing everything into sharp shadows and leaving everyone blinking away the afterimages.

    "How the Hell did she manage that?" the Colonel demanded, then turned on Jeff, backlit as if by strobes by another series of smaller explosions, "And how did you know?"

    "If I told you what I remember, you'd think I'm nuts. As would I, but parts are completely accurate. Ready for part two?" Jeff asked. Silence came, as the assault force assembled and it appeared nothing was left to explode. A moment later, they were on the outskirts of Hell at war with itself. "Take cover!" Jeff ordered, "Never underestimate Mihoshi, there's always more to explode." Everyone immediately dove for cover.

    "What the Hell?!" Drake exclaimed as he threw himself on the dirt, as shrapnel and chunks of building flew over his head.

    "That's what I had in mind," Jeff admitted as he scrambled forward on all fours.

    They advanced through the huge gaps in the outer wall and the turned earth that had scattered and detonated the minefield.

    "How could one person cause this much damage?" the Colonel asked in fear, he stared at Jeff in horror, "Y - you planned this carnage!"

    "I didn't plan this, she is exceeding my expectations," Jeff explained, "They did this damage, trying to deal with her. A smart person would chain her to a tree with a guard ordered to shoot if she moved or spoke. When she's around, they didn't think of that." Like I did, he didn't add aloud.

    While the base was in shambles, the two freighters `docked` alongside seemed none the worse for wear. "Ten gets you three," Drake said, "That the core of our troubles is aboard those boats."

    "No bet," Jeff said. Misato had returned to them. Circumstances and cover had strung the others out in a long line, each with a clear field of fire. The situation didn't look good for Team Chrysanthemum, who were having to deal with a very large number of irate Pokègirls. Jeff turned to Misato. "You told her that Kiyone was their captive?" He quirked an eyebrow.

    Misato looked offended. "I - "

    A plaintive 'Kiyone' could be heard faintly. Inciting shivers in the Wolf Spider. Misato just shrugged.

    "They deserved it," Misato said firmly.

    "I won't disagree," Jeff replied, then ordered, "Kiyone, get to the docks at the end. Help Ritsuko and Mackie tie up. I think we're going to need the space."

    Kiyone looked at him, then smiled and nodded. She headed off while the Colonel ordered Mackie in. "Let's hope they don't try to sail out, his boat's a good-sized yacht, but no match for those freighters," the Colonel said.

    "The plants are down, no smoke," Jeff told him, "And you can't just light one of those up and get it running." He smiled. "Although, that will solve our transport difficulties."

    "You are a mad man," the Colonel told him as he moved off.

    "I knew I liked you for some reason," Mr. Drake told him as he moved out.

    "That's no reason to disregard a good idea," Jeff replied.

    Misato was having a good time as she flew over the battle field. A great time! This isn't an assault, she thought as she collected a half-dozen of the escapees and sent them after a target, This is a massacre! She glanced back at the three Tamers conferring. They aren't neglecting their Pokègirls, they're trusting them, she thought warmly, They know the ships are going to be the last thing we hit. They trust us to clear the field for them. She looked at Mara, eerily duplicating her own actions. Except she's collecting every Infernal into her strike groups. Is she doing it to irritate me, or to not irritate me?

    Mara gave her a jaunty wave as a Succubus, a Demoness, a pair of Youmas and an Oni covered a Videogirl or Cybernymph's approach into the main building.

    I'll find out what they were after later. As much as I dislike them, good luck, God's speed. she thought as she spotted Mackie's yacht approaching the dock. A small figure in teal leapt from the boat to the dock in a strange eight, then six, then four point stance, then back to an 8-limbed run.

    I wonder why 'Gem' does not concern me as she does the others, Misato wondered, then whistled to get Gem's and Mara's attention, As much as I dislike Mara, her, me and Gem should be the assault force. Nobody in the group has our raw firepower. She gestured towards the nearer freighter.

    "Kiyonee!"wailed the distraught Mihoshi as she walked, seemingly unaware, through the battle.

    Distraught hurricane, Misato thought of the much singed Bunnygirl, March Hare, has to be. No! Not! I don't believe that, she thought as Mihoshi walked through the middle of the only patch of heavy resistance on the entire base. Well, I guess I don't have to worry about her! Sylvia had been commanding that assault and had taken full advantage of the distraction Mihoshi provided to overwhelm the defenders with Mackie's Harem and a handful of `auxiliaries`.

    "Come ON!" Mara flew towards her and the ship. "We've got to hit them NOW!" she shouted back to Misato.

    "What's got you so stirred up?!" Misato yelled back, while turning in the air herself.

    "An inventory!" Mara shouted back.

    Tenchi, Ryoko and Ayeka were heading that way, as were Sasami and Gem.

    What the - what has got all of them so stirred up about an inventory? she wondered, They couldn't possibly be keeping a pack of Widows. She directed her group to follow Mara's. Still following that damn Storm Demon's lead, she thought irritably.

    Ritsuko had completed the evolution, landing the ship and tying it up. I wish someone would tie me up and evolve me, she thought as Kiyone ran past her and disappeared below decks, That girl is just plain paranoid.

    "What do we do now?" Mackie asked as he exited the bridge.

    "Don't you want to be out there shouting orders at your Harem like a good Tamer?"

    "I get the idea that Sylvia and Perry know more about fighting than I would, ever," he admitted, looking at the fires and occasional explosion.

    "Then we get up as high as we can and keep an eye on things," Ritsuko told him, opening the case 'The Gun' was in, "A good General sees the entire battle field, leaves commanding the regiment to the Colonels."

    "You can shoot that thing?" Mackie asked as she hefted it.

    "No, but the scope is as good as any telescope, get a pair of binoculars, then we go aloft," she said, pointing to the crow's nest.

    "Jeff, we're aloft, got a good view of both ships," Ritsuko called over the radio, "I - we got five rounds, but I don't know if the mast will take much firing."

    "Then feed us intel," Jeff replied as he pounded up the ladder to the deck, "Have Mackie send his team to secure the other ship, resistance should be light, but we may need it to get everyone to Redwood, rather than tramp overland. I think - OH Crap!"

    Ritsuko watched as Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka and Sasami exited the freighter's cargo hold, straight up through the metal covers. The Pokègirls were all blackened and looked to have been trying to shield their Tamer from as much of the blast as possible.

    Poor Sasami, she took the brunt of it, Ritsuko noted the badly burned Megami who had protected Tenchi's head. "That landing -!"

    "On it," Mackie said, "Priss catch them. Get them back aboard the yacht." He turned to yell down to Kiyone, "Prepare for casualties!"

    "Roger!" came Skarmory's answer as she swooped toward the ascending group. Kiyone disappeared below decks.

    Ritsuko scanned the cargo cover for any evidence of what might have done this. "No! No! NO!" she shouted.

    "Come on, they've got better masts on the cargo ship, Priss can carry us there."

    "No! Don't you know what's on that ship!?" Ritsuko screamed, as she looked for some way out of the nightmare she had been thrust into.

    "No," Mackie whispered, looking for his own escape route.

    "Brusellia! She's supposed to be dead, but I saw her!" Ritsuko shouted as Priss plucked them out of the yacht's crow's nest and headed for the freighters.

    "Ha! This crew could match anything," Priss told them as she flew them to the freighter's mast, " 'Cept a legendary." She set them in the crow's nest and flew off to join the others assaulting the other freighter.

    Ritsuko sank to her knees. "That's what she is," she murmured miserably, "Not again. Not again."

    In the bunkroom below decks, Kiyone carefully washed the dirt off the burns and applied the healing salve to Tenchi's Harem, her old friends. Sasami knelt next to Tenchi, applying her own healing powers to the boy.

    "I'm not a china doll," Ryoko complained, but didn't try to sit up from the bunk.

    "What did this?" Kiyone asked the Demon-Goddess, "You're pretty tough."

    "I dunno," Ryoko admitted, "Never saw it. It hit me, then I saw Sasami and Tenchi in the air. I never knew anything could hit that hard." Ryoko got a wicked grin. "Hiding from your old partner?"

    "If you could get Tenchi alone, wouldn't you hide from certain people?" Kiyone replied coldly.

    "That was not possible," Washu said as she sat up, then fell unconscious again.

    "You'd think that a Supe-bra Genius would be smarter than a Slowboob," Ryoko said of her Harem sister, "I guess not."

    "I've discovered that the smarter you are, the more likely you are to be able to talk yourself into doing stupid things," Kiyone replied.

    "Then Mihoshi must be a true genius," Ryoko said.

    "Who struck me!?" Ayeka demanded, "Who would dare!?" She sat up suddenly. Kiyone got a bucket under her before she disgorged her last meal on the deck.

    "Don't hurt her 'beautiful skin'," Ryoko told Kiyone, and laughed as Ayeka shrieked at her own damage assessment, only to set off another wave of dry heaves.

    "You've got a concussion," Kiyone told her, "Lie down and try not to move too fast, or the nausea will get you. Very unladylike." The last will get her to lie still, Kiyone thought wryly, At least as long as Tenchi's in no danger, better make sure she knows that. "Sasami's busy with Tenchi, and our healers are elsewhere."

    "My beauty is delicate! Not like your monstrous appearance, where every bruise is an improvement," Ayeka replied.

    Kiyone shook her head as the two, flat on their backs, continued their eternal argument. And they wondered why I wanted no part of this, she thought as she knelt next to Ayeka and checked over the Barriermaiden. "How did anything get through your shields? Even Ryoko couldn't."

    "I do not know," Ayeka replied, her tone a mixture of irritation, confusion, and pride, "I saw nothing before I was thrown into the air."

    "Ritsuko thought it was Brusellia."

    "She's dead," Ayeka said a little too quickly for Kiyone's peace of mind.

    Gem felt her Master ahead, the man who'd given her clothes, food, a bath, and other people to be with, people who didn't try to hurt her or eat her. She didn't understand the funny sounds the others made, they acted as if they made some sense. She'd guessed they did, because one particular sound 'Gem' meant her. She had no words or concepts for explaining why having her own word made her feel all warm and important, and wanted. Not as something to eat, but something to be around.

    She'd understood the older Pokègirl had `attacked` her when she hadn't understood the noises she made, and when Gem hadn't been pleased that her Master wasn't present. The attack had been a challenge of power, not combat. The older Pokègirl, the Alpha, had been proclaiming her authority, but not any hostility. Gem understood that and granted that that one was a much weaker combatant, and still was Alpha, and Gem was not. It also had been made clear that cunning and cleverness ran this Harem, not force or combat power. Gem could not content against that. The Alpha and the other one had fussed at her the most, the clothes were weird but they made her smell more like the others, her Master's Pokègirls. She disliked the clothes, but they were clearly making sure she belonged, it was the price of no longer being alone. Once she understood that, she tried to cooperate.

    Now she trailed her Master. Her eyes were nearly useless in tracking him, she had to follow him with her other senses. She also knew he was hunting something else. She could smell death, some was promised by her Master, some from where he was headed.

    Then she saw it. Tall, sharp, long things instead of arms, and it was hunting her Master, as Gem was, but for a very different reason. She heard the warning cry of the winged girl who loved her Master. The monster looked in that direction. Gem hissed her own challenge, surprising the monster, who emitted a low repeating cry that shook her entire body. Gem felt rage building in her throat. She opened her mouth to let her enemy feel her full strength. A bar of her white-hot rage struck the monster, blasting it to pieces.

    Gem looked around. She couldn't see, hear or smell her Master now, but she could smell more of the monsters. She's go after them. Perhaps they were whom her Master was hunting.

    Mara stopped and stared, even horny the Seraph was clumsy at love. In combat, it was another matter entirely.

    "What are you doing?" Misato demanded.

    Mara shrugged, stared at Misato.

    "I'm guarding Gem's back," Misato said, successfully finding a reason to follow the 'Blessed Widow'.

    "Widows can't Hyperbeam, can they?" Mara asked to bug Misato, " 'Cause that was definitely a Hyperbeam."

    "You know they don't," Misato said in irritation.

    Mara smirked and decided to rankle the Seraph more. "Maybe the Megami had a - dislike - of HyperVenom and substituted Hyperbeam."

    "It doesn't work like that," Misato told her as they rushed after the small Pokègirl. "That's what made the Spinnenangsts such a surprise," Misato told her. The pair watched Gem blow apart another Mantis, this time with her Hyperbeam, lightning and fire in a salvo. "I'm not sure she's really a Widow with the Blessed advantage," Misato said.

    "I think you're right," Mara agreed. I can't take her for granted, Mara thought, How will she come down. Like Oyuki, or like Misato?

    Gem blasted yet another Mantis, with poison this time, then caved in its skull with its own arm.

    Don't get on her bad side, Mara thought, Good thing Ritsuko's the Alpha.

    "I think she'll take being played with, but she wants to be taken seriously," Mara observed in shock.

    "I don't disagree," Misato said, "I do have another idea." Misato turned to Mara. "But it may take some training," she teased.

    "Oh joy," Mara said.

    I can feel you, Jeff thought as he crept through the bowels of the ship. I don't care what else is out there. Let them know death stalks abroad, and it isn't on their side. He'd already laid a spell to freeze the water for the boilers, preventing any immediate escape. Come out, come out, wherever you are . . . whatever you are, he silently taunted, while keeping his presence tightly bound within himself, thus undetectable. Someone's using the same kind of magic I use, he thought as he crept forward, And I mean to put an end to it. And to whoever taught it to you, and I think I know who, a curse on them.

    He hadn't drawn on the full power of his magic since he'd arrived. With a staff to help him focus, he could risk the use of vastly more powerful and dangerous spells. He was closing in on the spellcaster. I don't want to think of kind of Pokègirl that could control that kind of corrupting magic, let alone one mad enough to teach it to others.

    Ritsuko steadied herself as she straightened up and aimed the weapon down at the cargo cover. I watched what this very weapon can do to Spinnenangsts, she thought, Now it is in my hands. I can fire and reload. These people already know that winning is possible, she thought, Unlike the last time, the others know such a monster can be killed, and these Pokègirls don't depend so slavishly on their Tamers. They can fight on their own, forming partnerships with available forces. She tried to shake off her fear and the memory of Tenchi's girls being hurled through the air.

    She watched Liv policing up the Infernals to deal with the threat Ritsuko had detected. Tenchi and his Harem had reformed. They are as ready as they can be, she told herself.

    Okay, we're ready, but for what? she thought as she watched. Suddenly Misato and Mara ran through a hatch, Misato carrying Gem under her arm as the little girl hissed and spat, protesting something vociferously.

    "Back up!" Mara yelled, "Here it comes!"

    The others prepared as Mara, Gem and Misato formed a 'v' with Gem in the center, slightly behind. Ritsuko braced the bipod on the rim of her perch and searched through the scope for a target.

    What would panic those two? Ritsuko asked herself. Her answer tore through the cargo cover. It looked like a giant praying mantis, like a Widow had been the template for Brusellia, a Mantis was the basis for this one.

    "Ready!" Mara shouted. "FIRE!"

    The assembled force volley fired. Lightning, Fire, Aura and Mystic bolts, spells, thrown I-beams rained down on the monster. Ritsuko watched the bullet bury itself in the creature's foremost shoulder. While she reloaded, she mentally calculated a new aim point. It's still set for Jeff, she thought. Mackie continued talking over the radio giving a steady stream of observations and instructions. The twin blinding white lights tore into the creature.

    Ritsuko looked down, then up at the twin sources. Both Gem and Priss have Hyperbeam, that equalizes things, she thought. The creature leapt badly, Ritsuko fired as it passed, hitting it squarely in the face.

    "HA!!" she shouted at it as it crashed awkwardly into the water. The forces rushed to the ship's railing and began raining it with fire, lightning, spells, everything they could. Ritsuko spotted Gem heading back into the cargo bay. Ritsuko climbed down the ladder with 'The Gun' on her shoulder. Damn this thing is big and it's heavy! she thought, What is she hunting?

    The super mantis was thrashing in the water while being struck with ice, fire, lightning, psychic and mystical attacks of all kinds. Misato, Mara, and Sylvia all shouting orders to coordinate the attacks. Ritsuko headed towards the hatch Gem had passed through. Kiyone fell in behind her.

    "Someone told Mihoshi I was on Mackie's boat," the Wolf-Spider explained.

    Ritsuko hid her automatic frown, then thought. "Who's watching the boat?" Ritsuko asked in alarm.

    "Sasami," Kiyone reassured her, "She's the level-headed one, there's also a lot of the wounded who can keep - her - occupied, or chained to something unbreakable."

    "Ah, have you ever heard of a Widow using a Hyperbeam? Because Gem can, "Ritsuko said as she started trailing the girl again.

    "Oh," Kiyone replied with a shudder.

So Shines a Good Deed in a Naughty World.

    Jeff had found the mage, a human male, and he attacked. No question what he's doing, Jeff thought as he closed, he recognized many of the symbols that blazed with an unearthly fire on the walls of the mage's sanctum. Unhealthy fire, alien, wrong! Jeff thought as he cast a powerful counterspell to the summoning the madman had tried to begin. Memories of many such battles flooded his mind, gave him dozens of options. Weird, he thought, None of those opponents had been human, and in too many of those memories, neither was I. He kept up the pressure, not attacking heavily, letting his enemy flail at the counterspell, to exhaust himself first. He heard the others begin to arrive, he lamented that they would see and hear. Better they understand before we get to Redwood, they can easily leave once Sadie Poken's day starts, he thought as he clawed the air, shattering the `wizard's` spell aimed at him and the girls. He waited for the fool man's next pathetic counter.

    Kiyone could barely stand it, the sights, the sounds, even the smells went far beyond revolting. Gem hugged Ritsuko tightly and whimpered, the Matron hugged the Blessed Widow back, Kiyone saw. The two men looked like they were in an odd dancing/singing contest. I would have preferred that, she thought, as she writhed, wrestling with the impulse to turn and run away, But the words hurt, just listening twists me up inside, it's as if their joints are wrong. No human or normal Pokègirl should move like that. And between them, a howling, chittering chorus trying to duplicate the inhuman sounds the two mages were making. Her Master's howls and guttural utterances sounded angry and defiant. They still set her flesh crawling.

    His opponent is afraid, she thought, He's out of his depth and only now just realizing it. She watched her Master's anger, calling down power she would never understand, or want to, against a foe. He seems to be feeding on his opponent's fear and uncertainty, Kiyone thought, amazed that the world didn't twist out of reality and fall away. "Is he winning?"

    "I'd hate to think he's losing," Ritsuko shouted over the din, cradling a whimpering Gem.

    As much to comfort herself, Kiyone thought, As to ease the girl's suffering. She's nearly as odd as this is abominable.

    The unearthly dirge was now repeating what Jeff was shouting at the other man. The dance Jeff was doing became more elaborate, but the other man's simpler response became jerky, as if a puppet with tangled strings.

    Kiyone glanced away, the rest of Jeff's Harem was arriving. Each stood, watching, listening in shock before noting the dumbfounded expressions on each of the others.

    This is going to take some getting used to, she considered as realization dawned on face after face, For all of us.

    The sudden silence struck all of them like a physical blow. Kiyone turned back to look, the mage seemed one instant away from tearing out his own eyes, struggling to both do it and prevent himself. Jeff stood unmoving, hands at his sides.

    Suddenly, Jeff dropped to his knees, panting heavily.

    I've got to help, she thought, But I can't. She couldn't make herself take that first step towards her Master. Just advance a single step, she urged herself, trying to put aside what she had seen and heard, ashamed she admitted, I can't, I just can't. She felt her hatred and terror grow, until just holding her place became a struggle.

    Unexpectedly, his opponent fell over sideways. "Get out of here," Jeff croaked when Kiyone moved forward, "Don't touch me, not yet. Not yet."

    Ritsuko carried the sobbing girl away. Jeff sighed, straightened up but didn't stand, he stared at the compartment's ceiling.

    "After a while . . . you just can't see this world anymore," he said, as if discovering he could make human sounds again. His head drooped, he looked on the verge of falling to the deck.

    Kiyone and the others looked at each other, desperately hoping someone else would comfort their Master, instead of them having to do it.

    Misato walked around in front of him, kneeling before him. "The monster they had, it has been slain. Mr. Drake and the Colonel are anxious to get underway. They already had us search both vessels from the bilges to the crow's nest." The Seraph raised her hand, but clearly couldn't bring herself to touch him. However much she longed to.

    We were here that long? Kiyone thought in amazement, It can't have been! She wanted to rush to embrace her Master, she wanted to run away and never stop. All she could manage was to stare at Misato and pray she'd do the right thing, the thing Kiyone knew she should be doing.

    Jeff nodded. "Any trouble with the other ship?" he asked, not looking at Misato or any of the others.

    "Only a few idiots from Team 'Mum trying to let water in the bottom," Mara said, hugging herself and looking from wall to wall, never at her Master, "Oyuki managed to plug the holes and we got them resealed. Mackie's got most of the water pumped out."

    Kiyone kept thinking how none of the Pokègirls would get close. After a victory against something that huge, they should be climbing all over their Master, she thought, Begging, demanding a Taming. None of us are. The memory of what she'd watched and heard kept her away, she looked at her Tamer, and her skin crawled. He's human, now, she thought, But just what was he when he was fighting the other one? No human or Pokègirl could do what I saw and heard both of them do.

    Misato continued, "The rest of the crew didn't fight, and we have - steaming watches - for both ships. It seems they were using Pokègirls as stokers, and they weren't too happy about never being let out on deck." Misato was furling and unfurling her wings in agitation at the place.

    "Sunlight kills snipes," Jeff said, he finally lowered his head to look at Misato, who flinched at what she saw, "Sorry, old Navy joke."

    "What - what was he?" Liv asked in a quavering tone. Kiyone wasn't sure if she was asking about their Master, his opponent, or both.

    "A mage, a half-trained, arrogant idiot with delusions of grandeur who - " he fell silent as he looked around and saw the horror on the girls' faces, "Can I get out of here. I hate this place."

    Misato gathered him up in her arms and carried him away to the First Mate's cabin. Somebody wants a Taming and is just too embarrassed to ask, Kiyone thought.

    "When we're all rested," her Master said, "We'll come back and expunge this place."

    "I love it when you talk like that," Liv teased half-heartedly, but looked around the room nervously.

    "One question," Oyuki said, "What are we going to do with 350 Pokègirls if we can't find their owners?"

    "My, you are hopeful, aren't you," Kiyone said, edging her way out of the room. I should have done something, touched him as he was leaving, said something, wished Misato luck, a good sleep, anything! Instead, I just stood there and . . . remembered. "Considering Redwood is having a Sadie Poken's Day celebration in a week or so. He'll probably just let them go."

    "And just, who gave him the idea to go there?" Liv asked, fists on her hip.

    "We all did, that little bitch session we participated in," Oyuki pointed out, "He suspects we can find better, and we are going to get the chance."

    "He's not getting rid of me!" Mara said, watching Liv's defiant stance, but not moving to pursue Misato.

    "Nor me," Ritsuko said as she returned, "However, I think you are forgetting how resourceful he is." Mara walked out of the room in a huff.

    Which one of us is she mad at? Kiyone wondered as the Storm Demon walked down the passageway, punching the walls, Or is she mad at herself?

    "He wouldn't get rid of us, would he?" Liv asked worriedly, looking to the others for moral support.

    "He wouldn't see it that way," Ritsuko told them as she left the room, "He'll see it as letting us seek our own destiny. He still can't wrap his mind around the idea we are his property, and that we might not object to being property."

    Once they were out of the room, Kiyone felt some of her anxiety fade. It's that damned room! Making us feel like that, she cerebrated on the room and it's `decor`. "I bet that's how they convinced the girls to behave. Just locked them in there for a day or two." Nobody paid her any attention.

    "What kind of idiocy is that?" Liv asked.

    "Because he cares about us," Ritsuko retorted sharply, "Sometimes, wanting the best for someone isn't the most comfortable thing for the one you love, or yourself."

    "What say we lock him up and just wait it all out?" Liv offered as they headed down the corridor away from where Misato had taken their Master.

    "Do you really believe we can overcome him and his planning? He doesn't think like us," Oyuki warned, "We cannot plan for what we do not understand. Like taking the Blessed Widow. Any other Tamer would have fled."

    Kiyone walked out of the corridor, heading topside. She glanced longingly in the direction of the First Mate's cabin, considered going in and joining Misato and her Master. Maybe tie up both of them and - she abandoned the thought as the memories of the duel echoed through her mind. She trotted up the ladder to the main deck to get some air.

    Misato nervously furled and unfurled her wings. She wondered at the irony that she was a far lustier creature as a Valkyrie and later. Now just think about what I have done in the past . . . although, if I wasn't so shy, I would have scared my Tamer, she thought as she removed his shirt and undershirt. She remembered the `smell` of evil that had drawn her the instant they had drowned the monster. I wanted to destroy what it was, to protect those innocents threatened, she thought as looked at him, Mara was right, curse her, the evil and the innocent were one and the same. She looked at him and carefully enclosed him in her arms and wings. I shouldn't let the scars bother me, she thought, as her embarrassment about the entire process peaked, The battle made me . . . excited.

    She glanced at her Tamer as they lay down, with him beside her. She knew his unease about this mirrored her own. She simply ran the tips of her fingers over his skin, feeling his tension skyrocket initially. She felt it slowly began to ebb.

    This was a compromise, she thought as she got out the `kit`, cloths, swabs, soap and water. Like any Pokègirl, she thought, I want intimacy with my Tamer. She began very carefully cleaning his ears, while he had his head in her lap. She felt him relax further. So we can be intimate, a type of intimacy that I don't intent to share with the others, a special privilege.

    I feel better when I'm fighting against evil. Yet what I do here, is the entire battle in a microcosm. My Tamer isn't evil, but he has so much darkness within him. Such wrongness after the battle, it almost sickened me, she thought as she carefully moved the swabs, changed to clean ones, Yet I carried him, it was as if it drained away while I help him, she thought, remembering the embarrassing excitement at her Tamer's body rubbing against her as she collected the supplies and brought him here to the mate's cabin. It was embarrassingly enjoyable, and I know my previous evolution would easily take advantage of this situation. It would also have sent him screaming into the night, she reminded herself, giggled at the thought of what her previous evolution would do with a man like her current Tamer.

    Assuming she could get him relaxed to do anything, she thought about how to breach a subject both were equally uncomfortable with, That's why this ritual, so we both know what I want, and I don't have to say it.

    Now came the awkward transition, as she finished the `demeaning` task, she'd proven that she was gentle, but thorough, and her Master could trust her. That's the important part, she thought as her Tamer turned to face her. She whimpered at the thought of what was going to happen next.

    "I won't hurt you," he assured her.

    As if you could, she thought as he picked her up and set her on the bed. He ran a finger across her crotch, smirked that she was already damp, from just thinking about her and her Tamer . . . and what they would be doing in a few moments. She tried to concentrate on anything to keep herself from blushing, or worse, giggling. However, the only things that came to mind were the battle against the mantis-monster, which made her excited, and carrying Jeff away from his battle and out of that accursed room, which also excited her, both made her tension at what was coming more intense, not less.

    She was shaking as he knelt between her legs. "Please no, Just . . . please just . . . " She blushed furiously just thinking about her request. He leaned over her, she sat up from the bed to hold and kiss him. She was very aware the effect her shyness was having on her Tamer, since he was pressed up against her. She squeaked as he grew against her.

    Any of the others would have managed a sensuous, encouraging moan. I make a sound like a Titmouse getting stepped on.

    Her Tamer just smiled and rubbed himself on her bare stomach, making her squirm with eagerness and embarrassment.

    Oh my, saw all she could think as she kissed her hungrily, as he moved, her nipples slid across the smoothed/scarred flesh, exciting her more, embarrassing her more. I keep squeaking like this, he's going to dip me in oil.

    She gasped as he entered her, then he slid home, his body against and inside her. She cried out and clamped down on his manhood.

    "You're so tense," her Master teased, as he began rubbing her nipples with his chest and biting her ears, "I think I know what you need."

    I need to let go first, she thought as her vaginal muscles refused to unlock and kept their grip on her Master. "No, please, I might hurt you," she gasped, feeling herself tightening on him as she orgasmed again. "Gods! I am a Titmouse."

    He put his mouth on one nipple, sucking hard and flicking it with his tongue, while his hands kneaded her breasts. "You don't taste like a mouse," he told her before he looked up at her with a truly nasty smile.

    "No, please," she begged as she felt herself squeezing him, worse there was a major vein pulsing against her clitoris, she could feel his every heartbeat as a little wave of pleasure. "I don't want to hurt you."

    "Haven't yet. And if you don't like it, why are you doing that with your hands?" he asked, switching which breast he was suckling and which he was kneading. She realized her hands were on his buttocks, pressing him inward and kneading the soft flesh even as he was.

    He wouldn't be strong enough to get out if he tried, she realized, felt her blush growing. "Please, Master!" She was almost in tears. Can't you feel it? she silently asked, I must be crushing you. Don't accept pain just to pleasure your Pokègirl.

    "I'm not," he told her, she wasn't aware she'd spoken.

    "Don't let your Pokègirl hurt you, Master," she said, then remembered he hated being called that. If I call him that, it will break the mood. "Master, Master, Master," she gasped between orgasms.

    He quit suckling and kneading her breasts. "I don't do requests," he told her as his hands slipped between her legs as he began stroking her labia.

    "No! No! No!" she screamed, "Not that!" Then she felt the tiny little shocks of lightning, heat and cold coursing through the highly sensitive skin. She could only whimper and shake her head as she felt climax after climax.

    "Or maybe . . . " he said as he slid one hand underneath her.

    "No!" she gasped as anticipation heightened the sensations, "No!"

    "However, you called me 'Master'," he said malevolently, "You must be punished." His finger began circling the sphincter of muscle, sending little electric shocks into it. "If you're going to be a rebellious Pokègirl, you get treated as one," he whispered in her ear, "And bad Pokègirls like this."

    She could only mewl in penance. It does feel good, she thought, He's right, bad Pokègirls loved to be taken that way. "Seraph a good Pokègirl!" she wailed. Except I called him 'Master', she thought as her sphincter spasmed along with her vagina as he sought to tease her by threatening to slide a finger inside her, touching and tickling and probing.

    He leaned in close and began kissing and licking her neck, nibbling on her shoulders. "Please Master, no," she warned again. Why won't he listen? she asked herself.

    "You're getting all brillig," he told her between kisses. To forestall her denial, he slipped his fingers into her mouth, they were sticky, sweet with her own essence, and she ashamedly enjoyed the marvelous taste. "Your toves are getting all slithy," he told her as she sucked his fingers.

    No! I don't have slithy toves! she wanted to protest.

    "Yes they are, they gyre and gimble on the wabe," he told her and emitted a groan of pleasure himself.

    She felt his spurting inside her and felt joy that she'd pleased him. Now his hand slipped beneath her arched back, stroking the muscles of her back. She felt herself loosen enough then he could begin sliding in and out of her.

    "Your borogroves are getting all mimsy," he told her as he suckled her breast.

    "No, not mimsy borogroves," she pleaded. I don't want mimsy borogroves!

    "And momeraths?" he asked her.

    "Momeraths?" she squeaked as he held his hand before her, she waited in fright and embarrassment for his answer.

    "Outgrabe," he clenched his fist as he released into her again.

    No squeak this time as she clenched down, milking his seed into her, but an earsplitting scream. Then darkness took her.

    "Misato?" Jeff asked as his hearing returned, "Misato?" He watched her head loll to one side. La Petite Morte is right, he thought as he checked her eyes, one pupil was a pinpoint and the other the iris had vanished into the pupil.

    Every time she came, I thought I was crushing a mouse or a small bird to death, from the squeak she made. "I'm fine Misato, uh, you can let go now," he told her, checking her over to make sure she didn't really have a concussion. "Now I know why women get so mad when the man rolls over and goes to sleep." He moved, still held fast. Well, I guess I should have said something. Ease up, the squeak and she'd clench down again. It didn't hurt, it was nice, kind of weird, like a massage, he thought, Okay, how do I get out of this? I don't want to try pulling free, she's stronger than I am, and forget telepathy, I'd hurt one of us . . . and my legs are beginning to cramp.

    Ritsuko watched Gem watching Misato and Jeff go at it. The little girl kept staring through the crack in the door and slowly stroking the door jamb. I know what you want, little one, Ritsuko thought, Looks like we have a Pokèkit here, and if I know our boss, that's what he had in mind.

    "Gem," the little Pokègirl whispered.

    Neither fully understanding her desires nor how to satisfy them, Ritsuko thought, But a longing. "Come on, he's in trouble," Ritsuko said as she picked up the girl and entered the room

    "Navy's arrived, they've got a prize crew aboard both ships, take us straight into Redwood," Ritsuko said, ignoring her Master's mortified expression at being caught by Ritsuko being caught inside Misato.

    "I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

    "Nothing I haven't seen before," Ritsuko answered breezily as she examined Misato's eyes while she perched Gem on her outthrust hip, "From both of you, just not together."

    "Gee, thanks. That makes me feel so much better. Aren't I corrupting the youth or something?" He nodded at Gem.

    "Look boss, Pokègirls aren't like the girls you're used to," Ritsuko explained, using a lecturing tone that would get her in serious trouble with most Tamers, but actually calmed her Master, "They . . . aren't as tied up in the rituals that your situation required. Pokègirls can only reproduce parthenogenically, so there's no danger there, our immune system prevents the passage of venereal diseases, from crabs to AIDS, and the psychosocial bonding is both more overt and more subtle than between pure-strain humans. Overt in there's no dissembling on the Pokègirl's part, if she's bonded, she's bonded; subtle in that her job becomes to see to the mental and physical well-being of her Tamer/Master, and entrusts him to look after hers. You got it right when you compared a Harem to a platoon. You're the officer, the Alpha is the senior sergeant and the Harem-sisters are either privates or corporals, depending on their inclination." She noted the lecture seemed to be taking her Master out of his embarrassment.

    She continued, "There are things the sergeant takes care of, so the lieutenant can concentrate on the mission. Part of the sergeant's and corporals' job at is assembling a large and powerful Harem full of well-adjusted Pokègirls. Satisfying sex is the best way to keep a Pokègirl loyal and well-adjusted, best if both parties, Master and Pokègirl, are well-serviced. So all the usual objections are immaterial." Ritsuko was well-aware she was lecturing her Master while he was stuck inside another Pokègirl. He always calms down when he thinks the people around him know what they're doing, she thought, Calm is what he needs here. "We also have a basic sexual knowledge hardwired into us, and we like the activity, either as participants or observers. It tells us things are going well in our surroundings. One of our Harem-sisters having good sex with our Master tells us all's right with the world. On a personal note, I have been a little worried about Misato. When she was a Valkyrie, then a Malakim, beer, fighting and Taming were her entire world, you wouldn't believe it."

    "I think I would," her Master replied.

    "She's very different as a Seraph, it seems easier for you," Ritsuko said, "But I had some concerns. I'm glad she's gotten over her shyness at least a little."

    "Well . . . I, uh," her Master replied, "Okay, I bow to your expertise, or I would if I could. She's . . . got a very strong grip on me."

    Ritsuko remembered all the stories about Misato's and her reputation. "Now that I've never heard of," she admitted. Not while she was unconscious or asleep, Ritsuko thought, Awake, sure all the time. There was a joke she could pull a truck with that grip, but out cold? Keep it clinical, then he'll talk and stay calm. "Doesn't hurt?"

    "With the occasional - tremors - it's surprisingly enjoyable, not as intense as oral or manual stimulation, and her being unconscious has diminished her responses considerably," her Master said in the tone of an exasperated lecturer, "Now that we've discussed the doctoral thesis, I'd like to get loose."

    "Roll over and go to sleep? Can't you just . . . shrink your way out?" Ritsuko asked as innocently as she could. Doing her best to keep from laughing. Nice he isn't as nervous about this as he once was, she thought.

    "When I shrink, she contracts as well," he replied, hanging his head.

    "Oh," Ritsuko offered sagely as she set Gem down so she could get closer, "Why don't you just lie down? She's nicely padded in the right places."

    He sighed as Gem gingerly climbed onto the bed.

    She knows he has something she wants and needs, Ritsuko thought, She just hasn't figured out what. Are you a clever, manipulative bastard, testing and teasing the girl, or are you a genius whose broken any possible conditioning she's been given? Ritsuko wondered.

    "I keep forgetting you aren't a biophysicist," her Master said, "It would be extremely uncomfortable. The - stress points - are not what I'd care to put under that kind of load."

    "What if we swung you both over so you're aligned with the bed's long axis, you should both be fully supported, you could also lie on your side."

    "And how are you two going to accomplish that?" Jeff asked as he glanced at Gem, who seemed lost in thought, studying the problem.

    "Gem!" she declared, summoning a ball of flame over her hand.

    As Jeff shied away from the flame, Gem shoved it into Misato's belly. Ritsuko watched her Master step clear of Misato, who wasn't even burned by the fireball, and gave Gem an appraising look. The little Pokèkit seemed inordinately proud of herself, and utterly fascinated by what she saw at eye-level. Jeff got the clue and picked the little girl up.

    "There's something else you might need to consider," Ritsuko said, using a scholarly mindset to ignore the delicious, maddening scent, and her naked Master right within her reach, "Have you ever heard of Pokèkits?"

    "You're talking about prepubescent Pokègirls who get ahold of human DNA, usually male human DNA. They form a bond with the source, if they can, and require physical contact with the source," he said as Gem rubbed her cheek on his neck.

    "Gem," she sighed, eloquently confirming Ritsuko's suspicions.

    Ritsuko watched the pair carefully. So you do know, and you're smart enough to do it on purpose, she thought, Did you do it to gain possession of a powerful Pokègirl . . . or so she would instantly have someone who would look after her? "I just wanted to know," Ritsuko said as she wrestled with her feelings and Pokègirl drives. I just needed to know if my Master could be a complete bastard to protect someone, she thought, So you can go beyond what other Tamers find questionable, if the need is there. You'll use it as a shield, rather than a sword. I think someone has made a very serious miscalculation, one you're only too happy to encourage. "For someone concerned - "

    "I knew this little package was a trap," her Master interrupted her, as he rocked Gem. Ritsuko couldn't ignore what else was moving, "She had all the earmarks and all the hooks. So you have pointed out, I have to learn the way of things are here. I also recognize the levels of control I can use. The best Tamers may discover them, but I use them with forethought. You are allowed to bathe me, none of the others are allowed that. Misato enjoys more subtle grooming: hair, ears. I don't really need to shave. However, when I do, she'll get that privilege. Mara can call me 'Master' without rebuke. Kiyone is encouraged to make clothes, etc. Each gives some level of control by making each of you know you are special and separate with special privileges. I also realized that whoever built her, didn't care about her as a person. Better me and whoever stays than that. Or am I wrong?"

    "No, you aren't wrong," Ritsuko admitted. Are you doing all this on purpose? she wondered as her drives warred with her intellect and detachment, Powers and gods! Who or what have I attached myself to? "I had to know."

    "I'm not proud of what I did, but there are realities. Are you enjoying the view?" Jeff asked as he realized what Ritsuko had been staring at.

    Ritsuko licked her lips provocatively. "I am enjoying that you didn't completely lose your composure when one of your Pokègirls got close to you." She stepped closer, the sight and smell were maddening, as bad as the onset of Ferality.

    "I hope you don't mind if I get nervous if other Pokègirls get this close." He watched her intently as she took another step, both of his arms holding the Pokèkit, all of her limbs holding him.

    Okay, you aren't completely converted, she thought with relief as she drew close, The odd hybrid, we keep forgetting that respecting us means you also take our threat seriously. She knelt before him. "Oh, I honestly approve. I notice your legs are trembling. Is there a problem?" she teased.

    "Don't you ever stop?" he thought as he handed Gem over to a semi-comatose Misato.

    "GEM!" the shocked kit yelped as Misato's sudden wing-and-arm hug proved she had venus-flytrap in her ancestry.

    Ritsuko took advantage of his distraction to take her treat.

    "Ah - I - ah," he said as Ritsuko guided him to sit on the bed.

    The boss is human after all, she thought as she bobbed her head, licking him clean.

    "Wh - when you're done down there, I need to know how many Pokègirls we rescued, how many are identified as stolen, and what's going on with the rest."

    You can't distract me that easily, sneaky Master, Ritsuko thought as she held up three, five, then four fingers, repeated it, then held up four and no fingers, repeated it. She finished, a little disappointed she hadn't gotten much reaction, but knew he was exhausted. She arranged him next to Misato, forcing herself not to indulge that particular delicacy. "They're being processed. Why the sudden interest? You can't keep more than one."

    "Maybe because I want to keep bastards like Team 'Mum from using Pokègirls that way."

    "Oh, a romantic," she teased as she ran her hands over his body. I wonder if I could give him a sponge bath - she thought, He's right, it works, special privileges.

    "Gem!" the girl announced in frustration from where Misato had her snuggled against her breasts.

    "Such language," Ritsuko said. Okay, that gives me an idea on how to deal with the most likely opposition to keeping Gem with us, by removing the objection, or the objectors, Ritsuko thought as she covered the trio with a blanket, I think the `resources` are aboard, just be careful about using them. She left the sleeping trio and locked the door behind her.

Gifts Well Timed

    Mara walked the deck. 'Kiyone!' came periodically from the other ship. That explains why Kiyone is staying in the engine room, the Storm Demon thought and breathed deep the salt air. She scanned the night skies. So what happens when we reach Redwood and the Sadie Poken's Day festival? she wondered.

    "So, I never expected to find you in a Tamer's Harem, partnered with a Seraph no less," the Colonel said as he approached, "Especially a Harem like this one."

    "What, boring?" she asked, her sardonic tone hid her fear and anger with this man.

    "No, eccentric."

    "You think I should tear him to pieces? None of the others, others you assigned, wanted to do anything except fuck me." She gripped her sword and felt rather than heard Arnie and Alice urging her to stay in control. "Are you going to draft me?" She let her posture tell him what she thought of that idea and how close he was to 'a terrible accident'.

    The Colonel held up his hands. "No. I just need to know if he is all I've heard. He managed to convince the League to deed you over to him." The Colonel smirked, angering Mara further. "I'd love to know how he managed that."

    "Maybe he bribed them," Mara said, reining in her emotions, imagining the perfect strike. Maybe my . . . embarrassing tackle convinced them I should stay with him, she didn't say. "You could ask them, but don't play your usual games with him. There's something fundamentally lethal about him. I thought I should warn you." Don't think he won't hear about this, she thought.

    "Dangerous, eh," the Colonel sneered, "I've dealt with dangerous Tamers before."

    "I said 'lethal', not 'dangerous'." You arrogant idiot, she didn't say. "I've seen the dangerous, and that's not what he is. He'll come sideways, unexpected, and with only one aim. The new girl he picked up, you don't think the League isn't going to be fascinated by her? How he'll get out of that - " She shrugged, realizing she could turn the knife with words. "You'll be able to ask both parties, the League isn't real big on telling Pokègirls things, unless they're on the board."

    She looked back out to sea. "Taking down this base must be a feather in your cap." She hid her smile as she planted the barb.

    "I also should have found the base."

    Ah good, his neck's on the line, Mara thought as she smiled evilly at him. "I'm wondering if I should tell you about his powers, and the mage he took on? Or should I deny this conversation ever took place?"

    The Colonel frowned at that. "I could compel . . . " Then realization dawned. "And who'd believe a Pokègirl? Well played."

    "I could ask my Tamer to help." She smiled sweetly, turning the knife more, reveled in his wince.

    "I could ask him myself," he replied weakly.

    After what you did, she considered, You don't know if we told him, do you? Marvelous!

    "Yes, you could try that, sir. He's got the cutest 'Don't look at me, I'm stupid' expression," Mara informed the bane of her existence for so long.

    "I don't need your help," he said firmly and walked away.

    Mara shrugged. I wanted him to leave anyway, she thought, I will tell my Master. Tell him everything, and stay at his side on Sadie Poken's. Somehow I think he's planning something very dangerous, and doesn't want us hurt. The sap.

    Jeff felt the kiss on the back of his neck, waking him. He glanced at Ritsuko. What is that grin all about? he wondered, Somebody is going to be unhappy about something. Am I going to find out? Or am I going to have to go looking?

    She smiled as she lifted Gem out of Misato's arms. "I think it's better Misato wakes with just you," Ritsuko told him as she slung the sleepy Pokèkit over her shoulder, "I'll have breakfast sent in about 0800 hours, sleep in." She turned and left silently.

    Jeff moved next to Misato, who gathered him in. More gently than she did Gem, he thought, You want the attention, want it desperately. You just don't want to think about it.

    Ritsuko stroked Gem's back as they walked. The Pokèkit complained sleepily, but still held tightly with all eight limbs. She only started reacting when she heard the pained moans coming from the corridor they had entered.

    "Gem? Blessed Widow?" the little girl blearily asked Ritsuko.

    "Just dealing with someone who doesn't want you around," Ritsuko said soothingly as the moans increased in volume. She hugged Gem with one arm as she opened the cabin door.

    Ritsuko carried Gem into the cabin where Oyuki sat beside Kiyone's bunk. The Wolf Spider's breasts, yesterday moderate C-cups, were full, red and swollen DD's, angry veins lining her breasts, especially the areolae.

    "You rotten bitch," Kiyone hissed at Ritsuko from her bunk as she saw the Alpha.

    Oyuki looked up impassively from where she'd been laying a cooling mist on Kiyone's inflamed breasts.

    Ritsuko set Gem on the edge of the bunk and stared down at Kiyone. "I'm the Alpha, our Master and I decide who is in Harem, not you. You have an objection, you bring it to me, or to him," Ritsuko told her coldly, "You do an end run around both of us, and I'll snap you back so fast you'll wonder why your head is still attached. Just - like - I - did. Our Master is tolerant and open-minded. He seems to think he can educate us into being pureline girls, or thinking we're pureline girls. He hasn't learned all about us yet, and I won't have you teaching another lesson like at the lake shore," Ritsuko said sharply. Both Kiyone and Oyuki squirmed under the Alpha's gaze. "In case it hasn't occurred to you two geniuses, this victory, on the doorstep of Sadie Poken's in time and location is to make sure we are of the greatest value to anyone who wants to take us off his hands. You want to go, you're free to go. I've got family here who could get you a place nearly anywhere, my going away present to you. But if you're going, you do not piss in MY nest before you go."

    Ritsuko mastered her anger. "Now, do you want relief, or not?" Ritsuko had seen that Gem had smelled Kiyone's real problem and was eager to solve it. Gem was just waiting for Ritsuko's order. The girl has an affinity for a liquid diet, Ritsuko thought, She's also gentle enough she won't hurt Kiyone. She nodded to Gem who now stared expectantly at Kiyone. Funny, she respects me, she loves our Master, but she genuinely likes you Kiyone, Ritsuko thought, Yet, you're the one who most wants to get rid of her. Intra-type hostilities, or don't you like the competition. Or has Mihoshi's presence stripped you of your common sense and your manners? In the latter case, I'm glad I dealt with you so harshly.

    "All right." Kiyone lay back on her bunk, waved Gem forward. Gem moved up and used three of her four arms to hold herself over the Wolf Spider's swollen breasts. Gem began to carefully suckle.

    Ritsuko nodded to Oyuki and the two of them left the two spider-types alone. They walked in silence down the passageway for some distance.

    "That was not well done," Oyuki said quietly, paused to gaze at Ritsuko, "You did say that we should come to you with our concerns."

    "Kiyone has been walking around as if she was on loan from Tenchi's Harem, or Mihoshi herself," Ritsuko said calmly as they walked, "Sadie Poken's Day is coming up. If she wants to stay or go, she will have plenty of opportunities. She will have to decide. She is either with us, or she can allow Mihoshi to reclaim her. I would prefer she remained, but I will not tolerate her continuously looking over her shoulder as if her real owner was going to show up," Ritsuko finished angrily.

    "We all have fears," Oyuki said, "Even you, even our Master. Being called 'Master' for one."

    "We have tried to overcome them," Ritsuko said as they stepped up on deck, the wail of 'Kiyone' came over the waters, "Honestly, you know them, who would stand with Mihoshi to dragoon Kiyone? Would those be strong enough to overcome our Master, let alone our Master, Mara and Misato combined?"

    "Ryoko and Sasami would be the only ones able to stand up to them, and neither would force Kiyone against her will," Oyuki replied evenly, then caught Ritsuko's arm with her hand, and her eye with a steely gaze, "I note you did not include me, nor Gem, in your force calculation. The girl would overwhelm both of us, but she is young. Is my loyalty likewise in question?"

    Ritsuko caught the faint chill in the air and in the Megami's tone. "I don't think you and Liv fully understand what our Master has planned. I barely understand it, and we've talked about it. What I do understand absolutely terrifies me. He has pointed out threads that I never even thought were linked, pointed out they are all part of a much greater tapestry. I can't see more than a tiny piece, however much he tries to show me."

    "So the answer is 'yes'," Oyuki said disappointedly and released Ritsuko's arm.

    "Sorry." Ritsuko leaned against the railing. "Mara is bonded, Misato - she'd follow him into Hell, where he appears to be headed. He made Gem a Pokèkit." Ritsuko ignored Oyuki's hiss of dismay. "Despite my being on tenterhooks over the whole thing, I think I can follow, but I can't and won't speak for anyone else. Maybe you should run away, I was serious, as the Pokègirl of a newly minted hero, you'd probably have some takers."

    "You do not know me as well as you believe," Oyuki said, "I will stay, for my own reasons. There are things I see, things I cannot explain or share, yet perhaps, they are your threads, or the weave itself."

    The two stood silently in the predawn darkness.

    "What did you do?" Oyuki asked, as if it didn't matter.

    "We have an Ivywhore and a Milktit aboard, and a large amount of freeze-dried coffee," Ritsuko said. She frowned about it. It was necessary.

    "You took none of it yourself?" Oyuki asked with a faint smile.

    "I was thinking about using some of the `cocktail` if our Master likes the effect on Kiyone, but not as strong a dose," Ritsuko said offhandedly, "There'd be enough for three, maybe four."

    "Interesting."

    'Good Morning,' Misato heard. Her eyes flew open, and she looked straight into her Tamer's face. She felt the body she held against her.

    "I . . . I . . . " she stammered, her brain threatening to shut down.

    "You didn't hurt me," he assured her, brushed her hair out of her face, "Although you didn't let go either."

    "Oh, no!" she said, she looked down. You're loose, she realized, Did I . . . ? You just told me I didn't.

    "Relax, you had help," she heard a voice and smelled Ritsuko as the Matron kissed her neck, "We'll be landing at Redwood later today." The Alpha snuggled tightly against her.

    "Mackie?" her Master asked, ignoring Misato's petrified expression.

    "He headed north to the Johto League, we got all our stuff off," Ritsuko told them as she snuggled even closer.

    Misato felt all their nakedness, and nearly fled screaming. She realized her wings were holding the two tightly against her. "That's good," she said as she wondered, How did I . . . collect them this way? She wanted away, all the people touching her, and her touching them back.

    "Relax" her Master told her sardonically, "It's what all of you have been telling me."

    "It's - " she said, "I just - " She couldn't think with her Master stroking her skin, Ritsuko brushing her wings, kissing her skin, her Master kissing her lips, Ritsuko massaging her shoulders, stroking the edges of her wings. She moaned at the attention, she couldn't help herself.

    It's embarrassing, at least I'm not squeaking, she thought as she tried to work past the wonderful sensations they were giving her. "I - shouldn't we get up for breakfast?" she offered desperately.

    "Gem," the little girl said as she entered with a tray of food, followed by Kiyone carrying another.

    Misato instantly caught that the Wolf-Spider's top had been augmented a good deal, and that she glared at the Matron. More to find out, she thought as the trio of them sat up. Misato glanced around nervously, as details of the evening came filtering back.

    Gem stood before her, uncovering a plate of sliced apples. When Misato removed her arms from Jeff and Ritsuko, Gem immediately recovered it and stared at her. Misato tentatively put her arms around the pair. Gem continued to stare, only uncovering the plate when Misato held them more tightly. She wished she wasn't so befuddled and could tell her wings to release the pair.

    "Blessed Widow," the Pokègirl lectured and opened her mouth wide as she used a pair of chopsticks to hold a piece for Misato to catch and eat it.

    "She's her father's daughter," Misato accused and accepted the next morsel. She relaxed as the other two quit moving, quit rubbing themselves against her, although they were still pressed tightly against her. Slowly, she relaxed as Gem diligently fed her, smiling brightly the entire time.

    Misato let herself enjoy being served, being fed as if she were a pampered, highborn, pureline girl, not a Pokègirl.

    The ship pulled into the Naval Base, rather than the main harbor. The Navy crew handled the evolution, Jeff and the others stayed out of their way.

    Weird, an inland city, now, a major seaport, Jeff thought as he looked over the shoreline, Proof that people adapt. He remembered flying over this terrain once. Seems like ages ago . . . well, it was, he reminded himself, It was over 300 years ago.

    "I never thought I'd see it," Kiyone said enthusiastically, seemingly getting used to her much larger chest, "I should have brought something from the ranch to sell. They have the most incredible fabric market. Cloth from all over the world!"

    "I thought all silk was second-rate," he teased, glanced at her enraptured expression.

    The city still mesmerized Kiyone. "The people, the dresses, the police stations, and police force is bigger than St. Helen's Island. They even have an investigational division, scientists and their Pokègirls fighting crime. They even allow detectives to be Pokègirls."

    I think you'll be happy here. Tenchi's headed to Johto and taking the girls with him. I can even pull some strings, he thought, Well, you are now out of the sticks and with smashing a Team `Rocketoid` base on your resume, you wouldn't even need my help getting a position.

    "Can we tour the city?!" Kiyone turned to him and asked, "Maybe we can meet Honey, she's famous, a Titto who has been able to duplicate the fighting skill of a Herowu. She's famous as a hero. I'd love to meet her," Kiyone said enthusiastically.

    Jeff smiled at her 'kid-in-a-candy-store' expression.

    "Of course, the festival is in a few days, and I doubt there will be a ship for the Orange Continent leaving immediately. You also have what you made from those two balloons."

    "But my silk is so . . . ordinary," she said in disappointment, turning away, "I'd have to sell them as raw cloth."

    "Everyone has to start somewhere," he told her, taking her shoulder and turning her towards him. "Or you could intentionally sell them as primitive art. That style is always popular." She didn't even notice the Orange Island comment, he thought with a mixture of disillusionment and relief.

    "Yes, but . . . would it be good enough?" Kiyone stared at the city with fear and longing.

    "You can do whatever you put your mind to, artist, police officer, anything, if you want it badly enough. Do you want to tell me what happened between you and Ritsuko?" he asked.

    That broke her out of her good mood, he thought as Kiyone froze halfway towards hugging him.

    "I . . . I disagreed with your decision, yours and hers, about Gem. So felt I needed to understand the . . . " Kiyone searched for the words, " . . . unique abilities and insights Gem would bring to the group."

    "You're going to make me keep digging until I get tired or I catch you in enough half-truths and shadings to put this together myself?" he asked with a frown, knowing Ritsuko would be equally evasive.

    "Basically yes. I did learn my lesson, and I kind of like the way . . . " Kiyone blushed and glanced down. "You and others look at me now."

    Jeff didn't know if she was looking at her chest or the deck, so he just nodded. "You'll need something that lends more support and constraint. I think I remember enough of my truss classes to come up with something." He smiled and turned away. I'd miss you too, but you can't let me stand the way of your dreams either, he thought.

    The man in the office wore the two stars of a Rear Admiral. "I hope you'll give us a chance to purchase those vessels. Good hulls and turbine engines are rare enough. Ones with that much firebrick for power, 'Rare as Chickenlittle wisdom', as my granny used to say." The man chuckled.

    Jeff held his pleasant smile by main force. "I'll give you the right of first refusal, as long as you can get it back to me quickly," Jeff replied.

    The Colonel, the man who'd brought him here, grimaced under the weight of being in the Admiral's presence.

    "I'm afraid the League Government is notoriously slow in deciding such things," the Admiral said, as if explaining religious doctrine to the heathen.

    "Doesn't the Navy have a standing fund for refurbishing prizes?" Jeff asked. Most nations used to have something like that. I can't believe you don't.

    "I'm afraid it would be insufficient to cover either of those two vessels." The admiral shrugged.

    And you won't give me that and a payment schedule, because it's never been done, Jeff thought. "Ah, well assuming you are going to use them as fast freighters, could you point me to a - patriotic - citizen who would be willing to let you use them. A letter of recommendation would be welcome in that regard." A pompous brown-noser has to be well-connected, he thought.

    The Admiral smiled. "Yes, that is an acceptable alternative. We'll have you one in a few hours. In the meantime, I need you and your Pokègirls to provide a complete report of events leading up to the assault and your victory."

    "I wondered why Mackie took off so quickly," Jeff joked, "Paperwork, scares everything." Oh, I offended him, Jeff thought.

    "We interviewed him already, while you were - occupied," The Colonel supplied, showing no smile, but a raised eyebrow.

    Jeff reminded himself these weren't line officers, but swivel-chair hussars. "There is such a thing as celebrating a victory, Colonel. I guess I can do the paperwork. I just warn you, a lot of it is going to sound completely insane."

    "How so?" the Admiral asked, honestly intrigued.

    "I remember growing up in the 1930's and 40's, eventually attending college, a World War from 1937 to 1945, other things. All of it is extremely detailed and complete, as well as erasing any memories of the current situation. I didn't even know what a Pokègirl was until Ritsuko, the Matron, explained it. Best guess is, I tangled with a Hild, and lost, nothing else is both powerful enough and nasty enough to pull it off."

    "We could have a psychic check you out," the Colonel offered. The admiral harumphed.

    "No, thank you, I keep wondering what I could have done to get them that mad at me," Jeff said jovially, "I think I rather like who I became."

    "I understand, a fresh start."

    "Exactly," Jeff replied to the Admiral.

    "There are few things I don't understand," Jeff admitted.

    "What is it?" the Admiral asked.

    "The name of the creatures along with Brusellia," Jeff said, " 'Spinnenangst', that's German for arachnophobia, interesting that the name of a major enemy contains a critical bit of data about that opponent, in a language that few people outside of a University or an antiquarian would know. I speak fluent German, so when I heard them called 'Spinnenangst', I could put the fear I was feeling in context. However, the entire force that faced them, wasn't forewarned. They were destroyed because they were ignorant of what was destroying them." Jeff watched them carefully, seeing if they saw it or not.

    "That's an . . . interesting theory," the Admiral said while shifting in his chair, his eyes bore straight into Jeff's, "I don't think I have time or resources to begin an investigation, but you might want to get ahead of the question, others will eventually figure it out too."

    Message received, Jeff thought, More to this than meets the eye, and more to you than you let others know. Who are you a spy for? "Yes, I understand. Thank you."

    The Admiral's demeanor chanced back instantly. "I believe the Colonel can take you to the investigators, by the way, we don't use thumbscrews and the iron maiden anymore, just so you know."

    "In the 1940's it was early truth serum and bamboo under the fingernails," Jeff replied.

    "I have to apologize for that," the Colonel said, once they were a long way from the Admiral's office, "He's a good man and an excellent officer, just a rotten comedian."

    Did you not understand, or are we observed even here? Jeff wondered while he said, "Everyone has their faults."

    "There's a party tonight - The party of the season, actually. The man you'll be looking for, Hiram MacReynolds, will be there. He is a patriot and a good man, and I know he'd jump at the chance at those ships, with their speed and extra power."

    "You aren't afraid of him using them for smuggling?" Jeff asked, observing the man closely.

    The Colonel laughed. "No, he makes ice cream. Refrigeration and speed."

    Ah, Jeff thought. "The steam off the low end of the turbines to run the compressors, it shouldn't cost them more than a knot off their top speed." Jeff stopped, looked back at the Colonel who'd stopped and was staring at him.

    "Where'd you learn about naval architecture and steam turbines?"

    "Harvard," Jeff replied, "At least that's where I remember learning about them. Like I said, crazy, quite the nasty practical joke."

    "Ah," the Colonel said, and watched him guardedly as they walked to the interviews.

Style Is the Dress of Thought

    The party appeared to be a fancy ball. "Glad tuxedos haven't changed too much in the past 300 years," Jeff said as Kiyone fussed over the suit, and the dress Ritsuko was wearing. It seems once clothes and fabrics are involved, he thought, All is forgiven. I should have asked for a proper wizard's robe instead.

    "Are the pants really supposed to be as tight as this?" he asked, glancing around at the assembled Harem. My assembled Harem, he thought ruefully, With Sadie Poken's coming up, you'll be free to pursue your own destinies as you see fit, not mine.

    "Shows off your backside." Kiyone slapped the aforementioned item.

    "And the front. Believe me, you've got nothing to be ashamed of," Ritsuko added. She and Kiyone laughed a moment later.

    Probably to mortify me, he thought. "If that really is the case, I should stuff a rolled up sock in there," he said, eliciting a giggle from all the girls.

    "He's learning," Liv said brightly, as she lounged against the wall.

    Jeff shook his head. "I did want you all to express yourselves. When am I going to learn to shut up?" Jeff asked to further laughter.

    "Okay, done," Kiyone told him, "Okay, you can turn and look."

    Jeff turned and saw Ritsuko's dress. He was astounded. It was a plain, white sheathe, subtle shading made her look like perfect alabaster, except for the gloves, elbow length, and such a dark black they seemed to drink in the light. A ring of cloth around the middle finger left the fingers and palms bare.

    Simplicity and elegance, Jeff thought. "Superbly done, Kiyone, and you wondered if you could compete with the locals? That dress would be a show stopper from the 1500's to the present day," he told her, let her blush and accept the accolades, "Don't take on the frippery, but bypass it completely. And what's inside your work isn't bad either."

    Kiyone looked very proud that her efforts earned such praise, but she was also slightly embarrassed by their words.

    "None of that," Mara teased, "These clothes are too hard to get in and out of, and too delicate for Taming."

    Jeff wasn't sure whether he or Kiyone was more shocked.

    "Spoilsport," Ritsuko said, as Misato drew Ritsuko's hair back into a tight ponytail, emphasizing the austerity of the costume and Ritsuko's overall demeanor.

    "Well, shall we be on our way?" Jeff offered her his arm.

    "Why thank you kind, sir." Ritsuko curtseyed, making sure she could. The others seemed almost worshipful in their gaze at the Alpha and `their Master`.

    They stepped out of the room, the Colonel and a party of officers, some men, some women, just stared.

    "That's - " the Colonel said.

    "That's a dedicated Wolf Spider's work," Jeff said, circling Ritsuko so they both turned. Showing off, Jeff admitted to himself, But it seems appropriate here.

    "That's . . . amazing," one of the female officers said.

    "The key is serenity, to avoid being disturbed," Jeff said quietly, noting the subtle change in the others as he let out the barest hint of what he really was. Then he damped it down. Time to play the clown again. "I just hope I don't split the seat out of these pants."

    "You do that," the Colonel said, chuckling nervously, "Nobody will even notice." The female officers smirked at that.

    I think Pokègirls aren't the only ones who are sex obsessed, he thought, I guess with the sterility of `pureline` girls and the easy access to healing magic, the reasons for human chastity have slipped as well. Jeff looked confused. "I don't take your meaning."

    "I understand why the Spinnenangsts didn't get him," one of the officers whispered, "He scared them."

    "That is the point," Jeff said as they headed for a coach, a real Landau, several Ponytaurs to draw it, and no driver. It still bothers me that the `animals` are as smart as people, but are still treated as animals, he thought as he helped Ritsuko into the coach. The girls stared at their escorts until they duplicated Jeff's behavior.

    "You won't be able to bear weapons into the party," a lieutenant told him, nodding to Jeff's staff.

    "I intend to surrender it to the doorman," Jeff told him, "I don't intend to go about unarmed."

    "Your Pokègirls - "

    "Shouldn't have to fight my battles. I should be able to defend them as well. And I can."

    "A very liberated attitude," one of the draft team said, "But what would you do?"

    "I've taken on Spinnenangsts with only my pistol. I suspect this - " Jeff lifted the staff. " - Will be sufficient for anything else," Jeff said, "That's the problem, the distance between this timeline and the one I remember."

    "Oh, I've heard about this," one of the female officers said brightly, "I wanted to hear this story. It's like something out of science fiction!"

    "Yes," another added, "The big break came during the 1914 World War, the Bolsheviks weren't able to get their act together before the end in -?" She stared at Jeff.

    "1918, Germany collapsed." Jeff offered.

    "So the Spring 1920 Offensive never happened, Germany wasn't sectioned up like it was here?" another officer asked, "You really don't remember that?"

    "Nope, as I remember it, Germany lost some territory. Poland was centered on Warsaw and the River Vistula, not Mecklenburg and Pomerania south to Czechoslovakia, with the Russian territory absorbing the Gdansk-Lodz-Katowice line, as well as Warsaw and Krakow." He waited for them to nod that he'd got it right. "With Germany chopped up between Denmark, Poland, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and all the Allies exhausted by the war, there was no reason to develop new weapons and tactics."

    "The Japanese had their war in China," the Colonel interjected, "From 1937 to 1942 where Mao ground them to pieces and they did the same to him. Everybody always wondered what would have happened if they'd attacked the Siberians."

    "So there were no brushfire wars backed by two feuding superpowers that stressed mobility over defense," Jeff commented, "That left the infantry as the queen of the battlefield. While in my `world`, the superpowers themselves massed great formations of tanks, mounted infantry and mobile artillery for the eventual clash. Centered on Germany."

    "Congratulations, Master," Ritsuko said, and patted his hand, "You've found the one topic most officers can argue over endlessly: military history and weapons technology."

    "I could go into the idea that the 1863 Springfield is a superior anti-Pokègirl weapon to the Armalite M16," Jeff replied, nodded to Ritsuko, "In deference to you, Milady, I shan't."

    Jeff removed his glasses, polished them. "So when your predecessors considered fortifications and firepower, and since you had forty-seven years of peace, you assumed that the lessons were the correct ones: massed infantry behind massive concrete and steel structures, supported by fixed artillery. While in the Universe I remember, Heinz Guderian, a German, and Billy Mitchell, an American, postulated a mobile form of warfare that would bypass the fortresses and leg infantry. Guderian saw tanks, tracked vehicles to carry infantry and mobile artillery in the form of dive bombers initially. All to overwhelm the defenses at one weak point, then spread out in the rear areas. The alternative to fighting heavily defended positions was to go around or over them and avoid them. Maneuver became the watch word."

    The others nodded at his conclusion. "That's how the Pokègirls beat us," the Colonel interjected.

    "And since the infantry would be facing powerful tanks and superior aircraft," one of the officers commented, "You had to give the ordinary infantry the means to defeat them."

    "Your rifle!" the Colonel realized and slapped his leg, chuckling, "A fully automatic version would certainly have given the Pokègirls pause."

    "Yes, except it was a machine gun, or more accurately, a semi-portable, select-fire, machine cannon first, but you could mount them on trucks, slightly smaller ones on cars, light aircraft, everything."

    "I'm guessing that these tanks were adaptations of the First World War designs: big, multi-turret monsters at 15-25 kph," a female major commented, clearly enjoying the `story`.

    "When the Second World War began, the heaviest gun in a tank was a 75 or 76 mm short barreled howitzer, about 17 to 26 calibers. Tank guns were between 20 and 57 mm, with armor appropriate. At the end of that war, the Germans were using a 71-caliber 88 millimeter or a 70-caliber 75 millimeter, the Americans were switching to a 90 millimeter, the Russian heavy tank used a long-barreled, low-velocity 122 millimeter and was so heavily armored, it was still giving tanks a problem in the 1970's. Then after the war - "

    "Which killed how many people?" one pecksniff lieutenant asked disapprovingly.

    Jeff ignored the tone and answered the question, "I've seen estimates of up to 100 million. Which as terrible as it is, this place lost seventy-five times that. Was it worth it?" he asked sharply, when the lieutenant looked away, Jeff continued, "At the beginning of the war, your heavy tanks carried a 105 mm howitzer in the main turret with two subsidiary 60 mm guns and four machine guns, top speed 27 kph. No man-portable antitank or anti-aircraft weapons. Your real killer was the poor fire control - "

    "There were the blasters," Ritsuko told him, "They went a long way to equalizing things."

    "Yes, but the armed forces parceled them out in penny packets. So an overwhelming force could take out a blaster team and demoralize the entire front," he pointed out more gently than he'd countered the lieutenant, "The 1879 Zulu wars showed that. You were fighting Heinz Guderian's Blitzkrieg, 'lightning war', tactics, and you did as well as the French and British did against the Germans in 1940, which was less well than the Poles, in 1939. France fell to those tactics in six weeks."

    "It took a little longer," a different lieutenant opined, "If we'd avoided the plague, we would have won."

    "Still, you fell to a numerically inferior foe who had higher tactical mobility," Jeff pointed out, "The heaviest casualties before the plague weren't against the First Generation Legendaries. They were to ordinary Pokègirls behind the lines."

    "Your people, or the people you remember," one of the female officers laughed, having fun, "Would have done better?"

    "The Soviets still had their Shock Armies, the U.S., U.K., and France were just off one of the swiftest defeats of a numerically-superior, dug-in force in history. Like Cannae, not properly followed up on, but still a victory. Infantry had access to hand-held, shoulder-fired antitank and anti-aircraft weapons, some of them self-guiding. As fast as a Pokègirl is, she isn't faster than a microchip. The people fighting were out of practice, they'd lost the innovative edge, and lacked the political will to move decisively."

    The officers nodded, enjoying what they considered a fanciful story. A tale from another world.

    They're right, Jeff thought, It is another world. The real failing would be the attitude towards the threat. Against a group willing to fight a total war, things would have been very different.

    "True enough," the Colonel said, "The only reason they didn't just nuke Sukebe's first lab once they located it, was all the politicians wanted part of the toys."

    "They were thinking about fighting their `real` enemies, not saving humanity," Jeff commented.

    "You're saying he got away to release the plague," one of the officers commented, "Because the politicians and soldiers didn't do their job?"

    "The plague, which did the real killing, was developed from what they found there. Harsh as it may sound, a single atom bomb would have spared billions," Jeff replied, "I hope the politicians who made those decisions have a warm place by the fire in Hell for their part in the annihilation of the human race. Poisoned presents for all the greedy little children. Like passing out loaded revolvers to 4-year-olds."

    "What about Sukebe?" the female laugher asked.

    Jeff shrugged. "I honestly don't know, and there are no reports of him being taken." He glanced at Ritsuko, who nodded. "He was an incompetent as far as military strategy goes. You don't burn down the thing you're fighting over. Supposedly he was a physicist, but what he created is an example of advanced bioengineering, so either he was a biochemist, or he didn't create Pokègirls, someone else did, and he just took the credit. Which made him either a dupe, a thief, or both." Jeff noted Ritsuko's shiver. We've discussed this at length, he thought, The implications terrify her.

    "Well, since we're solving the world's problems," the female major began, "What about Team Rocket and all their clones to clowns? I heard you helped take down Team Chrysanthemum, which has been menacing the entire northern portion of the League."

    "You have to find their political and financial support, and cut it off. The idea that groups like that are self-financing is a complete myth, only nation-states can toss around, and lose, these kinds of resources. They lost several tanks and a company of infantry, you all know that isn't cheap, before they lost the bases."

    "That was two different groups," the Colonel corrected, "Mum and Hyper Rocket."

    The soldiers nodded.

    "They were linked," Ritsuko explained, "Hyper Rocket was Mum's `black ops group`."

    "So somebody is tacitly or actively backing them. Possibly several someones. It may be possible that all these supposedly disparate groups are working under some level of overall control. That is just my guess, but the various insurgencies that I remember taking place across the world, had to be supported by one of the great powers. Often using it as a testing ground for new weapons, tactics, etc."

    "Assuming that all the data isn't someone's wishful thinking," the Colonel said snidely. The other officers chuckled.

    Jeff smiled at the barb. "Okay, tell me, who in Redwood could field a force to match the base we took down?"

    "Askelon, MacReynolds and Taylor, any of the three," the Colonel replied smugly.

    "Very well, for how long and how many more like it?" Jeff asked.

    "All three could do it in perpetuity, if they gave up their public relations and lobbying operations," the female major explained, "All three together could probably run four to five such bases."

    "So how many that rich would it take to operate all the Team Rockets operating worldwide?" Jeff asked, closing the trap.

    The officers discussed and speculated among themselves. Jeff glanced over to Ritsuko. "Sorry, are you leaving you out?" he asked her quietly.

    "No," she replied, smiling, "I just enjoy you leading the group to the conclusions that you've already mentioned to me. Studying your methods: press or lead, stating positions and asking questions. So they will come to your conclusion on their own. It's educational."

    Jeff nodded sitting back to let the officers argue, while he turned to Ritsuko. "On a more personal subject, what do we owe Mackie and the others? I can't imagine they'd be happy we got both ships."

    Ritsuko smiled. "I took care of it. Mackie got three of his girls back, and confirmation that Team 'Mum killed the last. Since that was the contract, he legally had no other claim, although with nine Pokègirls - "

    "He should try for Harem Master status," Jeff said, "I guess he doesn't want to send any of the girls to Storage. I know I wouldn't."

    "You signed a testimonial about his bravery and compassion, remember? That was part of the packet I assembled and delivered to the League office. Various accounts and letters of recommendation from all the Tamers and their Alphas who took part in the operation. Also, Mackie commented that he might want a 'wish' from you, 'Since he can do anything.'"

    Jeff chuckled at that.

    "I think he's going to stay at sea until he gets a 'yea' or 'nay' from the League, but I think he'll get it."

    "Good," Jeff said, "Please go on."

    "Mr. Drake is already a Harem Master, he got unlimited first choice of any and all girls whose owners couldn't be found, he left with forty-seven of the 312 girls we couldn't find previous owners for."

    "Forty-seven?" Jeff whispered in amazement, "That seems a lot."

    "That's what he wanted. I think he's planning to start a ranch since he took almost exclusively Dark and Fighting types, with a couple of others."

    "Forty-seven ronin," Jeff said, then nodded for Ritsuko to continue. She seems to have handled things expertly, he thought.

    "Tenchi got all the bounties from the slain Mantises, although Gem killed most of them. I thought you wouldn't mind."

    "You thought correctly. The quicker they're gone and out of our hair the better," Jeff said, "Although I wish I could have met Sasami, we have much to discuss. I still have the chests, and the Widow and Spinnenangst bounties to collect."

    Ritsuko leaned close and whispered in his ear, "The testimony you gave at the hearing about how well concealed and well protected the base was, it was probably all that saved his neck from a court martial. That's pay enough." Then she muttered under her breath, "Far more than he deserves."

    I know the 'he', and that's two of the girls who hate his guts, Jeff considered, File that under 'for future reference and investigation'. "Well done, I approve your decisions." He paused to let her blush. "What do I owe my faithful and cunning Alpha?"

    "Attending this party is payment enough. As a little girl, I always wanted to attend. I imagined what it might be like. Now I'll find out on the arm of a bonafide hero."

    One of the female officers cleared her throat.

    "At least when the Admiral springs 'Let's discuss world events' next, we'll all have something to spring on him," the Colonel said, then chuckled as the officers' discussion group broke up temporarily.

    Jeff noted that the draft team likewise laughed, although nobody invited them to join either `private` discussion. Jeff listened to further discussions and arguments as they put events in context of the world in which he found himself.

    "Which is better?" one of the draft team asked him while the others discussed.

    "Better, how?" Jeff turned and asked.

    "Which path is better?" the Ponytaur asked, "A century of constant war, or seventy years of peace and a big one at the end?"

    "As horrible as it sounds," Jeff admitted, "A century of war. Suffering and conflict brought immense progress. At the end, we had put men on the moon and returned them, landed probes on Mars, Venus, Titan, sent other space probes clear out of the solar system. Defeated many diseases, did things that even with the magic available to you, would seem more like miracles." Jeff noted the others had stopped to listen. "So it was better, that like asking whether you'd rather lose an arm or a leg. If you're a concert pianist and losing the leg inspires you to pen a dozen magnificent symphonies, the world is better off you having lost your leg, maybe you are too, but that's for history to decide. Maybe I'm getting old, but too much peace for too long trains people to focus on trivialities instead of striving for excellence. Learning you can do the impossible, learning to think beyond normal limitations, discovering most limits are self-imposed. All those lessons are easily taught and learned when your life is on the line. It also makes you appreciate things more. Golden Ages have a deep and hidden cost, that's why they always collapse disastrously."

    "You express a rather hideous philosophy," the female major said with a frown, "What about human suffering?"

    "There's a great deal less in the century of war than in the deaths of tens of millions against the First Gen. Legendaries, followed by the billions in the plagues, and then three centuries of deaths by disease, poison, starvation and wild Pokègirls," Jeff argued, "What about Pokègirls' suffering? How many of them died of the same things. Pain may make humans and Domestics noble, but the rest of the universe is a very cold, dark place where all of Humanity's illusions of justice, fair and right all blow away on an indifferent cosmic wind. Despite the fact they are illusions, I believe we are all vastly better off treating them as if they were real and universal. Some illusions are worthy of fighting and dying for."

    "That's too scary to be profound," Ritsuko told him, eliciting nervous laughter from the others.

    "Someone somewhere told me that all Pokègirls are subservient and respectful of their Tamers. Sometimes I'm glad that's a lie," he said, frowning at Ritsuko, "Sometimes I'm not."

    More laughter, including Ritsuko's, answered him.

    The dance was everything Ritsuko had always dreamed of, when she'd grown up here. I could never come here, she thought, I was born a Damsel, so I was never really a `person`, despite what my family tried to make me think. Talk about illusions worth fighting for. She smiled to the daughters and younger sisters of girls who'd treated her like dirt under their feet. Her fancy dress, the envy-filled eyes when she appeared, the music and dancing were all secondary to being seen, and seen here.

    "His Excellency Commodore Jeffery Kevin Davis, and Ritsuko Akagi," the porter announced.

    She was glad the Colonel had informed her Master that Tamers who served as military irregulars, and commanded more than two ships, were 'Commodores', and wizards were always 'Excellencies', ambassadors to the unseen realms. It also entitles me to a last name, she thought happily, Even though I'm just a Pokègirl. 'Commodore' has such an ring to it, even if they are two 16,000 ton freighters. She watched many of the older women look appraisingly at them. Most of them wouldn't have looked at me a year ago, except down their nose, she thought as she nodded to them, acknowledging them, no more, I can read your thoughts, your predictable schemes. Wondering how he'd match up with your daughters, Ritsuko thought, 'Has she knocked the rough edges off him?' Some her own age stared daggers at her and her dress, for having trumped theirs, and the younger ones stared at her Tamer, who held her arm and imperiously surveyed them right back. He's more than you can handle, she thought contemptuously, He'd scare you witless and you don't have a Pokègirl's need for a powerful pack leader to draw you in.

    "Should we search for MacReynolds, or just mingle?"she asked in sotto voce, hoping he'd let her find her own prey.

    "Enjoy yourself. I'll see to finding MacReynolds. I've been to parties like this," he said with ill-concealed disgust, "The first few times they're wonderful. I'm past that, they bore me, I'd rather be in the kitchen or as one of the waiters," he told her, then whirled with a snap so he was facing her. He bowed and took her hand, kissing her knuckles while she disinterestedly fanned herself.

    "Do try to enjoy yourself," she said quietly, it seemed a shout in the absolute silence that had taken the place. She let his hand slip from hers as they moved apart. She turned, not so sharply, fanning herself, a faint and knowing smile on her face. The buffet table, maybe a couple of dances and some champagne, she thought wistfully as she moved among the forest of envious to hateful gazes, I do wish he'd loosen up, but he does know how to get the most mileage about of being a patrician. The whole world is not about fighting, or even fighting and Taming. She regarded several `ladies` who were consumed with envy, wriggling with rage within their bows and ribbons and frippery.

    Why did I agree to this? Jeff wondered as he scanned the crowds, Parties like this bring out the worst in too many people. To impress others, people say and do things they wouldn't do on the street for fear they'd get dragged into an alley and knifed. Then you've got the peacocks of both genders saying 'look at me I'm important', while the truly important people, who wanted to relax, find they have to play the game twice as hard, just to keep up. He studiously ignored the few who fluttered around him and let his smile remain fixed while his eyes wandered.

    And the fact you're so bloody good at playing the game and your role, has nothing to do with it, he accused himself, I had more fun helping old man Abbot fix the tack and curry his horses that I did at his party, so did Mrs. Lodge, all the 'Astors talk to Lodges and Cabots talk only to God' stuff was a myth, I think they liked discussing curry combs and their proper use with a Wyoming cowboy. He spotted an all to familiar scene. Ugh! Crap, harpies circling. Well, play the role.

    The pack of 'look at me' peacocks, peahens actually, had surrounded a girl, slightly older than them and a good deal less skinny and aquiline. She looked vaguely miserable at not being able to strike back effectively. If she carried herself better, she'd get away with more, he thought as he approached, some peahens on the periphery of the circle smelled the dragon winging towards them.

    "And they said she had no taste," one of the peahens, possibly the leader, tittered at her truly astounding witticism.

    "Marie Velio, you are a wicked thing," another tittered in support.

    "Ah, Miss, you have been avoiding me," he said in his most regal tones, "You shan't escape your promise of a dance by hiding a rose among the thistles." Jeff bowed and extended a hand to the beleaguered girl. I'll have to compliment Kiyone, I didn't split my pants or emasculate myself with that little maneuver, he thought as he straightened up, drawing the girl out of the circle of utterly amazed peahens.

    The leader of the circle tapped him with her fan. "I'm Marie Velio, of the South Hill Velios." She tilled her pointed chin at the girl. "Not that West Shore crowd," she told him smilingly.

    "Marie Velio." He let a brief look of hilarity cross his face, then he sobered completely. "I'd thought that yarn was a sailors' tall tale . . . extraordinary, and what were the final repair costs?"

    The girl looked positively stricken as Jeff stared at her. She suddenly turned on her heel and left, her entourage put their noses in the air and followed.

    "I must apologize for my manners, but I do despise useless people."

    "I do thank His Excellency the Commodore for his rescue, worthy of the Marines. I am afraid I cannot oblige you in a dance. My new Clydesdame kicked me the other day."

    "Trying to break her using the Western method, of sit in the saddle until she can't throw you off?" Jeff asked as he slowly escorted her along her way. Letting her lean heavily on his arm.

    "There's another way? I've love to hear it." She took his hand and led him through the crowd.

    "It's worked on two of the wildest horses I've ever heard of," he told her with confidence.

    Ritsuko watched her Master walk along the periphery, with a girl on his arm. She felt a bit jealous. I'm here to enjoy myself, and part of that is watching how magnetic he is. Although I bet he hasn't realized just who he stumbled into. Ritsuko had gravitated towards a group of older men and women, who were vehemently but politely discussing Pokègirl grooming, feeding, etc. I remember them all, she thought, And the conversations haven't changed.

    "Ah, Ritsuko, my dear," General Chaise said as he approached.

    Ritsuko's heart froze and she considered throwing herself on his mercy, or simply running away. The commander of the Northern and Cascade sections Special Operations, read Pokègirl forces, she thought of the man heading towards the group.

    "I'd heard you'd gone independent," he said with a smile that could mean anything.

    "That certainly sounds better than 'going renegade'," she said nervously, despite her efforts to remain calm.

    "Nonsense, the League controls that, not us, not me." Again with the unreadable smile.

    Not for lack of trying however, she thought while she kept smiling, I read your directives often enough, I also know you always play games. With your human soldiers and the Pokègirls. So what are you playing at? She glanced at her Master, wishing he'd notice her danger.

    "Besides, you accomplished the mission, and victory is a cover for all manner of things. You even led your Tamer and a heavy assault force into their secret base and killed another one, half-grown, yes, but still very dangerous."

    Ritsuko couldn't completely hide her shiver, remembering Sasami and Oyuki hammering the monster with a power she'd never seen before. I can see why people think Megami are goddesses, after that little show, she thought, I wonder how often it's been seen, and why it isn't in the Pokèdex . . . or rather who is keeping it out of the 'dex.

    "I thought, 'Oh, here's someone who can really answer our questions from both points of view. She was one of the research assistants in the old 43rd.'"

    "I was usually in the field," Ritsuko said dismissively. Dammit. You know, you worked hard enough to keep me out of the research section. I would have loved being part of the 43rd, but I was part of the 42nd, she mentally cursed herself. She glanced back at her Tamer, who stared at her imperiously, standing there with one girl he'd `rescued`. He seemed ready to charge to her aid if necessary. He gave her a slight nod and stared at the back of General Chaise's head, the veteran of dozens of black ops suddenly whirled around, searching for the source of the threat he'd sensed. Ritsuko saw his confusion, when a young man stared back at him with a perplexed look, 'Why are you talking to my Pokègirl?' "Problems?" she asked, innocently understanding the game, and knowing her Master knew how to play, "You don't usually react that way, except out in the field. Anyway, I can't tell you theories, only what worked." She nodded to her Master, silently thanking him for the timely rescue.

    "Ponytaur, or Rapitaur, they've been complaining about these new currying brushes," one of the men behind them began to comment, tugged on Ritsuko's hand to return her to their circle, "They fixed every one of their complaints about the old brushes."

    "Is the stroke different, from circular to straight: with the nap of the hair, or against the nap?" an elderly woman with piercing eyes and a witch's hat began, then she sat back, after returning the astonished General's salute. The bronze star hanging from the blue silk ribbon still held power, although the nation who had awarded it had long ago gone to dust. She had posed the question and expected an answer, her eyes bored into Ritsuko's.

    Granny she thought in terror, That's really her! What is she doing here, what is she doing talking to ME?! She was aware of those eyes burning into her, demanding a simple answer. I have the answer, she reminded herself, the General dismissed and forgotten in her mind. "It's the change. You all switched over suddenly, didn't you?" she asked the circle.

    Nods all around from the elders. "Why wouldn't we?" came both voiced and unvoiced.

    "Neither type likes sudden changes in their grooming. Curry them a little with the old, then `compare` it with the new. The change makes them uncomfortable, so it must be the new currying brushes, that's how they think." Ritsuko explained, trying hard not to lecture.

    "You must think us a proper club of nobbies arguing over nap, when the answer was so simple," an elderly gentleman said to Ritsuko.

    Blue Continent expatriate by his accent. He's been practicing it again. Must be trying to impress someone, Ritsuko thought. "No, grandfather, just not asking the right people."

    "So, finally going on your Tamer Journey? Us old folks can only sit and gossip, what scandalous details can brighten our ancient lives?" Granny asked offhandedly.

    Ritsuko controlled her shaking enough to simply answer the question. "Just that he's a little too respectable and hasn't quite figured out that they allow you to be scandalous, discreetly."

    Granny's hat bobbed with silent laughter, then she sobered.

    "I may have disagreed with your decision to join the Federal Service when you began to grow up, I admit, I was wrong," her grandfather told her.

    "Thank you," Ritsuko said graciously.

    "Lord Hiram MacReynolds," the girl introduced Jeff to the corpulent, graying man. The man's purple Sam-Brown belt was a give away.

    "Lord of the Dance," the man said dismissively, extending his hand, the girl slipped her arm out of Jeff's and onto Hiram's. The old man gave a bow, Jeff returned the gesture and noted the Amachoke in the party dress who was now fussing over the girl.

    Keep your mouth shut, Jeff reminded himself, If he makes the accusation, then respond. he bowed to the lady to cover what a screw up he'd unwittingly made.

    "You can't impress me by rescuing my daughter, then leading her over to me," Hiram told him sharply.

    "Good, your Lordship - "

    "Hiram will do," the man snapped. Jeff noted the angry face the girl was making at her father. Hiram ignored it, seeming to focus his displeasure on Jeff.

    In response, Jeff kept his temper, but took the warning. The man is angry, and possibly for good reason, he realized. "Hiram then, as I said, good, I wasn't looking to impress you. I was rather hoping to impress upon the young lady that good manners and an aristocratic bearing do not automatically disguise a predator's mind. Or rather, some of the larger predators don't see the need to be predators, all the time."

    "The lion will lay down with the lamb, because it's more sporting to eat alligators," Hiram said, nodded his approval, "The Admiral already phoned about your proposal. May I see the letter?"

    "It's inside my jacket," he told Hiram, "I'll bring it out slowly." He caught the smile on the Amachoke as he opened the jacket with one hand, displaying the letter, then with the other hand, he pulled the envelope out slowly. Not sure if she's his Pokèwife, but she certainly is his bodyguard, he thought. He extended the hand so either could take it.

    Hiram did, breaking the seal, scanning the letter within and returning it. "He called you an arrogant young pup, with good reason for that arrogance."

    "Most kind and perceptive," Jeff replied evenly. He heard an argument to one side and a general thinning of the crowd in that area. Hiram looked like he'd found the thing he was expecting to set him off.

    "What would an honest man like myself do with two smuggling ships?" Hiram asked, trying and failing to keep the tone light, he kept glancing at the disturbance and growing more angry.

    "To keep his products cold while he rushes them to customers in Johto, or the Islands. A proper refrigeration system wouldn't shave too much speed off her, and all those hideyholes make accessing where you need to insulate far easier. Or you could resell them to the Navy, once they were able to authorize the funds."

    "You just want your money," Hiram meant it as a joke, but the growing argument made it come out too harsh.

    The girl frowned, but Jeff raised a hand, showing he understood. I really need to deal with that, Jeff thought. He smiled to show he understood. "I just don't like the idea of the girls getting attached to those boats and deciding we should start a cruise line." He shuddered.

    Hiram snorted at that. "Very well. I'd already decided to purchase them, but the Admiral warned me you'd balk if things went too smoothly. I understand the Navy made a reasonable assessment. I'll bump that up 15%."

    That's about twenty-five million credits a piece, Jeff thought, That's enough for quite a start here. "Bargained and well done." Jeff offered his hand. I'd like to get this done, he thought, Then see what's got him so steamed.

    Hiram smiled. "It isn't official until the lawyers get their hands on it."

    "Lawyers?" Jeff said as he recoiled in horror, "Didn't the Pokègirls eat all of them?"

    "Pity, but no." Hiram smiled warmly, then was scowling at the argument behind Jeff.

    "Sukebe really didn't think things through, did he?" Jeff offered, the argument had closed to the point he couldn't ignore it any longer. "I beg your pardon, I'm going to lower the volume in here, I can't hear the music." He bowed to Hiram, then his wife and daughter, who both looked rather worried.

    Jeff turned to face the mid-30's man and mid-40's woman confronting each other, the man shouting at the harried woman. The party isn't even an hour old and he's already plastered, Jeff thought. "Beg pardon, if this is a discussion you both wish to continue, outside may be a more appropriate venue. If this is a conversation is not one you both wish to continue - "

    "Get out of here!" the man told him, "This is a private conversation."

    Jeff noted all conversation had stopped and all eyes were on him. "It would be, if you were more discreet, say having it on the balcony, or at a lower volume. And I wasn't speaking to you, sir. As I said, I am prepared to give you safe escort, ma'am. If you wish to remain here, I can see to it you are no longer molested."

    "Thank you," the woman said quietly, "May I ask the gallant gentleman's name?"

    "Certainly ma'am," he bowed slightly, this was all the other man needed, he punched Jeff as hard as he could. Jeff turned slightly so the man struck the point of his shoulder instead of his head. There was the expected outrage, especially from the man who nearly broke his hand. Still, the sound of flesh-on-flesh had silenced any conversation which had survived the previous outburst. As if they'd been waiting for this, he thought, What have I stepped in this time. "Jeffery Kevin Davis." He smiled. "You wouldn't have heard of me."

    She smirked slightly. "Do you know who I am?"

    "Do you know who I am?" the man shouted in a mocking tone.

    "No ma'am," he said to her, and turned to him, "A drunken gorilla in an expensive monkey suit that has either failed to learn or was never taught civilized behavior," Jeff replied, bowing slightly to each, and stepping out of the way of a drunken haymaker. Well, since I have center stage, he thought. "I must insist you cease that, sir. You may injure yourself, or the furnishings."

    The laughter of the crowd stung the man, who gazed at Jeff in fury. He charged again. Jeff backhanded him, and stepped aside to let him crash to the ground. "Uncivilized. He'll never qualify for the Bullfighting League with that technique." More laughter drove the man into a fury.

    "Challenge has been given, and lawfully accepted," one of the porters announced.

    "Am I to understand that he challenged me to a duel, and I correctly accepted?" Jeff asked the porter, raising his voice so he could be widely heard.

    "Yes, sir," the porter called out over the ballroom.

    I know you left out the part where my Pokègirls fight his Pokègirls. It will be interesting seeing how the judges deal with this tomorrow morning, he thought. "I would ask someone to give this fool a blade, a pistol - " He dodged out of the way of another enraged charge. "Or a decent set of horns."

    There was laughter from the crowd. 'Honk! Honk!' some wit called, followed by more laughter.

    "Very helpful, but I doubt he is even in condition for the ruffians' way."

    "The duel will be held tomorrow, on the armory grounds," the porter intoned, so Jeff and all the witnesses could hear.

    And they also heard I intend it to be human against human, Jeff thought. "Very well, it wouldn't be sporting to simply gut a drunk in his condition," Jeff said magnanimously as the man's friends dragged him away. And again I've said it, three times, and not a single word of contradiction from the crowd, good, he thought, They think they're rescuing him from a thrashing. They don't realize they are only delaying it.

    "Ma'am, may I invite you to join our group. The conversation may not be as stimulating, but it shan't have many of the phrases your late companion was so fond of using."

    "Delighted." She nodded.

    "You think you've found a champion, you half-breed Pokèwhore!" The man shook off his friends and walked towards them. "Psidyke bitch! You - "

    Jeff grabbed the man's extended arm, twisted it into a painful `come-along`, and frogmarched him straight for one of the open balconies.

    "What are you - unhand me!"

    Jeff twisted a little harder to silence him, rammed him directly into the railing, grabbed his belt and tossed him over. He watched the man go directly into the deep, reflecting pool with a tremendous splash. He turned back and realized every eye in the place was on him. "You have my profound apologies for the disruption of your evening, but there are some things no gentleman will tolerate in his presence," he told them portentously, letting a little of his real being creep into the words.

    "Even if they're true," one of the rakes in the back piped up.

    "Lad, if they are true, then there is absolutely no need to air them in public at a festivity," Jeff replied primly, "I could hardly call you what you are, without offending the ladies." The crowd was utterly speechless.

    Hiram's laugh and a cackle from across the room broke the spell. Many broke off to chatter about events, and some returned to the dance floor. Jeff returned to Hiram. "I should submit myself to your discipline, sir. You are Lord of the Dance."

    The woman stepped up beside them a moment later.

    "On the contrary, this will be the party they will measure against all others, although you may pay a very dear price tomorrow. He won't enjoy that you humiliated him in front of all his friends."

    "Such as they are, bought and paid for," the Amachoke commented.

    "I just wish someone had warned me there was a pool there," Jeff said with a smile, "He would have made a superlative fence post."

    "Forgive my manners," Jeff said to the woman, "Hiram MacReynolds."

    "Miss Taylor and I have already been introduced," Hiram said with a smirk, "This is the lad who helped take down the Team `Mum base the Navy has been hunting for."

    "Ah, it seems I have heard of you after all. I take it you don't mind defending the honor of a half-Psidyke then," Miss Taylor told him, "Not that I needed it."

    "Ma'am, I apologize for using the incident then, I strongly suspect that if they bully the richest woman in Redwood, he'd bully anyone. It will be interesting to see how he deals with facing a man with a blade in his hand."

    "I'm afraid he has a Titto who handles that for him," Hiram warned him.

    "We shall see. What is the procedure?" Jeff asked.

    "You'll be put up here for the night," Hiram told him, "Everyone assumes that an upstanding pillar of the community won't run away. From what I saw, he'd be better off if he did."

    "But a wandering vagabond might?" Jeff asked with a chuckle.

    "In the morning, you'll be escorted to the armory. Where the duel will take place," Hiram told him.

    "Won't that be interesting?"

    "Commodore Davis, please take this seriously," Miss Taylor said sternly, "The duel is to the death, and Askelon's champion has never lost."

    "Thank you, milady, but I've seen the sword techniques used by many of the Pokègirls. I have quite a few tricks I doubt any of them have seen. I was practically raised with a sword in my hand. If all else fails, I can sing. I'm not overly concerned, Miss Taylor."

    "You should be," Miss Taylor told him.

    "So the Steel-type said, 'I can't be weak against fire, I'm not wearing red shorts!'" Granny cackled at her truly awful joke.

    After hanging around metallurgists long enough, I finally get that joke, Ritsuko thought, And it's still awful. "I wish I had warned him."

    "You've been gone for a couple of years. Askelon has done this the last three years," her grandfather told her, "He has Honey slaughter some poor fool's Pokègirl, and she's too depressed to try to escape on Sadie Poken's Day."

    "That's barbaric," Ritsuko said.

    "Your lad might put a stop to it," Granny said, "Challenged the boy direct, and no one gainsaid. He could make the case to the judges, cut the boy up right and proper."

    "Jeff's no murderer. Yet I've seen him fight. If it was pistols, I'd know exactly how it would turn out," Ritsuko said, "But swords, he'll have to use a champion."

    "Somehow," Granny cackled, "I doubt it. He asked for a blade, before a pistol. He might be a surprise."

    "Granny, I understand you like having people figure things out on their own, but I'm going to have a number of powerful Pokègirls who'll want to race to the rescue," Ritsuko pleaded, "I need to know something concrete to stop them."

    "Then quit looking at his body for his age, and look at his eyes," the old woman explained sharply, "A 16-year-old boy doesn't have eyes like that, only an old man who's lived a hard life. I think he's done more living than you might think he has."

    Ritsuko didn't understand Granny's words, but she could tell them to the others to prevent a rescue attempt.

    "Fair warning, young lady. Steel isn't strong, it's what else in it that makes it hard, and how it's shaped. Usually, the harder the steel, the easier it will break rather than bend. A good man will take a death blow and never complain until the one's he loves are safe again. The combination is very difficult to deal with and manage," the old Pokèwomon warned.

    Ritsuko nodded.

      Jeff's Harem
Oyuki - Megami
Kiyone - Wolf Spider
Misato - Seraph
Ritsuko - Matron
Mara - Storm Demon
Gem - Blessed Widow
Liv - Witch

      Mackie's Harem
Perry - Amachoke
Priss - Skarmory
Nene - Ladyba
Linna - Shadowcat
Sylve - ShieldMaiden
Sylvia - Dragonqueen

      Tenchi's Harem
Ryoko - Demon-Goddess
Ayeka - BarrierMaiden
Sasami - Megami-Mama
Mihoshi - Bunnygirl
Washu - Supe-Bra Genius

MANTIS, the Man-Eater Pokègirl

Type: Animorph (insectile)
Element: Bug
Frequency: Not Rare Enough
Diet: Live, wriggling meat (Mainly human males, but also bird, lizard, frog, and bug-type Pokègirls)
Role: Sex, Limbec Pirate executioners
Libido: High
Strong Vs: Dark, Fighting, Ground, Plant, Psychic
Weak Vs: Fire, Flying, Rock
Attacks: Slash, Carve, Cut, Parry, Deflect, Sword Dance, Megaton Kick, Slash Wave, Spincut, Confuse, Broken Castle, Weapon Guard, Weapon Repel, Zanmato
Enhancements: Enhanced Strength (x8), Enhanced Endurance (x4), Enhanced Speed (x5), Enhanced Agility (x6), 2 extra arms with razor sharp serrated sickles on them, light shape-shifting, wings to aid in jumping
Evolves: HOPEFULLY none
Evolves From: None

Bounty (for confirmed kill): 4,000,000 SLC
Bounty (for reporting sighting & getting out alive): 500,000 SLC

Recommendation if you see one: Have a strong warrior-type or fire-type ready to fight. Otherwise, evacuate at once if at all possible.

    Sukebe had a sick sense of humor, and an even sicker sense of irony.

    He started his war because of women like Linda McKenzie, but in his madness he hated the men just as much. He hated them for their weakness, for letting women like Linda get out of control.

    So he created a Pokègirl breed who would be known as their bane: the Mantis.

    Manti were amongst the most cruel, vicious fighters in the war. A tall Pokègirl, around 7 feet at the smallest, with a thick, athletic musculature that allowed them excellent agility, large, compound-like eyes, clawed, taloned feet, long antennae which increased their senses tremendously, green, chitinous skin, and an extra set of arms over their first, that are equipped with long, serrated sickle-blades instead of hands and are double-jointed to allow the Mantis to bend them in almost any direction. The blade-arms are, when not in use, held in a position of prayer, and can be used like swords, allowing for many powerful attacks. So skilled in the use of their sickle arms are they, that Manti are considered to be some of the best swordswomen on the planet. Their favorite method of attack was to use their light shape-shifting abilities, disguising their skin-color to blend in with their surroundings, disguising themselves as rocks or large plants, then using their powerful jumping skills to fly over the battlefield and come down with a powerful pair of slashes. But their combat skill is not what they were most infamous for.

    The thing they are most infamous for was their sexual appetites. Frequently, after disarming a soldier (sometimes literally), they would take them off and rape them, forcing them to erection with their human hands and taking what they wanted from them, and then once they had gotten off, the Mantis would then start eating their victim alive, usually starting with the genitals, the victim screaming in agony as the Mantis stripped his body of all his flesh.

    After the war, an effort was made to exterminate all Manti they could find. Problem was, they couldn't find any. The Manti retained enough intelligence to go into hiding, keeping their movements secret. A few were found shortly before the first Widow was sighted, and the first Pokègirl bounties were made. That bounty was subsequently increased, as Manti seemed to have developed a taste for bird, insect, frog, and lizard-type Pokègirl as well, great piles of bones being found in Manti lairs.

    More and more, Manti are found in the company of the Limbec Pirates, who are apparently quite fond of the vicious man-eaters. A captured member of the Pirates revealed that once the Pirates became a noticeable force, Mephaesta recruited Manti en-masse to serve as torturers and executioners, an arrangement that both sides appreciate and enjoy. This put the bounty on a level seconded only by the Widow and the bounties recently put out for the Dark Queen and Anima Pokègirl breeds.

    In recent a raid on a Limbec Pirate lair, a particularly fat, Snorlass-sized Mantis was found in the base's dungeons, alongside several hundred bones. DNA testing later revealed that these were all Tamers, Pokègirl, and civilians who had disappeared in the last few months. Before the Mantis was put down, a psychic probe revealed that all those she had eaten were somehow connected with anti-Threshold and anti-Feral research. The Mantis knew nothing more than that, she simply ate whom she was sent. This has led security to be increased around those facilities and for the family members of those involved.

BUNNYGIRL, the Ditzy Pokègirl
Type: Near Human Animorph
Element: Normal
Frequency: Common
Diet: vegetarian
Role: typically used in industries where high intelligence or strength is not required such as food preparation.
Libido: High (Extreme)
Strong Vs: Ghost
Weak Vs: Fighting, dog Pokègirls, bird Pokègirls
Attacks: Tackle, Kick, Leap
Enhancements: Speed, Enhanced Hearing, Retarded Aging, Luck Factor
Evolves: Beach Bunny (Water Stone), Play Bunny (evolves during orgasm - rare), Moon Bunny (Moon Stone), March Hare (rare, mechanism unknown), Snow Bunny (Ice Crystal), Mini-Top (abuse or witnessing excessive violence), Ingenue (evolves during stress), Cabbit (Cat E-Medal)
Evolves From: None

    Bunnygirls are fun loving, friendly, Pokègirls with a scant attention span and respond well to friendly affectionate Masters. They are popular with college students, high school boys, and certain groups. On finding a Master who actually responds well to affection, their libido tends to get a bit higher with a corresponding drop in attention span.

    The Bunnygirl is one of the more common types of Pokègirl in the general market. Due to their lack of fighting potential, they are generally not found among a Tamer's harem. The typical Bunnygirl is the sole pokègirl of an owner who needs someone who can be trained to basic proficiency in a single set of skills - often Cooking or Domestic. There are even fan groups and enthusiasts such as exist for Kittens, Titmice, and Mermaids.

DEMON-GODDESS, the Heaven-or-Hell Pokègirl
Type: Very Near Human
Element: Steel/Magic
Frequency: Very Rare
Diet: Human Intake plus various amounts of sex
Role: special strike units
Libido: Low (Changes to Average after Battle Stress)
Strong Vs: Ice, Rock, Poison, Bug
Weak Vs: Fighting, Fire, Ghost
Attacks: Iron Punch, Iron Defense, Absorb, Imitate, Aura Barrier, Mystic Bolt, (all others vary)
Enhancements: Wingless flight, high HP, photographic memory
Evolves: Unknown
Evolves From: mechanisms unknown but may evolve from any of the following: Megami, Demoness, Succubus, or Mechdoll.

    Demon-Goddesses are usually between 5'8" to 6'4" tall. They often have silver or platinum hair, with black being the species' albino. They generally have gold, silver or red eyes. Other than these common traits, everything else about a Demon-Goddess is random, from their bust size to their personality to their maximum lifespan.

    The Demon-Goddess is always on a razor's edge, morally speaking. Demon-Goddesses are usually a little bit bad and a little bit good. Every Demon-Goddess feels a great moral burden until they've firmly established their moral ground. Depending on how they develop over their lives, they can be either powerful menaces to all life in general or equally powerful saviors.

    Because of this, Demon-Goddesses can't be classified as Infernal or Celestial as a group, but can be classified as such individually. Indeed, there are several Demon-Goddesses who were listed as each, causing humans to look upon each member of the species with a fair bit of suspicion.

    Demon-Goddesses have a number of powers that are universal. All of them can use Absorb, Imitate and Aura Barrier. It's Imitate that has made the Demon-Goddess a powerful opponent, since with her photographic memory, she can hold onto memories of attacks much longer, and unlike the normal limitations of the technique, she can use any attack she's seen within the last four to five days.

    Demon-Goddesses sometimes have a staff which is usually described as looking like some sort of key. The exact design of this "key staff" varies from pokègirl to pokègirl, but it's generally seen with the Demon-Goddesses who are calm and collected. Demon-Goddesses need only half the food of a human, but they require sex quite often, moreso if they've just had an intense battle. In fact, the more they fight, the more sex they need.

    Demon-Goddesses have a feral state, but unlike normal feral states, she is rendered largely helpless, with little strength to fend for herself. Because of this, almost no Demon-Goddess can go very long without a sexual partner, even if it is a temporary one.

    Speaking of sexual partners, a Demon-Goddess prefers monogamous relationships to a harem setting, though unlike a Neo-Iczel who will try and keep partners out, most Demon-Goddesses will not resist to having extra partners in her bed. However, the less attention given to her, the more jealous she will become. How she reacts to jealousy varies greatly: Some will leave, some may begin growing increasingly temperamental, and others may even attack her partner and the new lovers.

    As such, it is not a good idea for any tamer to have a large harem with a Demon-Goddess, as she requires a lot of attention.

    Strange though it may be, a Demon-Goddess will show bond-level loyalty to any partner she chooses to be permanent, even if she has not bonded. Even odder is the fact that a Demon-Goddess will not let her partner's moral choices influence her own. One demoness is even said to have wound up with a Demon-Goddess partner who was nigh-saintly.

    Neo Iczels and Demon-Goddesses have an intense rivalry. Something about the Neo-Iczels having a great amount of power, yet seemingly unburdened by moral issues, irks Demon-Goddesses greatly. Once a Demon-Goddess notices a Neo Iczel, if they don't immediately begin name-calling and subsequently wind up attacking each other; they will do everything they can to ignore the other and will cold-shoulder even their partner if they happen to ask the Demon-Goddess to be polite to the Neo-Iczel. The few times they will remain even remotely civil to each other is either when the Demon-Goddess has chosen her own moral compass; or when they're both fighting the same opponent, but even then, they will verbally bash the other at every given opportunity.

    And no tamer should ever try and get them both in the same harem.

    Only two thresholds into a Demon-Goddess have occurred, one in 186 AS, and the other in 257 AS.