Chapter 03

        Soaring high over the Sierras, two great winged combatants dodged and lunged and tore at each other.

        "It's beautiful," Eloise said, "But it's terrible too, they seem to be trying to kill each other."

        "Are," Whisper told her new Master and Harem-sisters. Whisper knew what her Master would order, she glanced at the Amazonkapoeraa and nodded. We are fighters, and adding two aerial fighters would increase our strength tremendously.

        "Are they staying in one area, or are they ranging around?" Master asked.

        "They separate, but they always try to rejoin one spot. I guess the thermal is particularly strong there," Eloise: Nurse Joy and Master's eyes, told him.

        "Okay, opinions, can we catch either or both of them?" he asked.

        Whisper nodded enthusiastically. Dancer shrugged, but nodded.

        All eyes rested on Eloise. "The ayes have it."

        "Which is why mine don't work. All right, you lead us to a position where we can rescue the loser or ambush the winner, or both."

        Whisper nodded, then reached over and rapidly tapped Master's shoulder, saying 'yes' to him. I've studied the map, and I know where to set up the ambush, she thought, The hot springs and geysers must be where the thermals are strongest. So we go right under the thermal they are fighting around.

        The group fell in behind her. Dancer seemed to take every obstacle as a temporary stage for either soft-shoe or a gymnastic recital. Eloise advanced with Master's hand on her shoulder, while his tapping cane also checked the ground. The result was Dancer held them back more often than Master did. I only hope those two don't finish their fight, and each other, before we can get there. I also hope no one else is this far out to see them fighting and gets them first.

        As they marched, a particularly savage exchange of blows knocked both fliers from the sky, and neither rose again.

        "Okay, Dancer and I will go after the first target, Eloise and Whisper will go after the second. I smell sulphur in the air, so the source of the thermal was either a geyser or a volcanic vent. Is there a prominent heat plume?"

        Yes, that's pretty prominent, Whisper thought as she pointed at the columns of steam reaching almost 100 feet into the sky, He can't hear that over the other noise, Whisper thought, So how did he know? The Francinestein looked at the worried Nurse Joy. She patted the girl's head, careful not to disturb her hat. Dancer won't let anything happen to him, she wanted to tell the girl, It would hurt her pride too much to have him so much as scratched in her charge. The two groups separated, and Whisper tried to ignore the constant backward glances that Eloise made to watch Master.

        "Master wise," Whisper growled, struggling to make herself understood verbally.

        The Nurse Joy, Master's first and most beloved Pokègirl was not consoled one bit by this. I wish I could soothe your troubled thought, my sister, she thought as they drifted along with the thoughts of the battle.

        "What were they fighting over?" Eloise asked.

        Whisper considered the question, and how to ensure an answer when they arrived at their target.

        The Harpy lay in a pool of steaming water. Her matted hair and normal smell was lessened by the soak in the sulphur-smelling water. The dislocated wing seemed to have partially paralyzed the screeching demon of the air. Whisper gestured that she would go straight in, while Eloise circled, the Nurse joy's mulish expression answered her eloquently. Very well, I'll show you who is in charge, she thought as she enclosed the smaller Pokègirl's wrists with one hand, picked her up around the waist with the other, and draped the Nurse Joy over her upraised knee.

        "You wouldn't dare spank me!" the angry Joy hissed softly.

        Whisper simply stared and smiled.

        "You would, and you'd enjoy it," Eloise lamented as Whisper's smile broadened.

        So would you, if I did it right, Whisper was glad she couldn't say.

        "All right. You go straight in, and I'll circle around, I still think going in and healing her wounds would be a better course," Eloise said as she rolled off Whisper's upraised knee. "After all. It worked on you!"

        I was a very different case, the large Pokègirl thought as she advanced, This one is more like Dancer.

        The Harpy seemed to sense the approach, and was on her feet, spitting and hissing, and squawking.

        And wincing whenever she tries to move her injured wing, Whisper thought as her massive fist connected with the groggy girl's stomach, driving the breath from her. I should teach Master that, Whisper thought as she pinned the gasping girl to the ground and gestured Eloise forward.

        The Nurse Joy spoke soothingly. "We're here to help. This may hurt a little. We aren't here to harm you. We're not going to hurt you anymore."

        All the lies a doctor tells you, Whisper thought as Eloise's words plucked at her own fragmentary memories of her/their first Master, before he reconstructed his Harem into Whisper. The man who hadn't escaped the flames of his laboratory. I couldn't help. I just saw the fire and . . . I couldn't help.

        The Nurse Joy's gaze drew Whisper out of the terrible memories. She had her hands not quite touching the bloody wing. "Ready?" she asked in the same soft, cajoling tone that doctors and nurses always used, right before they jabbed the needle in.

        There was a loud 'pop', and Eloise jumped away. It was all Whisper could do to hold the screaming Harpy as she slowly realized she had both wings to use now. Whisper struggled to restrain the girl without reinjuring her. Eloise darted in and grabbed the girl's chin, evading the snaps at her fingers. Eloise struck.

        Her hand moved maybe three inches, Whisper thought as she draped the thoroughly unconscious Pokègirl over her broad shoulder. "Joy?" she rumbled in shock.

        "Don't assume I'm helpless. I've, and Master has, been trained in the martial arts, for fourteen years. Compound that with a thorough knowledge of human and Pokègirl anatomy."

        Whisper only nodded. That's a lesson and warning to me. 'Don't underestimate this girl', or any other for that matter, she thought as they headed back to Master. Something had been bothering Whisper for a while. "Collar?" she managed.

        "I'm going to have to teach you sign language. You picking the right word, tone and inflection indicates you've got a very active mind, despite your typical aphonia."

        Whisper nodded. It would be nice not to sound like a stoned Feral who's been gargling broken glass, and communicate intelligently, she thought.

        "MY Master's parents had me chipped when I was little, and had the chip upgraded when I finished growing after puberty," Eloise said, her usually expressive features oddly neutral. "They actively discouraged Master from getting collars for me. I shouldn't get ideas above my station, and he shouldn't think like a Tamer. 'You collar pets, you collar slaves, you don't collar servants.' I think they didn't want the reminder I was an intelligent being, not a consumer durable like a washing machine or a garbage disposal, I was a purchased unperson. A collar would have pointed out I might actually have pride or feelings of my own, as if a reminder that I was a valuable person might undermine my absolute loyalty to Master, that I might love him less if he demonstrated I was valuable to him." The NurseJoy kept her back straight, her chin up, and her voice neutral.

        Whisper reached over and enfolded the NurseJoy in a hug. I had no idea, she admitted to herself, You are stronger than I had suspected, and so is Master. She felt the Pokègirl nuzzling her soft fur and shaking as she wept. When Eloise pulled away, Whisper released her, and the Nurse Joy had at least the ghost of a smile for a moment.

        "I think he wants to retain the illusion that he's really on a Taming Journey, instead of collecting bodyguards and assistants . . . and friends. That perhaps we could leave, or be lost, or traded, instead of pets, or friends traveling together and inseparable. He's not a touchy-feely type, like Ranma Saotome, or Ash Sexum, but he's always been kind to me, and I hope he's always been and will be kind to you."

        Whisper nodded. Yes, I have always been treated kindly, when they weren't chasing 'the patchwork monster' with torches and farming tools. Why in this day and age of flashlights and fire Pokègirl do they always have torches? Although this isn't what I meant. A locator in the collar would help us find Master and Dancer, she thought, But it's good to know that not only Pokègirls are treated as expendable assets. Master was a throwaway too, although you didn't say it, I know you well enough to know you'd take a blow willingly, before you'd let one strike Master, and you already found him beaten up, bleeding, and all alone, and now after years of having him all to yourself, you have to share. I'm sorry my Harem-sister, but it's clear there is a large part of him that was never yours, or anyone's but his. He didn't leave his home and comfy prison to spite you, he had to or he'd die.

        Almost another hour's walk brought them to the trio. And I thought we'd need a locator, Whisper thought as she looked at the Valkyrie sitting with her back to a large rock, her wings outstretched and moving slowly. She's been expertly bandaged, Whisper thought, It seems Master learned a lot from his NurseJoy

        The Valkyrie stiffened and tried to rise as she saw the Harpy. "That bitch, I'll -!"

        "Stop!" Master snapped, and faced the Valkyrie, "You'll keep quiet until we find out what happened."

        "Harpy," the girl Whisper carried protested weakly, "Harpy, Harpy!" She gestured at the Valkyrie and the hills around them.

        So, she attacked you, your children, eh? Whisper thought, Somehow I doubt that, considering she thinks you attacked her.

        "She's accusing the Valkyrie of killing her kits," Eloise supplied.

        Amazing, Whisper thought, I didn't get that much. She noted the other's stiffening at the accusation of child murder. Even the Valkyrie doesn't like that, Whisper thought.

        "They were sliced not stabbed?" Master approached and asked the Harpy.

        "Harpy," came the reply and nod.

        "Like with a sword?" he asked and turned to point at the spear-armed Valkyrie. "That crazy Samurai and her Tamer," Master said and shivered.

        "Yes," Whisper intoned. It makes sense, Whisper thought with horror at the deliberately butchered Pokègirls and kits they'd encountered and that had set them on the trail of the insane pair, and a string of murders they'd been investigating. Then we found the culprit who killed those 'unworthy'. I just wish that Samurai hadn't leapt to her death when Master tossed her Tamer over the cliff. Made us climb down to verify both were dead, Whisper smiled as she remembered Eloise's solution to the bounty problem, At least we still have their heads packed in storage. That would mean they could have been fighting each other for the last three days. That's stamina!

        "Harpy!" the girl on her shoulder insisted.

        "We've got the head of the one who killed your kits," Master told the still groggy Harpy, "And it isn't on the Valkyrie's shoulder. You can have it, after we've gotten our reward."

        "Harpy?"

        Master brushed her hair from her misshapen face. "I understand your rage, but all this Valkyrie is guilty of is bad timing and stupidity," Master told her as he cupped her face in his hands, one finger stroking her cheek, "I cannot bring your babies back, but we have already seen to it that they were avenged. Lead us to your nest, then we will show you the heads. You will know their murderer and our bounty kill are one and the same." He tapped her hooked nose. "That will tell you. And it will tell you the Valkyrie is innocent."

        The Harpy stared at Master for a long time, as if searching for something in his face, or just enjoying the contact. She finally relented. "Ha. Harpy."

        "Please tell us i'was a single nes', na flight 'gainst flight, wit' youaz survivors last," Dancer said to the Valkyrie.

        "It was single combat," the Valkyrie said once she'd worked out what Dancer had said.

        That wasn't what Dancer asked, Whisper thought as she set the Harpy on her feet, and caught her as she wobbled. Eloise took one of the girl's hands as she tottered forward, still unsteady from blood loss and the battering she'd taken.

        And probably to remain that way until Master Tames her, Whisper realized, Eloise, you always were clever. Just heal her enough so she isn't a threat to herself or us, but no more.

        The walk and climb were difficult, but the acrobat and the flier easily supported the climbing efforts.

        Odd, Whisper thought, Dancer doesn't seem to be giving our Valkyrie the trouble she gave that Fighting Tamer.

        Dancer and the Valkyrie had the good sense to fly away when the group approached the nest.

        "Harpy," the girl said and pointed. Master stayed back with Harpy and Whisper, while Eloise moved up.

        The NurseJoy shooed the flies away and examined the small corpses. "The cuts are consistent with a long blade. There's no way a spear could generate these wounds," Eloise said as she looked, "I can give you the clinical details, but that's my preliminary finding. Whisper do you want to confirm?"

        Whisper had no need to examine the mess that had already collected clouds of flies and meat-bees.

        The NurseJoy stood up. "Do you want to -?"

        "Harpy." The girl shook her head, while burying her face in Master's chest.

        He's got a stronger stomach than I, Whisper thought, That girl needs a bath!

        All of them turned as a shadow fell across them. The huge balloon, with the stylized 'R', covered them in gloom.

        "To protect the world from devastation, are you blind? Such ugly girls."

        "To unite all peoples within our nation -"

        "To remind you I've got a Pokègirl with a knife and another with a spear standing atop your balloon," Master shouted, "Surrender now, or it isn't 'blasting off' you'll have to worry about, it's hitting rock bottom!"

        "Peekabu!" the Pokègirl with the Team Rocket types insisted, and fired right up through the top of the balloon, holing it and setting it on fire. The balloon dropped rapidly out of sight.

        "Not close," Whisper said. Dancer and the Valkyrie were no where near their balloon, she thought, And didn't they remember from last time that Master is blind? How was he supposed to know that they had landed aboard? Oh, that's easy, they're stupid. It makes sense now.

        "Do you run into them often?" the Valkyrie asked as she swooped down, carrying Dancer, who seemed to be enjoying the ride.

        "Not very and too often," Master replied, "I'd feel better if they didn't show up at all. In the meantime -" The Harpy vanished as red light into a Pokèball. "Eloise, Whisper, Dancer, return." All the girls vanished into their Pokèballs.

        The Valkyrie looked at her empty hands where Dancer had been hanging and whooping for joy as the Valkyrie had taken her for a bit of a fly. She looked at the blind Tamer braced herself for the same treatment that the others had received. I'm not ready to acknowledge you as Master, but I'm too tired to fight the effects of a ball, she thought, but the red light never came.

        "You can leave, or stay," the man told her, "I know I didn't `properly` defeat you in battle," he told her, "So I give you the choice."

        He's too far away to leap at me, she knew, No matter how well he can track my voice. "What benefit would joining you bring? What would I receive for my service?"

        "Regular Taming, food, a dry place to sleep."

        None of which truly matters to me, she thought.

        "People to look after you, watch your back in battle, heal your wounds, maybe a kiss and cuddle when you need them, and if you think we'll be lacking in adventures, you don't know us very well."

        She remembered the Taming she'd received while she was half-conscious, the calloused yet strangely gentle hands of the Tamer and Dancer stroking her skin, making a seduction of their bandaging her wounds. She blushed at how eagerly she'd accepted their touching more and more intimate parts, until . . . "I would think a man like you would stick to the safer paths."

        "I might, but I learned the world isn't safe. I could die slipping out of bed, or I could live to one-hundred by taking risks and enjoying life."

        "I see no point in remaining with you or any other human. We are called 'The Choosers of the Slain', I would go where battles are," she replied as she felt her stomach tighten at the thought of never again feeling the way they had made her feel in those few minutes. I was helpless . . . she silently countered, And I was enjoying it. She forced herself to retain a stoic expression.

        "Then you are free to go. I'll wait a few minutes, then I'll climb down."

        The man's audacity stunned her as she examined the treacherous path along the rocks. We barely managed to climb up that, she thought, Now he's going to climb down? I doubt that very much! "You're mad."

        "I'll have Eloise to help," he replied, "Besides, it's not your concern. perhaps those Team Rocket idiots need your attention more than I do."

        You're still mad, she thought. "If you are attempting to impress me with your bravado," she told him haughtily, "You have failed. If you wish to impress me with your stupidity, then you have succeeded."

        "You wanted to leave, so it's no concern of yours," he said as he touched his watch.

        Reading the time with his fingers, she thought as she remembered how sensitive those fingers could be. She shook herself loose of the grip of those memories. "The path upwards to the crest is easier. The Harpy can then be Tamed, and either she can carry you to the ground, or the long path will lead you to lower ground." I owe you at least that much, she thought.

        "Thanks, you'd better hurry. If I let her out, she'll still want to go after you."

        "You think she could best me in battle?" she asked. The idea is ridiculous! she thought. "It was I who drove her from the sky!"

        "Looked like a draw to me," he replied, "You were both on the ground, unable to get away."

        "I was fatigued and she was filled with rage."

        "And she might have help this time," the man warned and smiled, "After all, if you aren't with us, and you're just hanging around, we may just catch you."

        The Valkyrie shook her head and flew away. She looked back over her shoulder at the man, patiently waiting, occasionally touching his watch. She hovered and stared at him as the minutes ticked by. The memory of his touch, the pleasure of that feeling keeps intruding, she thought as she looked around for the best vantage point. What the -! she looked at her hands and realized she was cupping her own breast and fingering herself, Augh! she wanted to scream as she yanked her hands away, only to aware of the cold spots it seemed to leave behind.

        She landed on a rock outcropping, concealed herself, and waited. Again she felt her fingers idly stroking her skin. What, do they have a mind of their own now?! she thought as she steeled herself and waited, ignoring the growing ache to be touched. She shook her head and clenched her hands on her arms, only to catch herself rubbing her thighs together as she watched him. What has he done to me?! she wanted to scream, only to crouch down as he finally reached for his belt of Pokèballs.

        She watched him and the NurseJoy carefully climbing the rockwall towards the crest. Once at the top, he hugged her to him and ran his hands up the backs of her legs. Even at the distance, she could hear the NurseJoy's protests and cries of joy. When he began massaging the NurseJoy's full breasts, she found herself doing the same. While she rubbed her legs together in a vain attempt to regain the sensations he'd given her, he was lavishing it on the meek, eager, noisy, little NurseJoy.

        To Hel and Loki with it! she mentally cursed as she plunged her hands into herself with a fury of self-pleasuring, trying and failing to duplicate the passion drawing the frenzied cries of ecstacy from the NurseJoy just a few hundred yards away.

        "Not good," Whisper managed as they ate dinner around the campfire. The frozen fish does not please our Harpy, she thought as she looked at the new girl, who has seated herself next to their Master, She doesn't need to be told she's part of us. I just wish she didn't smell worse than a latrine. I guess I could always just toss her in the water, as a `swimming lesson` of course. I guess the food's not so bad that she'd leave Master's side to get her own.

        "Oh ye of little faith," Master complained, and shared a smile with Eloise, who grinned back so much he could probably feel it, "Everyone of you had a chance to leave and go her own way. You stayed because it was your choice."

        "Harpy," the girl said and nodded, snuggling against Master.

        "Exactly, the bonds you put on yourself are often far stronger than the chains another puts on you."

        "I still 'gree wit' Whisper, Bossman," Dancer said, "Ya shada kep' her."

        He smiled in response, and Eloise smiled even more.

        Okay, that's part of the secret, Whisper thought, You and Dancer gave her one of your no-clothes-off/all-hands-no-dicks Tamings, and then you and NurseJoy gave her a show on that mountain, the poor girl was probably going near-Feral trying to get that feeling back. Feel like Eloise was feeling. Same trick you pulled on me. Except she already knew how good it made her feel. So you set the hooks deep, and let them reel themselves in. Now I understand.

        Good, Eloise already figured it out, I think as I again hear the sounds of shuffling feet arriving just outside the camp, Now Whisper knows. Since she first arrived ten minutes ago, she's been trying to decide to get close or not. She suddenly scrambles off, only to close in again. Poor girl, she knows what she wants, and is too proud or too afraid to simply ask. I guess she does want us to capture her by force. Only,. I won't do that. "The important point," I continue, "Is that you have a choice, to stay or to go."

        "Bossman," Dancer begins, "I didn't have a choice. I knowed tho' lamoids didn' wan' me rounds messin' up they's boringness. Here I's offerin' somethin'."

        "Harpy," the girl offers earnestly.

        I think swimming lessons would be appropriate, or maybe a Taming in the water, I think, Thank the heavens my nose quit working a while ago. This girl needs a bath!

        "I think she is worried about her physiognomy's deleterious effect on certain splendor- obsessed personnel."

        "Harpy?" the girl replies to Eloise's speech.

        From the silence, I can tell she's not the only one who didn't get it, I think as even the sound of utensils stops. I reach over and cup our new girl's cheek, and she holds my hand against it and makes a please chirruping sound. Almost a purr, I think as she leans into my hand, So am I mate, or child you have to look after. Or both?

        After a little bit, I ease my hand away. "Company," I tell them all as I point towards the faint sounds. I hear the shifting that means they are looking at the newcomer. I hear the faint sound of her armor as she freezes, then her wary advance.

        Eloise settles closer too me, to act as interpreter, and shield. "You were right, Master," she whispers softly.

        Right about more than some of them have figured out, I don't say, Best way to catch them, is have them just walk into camp. You don't get as many, but it does save wear and tear on the landscape.

        "And she brought a pair of large fish," Eloise says, keeping her distaste almost completely hidden.

        "I wish to heal the rift between us," the Valkyrie says to Harpy.

        "Harpy," comes the grave reply.

        From the way Eloise tensed and then relaxed, I think, A peace offering was offered and accepted.

        "Offer," Whisper grumbles.

        There's a pause in the chewing sound to one side. "Harpy?" the girl says around a mouthful of fish, then more clearly, "Harpy?"

        I feel Eloise tense up again. "Thank you, no."

        "Harpy?" the girl seems to direct this at Whisper.

        "Always offer," Dancer interjects, "Shows you parta us, inste'd of justa me."

        "Harpy?" the girl seems mystified.

        "Offering to share," the Valkyrie says.

        "And are you worried we won't share?" Eloise asks.

        I don't think she's asking about fish or food, I think as I let my Harem take the lead.

        "I . . . I am concerned," the Valkyrie says, as she is nervously shifting her feet.

        "I think the first thing you need is a name," I say, "We can't keep calling you 'the Valkyrie' or 'Hey You!'"

        "Why not?" the Valkyrie asks, with a happier tone.

        "Harpy."

        "You should wait until you can talk more before - " Eloise counsels.

        "HAR - PY," the girl insists.

        "You want to be called 'Harpy'?" I ask. Maybe she does, I think.

        "Nodding your head means 'yes'," Eloise explains.

        "Harpy," our Harpy says proudly.

        "I can't argue with that," I admit.

        "How 'bout Madge?" Dancer suggests.

        That's either a joke I don't get, or an insult I don't recognize, I think.

        "Is wa's stenciled onna arma on yur back," Dancer explains, "Yur hair cov's it up, on yur back."

        "It's as good a name as any," Madge accepts, "I never considered picking a name. I never thought I'd need one."

        Stenciled on the back of her armor? I'll have to figure out where she got it, I think. "So join the circle and welcome," I tell her and feel the log shift as it takes her weight.

        "Taming," Whisper says in a salacious tone.

        "Oh, I agree, she clearly wants Taming from our Master," Eloise agrees.

        "What? I - why - would -? It's not -" she stammers.

        Even I can sense the glare Eloise is receiving, I think. "Gently my dear," I whisper to Eloise, but loud enough to be heard, "Valkyries are very shy about such things, and it just gets worse as she evolves." And so the glare shifts to me, I think, And when I don't remind everyone of the noises I made her produce during our Taming session, the glare fades.

        "Don' sweat't, I kin git anyone I wan' wit ma dancin'. Whisper's nearly as good. 'Cept ma Masta can't see nothin', a waste," Dancer explains, "Frust - ratin'!"

        Chuckles run around the circle.

        "I thought a dance was where everybody gets together with poor hors d'oeuvres, weak punch and says nasty things about the others in the room," I tell them, "You mean there's something else involved?"

        Eloise cracked first, with a stifled snort, telling the others it's okay to laugh.

        The - Harpy is not laughing, so she gets tonight's Taming. If I can get it up after all the work and strain of today, I think as I consider, Let Whisper hold her clawed arms, I'll risk the legs, and Whisper doesn't seem to mind she's not actually getting Tamed, if the girl with her enjoys it. I think Whisper gets off more watching another girl enjoy getting Tamed than getting Tamed herself.

FRANCINESTEIN - Whisper Alpha
HEROKAPOERAA - Dancer
VALKYRIE - Madge
HARPY - Harpy
NURSEJOY - Eloise
DAMSEL HUNTER - Hey You!