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Barracks of the Sevenfold Dream…
Just outside Doomstad…
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"Are you sure, Major?" Doggie said, rubbing the back of his neck in a confused manner. "I think I was starting to find out if we were right…"
Motoko just smiled. "It’s all right, Doggie. We talked to Lord Doom, and he says the D-Barriers are still in place. He can’t be a Hopper. He just wants to thank the kid or something like that."
Doggie bit his lip, frowning. "Major, I really think that…"
Motoko elbowed Doggie playfully. "Ever the interrogator. Relax, Doggie. Doom has spoken."
At the mention of ‘Doom has spoken,’ Doggie’s eyes widened, an excited chill going through him. He smiled, and shrugged. "Well… I guess if DOOM thinks he’s innocent…"
Aaron, for his part, was becoming very nervous. He was hiding it well, his expression betraying nothing, although if they looked at his eyes they could see his fright. He took a breath to calm himself and walked up to Doggie.
"So…" he said, "What happens now?"
Doggie turned to him, considering him for a moment. "Well… By the law of First Taming, one of the ten Most Holy Laws set forth by Doom Himself, Elisa belongs to you know."
Aaron winced. "…Yeah, about that…" he said.
Doggie chuckled. "Yeah, you’ll do fine once you’re set up. Anyway, like it or not, Elisa will be set up as your Pokégirl. Which is good for you, as with her experience and extra abilities, she’ll make a damn fine Alpha for your Harem. You’ll be given a personality test to determine what type of Tamer Mark you’ll get, and be assigned a Job Class based on your abilities. Probably you’ll be a necromancer, judging from what you told me about your magic…" Doggie said, "…And you’re not understanding any of this, are you?"
Aaron shook his head, grinning weakly.
Doggie shook his head, sighing. "Damn, whatever conked your hard drive did a real number on you… It’ll be explained better once you meet Lord Doom. He’ll start working on ways to restore your memory, help you get an ID set up. He’ll even fix your eyes."
Aaron blinked. "My eyes?"
Doggie nodded. "Yeah, they got that weird black mark in them… Aaah, you’ll understand. In the end, they all understand," he said, waving in a dismissive manner at the captured prisoners.
Aaron blinked, and looked at Doggie and Motoko closely. It took him a minute but he realized that neither of them had pupils. He shivered slightly, and looked back to the prisoners. Each one of them still had pupils in their eyes. As he watched, he barely noticed as Doggie came over and thumped the glass with his tonfa. Aaron flinched, biting his lip to suppress a yip of surprise.
Doggie glared at the Rockets in the prison box, each one of them just staring back at him, smirking. "Chaosborn bastards…" he muttered, heading out to the common area.
Motoko looked over Aaron, her face smiling but her eyes intense. "You okay, kid?"
Aaron nodded mutely. "This is all just a lot to take in…"
Motoko nodded. "Everything will be all right once you meet Lord Doom," she said, "Trust in that. Trust in Him."
This is so beyond fucked up, Aaron thought to himself, wanting desperately to just bolt. This Doom character may have thought him innocent, but he had to play the part until he could find an escape route…
Motoko looked out of a porthole of the airship. "Elisa is a friend of mine, y’know…" she said, her voice soft but intense, "We grew up together, trained at the same academy. Hell, I was practically her second sister…"
"I’ll do right by her, I swear," he said, surprising himself when he realized he actually meant it. Problem is, if I do want to take her with me when I escape I have to convince someone who’s completely brainwashed like most of this goddamn world that I’m not an evil Hopper. Goddamn… You think you’ve seen it all in a dimensional physics class and then shit like this happens…
Josef leaned his massive frame into the main locker room, and said, "It is time. We’re almost at the Latveria building. Prepare the boy to meet Doom."
"An ominous fate if I ever heard it," Aaron said, grinning weakly.
Motoko snickered and shook her head, as if it were an old joke she’d heard hundreds of times before. Josef rolled his eyes and left. Doggie took in the boy’s expression and chuckled. "Relax. Lord Doom isn’t some Orwellian tyrant. He’s brought order to the world, but he’s still just human and still has flaws. You should have seen the celebrity roast he went to, man did he ever get torn into…"
Motoko scowled. "Someone of Doom’s stature shouldn’t be insulted like that."
Doggie shook his head. "Look, I know that you’re fond of Doom because he raised you after your parents were murdered, but he volunteered to go on that show. He knew what he was getting into."
The two argued back and forth on the subject for several minutes, Doggie siting more of Doom’s foibles and Motoko almost reflexively coming up with a defense for it. It took Aaron a few minutes to figure it out, but the argument was only partially real: they wanted him to think of Doom in as human terms as possible so he wouldn’t be as nervous when meeting him.
Nice try, Aaron thought, biting back the fearful urge to giggle madly, but it ain’t workin.’
He sat staring out the window, trying to tune out Motoko and Doggie’s arguments. He tried to focus on Elisa, on how it felt making love to her. But even those pleasant thoughts were tainted. He had wanted to talk to her, to try to convince her that he didn’t need to meet her master. But he wasn’t allowed being into certain areas and the other six seemed to be sequestering her in those areas for some reason. When he tried to talk to one of the others about it, all he got was a smile and some vague comment about a ‘surprise.’
It may have just been his first impression of the place, but the concept of a surprise in this dimension made him nervous.
After a few more long, stress-inducing minutes, Motoko looked at her watch and called for Aaron.
"It’s time. C’mon, let’s go meet Lord Doom," she said.
Aaron nodded, trying to fight the feeling of numbing fear growing in his heart. He let Motoko lead him wordlessly towards the door of the ship, which irised open to let him out.
The building standing before him was a huge, titanic rectangle of metal, like a massive shimmering pillar of frozen light. There were no windows, save for a large one near the top that encircled the whole area. Only one door was present, a simple and innocuous door that looked so out of place on the imposing building that Aaron found himself wondering if it was real.
"Where… Where are we?" he asked.
Motoko smiled. "Be honored, young necromancer, for not many get to come here. We Seven are the only ones who visit on a regular basis. This is Latveria Tower, home of the WorldGuardian, our Savior, Lord Victor Von Doom. It is here where you will find yourself once more," she said, reaching for the door.
To both Motoko’s and Aaron’s surprise, a mechanical eye suddenly appeared on the door.
"THE BOY IS TO COME IN ALONE," said the eye in a surprisingly feminine voice.
Motoko blinked. "Andraia?" she asked, confused.
"INDEED," said the eye in a stilted, mechanical monotone, "LORD DOOM WISHES TO SPEAK WITH THE BOY IN PRIVATE."
Motoko nodded, and bowed to the eye. Before Aaron could say anything, Motoko turned and went back in the ship, the door irising closed. Aaron gulped nervously, staring at the door, which no longer bore the eye. He looked around, seeing only a stark, metal courtyard with other ships similar to the Sevenfold Dream in shape and size parked in various areas. Aaron stared at the door for a long moment before gripping the doorknob and turning it. He tugged on it, realized that it opened inward, and then gasped.
The inside of the building seemed to be nothing but an endless void, one that consisted of nothing but a fluffy white clouds in a bright blue sky. The only other thing in the room was narrow pathway leading to a spiraling golden stairway, the steps floating in midair by some unknown force, leading up to a golden light at the top.
Aaron gulped nervously, his heart racing as he looked over each side of the path, seeing nothing but endless cloudy blue. He tried to get some sense of space, tried to convince himself that it was all an illusion. But it all looked so real. There was even a light breeze coming from someplace far below…
The sky around him darkened suddenly, a glowing arrow pointing to the stairway.
Aaron chuckled nervously. "Guess you want me to go up," he said. Taking a deep breath, he walked to the staircase and began to walk up it. But after he took a few steps, the stairs began to move on their own, moving him at a slow, steady pace up the spiral, moving up and up towards the light.
Aaron bit his lip, trying to fight his growing anxiety. He wished the stairway would move faster, if only to get this meeting over with.
Okay, Aaron thought, trying to get himself together, Calm down… I’m certain that this Doom person will be reasonable…
Aaron giggled shrilly. Of course, he could also be a complete ‘Orwellian’ lunatic… Whatever Orwellian means… I’ll just have to figure out how to escape from the God figure of this entire world… Weee, such fun… he thought hysterically.
"Stop it," he muttered, hitting himself in the head, "I have to have faith that this will work out," he said, staring up at the light, trying not to hyperventilate. He was approaching the ruler of a world that apparently hated dimensional travelers and had no idea what to do… He could only hope that he’d buy his amnesia routine, because if he didn’t…
Aaron immediately halted that line of thought, and concentrated on the light. Oddly, no matter how close he got to the light, it didn’t hurt his eyes, or dazzle-blind him. Something about the frequency felt… strange…
Aaron tapped his foot nervously on the slowly moving staircase, which spiraled upward as if on a long, central pole. He tried reaching out to see if there was actually a pole there, something that the stairs were attached to, but he felt nothing. He gave up trying to figure out if this was all an illusion after nearly stumbling off of the side of one of the stairs he was standing on.
Soon, the spiraling staircase began to move itself up into the light. Aaron winced as the light finally started to become blinding, covering his face as he became engulfed by the glow at the top of the tower. He crouched down, worried that he’d be pressed up against something, when he felt the stairway come to a jerking stop. Aaron blinked, opening his eyes and looking up.
The stairs had stopped moving, and he had passed through the light. He was now standing in a hole in what appeared to be a massive garden of white flowers, the beautiful blossoms stretching up to Aaron’s chest. He looked down, seeing the shimmering light and the staircase beneath him, and then back at the garden.
"Come forward," boomed a voice, making Aaron’s heart leap into his throat. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he stepped forward onto the soft earth surrounding the opening. A thick, cloudy mist filled the area, Aaron unable to see more than a few feet around himself. He slowly moved his way through the massive field of flowers, pushing them aside as gently as possible as he moved his way forward. His heart thudded fearfully in his chest as he walked, moving in as straight a line as possible, his breathing frantic.
Eventually, after several interminable minutes of walking, Aaron noticed that the mist was starting to clear, the flowers becoming more spread apart. He kept walking, not knowing what else he could do, and eventually came upon a large, circular clearing.
Sitting in the center of this clearing was a massive, heavily muscular man, his face like chiseled stone, his body covered in scars. He was sitting on the soft grass with his legs crossed, his long white hair bound in a ponytail, a beard and mustache stretching down to his stomach. He was bare save for a pair of white sweatpants. His eyes were closed, his hands resting on his knees as he sat in his meditative position.
"Welcome, Aaron Towers," the old man said, "I am Victor Von Doom."
Aaron nodded, gulping nervously. "I… I guessed that, sir," he said, starting to kneel.
Doom chuckled, opening his eyes. "It’s all right," he said, "You don’t have to kneel in my presence right now. This is my home, and all are welcome here."
Aaron nodded, standing back up, but still terrified.
"I understand that you saved the life of one of my Magnificent Seven, yes?" Doom said.
"Yes, my Lord," he said, "She was attacked by a Wendigo, and I used my magic to drive it off and then heal her."
Doom nodded, and motioned for him to sit down as well. Once Aaron did, Doom asked, "Yes… On your magic… I assume it’s related to that necklace you wear?"
Aaron fingered his necklace idly, and nodded. "Yes sir. It’s… It’s a specialized necklace that contains spirits… specifically, evil spirits. Sin creates a specialized energy in a human soul. The deeper the sin, the greater the energy buildup. My necklace is a necromantic artifact that taps that energy and withdraws it from the soul, allowing me to perform various magical feats based on the type of person the soul was in life. Like the soul I caught most recently, it was a martial artist. I can use it to briefly take on the abilities of that martial artist, however there’s a catch…"
Doom quirked his head to one side, curious. "A catch?"
Aaron nodded nervously. "Yeah… Each use of the necklace inflicts a penalty on me. I use elemental magic I become more vulnerable to the element I used for a time, my healing spell literally requires me to briefly take on the pain of whatever damage I heal, my knowledge spell actually summons the ghost I captured to get the spell, and he’s near impossible to keep on task for long periods of time… With the martial artist, he briefly takes over my body for the duration of the spell…"
Doom chuckles. "Interesting. So… it’s essentially a ‘Redemption Chain’ of sorts."
"Yes sir," Aaron said, keeping his face even.
Doom nodded, stroking his long, white beard. "Hmm…"
Aaron bit his lip nervously. "I was… I was told that you could help me with my partial amnesia, sir?"
"Partial amnesia…" Doom said, smirking.
Aaron nodded. "Yes sir…" he said, trying and failing to keep his hands from shaking, "I can remember my name and how my abilities work, plus the histories of a couple of the spirits on my chain, but beyond that…"
"I know you’re a Hopper, boy," Doom said. Aaron’s eyes widened in horror. He began to scoot away, panic starting to overtake him. Doom chuckled, and motioned for him to stay. "It’s all right, it’s all right. I’m not going to harm you."
Aaron gulped. His heart was pounding in his chest. He desperately wanted to run away, but he knew that he had to at least attempt to believe the man sitting before him.
"Sir," he said, his voice trembling, "My liege, you have to understand… I am not like the other Hoppers, I’m not here to hurt anyone…"
"Of course you’re not, my boy," Doom said, grinning amiably, "The Hoppers that invaded our world in the late 400s have a specific energy signature about them. When you were ascending to my garden, you were scanned physically, mentally, and astrally with the most advanced scanners this world has to offer, and I detected no sign of that foul energy."
Aaron blinked, his heart starting to slow down. He felt the panic start to seep out of him. "Then… Then you’re not going to erase me, or do anything like that?"
Doom smiled indulgently. "No. Of course not."
Aaron looked into Doom’s eyes. He noted briefly that they had pupils, just like the prisoners in the ship, but he was more interested in seeing if Doom was lying. He couldn’t see any deceit, and briefly considered that Doom might just be good at hiding it.
After which his brain told him not to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth. He sighed, and relaxed a little, scooting back up to where he was sitting before. He failed to notice the slight rustling in the flowers behind him, or the cold, red mechanical eyes watching him…
Doom smiled. "So. How did you come to our little corner of the multiverse?"
"I honestly don’t know, sir," Aaron said, shaking his head, "My world, my culture, is centered on magic, everything from avatarism and channeling to the secular mystic art of science. I was attending an advanced lecture on dimensional physics when something went wrong, a vortex opening that pulled me in and dumped me out here. Next thing I know some raccoon-girl with a stick tries to steal my necklace, and then I end up saving this girl from a monster and having sex with her."
Doom nodded. "About that…" he said, "You are aware, by the laws of this world, that you are now Elisa’s Tamer? That she is your property?"
Aaron scowled. "I’m not sure about that… Slavery was abolished long ago on my world…"
Doom sighed. "You’re not on your world anymore, you’re in mine. And in this instance it’s rather necessary. Pokégirls of all types have a genetic weakness to them, one that requires them to receive sexual stimulation from a male, be they human or Pokéboy, to keep their minds from degrading to a more animalistic state. Pokéboys have a similar problem, although due to the greater number of Pokégirls, it’s more easily resolved for them. You will have to have sex with Elisa, an act called Taming here, on a semi-regular basis to keep her mind from devolving."
Aaron blushed, grinning a little. "Well… If nothing else, it will be pleasant."
"True enough, true enough. And with your attitude towards things, I’m certain you will do fine," Doom said, chuckling briefly before taking on a serious look, "Still, it’s not all sex and pleasantries. The duties of a Tamer are to help maintain the most holy Order in this world. They must capture and Tame or eliminate wild Pokégirls and Pokéboys, prevent the Chaosborn from the Dark Hemisphere and the accursed pirates from causing trouble, and deal with unsavory elements amongst the people of the Light Hemisphere."
Aaron blinked. "Unsavory elements? I’m not sure what you mean…"
Doom sighed. "I have done my best to bring Order to the world… Yet I do not wish to become a tyrant, like the man who’s name I took… So I do not regulate the personalities and minds of the people, I just make sure they’re obedient to my laws, to my principles, to my Order…There are still people who believe in the old ways, that nonhumans like Pokégirls and Pokéboys should be oppressed brutally, treated as less than human. There’s even elements who believe that all Pokégirls and Pokéboys should be purged from the Earth, despite how suicidal that would be for the planet. Pokégirls came first, you see, and were born of one man’s rage against the world, his despair for what the world took from him… It would be so much easier if I…" Doom’s head drooped as he spoke, the melancholy in his voice evident even to one who didn’t know how to look for emotions in the way someone spoke. In that one moment, Doom looked twice as old, and just as fragile. It cleared up after a moment, though, Doom regaining hold of his faculties. He chuckled softly and continued. "But I won’t. I won’t become a tyrant. I have done many things I’m not proud of since I took up the reigns of the world, but I will not go that far."
Aaron nodded. He was much more relaxed, but still a little nervous. He blinked, remembering something Doom said, and asked, "Sir… What did you mean by ‘man who’s name you took?’"
Doom blinked, and laughed. "Oh! Yes. I’m a bit of a history buff, and fond of studying Pre-Pokégirl entertainments. Are you familiar with the term ‘comic books?’"
Aaron nodded. "Sort of. If it’s what I’m thinking of our world has something similar."
Doom grinned. "Well… Victor Von Doom was the name of a character in the comic books. An amazing leader, who’s country prospered under his rule, but he was also a vicious villain, cruel and evil. I was a soldier long ago, and called myself that in jest while fighting the enemy, and I guess the name just stuck. When I came to power, I used those books along with a few others, trying to emulate the good without the bad. I ended up keeping the name, as most people seemed to prefer it. My real name is Victor Madigan Scott."
Aaron smiled a little. "It’s a… It’s an imposing name, sir."
Doom rolled his eyes, folding his arms. "Yes… I was irritated about it at first, but after a few years I just got used to it."
Aaron nodded. "Sir… Can I ask you something?"
Doom nodded. "You may, dear boy."
Aaron sweatdropped at the ‘dear boy’ remark, but let it slide. "I… I guess I’m a little fond of Elisa… And judging by how twitchy the Seven were at first, I guess they suspected me as a Hopper. Is there any way the seven of them can be convinced that I’m not an evil Hopper? Because I’d really prefer not to have the seven best cops in the world be afraid of me…"
Doom smiled sadly. "That won’t be a problem, dear boy."
Aaron blinked, confused. "Why’s that, sir?"
"Because your amnesia story made things incredibly easy for me," Doom said, nodding to something behind Aaron.
Before Aaron could even react, a powerful hand grabbed him by the neck from behind and lifted him into the air. Aaron gagged, prying at the diamond-hard metallic fingers around his neck. He glanced behind him, seeing a red-skinned, glowing-eyed woman in high-tech, blood-colored armor holding him. She stared at him coldly, as Aaron struggled to speak, kicking his legs wildly. Doom sighed, and slowly got to his feet. He began to speak, calmly walking around Aaron and the metallic woman.
"I’m sorry, Aaron, but this is simply the way it has to be. Just talking with you now for this brief period of time killed any worry that you’re from the dimension that invaded the world so long ago, but the mere fact that you’re a Hopper will arouse too much panic. I can’t have that. So I’m afraid I’ll have to take action."
Aaron whimpered, gagging as he struggled futilely in the woman’s grasp. "P-Please… Y-You said y-you…" he stammered.
Doom just smiled. "I did. And this won’t hurt. Well, not much. And you won’t remember it anyway. Andraia, my lovely Mistress Control Program, you may begin the process."
Before Aaron could react, he felt a panel open on the back of the metallic woman’s hand. Then he screamed, burning hot agony shooting through him as he felt something small digging into the back of his neck, affixing itself to his spine and brainstem…
Aaron went stiff as the chip fully fused with his body, a low, guttural moaning sound coming from his throat as the chip began to reprogram him. He went limp in Andraia’s grasp, the Pokégirl letting him drop to the ground, where he crumbled and fell like a snowman in summer. Aaron’s eyes stared lifelessly ahead, his jaw laying slack as his mind was reworked by the microchip the super-advanced Pokégirl had implanted in him.
"Now the hard part," Doom said. He nodded to Andraia, who nodded back and kneeled before Aaron. Her hand transformed into a mass of tentacles, which attached themselves to Aaron’s temples.
"Beginning Copying and Selective Deletion of the subject’s memories. Estimated time to completion: Four point three six nine minutes," Andraia said. The tentacles on her hand began to glow as she absorbed Aaron’s memories.
"How long will the Order Chip keep him under?" Doom asked.
"Long enough," Andraia said in her almost musical monotone, "I added a special program to keep him under until three minutes after the completion of the download and partial erasure of his memories."
Doom nodded. "Good… What of the spirits?"
Andraia briefly analyzed what she had already gleaned from his memories. "My liege," she said, "The only spirits that might be of concern are the Knowledge Spirit and the Martial Artist. The Martial Artist is of our world and does not share the boy’s mind when he possesses him. We may have to try and contact the knowledge spirit, and if what I am seeing is correct, the boy’s necklace is permanently bonded to him. A spell prevents it from ever being removed, even by he himself. A Raccunt tried earlier today and received a powerful shock from the protective spell."
"Damn," Doom muttered, "…That means I’ll have to use that spell…"
Andraia shook her head, still not moving from her position. "Negative, my lord. A simple temporary binding of astral auras will be sufficient to cast the spell needed to manifest the Knowledge Spirit."
Doom brightened visibly. "Good. That accursed spell always leaves me barely able to move. Damn psi-blindness… And I know for a fact that you like it when I’m able to move as much as possible," he said, grinning lavaciously as his gaze drifted to Andraia’s shapely rear, framed by her armor.
Andraia allowed herself a smirk, but continued her work. Doom went over, pulling a hidden pouch from behind a patch of flowers, and pulled out small bottle of a blue, putrid–looking potion. He plucked one of the flowers, bit his thumb, and bled three drops of blood into the mixture. He then crushed the flower in his hand, stuffing the remains into the bottle, and shaking it.
Andraia glanced over to where Doom was mixing the potion and blinked. "You keep the ingredients for the potion in the garden? I thought we were taking him to the lab."
Doom shook his head. "I’d prefer to get him out of here quickly. The flowers work in all my primary potions, so I keep a supply of pre-mixes hidden here, just in case a situation needing a quick solution arises" he said.
"Clever, my liege," Andraia admitted, turning back to Aaron.
After a few moments, Doom finished mixing the potion. At almost the same time, Andraia stepped back. "Memory modification completed. Subject now has no memory of his past beyond knowledge of his name, his abilities and general knowledge on where he acquired the spirits in his chain. Anything concrete beyond the point he arrived in this world has been erased."
Doom nodded. "Good. Now to talk to that knowledge spirit…" he said, chugging the potion. He coughed, gagging at the flavor, which reminding Doom uncomfortably of raw sewage. After a few moments, a glowing green aura surrounded him. He walked over to Aaron and touched his necklace, closing his eyes and concentrating, his aura wrapping around Aaron completely, covering the two of them.
After a moment, Doom said in a voice that was a mix of his own and Aaron’s, "A whim, a thought, and more is sought. Awake my mind; thy will be wrought!"
The blue crystal glowed softly, a humanoid figure forming, taking the shape of a wiry, ugly old mage.
"Greetings, my lord. What need have you of Sage Vorgan… oh SHIT…" the spirit said, eeping when he noticed Doom staring at him, "How did you…"
"Never mind," Doom said, "I need you to explain something to me: What happens if the boy is killed before the sinful energies he mentioned were drained out of you?"
Vorgan gulped. "I would… We all would… Well, we’d be sent where we were supposed to go after we died…"
Doom nodded. "How close are you to being redeemed?"
Vorgan twitched. "Well… Aaron finds my presence unpleasant, so not very… And to be honest, even if he summoned me every day it’d take a while…"
Andraia blinked. "What exactly did you do in life?"
"Answer honestly, ghost," Doom said, "I am in no mood for games."
Vorgan gulped. "Multiple counts of sexual assault, including on children. I was haunting a kindergarten that I had frequently victimized when Aaron caught me. He’s what’s called a ‘MalCatcher,’ who catches evil spirits that turn into near formless creatures of evil… in my case, an incubus. He was not happy when he realized who I was, and has frequently complained that he should have just summoned one of the police exorcists…"
Doom scowled, although he did make note of the phrase ‘police exorcist.’ A useful idea, that… Still, back to business. "Vorgan. How do you gain your knowledge?"
"I… I read souls. I am learning what you did to Aaron through reading the souls of you and your Mistress Control Program…" Vorgan managed to get out.
Doom nodded. "You know why I did this, then."
Vorgan nodded. "Y-Yes, my liege…"
Doom nodded, and turned to Andraia. "Andraia my love, how long will it take to edit Aaron’s memories to fit this world and its history?"
Andraia closed her eyes for a moment, doing some calculations, and said, "Approximately one year."
Doom nodded and turned back to Vorgan. "You know why I did this. You know full well what would happen to you if Aaron died before you were fully redeemed. Do you understand why I you should not tell him anything about his past until the edits to his memories are completed and we decide what his past is?"
Vorgan shivered. "Yes, my lord. I understand completely," he said, reading Doom’s mind for an appropriate Pokégirl and coming up with a cover story, "It’s such a shame that feral Amachamp he fought earlier managed to get that punch in. He’s lucky he’s alive."
Andraia smirked, approving of the story and noting it for the editing. Doom smiled chillingly. "Good. Very good. Return to your crystal now," the overlord said.
Vorgan quickly shrank back into his crystal, not wanting to be around Doom for that long. Doom chuckled softly, and sighed, maintaining his position until the potion wore off. He looked down at Aaron, shaking his head as he saw Aaron’s pupils begin to shrink.
"I don’t remember if I’ve ever asked you… Why do their eyes lose their pupils?" Doom asked.
Andraia quirked her head to one side, the glow in her eyes brightening. "Technically, they don’t. As a cosmetic effect of the Order chips, they recolor the pupils to match the iris."
Doom frowned. "Interesting…"
Andraia smiled, a surprisingly sad smile. "You said when you first asked me to create the Order chips that you wanted people to see in a new way…"
"True, true," Doom sighed, standing up and hugging her. "My love… My digital love, who has been with me through thick and thin… You’ve always done right for me, despite my follies and foibles…"
Andraia’s voice changed tone, going from a musical monotone to a soft, gentle whisper, "My love… my peacemaker… Never doubt yourself. What you’ve done to this boy is the right thing. He will be happier once he is adapted to this world… And with what’s happened to Elisa even before her transformation, it will be good for her as well…"
Doom hugged her tightly, smiling warmly.
The two stayed like that for a couple minutes before Aaron started to come to his senses. He groaned, rubbing his head, and looked around curiously. It took him a moment to remember where he was. For some reason, everything seemed brighter, more vibrant than before, the colors around him more brilliant. And wasn’t there a fog just a moment ago? …No, no, that couldn’t be. Everything was too clear…
He turned, and noticed an old man and a robotic-looking woman smiling at him. It took him a moment, but when he recognized them…
"Lord Doom…" Aaron said, his voice filled with adoration, "Lady Andraia…"
Doom chuckled as Aaron kneeled before them. "Stand up, kid. Everyone knows I don’t like that."
Aaron nodded vigorously, and got back to his feet, blushing in embarrassment. "Yes, of course. I’m sorry," he said. He paused for a moment and asked, "…Why was I on the ground?"
"You came here because you had lost your memory. Remember?" Andraia asked, "You have partial amnesia after a feral Amachamp attack."
Aaron blinked for a moment, confused. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Especially with the way the back of his neck was hurting. "There was also… something else, wasn’t there?"
Doom nodded. "First, I can tell you’re wondering, so I’ll just say it. The reason you were on the ground is a side effect of the psychic stimulant you were given. Pieces of your memory may come back over the next year or so. Also, what do you remember?"
Aaron frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. "I… There was a raccoon girl… A… Raccunt? And a spirit I captured on my necklace… Then there was… a white beast… a Wendigo… attacking a Gar-Gal… turned out to be a member of an elite group that works for you… I think they’re famous, they all seemed familiar… I Tamed the Gar-Gal after she came onto me… Her name is…" Aaron began to smile, feeling confident as the events of the past few hours came back to him, "Elisa. She’s Elisa, of the Magnificent Seven. They suspected me of being a Team member at first, but after talking to you, they let up on me."
Doom nodded, but turned curiously to Andraia. The Mistress Control Program just smirked. "I took the liberty of adding some basic world information, so he wouldn’t be totally helpless," Andraia whispered to him.
Doom nodded, and then smiled at Aaron. Aaron looked hopefully up at the two of them, and asked, "Will that injection really help my memory?"
Doom nodded solemnly. "Trust in us, my boy. Trust in Doom."
Aaron shivered excitedly. "I will… Oh yes, my WorldGuardian, I will. Thank you."
Doom chuckled and playfully ruffled the young man’s sandy blonde hair. "Go back downstairs and meet with the Seven. Tell them I said you could have a coupon for a free outfit and weapon at a local outfitter. Also, make sure you go to the Pokécenter to get set up with a temporary identity while your memory recovers."
Aaron nodded, smiling happily. "Yes sir," he said, "Thank you sir."
Doom waved to the young man as he walked back through the garden towards the stairs. Doom sighed, and hugged Andraia tightly. Andraia, once Aaron was gone, allowed herself a smile.
"Before we get to the sweaty stuff that will probably involve you tearing up my armor AGAIN, may I make a suggestion?" she said.
Doom kissed her on the cheek, chuckling. "Of course."
Andraia squirmed a little as Doom began to caress the bare parts of her body. "A-Anyway, it may be best if the boy doesn’t have time to think about his situation for very long. Perhaps it would be advisable to give him some of the missions Elisa had been assigned before her transformation? The low-level ones, at least…"
Doom nodded, idly pressing a sequence of buttons on the side of her chest armor. Steam flowered out of vents on the armor, which then powered down and opened. Doom carefully removed the armor with one hand and set it aside, his other hand groping one of Andraia’s large, firm breasts.
The Mistress Control Program groaned softly. "M-Master… My s-s-suggestion?"
Doom nodded. "It’s a good one, Andraia," he said, smiling, "But assigning him can wait…"
Andraia gasped, squirming in enjoyment from Doom’s massive hands caressing her body as he moved to take off her hip armor…
===========================================
Meanwhile…
Back downstairs…
===========================================
Aaron came out of the building smiling, waving to Kurtis, who was sitting on a chair outside the door of the Sevenfold Dream, idly twirling a tonfa. He smiled when he saw Aaron, looking much more relaxed, and nodded when he noticed his eyes.
"Good, he fixed that black mark," Kurtis said, waving. "Did the WorldGuardian say he could fix your memory?"
Aaron nodded. "Lady Andraia was there as well. Gave me some kind of injection that she said would restore parts of my memory over the next year."
Kurtis grinned, the much larger man patting him on the back. "Awesome. And Lady Andraia was there as well? Was Lord Doom indulging himself in a little grab-assery?"
Aaron blushed. "A little. I think that Lord Doom wanted to tame her so he hurried me out."
Kurtis chuckled. "Don’t blame him one little bit. I get the same way around my Sonya’s ass. Heh."
Aaron nodded, remembering something. "Oh! Lady Andraia said I should get set up with a temporary new identity at a Pokécenter, also something about a coupon…"
"…For a free full outfitting," Kurtis said, nodding, "We’ve got a bunch of those, we keep them for emergency equipment replacement."
Aaron nodded, relaxing somewhat. "And… You guys said you had a surprise for me?"
Kurtis smirked, and knocked in sequence on the door he was sitting by. Josef was there when the door irised open, and he just stepped out, grunting and taking a swig from the vodka bottle he carried with him. Kurtis glared at him and muttered something that sounded like ‘get over it’ before inviting Aaron to come inside.
He stepped inside the ship once more, taking in the vibrant, shimmering lights and colors. He looked around, and then saw Motoko and Doggie standing in front of something. They both smiled at Aaron, and stepped aside, revealing the ‘surprise.’
It was Elisa. She had been cleaned up to the point of looking even more beautiful than before, her hair combed and bound into a tight ponytail. She was wearing a modified version of her old outfit, a black, lightly armored jacket with a zipper down the front, armored fingerless gloves and armored wristguards as well. Around her waist was a utility belt with a holster for a weapon, and a loincloth that covered her front and descended halfway down her thighs. She blushed, and grinned slightly, nervously fingering the Pokéball in her hands, her wings caped over her shoulders.
"How… How do I look?" she asked.
Aaron smiled warmly, and crossed the room over to her. He put an arm around her waist and pressed her lips to the Gar-Gal’s own. Elisa meeped, but then melted into the kiss, making a pleased churring sound as she wrapped her wings around him.
After a long moment (one so long that Motoko had to put a hand over Kurtis’s mouth to prevent him from making a ‘coming up for air’ joke), Aaron broke the kiss, smiling warmly at Elisa.
"You look beautiful," Aaron said.
___TO BE CONTINUED___