Ch. 7 - Escape

 

"But then why are the crystals important?" I asked, somewhat confused. Karumi stood ten feet away from me, and shook her head, causing her dark bangs to sway.

"You weren't paying attention. The weave crystals are good at holding life energy. Life energy, when used as a catalyst, can exponentially strengthen most necromancy spells," she explained again, connecting the two. I'd thought about that much, but if I only had my own energy, it didn't really help.

I shook my head. "I made that connection, but if it's my own energy, why do I need the crystals?" I asked her, confused.

She sighed and continued, "The problem is, you're not thinking selfishly enough. Don't use your energy for the catalysts, then?"

Frowning, I looked at the crystal I had manifested in my hand. Made up of a series of runes, it pulsed with the energy of the surrounding area. It's only feasible purpose, aside from drifting about and hoping to bash people in the head, was storing vast amounts of energy, more than what went into making it. But if that energy didn't come from me, oh.

"I take it from my enemy, then," I muttered, finally getting it, and wishing I hadn't.

Karumi grinned and nodded. "Yup. You used a similar technique with the ice, although I have no idea how you made the spell do both at once. You can send leylines of energy in your attacks, and use a secondary spell to drain a little life force into the crystal the spell is connected to," she explained as if it was an extremely simple concept.

Frowning again, I could see why this kind of magic had a bad reputation. But it was the only physical magic she knew, so if I wanted to learn it, that's what I'd be getting. Pushing my left middle finger into the palm, I drew a bit of my own life energy as chi, and tossed it into the spell I formed in front of me. The tiny ball of darkness appeared in the air where I directed, then exploded outwards, creating a lance of inert matter, vaguely resembling bone, that burst through the air at rapid speeds and directly at Karumi.

She grinned and flickered away, using teleport at the last second. Appearing behind me, she whipped an energy blade out and drove it deep into my shoulder, causing me to scream out in agony. Dispelling the illusion, I stepped out from behind her with six more orbs of darkness, and released three of them in a claw pattern. She teleported again and flickered away, just as the claws shattered through where she was moments before.

Trying something new, I popped her image into my mind, and felt her behind me a split second later.   One orb exploded a split second before the last two, and her stab was surprisingly blocked by the first. Her eyes widened just as she teleported a last time, before the last two spears stabbed into the area where she was.

She reappeared ten feet in front of me again, grinning this time. "Nice, you surprised me by mixing it up a bit and using second sight. You'll be a lethal mage in no time at all," she spoke, giving praise.

I blushed slightly, but nodded. We'd been training like this off and on for two weeks now, in the lax of waiting for more of her special plants to grow. She needed one more potion to complete the gate that would hopefully get us free of this place. I'd learned a lot more spells, started on illusions, and gotten basic energy transmutation down, to create the solid objects, in that time period. She said I was oddly skilled, and 'took to magic like a pokégirl'.

It was strange, because several times I'd caught myself 'remembering' different things that I didn't think I knew in the first place. Focusing, I weaved my chi through the crystal I was holding, then completed the spell for life draining. It couldn't drain a huge amount, but it would still be useful. Connecting the life drain to my next attack, I created a single small spear, without a catalyst this time, and nodded.

"Now remember, control, Kit. I'll let you nick me this time, and then you drain a little bit of vitality, then try casting with it," she instructed, nodding to me.

I gave a curt nod before releasing the much smaller bone spear. It was weird, watching the 'tether' from my other spell sail along, attached to it. It nicked her in the arm, where I aimed, and she winced slightly as I saw the tethers latch all throughout the wound. Tactics said I could dig deeper and attempt a fishhook effect, but I just wanted a little energy and to not piss her off. 

A little bit of energy drained into the tether, and flowed directly into the crystal. She chuckled. "You're so gentle, Kit," she muttered, blowing a kiss at me and causing me to blush again. I caught Kari rolling her eyes at the sideline.

For the last part, I connected the crystal to my next attack, but on release this time. My eyes widened as the entire crystal drained of energy, and the attack exploded with a lot more force than I intended! Karumi flickered away just in time, as no less than fifteen bone spears shattered the ground apart where she was, extending all the way from my hand.

She appeared five feet from them and whistled. "Well that would have been unfortunate for a pokégirl that didn't expect you to lose control of the spell like that. Or one that couldn't teleport," she added, smirking at my work. I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Karumi. I didn't expect the catalyst to be so potent," I muttered, looking over the devastation.

She shrugged and nodded at me. "It was your first time using opponent's life energy. It's to be expected. Life energy from a pokégirl also is more, how do you say, potent. And yours, what you've used so far, is weaker due to your blood curse," she explained, causing me to nod slowly. I'd already assumed that much, so she didn't need to remind me. I still must have drooped a little.

"You're not pathetic!", Kari called out from the sidelines instantly, causing Kiya and Danni to laugh. Patrick was still staring abhorrently at the bone spears, and I couldn't tell if he was in shock, or disliked the form of magic. They made me uncomfortable, but I found a sort of irony in smiting a potential opponent with symbolic death. Bone was easy to make, as far as inert matter went, anyway, being not truly solid all the way through. You could also channel life force with it easier, for some reason. I'd already asked Karumi, but she said she didn't know why either.

Sighing, I looked back at Kari, suddenly feeling tired. "You've done twice as much drawing from yourself today as prior, Kit. Your chi is stronger, but is still very small due to your blood curse. We're done for today," Karumi informed, dropping stance and walking around our new forest of bones.

Kari rushed over and caught me as I fell into her. She smiled gently down at me before lowering both of us to the ground. Patrick whistled as he got up and walked over to the bones. He pushed against one lightly, but it didn't budge. They slammed into the cobblestone with surprising force, so it would probably take Kittra to yank them out later.

Karumi stopped at Patrick and made a head motion towards herself. He nodded weakly and walked over. "When we escape, you two will come up with the story of getting free by accident. I want you to start pokégirl hunting immediately. I need more troops," she explained, shifting most of her weight to one foot in front of him. She seemed impatient for some reason.

"It might be a little slow with just a Peekabu and a pistol, but as you wish," he replied, stretching lightly. He'd complained earlier about his body not working exactly 'correct' yet. Although I suppose being dead for that long had quite an effect on him.

She smiled in amusement, and I mentally groaned, dreading the worst already. "I'm working on getting a Thunder Stone via summoning. And I have some more interesting guns for you to use. After she evolves, we'll give your new Ria a Fiendish template via blessing," she informed, swaying lightly.

I sighed, and rested fully against Kari, who didn't seem to mind in the least. For lack of better wording, we'd gotten very comfortable around each other. I guess we trusted each other more. "Very well, I suppose I don't have much choice," Patrick muttered, causing Karumi to snicker and nod. Of course you didn't. Neither of us did.

"Oh, and you're partnered directly or indirectly with Kit. I trust him more than I trust you, so he'll be in charge of the basic operations. I'll also teach him how to recharge your crystal so you don't have to report back to me every day," she added, walking back towards the building.

Frowning, I sighed at the vaguely unexpected events. Patrick shook his head and wandered back over in my direction. "So I suppose you're 'Boss' now, then?" he asked, chuckling. I rolled my eyes as he sat down five feet from Kari and I.

"Yeah right. Like I have a clue how to hunt a wild pokégirl," I muttered, drawing a snicker from Kari. Kiya suddenly collided with Patrick's back, knocking him onto his stomach as she snuggled into him. From the sounds I heard in the deeper grass last night, I'd guess she'd gotten a heavy taming. Danni tried to mimic her harem sister, but ended up missing Patrick and just tripping instead, smashing into the ground in front of me.

Laughing, I reached over and petted her hair a bit, and she cooed, not bothering to move from her collapsed position. I suppose her life was at least less mundane than the average Chickenlittle. Although she'd be actually useful and intelligent if we could get one of those stone thingies for her. I wondered how expensive they were.

"You forgave her for laying the egg on your foot, I take it?" Kari asked after a few seconds, causing Patrick to laugh.

"Dang, I'd forgotten about that," he added after struggling back into a sitting position and pulling Kiya into his lap.

I chuckled and shook my head. "It's not her fault, and I understand you wanting to get the stone for her now, anyway."

There was a loud crashing from inside, followed by Karumi's swearing, and Kittra's laughter. I sighed and shook my head, as the sound of the energy field being turned back on came to my sensitive ears. Karumi had brought the angel back a week ago, much to her utter horror. It had been an uphill battle ever since.

Suddenly a figure exploded in a fury of feathers from the building, and I realized she hadn't gotten the field up in time. Again. Sighing again, I stood up with Kari and looked over at the celestial girl, snarling at Karumi who was exiting the building.

"Come on! Can I just eat her? She's obviously not willing to cooperate," Kittra called out, rapidly following her Mistress.

I rolled my eyes. "Is your stomach all you ever think about, Kittra?" I asked, as she glanced over at me.

She grinned merrily. "And taming, but mostly, yeah," she agreed, sticking her tongue out. The two of them had tamed each other three days ago. I'd walked in on it, unfortunately, as they were going at it inside. Kari had been following me, and seemed a mixture of shock and fascination while viewing the display. Kittra seemed abashed and had tried to stop, but Karumi would have none of that. It had been interesting, regardless. I'd not considered Kittra to be the modest type before that.

The celestial managed to stand up finally, and was backing up away from the two. She knew she was outclassed. Although I doubted she was entirely a celestial, anymore. Upon awakening, she seemed greatly disdained at discovering she'd died, and then been brought back under the command of Karumi. Then she saw Patrick and I, and seemed to take it upon herself fully for us being captured and blackmailed.

It was difficult to understand the celestial type. But I suppose there were humans like that as well. Regardless, her appearance had changed drastically. Her wings, prior a pearly white, were now dark ash color. I also noticed her blond hair had shifted to a dark purple, while her eyes went black as well. It made me sad to see her like that, and I don't know why she blamed herself for all of this.

She had her sword out, but kept it low to the ground, looking back and forth between Kittra and Karumi. This wouldn't do at all. She was going to get herself killed by them. She was half feral as it was, not having been tamed at all. She hadn't even gotten her sword out last time before Kittra bashed her unconscious. But Karumi looked utterly pissed this time, and I didn't think it would end without blood.

It was a pity I knew nothing to enhance my movement. Teleportation would have been handy, about now. Tapping a bit of my own energy again, I grimaced as I felt the light headedness that came with over-taxing myself. But if Karumi's expression of anger was any indication, I knew that it had to be done relatively quickly. She had taught me the trick. Writing the rune across my own mental image, I used my second sight to magnify the illusion greatly, then step out of myself, now invisible.

Walking slowly around Patrick, I slipped the remaining fifteen feet quietly, until I was behind the raging angel. Waiting until the last second, I released the spell at point blank range, hoping it would be fast enough.

My illusions both dispelled at once when I shifted my focus. The angel jumped in surprise as the aura of my spell blasted all over her with tethers. I'd no delusions that I could hold a raging pokégirl, but if she was drained, then maybe this would work.

Tying the tethers rapidly to the crystal I still held, I watched the magic drain from the angel's own aura, as her life force also got sucked into the crystal. She started to rapidly spin around, but I'd already started using her own energy to cast the last spell. Nine orbs of darkness this time. Six exploded into bone spears, raining down around and past her. One clipped her knee and her wings got trapped in the arcs of bone. The last three orbs overcharged and exploded into a slightly more potent, and sticky, version of what I'd accidentally done to Patrick and Kiya. The entire makeshift bone prison was coated in sticky, smelly slime.

The angel was pissed at first, but rapidly started gagging and choking, then discovered that she couldn't move her wings inside the bones, and that I'd pinned her legs down when she tripped. She knocked one of the bone spears down on top of her, and became a tangled, smelly heap on the ground. Just to be sure, I used the last of her energy I'd stolen to form three more, larger spears to crisscross along the top of the cage, pinning her weakened form down entirely.

Kittra burst into laughter, then ran over next to me as I sat down next to the makeshift cage. Karumi had been watching curiously, and was now nodding and smiling at my work. I looked in at the angel, laying on her back and crying now, no longer struggling as she looked over at me sadly. "You're only going to get yourself hurt if you attack them, and I don't want to see you get hurt," I muttered down to her.

She didn't reply, but just started crying harder. Kari smiled softly at me, then nodded, as if hearing some silent communication. She ran over and grabbed the bucket from next to the garden, that we'd been using to water the herbs, and ran back towards the pool. Patrick shook his head, then walked back at me, smiling. "Would you still be feeling sorry for her if she'd cut you in half?" he asked, chuckling as he joined me in sitting next to her.

"Probably," I muttered, smiling back over at the angel, who was crying silently now, and just looking at me.

Karumi shook her head. "Well done in subduing her. I swear, she's becoming more of a problem every day," she muttered, looking irritated.

Patrick nodded. "She'd obviously have difficulties adjusting. You two are infernal types," he pointed out. Kari came back with a bucket of hot water and started pouring it gently over the entangled angel, washing the smell away from her face first, then working on her body. She was still wearing what was left of the modest garb she was killed in. The chest directly below her breasts was entirely severed and stained red, but everything else was intact, and she was wearing a bra as well. Her tamer must have been very kind to her, or she came from a more official organization.

She seemed to calm down after the warm water was poured over her, and reached outside of the cage lightly, towards me. I grabbed her left hand, and she just held it lightly, staring up at me with extremely sad eyes. I leaned closer to her and tried my hardest to warmly smile. "Now will you calm down now and think again?" I asked softly, trying to reason with her.

Karumi looked surprised when she actually nodded weakly, and attempted slowly crawling out of the bone towards me. "Looks like she's finally calming down now," Patrick muttered.

Sighing, I released the lines of energy in the bones that I'd set up, in case she tried to attack them, and pushed the top two aside. She slipped out of the cage and settled almost instantly into my lap. Kari slapped her forehead. "Aww, now I'm going to have to wash your clothes again to get all that crap off them," she muttered as she realized the angel was still covered in the black goo.

I chuckled softly and nodded, trying to get the angel's hair out of her face. She was as tall as I was, but curled up against me and seemed a lot smaller. She was also more lithe than I noticed before, and extremely light. Maybe hollow bones for flying? "Do you want to help me get her cleaned up, Kari?" I asked. 

Kari smiled and nodded towards me, so I lifted the angel up and walked with her towards the pool, followed by a very curious Kittra. She seemed less interested in the angel as food now, anyway. "I'll leave her cleanup to you then, Kit. Just make sure she understands her situation, and try to get her to be a little more obedient," Karumi ordered, shaking her head and walking back inside.

I nodded weakly before setting the angel down in the pool. She wouldn't let go of me, though, and I sighed, trying to lift her back up again. Kittra, who was looking back at Karumi when she heard her talking, didn't pay attention and smacked into my butt. Eyes widening, I tipped forwards and both of us went into the pool.

Kari giggled lightly while sitting next to the edge as I re-surfaced, wet angel still attached to my chest. Patrick, who had been following us slowly, laughed at me, a pokégirl to each of his arms still. "I almost think she did that on purpose," he muttered, smirking at Kittra, who rolled her eyes.

"Well he needed the bath anyway. He smells like a fox after a while!" Kittra exclaimed noisily, causing me to blush.

Motions from the angel snapped me out of my embarrassment, and I looked back down at her. She had seemed surprised to be dumped in the water, but was now using it to wash the goo off of her head. "T-thank you, um," she trailed off as she looked back up at me.

"Keith, or Kit," I replied, snickering as I helped her closer to the edge, allowing Kari to start cleaning her hair. It was an utter mess, everything being stuck together by goo, sweat, and dirt.

The angel smiled sadly, but nodded. "What is the situation, then, Keith? Where is Tia?" she asked slowly, as if struggling with the words.

"Tia must be your name? And you're in a pocket of folded space. Karumi has Patrick and I hostage, using spells, and is making us help her regain her status in the real world after we escape," I summed up, watching as Kittra stirred the water next to us idly with her left paw.

The angel, Tia it would seem, nodded gently and relaxed, just letting Kari and I wash her. "I'm terribly sorry, Keith. Tia couldn't save you after she said so," she muttered, looking sad again.

I shook my head as I tried cleaning her knee. It was only a small nick, but I was still irked that I'd glanced her. "It's hardly your fault, Tia. Please, try not to worry about it," I assured, gently cleaning the cut. She seemed not to even notice.

"I know you felt the need to protect us, but what happened was beyond your control," Patrick seconded, sitting down with Kiya and Danni hanging off him.

Kittra edged a little closer, looking at Tia as she closed her eyes at the feeling of being washed. I frowned, the motion distracting me. "You can't eat her, Kittra," I said, looking over at the Hellcat.

Kittra snickered, but shook her head. "No, I don't want to eat her.  She just smells good," she spoke, grinning.

I raised an eyebrow, but sniffed absently. The water had a mineral smell to it, and I could still smell the goo. But then something else came to my nose. My eyes widened as I saw Kittra was starting to flush slightly, and I realized it was musk. "I'm doubting she wants you to tame her, Kittra," I pointed out, shaking my head sadly.

Kittra pouted. "She smells like she wants to, though!" she exclaimed, grinning at me. Tia was blushing at this point, but backing away from Kittra, shaking her head.

"No, Kittra. Not yet, okay? Have Patrick tame you," I offered, earning a glare from him. Kittra looked contemplative for a moment, before shaking her head.

"Nah. I think I'll go help Mistress, and wait for you later," she decided, winking at me before standing up again.

I blushed, but shook my head out of the fog and glanced back over at Kari, who was glaring at Kittra as she left. Tia frowned, and drifted back over towards me. "Do you happen to know where Tia's Master is? Tia d-doubt that he'd take Tia back as she is now, but Tia really does need," she muttered, frowning before blushing again and looking down.

"Who was your master?" I asked her, going back to cleaning her knee. It had finally stopped bleeding, and I was making sure it was nice and clean before it got bandaged after her bath.

Kari went back to cleaning her hair, as Tia frowned and tried hard to think. "Everything feels so foggy. Tia can't feel bond anymore. Master was a Knight, Tia remembers," she muttered, looking confused and frustrated. Knight?

I nodded to her gently. "If you want, I can try to find your master once we get out of here," I offered, causing Kari to smile gently at me again.

Tia's eyes widened drastically. "Keith would do that for Tia?" she asked, tilting her head and causing Kari to laugh.

"Keith's an extremely nice guy, so yes, he would, Tia," she affirmed, smirking at me.

I rolled my eyes and flushed a little. She loved making me blush. Tia somehow made her wings disappear, then, and all the goo fell to the ground. I was dreading cleaning those, and sighed in relief. "Master won't take Tia back, now that bond is severed and Tia is a Fallen Angel, but Tia want talk with him, anyway," she muttered, sinking back into the water.

Kari frowned and looked sad, while I tried to clean Tia's skirt of the crap. It was disgusting, and I made a mental note only to use that attack if I wasn't trying to salvage something afterwards. "What will you do, then? Are you really okay with Karumi controlling you?" she asked weakly.

I frowned. This wouldn't go well at all. Tia didn't answer right away, though, and I saw her starting to flush lightly. Looking down, I noticed that the fabric was brushing against her inner thigh as I cleaned, and stopped instantly. "Oh, sorry about that, Tia," I muttered, causing a confused look in Kari.

Tia shook her head rapidly, and looked back up at me, blushing. "Tia kind of didn't want you to stop," she muttered, eyes glazed over slightly.

I blushed a little more. "Now no teasing the lady. Be proper, Keith," Patrick lectured playfully, smirking at me, then laughing as I whipped water at him.

"You're the actual tamer here, why don't you help her?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow and smirking to him.

Tia tilted her head questioningly. "Keith is not a tamer?"

Shaking my head, I smiled back at her, before Kari gave me a playful shove in the shoulder.  "Well I hope you aren't going to get a pet license if I threshold," she commented, smirking at me. Huh?

It dawned on me. Legally, I had to either be a pet owner, or a tamer if I wanted to help Kari, if she became a pokégirl. I saw what horrible things a tamer could do when that man attacked our house. To be associated with that kind of thing felt wrong. But Patrick was a tamer too, and he was totally the opposite. I felt pulled between the two choices. Tia fell silent as she studied me intently.

"You want me to become a Tamer, Kari?" I asked softly, looking up at her gently.

She looked back for several seconds before smiling gently and nodding again. "A month ago, you asked me what I wanted to do with my life. Then, I wouldn't have been able to tell you I'd spend it as a pokégirl, in all likelihood. But if I remember, I asked you the same thing then, and you didn't have a clue. I think you could make your Mom and Dad very, very proud though," she spoke, not losing her smile.

It was a strange revelation, and I looked down slightly, at the girl floating in the water, watching me. It felt similar to how my Dad was, before everything fell apart. He always told me that starting a fight was a bad thing, but sometimes it was needed to help someone else. I'd witnessed how horrible things can get myself, right? Making sure that doesn't happen to others seemed as if it was worth fighting for. Maybe it would balance out all of the bad a little bit more.

Nodding gently, I finally spoke, "Yes, if only to stop this happening to anyone else, I think you're right. The world's horrible enough without people fighting to make things better."

Kari beamed at me, and nodded gently. Tia smiled gently as well, and nodded to me. "It seems like it would fit Keith very well," she agreed. Sighing, I hoped they were right.

* * * * *

Zageith scowled at the scene before him. The yard looked like it had when he'd last scene it, destroyed fence and all. The house was dark, however. No car in the driveway. "So we missed them?" he asked irritably.

Mariemi sighed and walked up holding a print out. "It was hard to find, but I got a generalized police report for you," she explained, handing him the release.

Frowning, Zageith took the paper and looked at it. Several minutes later, he growled. "What the hell? They went missing after being involved in a clash between Pendragon Exorcists and a Dark Lady?" he growled, to nobody in particular.

Mishka leaned down and felt the grove in the ground where her technique had ripped into the dirt. "This is where her blood was spilled. She should have died," she muttered, frowning, then wincing at the memory. That boy. She unconsciously held her side tightly. It had taken her a full month to recover fully and begin training again. And now she was missing half a lung on that side due to the extensive damage that had been done to her. Hell, she was lucky to be alive.

"This has to have been Karumi. She wouldn't have let another Dark Lady onto her turf. What the hell was she thinking?" he asked, again to himself.

Mariemi shrugged. "Headquarters says they're still picking up her signature, but as if it's very far away. They're not sure what to make of it, as it suddenly shrunk drastically three weeks ago," she explained, in a bored tone.

"So the same day the kid and his father disappeared. She's with them?" he deduced.

Mariemi shook her head. "Just the kid and a non-affiliated tamer. The father's corpse was found after the battle. Coroner reports death by dark magic," she pointed out, motioning towards the police report again.

Zageith shook in irritation. "Damn it. Kessandris wouldn't have put up with Karumi. None of this makes any sense at all."

Mishka returned to her master's side, before suggesting, "Perhaps we should look for the boy, then? If Kessandris is still with him, then our search will be over."

"Yeah. Time to find Karumi, then," Zageith agreed.

* * * * *

Kittra growled low, and let her claws curl into the dirt under her, as she lifted her head back slowly, panting. Grinning down at her looking so submissive, I hilted into her from behind again, pushing her downwards into the dirt. She moaned quietly, trying to obviously choke back the sounds as her breasts slid along the rough dirt.

Varying it, three more slower thrusts, from just the tip being in, to fully bottomed out, I felt her stiffen, and her tail shot straight up. Warm liquid started gushing out around her extremely wet heat, and she made a throaty purring as her muscles repeatedly clamped around me. Sighing, I just let myself go, and released heavily inside of her.

Riding the crest for as long as possible, we managed almost twenty seconds before collapsing into a sticky pile. She turned around on me, still not letting me slide out of her, and grinned down at me before leaning in for another warm kiss. Kissing back in earnest, I let the more primal instincts slide back down into the abyss of my mind, as I caught my breath.

"Mmm… Master," she muttered.

My eyes widened. "M-Master? Karumi is your mistress, isn't she?" I asked, startled. This had started out extremely innocent, with me getting up at night, needing to pee. She'd caught me after I was done though, and was 'extremely' needy. Normally I probably wouldn't have granted her requests, but something seemed very different about her. I started to think I was right.

Kittra giggled and shook her head. "Karumi killed my old master. But pokégirls can't tame each other all that well. We just keep each other from going feral," she explained.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, looking down.

She shook her head. "Don't be mistaken. He was an asshole. I was better off with Karumi, that's all. And now I'm feeling better off with you," she corrected, looking a little sad for just a second before resting her head down on my chest.

Feeling my muscles start to clamp and protest, I let a hand drop from her back and land in the grass. The spell was visualized a second later, and my hand darkened as I sucked in mana from the grass and dirt. She watched for a few seconds, before getting a soft smile on her lips. "You can drain a little from me, too, if you wish," she offered.

Frowning, I shook my head and she giggled. "Why do you feel that way?" I asked after several more moments, finally starting to feel the energy I was gathering repair my fatigue.

Kittra looked up from licking sweat drops off my chest and smiled. Her tongue was very rough, I noticed. "I'd come to the realization that Karumi wasn't right for me quite a while ago, actually."

I tilted my head towards her. "Then why didn't you just leave? And you seem to get along well enough," I pointed out.

Kittra sighed softly. "She treats me okay. I don't really even care about that. I just realized that she's no different from every other organization out there, legit or otherwise," she explained, claw tracing lines along my chest lightly.

"So you simply don't like organization in general, then?" I gathered, also deciding to play with the fur along her back.

She giggled at my touch and squirmed, causing me to remember that I was still literally inside her body. "You're the first person to actually realize that, I think. I enjoy freedom, and think everyone should have that basic right. Organizations are just about control, and Karumi's underground dealings are no different," she added, grinning again as she felt me growing stiffer inside of her

Trying to reel in my urges, I nodded to her softly. "So you'd prefer anarchy to anything, then? And because I'm technically affiliated with no organization at all," I deduced, trying to get a lock on exactly what she wanted, overall.

She purred and gave my right nipple a lick, giggling throatily when I winced at her roughness. "Mmm, yes. That, and you're different. I'm not entirely sure why, but I expected you to be just like every other human or pokégirl alike. They would have just left me to die from that ice attack," she muttered, eyes suddenly softening.

Frowning, I lifted her head up again before kissing her softly. Her eyes widened at the sudden display of affection, but she slowly started purring again and melted softly into me. I smiled gently at her as she whimpered up at me. "You haven't really hurt me, at least nothing permanent, and I couldn't stand to see you suffering like that," I told her, scratching behind her ear.

She purred louder and pushed her head into my hand. "And I'll never hurt you again, or let anything else hurt you either," she muttered, groaning at my attention.

Her hips suddenly started rocking slowly against me, causing me to gasp and come to full attention inside of her again. She grinned down at me and started grinding gently. I gasped out weakly, and eyed either of her claws on each of my shoulders. "F-from the front?" I asked, eyes widening.

"I won't hurt you, trust me," she groaned, smirking down at me before gasping as I hit her more sensitive spot.

Deciding I didn't have much choice, I nodded up to her and prepared for a long night.

* * * * *

My eyes opened slowly, and I sat up. Kari made a murmuring noise, and rolled onto her back, off me. I chuckled as I tried to sit up further, and realized Kittra was tucked against my other side. She made a drowsy protest, then seemed to fall back asleep.

Shaking my head, I realized how normal this had all started to feel. Yes, it was every day before that I woke up in boxers with a horny Hellcat and my best friend in just her underwear. Well at least Kari wore something.

I stared down at Kittra's nude form, before shuddering and remembering last night. Karumi would probably wonder at the deadened area of grass, but I had needed to draw a lot of energy to keep my body going.  And she hadn't clawed me, like she promised. It was refreshing, even if her slightly changing behavior surprised me. Slipping my pants on, I noticed and traced the lightly developing lines of my abdomen. The heavy training and embarrassingly, taming, were starting to show. But I suppose it was what I wanted.

Ever since I was consciously aware of my curse, I always had hated it. It has varying levels of intensity, day by day, sometimes hardly bothering me, and other times making it so I could barely move. Today felt like it was going to be one of those barely moving days. My body protested heavily, but I stretched anyway and grabbed my shirt from the pile, slipping it on before heading outside.

Walking past Patrick, I went outside to the much cooler air. Seven living beings all sleeping in the same, small room certainly kept it toasty. Smiling, I just let the cooler air sink into me for a bit. My affinity had always been more towards the cold, disliking heat. Although with my genetics, I suppose it wasn't much of a surprise.

Once I'd cooled down, I stretched once more and walked over to the pool. I stared into the water for several seconds before nodding slowly, and forming six patterns in the air in front of me. Focusing as hard as I could, I sent six lines, one from each pattern, into the spring water.

A moment later, I smiled as six orbs formed out of the top of the water, and bubbled up into the air, at my direction. Basic transmutation and force manipulation. Frankly, I wasn't all that great at the force manipulation yet, and Karumi said I at least needed a basic knowledge of it to function well. Manipulating something without physically touching it. That was the basics of force manipulation, labeled telekinesis. She said that since my total pool of internal energy utterly sucked, I should work on control first, since the energy for that has to come from inside of me, not drained.

My eyes narrowed in focus, as three more orbs of water joined the six floating around me. All nine orbs were drifting in a simple circle, varying in height as they spun. It took all of my focus, and second sight to help mentally control the orbs, which was irritating. I was so much better at necromancy.

Then I chuckled at myself. I was so much better at using energy that wasn't my own. Every time my energy got involved, I started sucking again. Releasing a gasp, I finally couldn't take it anymore, and launched all the orbs back into the pool. My head gave a throb of protest and I rubbed my forehead softly. My Mind's Eye, which used the second sight, was still very much active, as well, which I silently congratulated myself for. I'd been practicing keeping it up all the time, to get used to the feeling of the extra sense. It was starting to become instinctual to use it now, which was what I was striving towards.

Composing myself again, I stood up and regrouped my mental thoughts, preparing for another try. Motion caught my attention though, and I looked to my right in time to see none other than Cassia sticking half her body up out of the ground. She was watching me with interest.

I stared at her for a few seconds before mentally shrugging and going back to my exercises. She hadn't said a word to me this entire time, and I'd only seen her on three occasions. I was under the impression she was doing some sort of scouting around the edges of this dimension for Karumi, but didn't quite know the details. It didn't really matter, as I didn't really know her all that well.

Focusing again, I summoned up only six orbs this time, and tried to start making various patterns with them in the air over the pool. I'd discovered tracing the magical symbols with my mind was easy, but projecting them outside of myself was almost impossible without pointing one of my hands in the direction of the symbol. I wondered why that was.

Cassia drifted over and sat down next to my feet, watching the orbs drift about in the air. She let her legs hang down into the water, and I noticed she didn't make a ripple when doing so. She was an extremely passive pokégirl, I noticed.

This went on for about fifteen minutes before I heard movement behind me. My ears shifted back, but my second sight informed me it was Patrick. I didn't turn around, but instead kept trying to bend the orbs of water, to make something other than an orb. The focus was intense, though, and so far, I'd just gotten drifting ovals.

"You're really practicing hard," he muttered, sitting down to my other side. He carried a large case with him, and proceeded to open it.

I chuckled. "I don't know about that. It's strange. For one, it feels like I've done this before. Another, it's empowering to have this capacity. I've been dealing with having crap for a body all my life. To be able to do something without needing my body is very refreshing," I explained.

Patrick nodded slowly, watching the orbs for another moment before flipping the case open. Six orbs was reasonably easy, so I managed to peek down at the box with my actual eyes. They widened when I noticed what seemed to be a layered shelf system coming out of it. There was what appeared to be a high caliber rifle on the top, disassembled. On the shelf below were two large pistols, with accompanying varieties of barrels. The bottom shelf, being the bottom of the container itself, contained row after row of bullets, about four different caliber if I looked correctly. They all were marked with an assortment of weird runes.

"Present from Karumi?" I asked hesitantly, looking back towards my orbs.

He chuckled in amusement down at them. "She gave them to me with what seemed to be irritation and disdain, stating they were just taking up space in her collection. I'm guessing she's not very good with guns," he deduced, earning a chuckle from me.

"Runes on them. Magic bullets?" I asked, curious as I stopped the rotation of the orbs briefly to examine the guns closer.

He nodded absently. "I'm fairly certain. These look like heavily modified pre-war tech, not newly made, so I can't entirely tell. They're not the elemental bullets I'm used to," he explained, frowning down into the case.

Whistling low, I continued with my attempts to bend the orbs, starting them in motion again.. They were a little more successful, making a longer line, this time. While doing so, I pondered what other goodies she had. An extensive grimoire, a powerful scythe weapon, and a cluster of pre-war, modified guns. She must have one hell of a backing. Not that pre-war guns were unheard of, just expensive as all hell. And modified ones?

Kiya suddenly flopped down next to her Master, and decided to also watch my display. I settled down on the ground as well, controlling the orbs without hand motions. It was getting easier now. The spell Karumi taught me was useful, because moving the effect didn't require additional energy on my part, and I could keep them up for as long as I focused. I just needed to improve my concentration, now.

I heard a loud crash behind me, and one of my orbs fell back into the water when I jumped. Glaring behind me, I saw Kari and Danni rapidly exiting the building, and Karumi pulling down things from shelves inside. She seemed disturbed by something. Kittra was just yawning and looking over at her, sleepily.

"Cassia, are you done yet?! Get in here!" Karumi called out suddenly. Cassia wordlessly drifted up and back towards the building.

"I wonder what's got her panties in a bunch?" Patrick muttered, cleaning the rifle gently.

Kari shrugged as she walked towards us. "She just sprung awake instantly and started cursing. Maybe she knows something we don't?" she reasoned.

Frowning at the possibility, I let the remaining four orbs drop back into the water and glanced around. I'd thought it was weird, but I'd been so engrossed in my training that I didn't really think about it.  "Did anyone notice the sky is actually lightening?" I asked, looking at an actual start to a dawn in the darkness.

Everyone's attention snapped in the direction I was looking, and Kari gasped. "You're right. I wonder if something's happening to her spell?" she pondered.

The dawn started to occur a lot faster than I realized, and soon I was watching what looked like a dim sun rising. Then my second sight was set off, and I looked down in time to see a red glow coming from the bottom of the pool? "Everyone, away from the water!" I shouted, leaping backwards and away from it myself.

Kari stumbled and ran after me, while Patrick scrambled up front his sitting position, but still managed to haul his guns along with him. Kiya leapt up and followed her master, just as the entire pool exploded. A blast of fire and heat hit me, but I whipped out both hands as Kari dived into my chest. My second sight flared up, and symbols danced in front of my eyes as I managed to catch a dozen or so of the larger rocks out of the air before they hit us. Spinning around with Kari, I crouched down and put my back to the blast, using the larger rocks I caught to form a sort of shield around us.

Patrick hit the ground at the sound of the explosion, and Kiya whipped around in front of him, throwing up her arms as the rocks pelted all around her and her master. Her skin must be a lot tougher than it looked, as I saw a couple larger rocks skip off her, and she only winced. After the rocks stopped falling, a hot rain followed up, as the remains of the spring rained down from the sky.

Swearing loudly, Karumi exited the structure in an extreme hurry, followed by Kittra, who immediately looked for me. She ran over after seeing me and frowned deeply. Only a couple of the rocks had grazed my sides, so I thought I was doing pretty good. Letting the rock shield go, I stood up slowly and looked back at the crater that was our pool.

"Those bastards finally found us. Kittra, prepare for combat while I try to summon a gate after this place collapses. We'll all leave through the gate as soon as it's summoned. Kari, come over here and stick with me," Karumi ordered, rapidly throwing things into a bag in front of her.

Kittra frowned again and looked back at me before nodding and running over to Karumi. I sighed, and rubbed my left side, the deeper wound. Kari hesitated, looking over at Karumi for a moment, before looking back towards me. Then she gasped and leaned over, looking at the small gash and ripped shirt. "It doesn't hurt, don't worry," I muttered, trying to smile at her.

She still kneeled down and proceeded to tear a strip off the bottom of my shirt to bandage my sides. "I don't want these to get infected," she said, frowning as she worked. Karumi glared over at her, but shook her head at the stubborn girl in defeat.

I smiled softly to her and shook my head. "It's okay, Kari. I'll be fine," I assured. She grinned up at me and nodded, finishing the basic knot and standing up again.

"Kit, I don't know how many there are up there," Karumi interupted, as she rapidly walked towards me, carrying two objects. One was a large crystal, and the other was the grimoire. Dropping both to the ground, she grabbed my left hand rather forcefully before I could stop her, and clapped both her hands to either side of mine? Yelping at the sudden burning sensation, I pulled my hand back, just in time to see etchings burning their way up my flesh. My eyes picked up the glowing leylines, but noticed they stopped at my shoulder.

"I don't have time for a bigger one. It has a meager storage system, and I'll upgrade it later. Keep both of these in there, and do not take them out in their presence. They'll be able to sense both, and I can't hide them," she explained further, handing both the book and the crystal to me.

Frowning, I noticed the leylines of power shifted over to my control, and I expanded the symbol she'd burned onto my hand. A black void opened up immediately and swallowed both the book, and the crystal in it. She smiled and nodded towards me. "Excellent, and a very fast learner. Patrick, keep the guns. If we get separated, as they'll probably attack us, I'll try to meet back with both of you as soon as possible," she ordered.

Nodding weakly, I flexed my newly burned arm and looked down at it. The burns were bad, but had restored themselves already via her magic, which meant she only wanted to scar my arm with the runes. "Kari, come with me. I'll protect you and make sure you don't get separated," Karumi added.

I glared at her, but she turned and ran back towards the bag, that Kittra was dropping things into now, rapidly. Kari sighed and hesitated, seemingly really not wanting to go with Karumi. The mist in the surrounding area suddenly started to rapidly evaporate around us, as the sky shifted from black to a bluish color. They were pulling the whole pocket dimension back into reality? This could get really messy. Karumi just snatched up the bag, when there was a large popping noise from all around us, and a strange elevator sensation occurred. Wait, elevator?

My eyes widened as I realized we indeed dropped. Twenty feet of falling later, and the entire fake cemetery landed back directly on top of the real one. The collision was monumental, and I was flung sideways as the earth literally shattered apart at my feet! Snatching Kari as she fell sideways, I tipped us so we both hit the ground rolling. The pocket dimension must have been spherical, as a huge mountain of debris, and what was left of the structure, littered the center of the graveyard now.

Kari and I sat up, and my left hand extended out as fast as I could. The void opened up again, and just to make sure, I sucked up Patrick's gun case and rifle in his hands as well. He noticed just as he was sitting up into a crouch, and nodded silently to me, rubbing his shoulder. I saw that he had hit the fence that lined the graveyard as he rolled, and winced as I saw the blood coming from him.

Kiya slid to a sprawled heap at his feet seconds later, and I tried to manage inventory rapidly. Kari was dusting herself off and coughing to my right. Those two seemed alive, and Patrick had another pokéball at his belt, so Danni was okay. Looking up the side of the hill, I noticed Karumi climbing out of the rubble of the structure and glaring down towards the entrance, which was in the corner next to ours. Kittra popped her head out of the dirt seconds later, while Cassia snickered at her after drifting out of the ground.

Frowning, I looked around the hill top for Tia, who was still in one of the containment cages in the structure. After several more seconds, I spotted her shoving a broken tombstone off herself, and standing up shakily about halfway down the hill, opposite of us. Whew, she was okay.

Starting up the edge of the hill, I looked towards the entrance just in time to see that archangel, and two angels walking up the hill on the other side. Three men with rather large guns stood behind them, one appearing to be an older gentleman, and the other two looking not much older than Patrick. The younger two were both pulling out and readying an additional pokéball from their belts. Tamers?

"Stand down, Karumi! Your days in this town are over," the older gentleman called out.  He knew her?

Karumi growled and tossed a crystal rod backwards. Cassia caught it immediately and grinned as it started to glow. I saw the powerful, invisible lines of power appearing already, and my eyes widened. What the hell was that?! She pulled another crystal out of her cloak, and just stood there with it, as it started to radiate a much smaller light. It was hard to tell what the smaller crystal did, as it was shadowed out by the much larger one.

"Can't tell what the small crystal does. The larger one is some sort of conjuration. An escape route, maybe?" one of the normal angels whispered into her headset she was wearing. My ears twitched, but I barely managed to hear it and frown.

The older man shook his head softly. "Drop the crystals and stand down, Karumi. This is your last warning," he repeated, nodding gently. The three angels began advancing slowly on Karumi's location.

Frowning, I looked back towards the larger crystal. Conjuration of a gateway? I'd read far enough into the book to get a general grasp of power levels needed. Cassia was feeding energy into the crystal, which was a huge boost in strength. What the hell kind of gate was she opening? Something of that level could swallow this entire cemetery, and seemed way overkill for…

My thoughts trailed off and my eyes widened. It was overkill for a gate. It wasn't a gate! "Dodge!" I screamed towards the angels instinctively, running halfway up the hill.

Everything was so slow again. Karumi's glare towards me, Cassia throwing the crystal of energy, and even Tia's eyes widening as she looked down at me. The crystal exploded in midair, causing what looked like a Hyperbeam of dark energy. Whipping my only non-burned arm forward, I stabbed into my own hand with my fingers, drawing enough energy to try to re-direct the huge attack. Gasping, I watched burn marks go down my arm as I tried to hold back the energy from the attack using telekinesis and my own vitality.

Tia just reacted. The beam slowed briefly to a crawl as the angels dived out of the way. Tia grabbed the tombstone that she'd just pushed off herself, leapt at the side of the beam, and smashed the entire tombstone into the attack! My eyes somehow widened further, as I felt a warm liquid splatter down my cheeks again, and the beam exploded.

My only thought was trying to push the angle of the explosion away from Tia and the other angels. Draining as much energy as I could from myself, I tried to shield the entire entrance with a wall of force. For almost a full second, it was working. My arm, unfortunately, gave out first.

Looking to my right, I saw my badly burned arm catch fire, and a burst of darkened blood come out the side of it, near the elbow. It felt like someone chopped it off. I screamed in pain as I fell down to my knees, and my barrier gave out. Most of the explosion was already redirected, and the three angels managed to leap backwards away from the gout of fire. All I could do was stare in horror as Tia continued her forward momentum, and went directly into the flames.

"Keith!" Kari shouted, echoing from next to me, as I felt something hitting against my numbed arm. She was using her own hand to try to put out the fire that ignited my hand and elbow. Wincing, I pulled the arm away from her and forcefully fell on top of it, snuffing out the flames with my own body. There was a snapping sound, but I couldn't feel anything in the arm anyway, so I didn't really care.

"Save Tia," I managed to growl, looking back up to the fallen, smoldering pokégirl on the ground. Her feathers were burnt ash, leaving just the sizzling bones of her wings remaining, and I could see flames flickering off her from my location.

The angels scrambled back to their feet, and I glared to the right just in time to see Karumi use the smaller crystal rod to create a gateway in the air. She handed the rod to Kittra before nodding and stepping through. Cassia giggled towards the scene of destruction before drifting after her mistress.

Kittra held the crystal rod in her left paw, looking down at it gently. Why wasn't she stepping through? The archangel and one of the angels burst over the crater and up the hill, towards the location of the gate. The second angel dived for Tia instead. Frowning, I couldn't take my eyes off Kittra, as she suddenly smiled softly and turned towards me.

My eyes widened as her palm flexed, and the rod snapped in half in her palm. The shards started to glow violently with energy. "Don't!" I screamed out at her, causing her eyes to widen in surprise, and she lost her smile. Frowning, she looked down at the two shards, just as they started to sizzle against her flesh, and the portal wavered. Then she nodded back up at me and threw the shards into the portal as it closed.

"You bitch!" was the last thing I heard, screamed out, as the portal closed. The shards were going to explode. I wondered briefly if Karumi would live through that, but looked back over at the still smiling Kittra as she raised her hands up, surrendering.

The angels fluttered to a stop before her, frowning, then followed her smiling gaze over to me, as I smirked back at her, ignoring my darkening vision again. Then I lost my smile and looked back towards Tia. The older man was kneeling down in front of her, and holding her hand softly. I drew energy in with my left hand, ignoring the burning sensation, and used it to regenerate my own reserves a little and stand up again.

"Keith! You're hurt, stay down," Kari whimpered, trying to hold my shoulder.

I smiled back at her and nodded, before walking in the direction of Tia. She sighed, but followed along after me. My arm was still smoking, but I ignored it as I reached the area where they were kneeling. Vaguely, I noted Patrick and Kiya following, albeit lagging.

There was almost no skin left to her, as she gasped and writhed. The crystal I had belonged to Patrick, I had no doubt, so I couldn't even try to regenerate her using that. The older gentleman looked up at me briefly, before nodding and looking back down at Tia. One of the younger guys shook his head down at her, then pulled off his cap, revealing silky hair that descended down to, decidedly her, shoulders. The other kept his hat on, and walked towards me instead.

"You are to be detained and questioned, civilian. You will not resist and," he started announcing.

The girl glared at him. "Shut the fuck up, Alan," she spoke, in a tone that could freeze water.

He winced slightly, but surprisingly shut up and glared back over at her. Tia finally stopped shaking, and just went still, turning her head to look up at the older man. "Master Cuthbert, I'm so sorry," she whispered, and I tried not to cry as the ashes of her jaw flaked off.

"Silence, Tia. It will be alright now," the older man, Master Cuthbert, spoke softly.

Tia's head slid sideways, and I felt my breath catch, but then she looked back towards me. Her eyes were reddened, and all I could do was look upon her as her skin slowly flaked off. "Thank you, Keith. For everything," she whispered towards me.

Her eyes just looked up at me weakly, and then they lost focus. She didn't move again. Shaking, Cuthbert turned her head back upwards, and slowly closed her eyes with his hand. My knees felt weak, but I remained standing. I'd promised her that she'd get to talk with her master again. I'd promised.

"Sir, we've captured one of the enemies," suddenly came to the right. I weakly turned my head just in time to see Kittra force her way out of the angel's grasp and clear the distance to me within seconds.

"Keith!" she exclaimed, colliding with my left side as Kari supported my right.

The angel glared at her, and stalked towards her again, but Cuthbert held up his left hand. "She surrendered. She is to be treated with respect," he muttered, not taking his eyes off Tia's body.

All I could do was stare down at her. The pokégirl I'd known for all of a week. That was all it took for her to die, and me to fail at my promise. My own heartbeat thudded dully in my ears, as I felt dizzy again. Nothing had changed at all. Even with my new ability, I couldn't even keep one promise.

I shook my head and fell sideways, Kittra barely managing to catch me. Kari screamed and knelt down rapidly, attempting to tear her shirt sleeve off. She took the ribbons and tried to wrap it around what was left of my right arm. Reaching up with my left, I felt along my cheek weakly, then drew back. Blood was coating my fingers. My eyes were bleeding?

The black started to eat at my vision, but I managed to smile at Kari, shouting something frantic, but with no sound coming out. Managing to smile once more at her, just as she looked up at my face, I let myself slip away.

Chapter 7 - End