Dark Casting

     The Battle Panthress walked into camp, two Pokègirls over her shoulders, and over a dozen under her long arms. She flung the Pokègirls under her arms into the firepit she had ordered him to construct.

     Then she stretched, ignoring or unaffected by the two Pokègirls still draped over her like a muffler. He took the moment to examine her curvy, busty, slightly muscled form. The black fur bikini, bracers and leggings make her look like a dancer, he thought, Especially one of those dancers my mom didn't want me to know about. She's got the figure for that. As she continued to stretch he got a strange notion, She's standing in front of me doing that, she has to know what it does, what it looks like . . . doesn't she? Kris's giggle from the tent broke the mood, the Panthress stared at him before he could look away. He had no clue what her reaction to him staring was.

     It was a barbeque she was having me construct, he realized, She's going to cook and eat them! A sudden transformation and a single shot set the wood ablaze, she swept the pile of rocks he'd dug out of the pit.

     "What's that for? Protein is protein. Humans used to raise animals specifically to kill them and eat them as food. What do you think happened to the fish your fellow villagers caught? They didn't spontaneously turn in to Khang-Ass-Cunt `eggs`," she said angrily, "Does that about cover the entire, idiot conversation?" She aimed a half-hearted kick at him, letting him get out of reach and scramble back towards the tent.

     "I was going to say 'Aren't those Wasps, didn't you go after Buzzbreasts?'" he replied and retreated into the tent as she advanced, "I was going to ask if you're going to eat those two as well?"

     "Of course not," she purred, "Since you insist on getting all syrupy, here's two you can moon over and get all sweet and mushy over." She dropped the blonde, gown-wearing Pokègirl and the black-haired girl in the partially dismantled purple armor in his lap. She left the tent.

     Probably to finish cooking her breakfast, he thought in disgust, She still didn't answer how she started off after Buzzbreasts, and wound up with a half-ton of dead Wasps. He considered the two injured Pokègirls, and began rummaging around his supplies when he realized Kris wasn't in the tent with him. He shook his head and tried to ignore the implications, concentrating on the two wounded girls. He realized the blonde had structures growing out of her back, it was only after he began applying the poison antidote to the numerous stings that he realized they had been wings.

     The Buzzbreasts or Wasps must have tried to chew her wings off! the thought as he tried to ignore the delicious smell of cooking meat, Okay, it's appropriate vengeance, but I'm not going to share their dinner. He injected the blonde with a dose of 'AllHeal' potion, and wished the nearest Pokècenter was closer. And that I could convince the Panthress that she wouldn't be arrested or shot on sight. Although both are risks I'd rather not take, and she'd definitely take it out on me if she even thought she'd be separated from Kris. He sighed and considered, finally deciding to simply bandage the wing-stubs, then wrapped the blonde in blankets. When he'd finished, he noted the one in the mangled armor was awake and staring at him.

     "Hello," he said, no response, "I need to treat your injuries."

     "You don't look like a Megami, so either they've been making them differently, or . . . you want to treat my injuries, you don't have to. What if I don't want you to treat my injuries?"

     "I'm guessing that you ran into a Buzzqueen or a Wasp Queen nest - "

     "Wasps," the girl replied.

     He stopped, then poked his head out of the tent. "Do you want to add another Pokègirl to your lunch?"

     "Those two?" the Panthress said, "Naw, those two are like Buzzbreasts, there's no good eating on them barbequed, they taste foul."

     He ignored that point. "So the Buzzbreasts are still out there?"

     "Sure, supper for tomorrow," she explained, sprinkling something on the roasting bodies, "You stew them, they aren't too bad that way."

     He ignored that too. When he turned back to the girls, the brunette was trying to bend the warped plates back into some semblance of order and protection. He took some of the antidote and began applying it to a large inflamed welt on her hip.

     The girl caught his hand. "What if I don't want help?"

     "I'll have my Battle Panthress knock you unconscious and I'll fix you up while you're asleep," he replied.

     "You have a Panthress!? Right!"

     The aforementioned Battle Panthress stuck her head in the tent and smiled at the other girl's shocked expression. "Your job is to let soppy here fawn and whimper and cry over your hurts and tell you about how good a Pokègirl you are, so he doesn't try it on me and I have to kill him. Now. Shut up, let him do his whimpering," her jovial tone vanished, "Or I'll tear you to little pieces, I'll still have another one. When she sees your remains, I bet she'll be reasonable." The Panthress tossed him a Pokèdex and two Pokèballs, and withdrew.

     He looked over his shoulder at the girl cowering behind him. "It's not that I have her, or she has me, as much as she has specific needs that I fulfill and she doesn't kill me, or let anything else kill me. It's an interesting relationship, and I do believe she's absolutely serious," he told the stunned girl, scanned her with the 'dex and read off her identity and type. A Battle Angel, Dark-type, a Dark Knight. The other one is an Angel. He began treating her injuries, while she sat stone stiff, staring at the tent opening. When he finished, he laid her down in another nest of bedding, then walked out of the tent.

     "They should recover." His stomach churned at the sound and smell of what was cooking in the stone covered pit. "Thank you for bringing them in," he told the Panthress.

     "Was I a good Pokègirl? Do I get a Taming as a reward?" she asked, her expression all dewy-eyed, then she frowned.

     "Only if you don't call me Master."

     "Don't push - oh, very funny."

     "Those are going to take a while. Do you want a Taming while you wait?"

     "Aww, did you miss me?" she asked sarcastically, running a claw tip over his jawline, "You're usually only offering so it doesn't interfere with your other activities."

     "Yeah, well I . . . "

     She stood and stopped, a slight crack in her 'I am invulnerable and care nothing for others' facade. "Do you have another tent? I . . . don't want to wake up your new Harem, let them heal and all."

     "Yes, it's small, but I can have it set up in a little bit."

     "Kris, go help him," she said, "I want it done and over with."

     Kris gave a look to his mother that made it clear he understood what was really going on. "Yes mother," he said in a tone that would have gotten anybody else dismembered.

     Ten minutes later, the boys had the tent up. Thirty after that, she had her itch scratched and was back to tending her supper.

     I wonder if she'll want another, he thought, While she says she despises the talk and cuddling after, I think she wants it, she just doesn't want to want it.

     The Dark Knight had joined them for `dinner`, took one look at what was being served, and she concentrated on the Pokèchow.

     He looked at the pile of heads, including the Wasp Queen's. Shows that our Panthress at least has an eye to the future, he thought.

     "Tomorrow, it's the Buzzbreast nest," she said as if discussing her social calendar, "Should I bring in the Buzz Queen? It won't be a problem. You can rescue her from her terrible condition."

     "If it isn't too much trouble," he replied airily, "I wouldn't want to deny you any food."

     "Surely this," Vonny, the Dark Knight, said, indicating the barbeque, "Is enough meat to last you a while."

     "True, I'm going to kill them all for fun. They really don't taste good and the reward's the same."

     The Dark Knight seemed to settle in on herself. Her armor still damaged and disarranged, which meant she couldn't retract it, and it really didn't protect her all that well. The lack of protection made her act more naked than the exposed skin would. "I don't know why you don't just run away," she muttered under her breath.

     "Dearie." The Panthress took one of the mangled plates between her fingers. "I am right here." She bent it back into the semblance of the correct shape. "And while my hearing isn't as good as a Tigress's." She selected another plate, then another and another, each time using just her fingers to correctly repair them. "I can still hear, and it is impolite to talk about someone as if they aren't there." She released the last reshaped plate, turned and smiled at the Dark Knight. "Don't you agree?"

     The smaller Pokègirl gulped and nodded.

     The Panthress patted her shoulder, her claws scratching on the restored armor. "I'm glad we had this little chat."

     He and Vonny exchanged worried glances, as the Dark Knight withdrew her armor to let her body complete the repairs.

     Tyrone watched his Pokègirls carefully film and document the destroyed Wasps' nest. "This is what I was talking about!" he told them as they filmed or wrote, "This is what we've been looking for, real killer instinct, a real challenge."

     "You realize that whatever did this, was a terrible combatant, his Alpha, a Scarecrow named Worry, told him, "Taking it all into account, you have a real challenge here."

     "Of course!" he assured her, "We have the advantage, you girls have never failed . . . except that Widow of course, there running away was the best answer."

     "I just want you to understand the challenge we may - will be facing, if we pursue this."

     "We have to take risks," he replied, "The rewards are too great to pass up."

     "My poor Master smells a real payoff," Worry said as she reached up and patted his head.

     "We didn't find any indications of what did this, no fur or scales, so I'd assume some armored or rock type," Ter his chief tech told him, her antennae marking her as a Ka-D-Bra.

     "All of these were killed by projectiles," his Mistoffeles, Koko, told him as she held up the riddled Wasp Queen's headless body, "Something with a lot of ammunition, or a lot of anger."

     "Or both," Worry added, staying close to Tyrone.

     "We have to find whoever or whatever did this. Before anyone else runs into it," Tyrone pronounced.

     "You forgot that the Navy destroyed a Limbec Pirate ship near here, a few days ago," Ter pointed out, "It could be survivors of that."

     "They weren't known to be good citizens and you'd have to be a perfect idiot to stumble into a Wasps' nest," Miko, his Herolee said.

     "This place was attacked on purpose, with malice aforethought," Ter exclaimed, "This wasn't Eek-O and Koko getting together with Cat for a prank. This took a lot of firepower."

     "Pot calling the kettle black?" Koko teased.

     "Widow? Mantis? Chimera? Matron with a toothache?" Worry asked.

     Jer, his or rather Eek-O's Mercury slid out of the remains of the hive. "Someone took the trouble to consume all the honey, royal jelly and larvae, so it was probably Feral, whatever it was."

     "Not a Demon-Goddess," Eek-O said with a smirk and a shudder, she knew her own Feral state, the reason Tyrone had her in the first place, and the reason Tyrone made sure Eek-O had Jer, "Or one of them." Meaning a Neo-Iczel. "That doesn't leave a lot."

     "Tracks," Lyn, said, his Psi-a-Knight stood, her red, gold, blue and white armor glittered in the few rays of sunshine that penetrated the forest canopy. Her gleaming reminded everyone why she was the lighting expert. "Great anger, but it was need and love that drove the slaughter, and there was another battle going on when the other ones attacked. I get two very distinct traces, but interconnected. Like a Delta Bond or Recognition, but not exactly."

     "So we have a real mystery on our hands," Tyrone said gleefully, rubbing his hands together, "Let's get moving then, this is a mystery I want to deal with. Maybe we can profit from it."

     His girls all smiled, ruefully, and fell in line with him.

     The Angel was still fast asleep, still with the tattered remains of her wings in bandages. He noted that Vonny was awake, and smiling at him. He slipped over to her, answering her smile. He admired her body, petite, her breasts were a pert handful, rather than head-sized like the Panthress's, but she seemed a lot less threatening than `his` other girl, but just as challenging.

     "I wonder if I can make you wake her up," he teased.

     "After all she ate," Vonny whispered back, "I doubt anything would wake her." The girl reached down and her hands caressed him, making him hard. "But let's find out."

     "I - " Suddenly an arm pulled him away, he felt the Panthress beneath him, her arms wrapped around his chest, her legs and tail trapping his legs, his head pillowed on her breasts. The Dark Knight noted the one part left very exposed by his posture, and padded over.

     "Stuffed with all those Wasps, she must be so soft and squishy, like the finest feather bed," she teased as she stepped over the pair. She suddenly glanced down and saw the Panthress's tail had wrapped around her ankle and was inching up her leg. "I think I'll take advantage of your vulnerable conditions," she told him with all seriousness.

     "Oh woe is me," he quietly lamented.

     She lowered herself onto him. He felt the Panthress's overstuffed belly mash slightly, softly, under their weight, especially as the Dark Knight settled her weight on his hip. He sighed at the lovely feeling. But the Panthress is going to be grouchy when she wakes up, he thought, Grouchier. He watched Vonny ride up and down on him, as he groped her pert breasts. He heard the Panthress grumbling as Vonny pumped up and down, the rubbery resistance of the Panthress's spongy, springy belly made the experience wonderful.

     "Wha?" the Panthress asked groggily, at that moment Vonny let out a little cry with her orgasm. And all Hell broke loose.

     The Panthress tossed the lovers off with a ferocious roar. He watched in dread as the Panthress pinned the much smaller Dark Knight to the ground, her hand on Vonny's throat, her claws bared, Vonny's legs pinned by the Panthress's.

     "You think that's funny? That all I am is a sex toy?" the furious Panthress roared, waking Kris and terrifying the others.

     Vonny shook her head fearfully, too terrified to speak or struggle. She tried to avoid setting the Panthress off further.

     "Maybe . . . " The Panthress drew her claws across Vonny's bare breasts and stomach, Vonny tried the suck her stomach away from the claws. "Maybe I'll tear you up, make you so hideous and disfigured that no man would ever look at you. Your lover won't mind. I'll pluck out his eyes," she growled, "Only his hands will tell him what a monster he'll be Taming. Is that what you want?"

     Vonny shook her head, still too afraid to speak.

     "Why not, you think Pokègirls are toys for your amusement? Why shouldn't I have some fun?" the Panthress asked with a happy smile.

     He felt Kris gripping his arm, cowering behind him. He glanced back at the concerned, but not yet frightened boy.

     "Maybe I should show you some of the things I saw the other pirates do," the Panthress purred to the still naked Dark Knight, "Sometimes I think they hated human females more than males."

     Before Vonny could respond. "You won't, you need us, and you're smarter than that," he told her.

     "I - need - you -?" the Panthress asked, looking at him and smiling, nearly laughing, "What could either of you do that I couldn't? I fight better, I'm stronger, I'm smarter - you have no advantage over me in Taming or battle."

     He ignored Vonny's frantic head shaking, but noted the Panthress's tail was almost touching Vonny's crotch, just the tip waving. But if it was touching, he cast the thought aside as it did and Vonny's eyes went wide as the fought not to squirm and struggle, I swear, that tail is smarter than the rest of us combined. "You need us, because you want to protect your son," he told her as he walked closer, "As long as you don't hurt us, you know you wound hurt your son. All you've given us are bruises and scrapes. You've run your claws over both of us and not even a scratch." He knelt next to her, he knew her eyes were on Kris, not him. He pulled her wrist up off Vonny's belly, and held her claws against his throat, ignoring Vonny's frantic glances.

     "You kill us, you tear us into tiny pieces, to eat or leave for scavengers, at the back of your mind, you'll wonder when you'll do the same to him. As long as we're alive, you've guaranteed yourself you won't strike out against him."

     Both Pokègirls stared at him, seeking something.

     "You need to avenge the insult, you need to prove you are Master, there has to be a better way," he offered.

     Vonny's sudden squirming and frantic cries broke the tableau. Even pinned by the Panthress, she suddenly began writhing for all she was worth. The Panthress pulled her hand from him and pinned the Dark Knight's arms above her head. She looked at her captive and saw what her tail was doing.

     "You like that, do you little one?" she purred with menace as Vonny squirmed under the tail's ministrations. She began stroking the smaller Pokègirls breast with her own larger tits. "How's this?" The Panthress slid her tail in, not plunging it in with force, but wriggling it in.

     I know that tail can bend and twist like wire . . . but - he thought as he watched nearly a foot and a half disappear into the gasping Dark Knight.

     Vonny, eye's wide open, stared at the roof tent as the Panthress moved her tail in and out perhaps an inch, but faster than the eye could follow.

     He knew the tail inside was coiling and twisting, rubbing and tickling Vonny. I can't even guess, he thought as he watched the Pokègirls carefully, Except Vonny just lies there. If it hurt, wouldn't she have screamed at least once?

     Vonny closed her eyes, moaning softly as if afraid to break the mood. "Please, please, let me finish," she gasped, stretched out and nearly motionless in the Panthress's grip.

     "Oh no, our `Master` is right. You must learn respect. Would you like me to stop?" the Panthress taunted.

     "NO!" Vonny shouted, struggled for a moment against the Panthress's greater strength and leverage, then lay unmoving. "Please! Please - Master - please let me finish," she begged pitifully.

     The Panthress smiled evilly, putting her fingertips against Vonny's throat. "In my own time," she purred.

     He could easily see the distress on Vonny's face and realized the Panthress's tail would slow almost to a standstill, then a few brief strokes or twists, then slow strokes or no movement again. Keeps her from climaxing, he thought, Some of the Tamers back home called it 'riding the edge', they said there was no better torture to use on a Pokègirl. Keep her almost at climax, but never let her there, always the promise of Heaven. He watched Vonny whimper and squirm slightly, only to have the Panthress shift pace and position.

     He was almost ready to object when the Panthress's tail plunged in and out almost too fast to see.

     Vonny's eyes bugged out and mouth opened as her whole body arched. The Panthress yanked her hand away from Vonny's throat. The Dark Knight squeaked and then collapsed as if all her bones had liquified.

     "Bastard," the Panthress said as she raised herself off the insensible Dark Knight. She looked at him, and mastered her seething rage before speaking. "My last `Master` had a technique he called 'Quandary', you block much of the blood to the brain while holding the Pokègirl on the edge, then at the moment of climax, you release it. One, it intensifies the orgasm tremendously, that's what he told us, and the other girls confirmed it; two, it shuts the Pokègirl or Pureline girl up, by rendering her unconscious, when you want to go to sleep, which he told the other Tamers. He promised me Quandary, when I finally won a fight, and made me watch when someone else won, and I lost." She hung her head, her anger spent and with it all her energy. She couldn't rekindle it, even with that memory. He walked around behind her, kneeling down when he was directly behind her. She turned to look at him. "Going to `reward` your `Good Pokègirl` for not killing your little fuck toy?" she asked sarcastically.

     "No," he replied truthfully, "Trying to get my offering and bribe in before you demand it."

     "You are so full of shit," she told him tiredly, "That - "

     He rolled to a stop in front of Kris, thrown there by tail and arm. The Panthress was in full combat mode, facing the Angel who'd abruptly awakened and began screaming as she jumped to her feet. He felt the hackles on his neck rise, as the Panthress's fur stood on end from the noise.

     The people tortured by the Limbec Pirates didn't sound that bad! he thought as he tried to keep Kris behind him, Kid wants to see what's getting murdered.

     The Panthress looked around frantically, assuring herself Kris was safe, then leapt at the screaming Angel. The pair went down in a tangle, the Angel's screams changed when what was left of her wings touched the tent floor. The Angel rolled over until the Panthress was beneath her, not really fighting but still screaming the whole time. The Panthress grabbed the Angel's head, trying to force her mouth closed or break her neck, trying to shut her up. The Angel looked into the Panthress's eyes.

     And fell utterly silent. The change was chilling, even more than the screaming had been.

     The Angel stared at the Panthress. The Panthress stared back. All else was silence, as if everything feared to make a sound that might break the spell that the noise and the silence had woven.

     The Angel wormed her arms around the Panthress's waist and shoulders, while the Panthress wrapped one arm above the Angel's wing stubs and one below, holding the Angel tight against her.

     The Angel whimpered once, then broke into uncontrollable sobs, laying her head on the Panthress's shoulder. The Panthress rocked the tearful Angel as gently as he'd seen her treat Kris, and almost no one else. "It's all right, it's all right," the Panthress soothed, holding and rocking the Angel. The Angel clutched the Panthress and continued to sob softly.

     He watched and considered, I thought Pokègirls didn't Recognize each other. He walked towards the pair, figuring Kris was safe from the Angel.

     The Panthress saw his approach and shifted, lifting the Angel's shapely bottom in the air. "It's all right, you can trust him," the Panthress assured the Angel.

     Quite a compliment, he thought as he entered her, feeling a warmth very different from the Panthress's or Vonny's. He slid in and out slowly, trying to deal with her fear and uncertainty. Taming is supposed to reassure Pokègirls of their place in the world. I wish it worked the other way 'round as well, he thought.

     He walked out of the tent. Kris was helping keep him on his feet. "They seemed to like it," he told the boy who was leading him to the river to wash off.

     "There is more to the situation that you don't know," Kris told him, "The Zeromer's memories didn't go to the Battle Panthress. The nanites knew the Zeromer had been tricked, so they moved the memories to the fertilized embryo and adjusted it to be able to hold them."

     "The dead Zeromer . . . rebuilt you?" he asked, trying to steady his mind and body, unsuccessfully.

     "Redesigned," Kris explained, "The effect was to give me memories that aren't mine, and the Battle Panthress didn't get the extensive experience that would have given her a greater advantage than the powers."

     "I hope you'll teach them to her."

     "Of course," Kris said, "I love my mother. I just need to understand how the memories link into normal experiences. Like, beyond 'I love my mother', I don't really understand the other words. I think I will . . . eventually."

     "Ah," he said, "I don't understand." He plunged into the cold water and surfaced gasping.

     "Nor do I. That's the problem. That's why I can't offer it all now. Maybe later."

     He nodded and finished washing off before returning to the tent.

     Tyrone MacGonigal whistled while he walked, the even dozen beautiful girls around him, some as point guards, others as flankers and then the rearguard. Some sang along with him. My greatest joy, and my greatest sorrow, the Harem Master thought, For all their beauty, photogenic faces and bodies, such wonderful talents, they all were `allergic` to grease paint and the bright lights. Nothing I can do can convince them to perform, rather than do what we all do. I can't convince them that this isn't their true calling. He considered the insane successes they had enjoyed. "Today we shall achieve a greater victory than any before!" he announced, and they broke into such a beautiful chorus of 'A Star is Born', he nearly wept. He took the teasing in good spirits. After I retired as a Harem Master, I found my true calling, he thought, I guess blood will win out. He let his girls continue to `play` this way. Too bad I can't even convince them to record, the world needs such inspiration. There is so little beauty, so many threats, and so little heroism in the world. But people can be shown it . . . . He gave up the argument. Then he saw her, he knew she was the one.

     Completely ignoring the warnings of the others, he charged towards her. I've never failed, no matter the opposition, no matter the tactics, me and my girls have always worn down anyone! Let the lesser lights take the easy path, and let them fail. Those that could stand their ground, they shall strive, and anyone who could stand their ground against me is worthy, he thought, Besides, my girls know the drill. I draw them out, see what they can do, then the girls find weaknesses and needs we can use.

     Worry, his Alpha, had caught up to him. Lyn was in the air. Eek-O and Jer had already flanked the target on one side, Koko and Babs on the other. Ter stood back with the reserve, ready to send it wherever it was needed, and to record events. To anywhere, ha, more than one potential was stunned by Harumi 1 dropping on them from above.

     "You look like you can fight!" he announced as he got within arms reach. Another reason I do what I do, he thought of his talent for being so unnoticeable he was practically invisible, until he called attention to himself.

     The black-furred Tigress had him by the throat and up against a tree an instant later, her claws driven into the trunk. "Who the Hell are you? Where did you come from?"

     He watched as she noted Worry, but hadn't classified the Scarecrow as a threat, and couldn't detect the others. Temperamental, he thought, But I can use that. "Can you roar?"

     "Can I roar?" she repeated the question as if she found it delicious. The ear-splitting sound had all the high tones of a puma, with all the bass notes of a lion's roar. Topping all was the Pokègirl's absolutely ferocious expression while delivering it.

     "Perfect," he shouted as he hugged her, knowing he had her now, "Marvelous! Wonderful! The way you sell it is just perfect." The Pokègirl's mystified expression he'd seen before, but he couldn't stop himself when he was on a roll. "The claws are a great touch."

     The black Tigress glanced around and immediately changed into a sleek, silver-metal armored beauty.

     "Even better!" he cried, "How long can you hold that form?"

     "Long enough to put paid to you and all your girls," she growled low and threateningly.

     "Great! Terrific! But save it for the paying customers!" He looked around, spotting Worry, and a few others. "Didn't I tell you? She's a natural! Oh, I am so blessed, no one can pick'em like Tyrone." He paused, ignored his target's perplexed expression, his interest elsewhere. "Please tell me you're filming this!"

     "Of course!" Ter called from where she stood, behind a battery of monitors, cameras and microphones, "The gold eyes really stand out against the black fur and the silver armor. The standard 'dex doesn't even tag her as a Panthress!"

     "Wonderful!" He grabbed her muzzle and kissed her directly on the armored lips. "You're perfect! Anybody ever tell you that? Well it's true, take it from an expert!"

     The Pokègirl had a vaguely worried expression on her face, as if she no longer understood the world and her place in it.

     Good, I can use that too! he thought, hoping the girls were ready for the next stage of the softening up process.

     "We got some others!" Eek-O called as she, Jer, Harumi 2, Cat and Babs approached, escorting a feisty little Dark Knight, a tall statuesque, wingless Angel, and a kid with rugged boyish good looks, and a little boy.

     The Pokègirl grabbed his head and turned it to face her. "If you hurt him - "

     "Here." The blonde Megami-sama had practically teleported to the armored girl's side, now strained on her tiptoes to set the young kid on the Pokègirl's shoulder. The armored Pokègirl had to pull her claws out of the tree she had Tyrone pinned to, to hold the kid with both hands. The armor vanished and the feline Pokègirl's expression softened as she hugged the little boy protectively.

     He looked at Ter, hoping desperately that she was getting all this. She returned a look that indicated she was, and was offended by the inference that she'd miss something like that.

     This is pure 'AWWWWWwwwww!' he thought as he pulled the old silver and gold cross from his shirt, kissed it with reverence, Thank you 'I Am'. I will do right by her. Have I ever let you down? He returned the cross to its usual place of concealment. He believed in one of the 'Old Gods', because while things were always hard, for him and his girls, the victories they wrung from the universe had made him, and his ancestors, legends since the fall of Hollywood. He saw all of his girls were caught in the 'AWWww' moment of pure WAFF. The dichotomy is perfect, he thought gleefully, Fierce warrior, tender mother. It all fits into the message I have to send. To tell everyone that Pokègirls are loving symbiotes to Humanity. Fierce in defense, tender and loving. I can even slip in the redemption aspect, this really is perfect. He looked at the two new girls, the Angel and the Dark Knight. Pretty, but not too pretty, each with the serenity or the sense of fun that makes real beauty. The boy will be difficult. Not handsome enough to be a leading man, but too photogenic to pass up. "Say, are they all yours?"

     "More like we're her's." The boy indicated the black Tigress.

     Tyrone nodded. He had only one real prejudice, and it was a big one. Anyone or anything that got in the way of him making a new star. He was absolutely relentless in that pursuit. The only reason he could allow his girls their decision, without badgering them into submission, was that they had helped his search for stars and they reached people his manner intimidated. Like our new star, he thought as Babs and Lyn babbled on about kids, how to feed them, how to dress them, discipline, schooling, and the black Tigress nodded as she listened. Tyrone smiled. Gotcha! All I have to do is lower the net.

     "Who are you?! You don't act like a bounty hunter," the boy asked.

     Tyrone was stunned speechless for the first time in years. She may be in charge, but you're the brains, Tyrone thought before he could speak. "Bounty hunter - me -?" He looked at his equally stunned Harem. "Us -?"

     Eek-O started it, with Cat a close second. Within a moment, all of them were laughing. The bell-like laughter sounded so lovely.

     "No," Lyn replied, as always, the first to gather herself.

     Girl needs to let herself go occasionally, Tyrone thought as he fought recurring giggles at the idea of him playing bounty hunter. "No, I'm a talent scout. For Sunshine League Unlimited-class Tauromachy." He threw his arms wide to encompass all of them. "I'm going to make you all stars!" he said as if it were a simple truth, and obvious.

     "You can't make her a villain!" the shoulder-mounted kid insisted.

     "Oh, of course not little one! She's going to be my new Hero Toro, she's already got the mask. Think of the fame, the fortune . . . they fainted. Why do they always do that?"

     "Have you ever looked at yourself when you give that speech?" Harumi 1 squeaked, "You'd scare Typhonia!"

     Worry punched him on the arm hard enough to get his attention. "Just once, will you let us tell somebody. The way you operate, you scare the newbies half-to-death, it take weeks to get them over it. Not everybody grew up in show business like you!"

     "Sorry," Tyrone said, hanging his head in guilt. Looking at the people sprawled at his feet. The Angel and black Tigress protecting the little boy, the older kid and the Dark Knight almost like a garnish for the delicious centerpiece. Even unconscious, they're perfect, he thought happily. "But they are perfect aren't they? Ramonè's new foil, the kid . . . he can be his patron in disguise."

     Worry pulled her hat down over her face and ears.

     "What, tell me I'm wrong!"

     "You're not wrong. You're just hopeless," Eek-O said as she, Babs and Lyn carried the girls and the boys to the tent, while Koko and Yoko were setting up their own tents.

     "WHAT?" he shouted defensively.

Tyrone MacGonigal's Harem

Harumi 2 - Armsmistress
Lyn - Battle Angel [Psychic](Pokèwoman)
Cat - Cheshire
Eek-O - Demon-goddess
Miko - Herolee
Ter - Ka-d-bra
Babs - Megami-sama (Pokèwoman)
Jer - Mercury (Eek-O's Partner)
Koko - Mistoffeles
Worry - Scarecrow (Alpha)
Yoko - Venuswhore
Harumi 1 - Wigglymuff

Others:
Angel
Vonny - Battle Angel [Dark]
Kris's Mom- Battle Panthress