09

 

“Sayla, Mage...hunter?”

 

“Yup, that'd be me!” The tiny redhead said with a grin, standing in the center of the four guarding pokegirls as if uncaring of their presence, her hands locked sturdily behind her back.

 

“...At least, that's what I'd like to say, but I'm not so sure about now. Becomin' a Dark Lady really's messed up my fighting style. Not sure how I'm gonna make up for that. You got damn lucky, catching me when you did.” She grumbled.

 

Looking at her aura, Vikram didn't disagree. While Lynn had definitely begun to improve and get used to her existence as a Boobisaur, and Zhao, truly, was an exceptional talent to begin with, the Dark Lady before them easily seemed to eclipse the two of them. Though perhaps the aura itself can be deceiving, he thought to himself, given how awkwardly she did seem to fight before. Still... if she had been at full strength when we encountered her... Vikram repressed the urge to shudder and instead asked a question.

 

“You evolved recently?”

 

“Recent doesn't even touch it. Hadn't even evolved for five minutes and you guys pop out of nowhere!” She grumped. “I swear, I either have the worst timing in the world, or you guys have the best.”

 

“I'll bet. So. Sayla, you said your name was?”

 

“No. You misheard me, I said it was Bob. No, wait. George. I always get them confused.”

 

George?! Vikram frowned. He'd read the Dark Lady entry before, and in hind-sight was glad his temporary lapse into anger had, ironically enough, been just about the right way to keep a firm leash around a Dark Lady's neck, and, in theory make them perfectly submissive. Except...

 

THIS is perfectly submissive?! Damn entry doesn't know shit! Vikram grinned. Well then. If she's gonna be a pain, I'll play right along.

 

“Alright, then George. I have more questions for you.”

 

Sayla's eye twitched. “It was sarcasm! You got it right the first time. My name's not George!”

 

“You told me it was, so until I'm done with my questions, that's what I'm calling you.”

 

“Oh, god dammit.” Sayla groaned in exasperation as the silver haired boy in the back started laughing. “Shut up! This doesn't concern you, pretty boy!”

 

“Oh, pardon me.” Yzak said in his best mocking tone, bowing low towards the Dark Lady . “Well, Vikram, it looks like you have this under control here. I'm going to go head back and take care of other business.” Sayla glared at the boy as he walked off.

 

Vikram nodded. “Alright, then. Sure you won't need any help?”

 

“Who do you think I am?” Yzak laughed and walked away, waving. ”You just take care of George here.”

 

“My name is SAYLA, dammit!” The tiny red-head roared at Yzak's retreating figure. “Graah!”

 

Dearka chuckled. “George, eh? I'll have to remember that.” He continued to laugh as he walked away.

 

“Grrr! Do you want me to blow your-” Sayla's remark was interrupted half-way by Zhao's foot, sending her tiny form careening several feet before landing flat on her face, her arms still binded tightly behind her back. “Eurghh...” Blowing out a mouthful of dirt and raising her head to glare back at the Amazon, she stopped cold when she noticed that Vikram had stepped forward and was now kneeling over her, piercing her with those cold, yellow eyes. A shudder ran down the Dark Lady's back.

 

“That was your warning.” Vikram said coldly, lightly lifting up the Dark Lady's face with one hand and sending the girl's heart racing in a mixture of admiration, excitement, and fear. “Make that threat again, and so help me, you'll wish you were only lacking an arm.”

 

'George' nodded and quieted down somewhat.

 

“My name is Vikram Pramesh. From today on, I will be your master, so you can cut the crap. I'm not going to tolerate any more insults or violence towards my friends, and no violence at all without my specific consent. Do you understand me?”

 

Sayla nodded again, dazed by more than the force of the blow. The girl had moved on her own, with absolutely no prompting or hint of a warning on her master's part, and yet he acted as though it was exactly what he'd intended all along.

A small part of her growled in frustration. How she hated these assholes! How desperately she wanted to be away! And yet...and yet...this time, Sayla simply could not deny the growing fire between her legs that she received every time those eyes looked at her. “Y-Yes. I understand...Master Vikram.”

 

“Now that it is just us,” Vikram said, “Why don't we head on indoors to the Pokecenter. I have many questions that I need you to answer.”

 

The group moved quickly towards the Pokecenter, Sayla looking around to take in the continually unfamiliar surroundings.

 

“So...now that we have some privacy, master,” Sayla said impassively, “There's a few things I wanted to bring up.”

 

“Such as?”

 

Sayla swallowed nervously but hid it behind a grin, stepping down twice almost imperceptibly fast on her left foot. The Amazon and the Boobisaur beside him twitched, as if they sensed what was coming, but the Dark Lady was already in motion.

 

“First, a piece of advice, Master-”

 

Even as her arms were binded behind her, Sayla spun forward on her right foot, whirling into a wide kick that stopped just short of Vikram's side, a small blade in her boot extended and hovering a centimeter from his side.

 

She had no intention of harming him, of course. While she was still not yet sure about her new master, she could tell there was...something...to him, something strange that all but commanded her loyalty and made her feel compelled to return that loyalty.

 

The reaction Sayla was expecting, however, was not the reaction she got.

 

Nothing.

 

Vikram simply stared at her with those cold, unnatural eyes, unflinching at the feint. Sayla's eyes opened wide with surprise. Well now! He's either slow, which I doubt by this point, has no reason to fear such an injury, which is curious, or he's far better at judging potential danger and risk than your average Joe. I wonder....

 

“Never underestimate your opponent.” The tiny red-head grinned. “I don't need hands in order to kill you.”

 

“Advice noted.” Vikram said. “Would you mind putting that thing away before my girls kill you? They're quite agitated from yesterday, and if you're looking for round two, my girls will gladly give it to you.”

 

Still smiling, before lowering her foot back to the ground and retracting the killing blade. She looked over towards the man's two known girls – she wasn't going to make the mistake of assuming the girls she saw were the only ones, not anymore. Both of the girls were agitated, and looked to be a hair's breadth away from striking her down dead – but even when she'd charged, they had held back, even though her movements had clearly been anticipated.

 

Let's see, Sayla thought to herself. They both WANT to attack, and yet don't. Goldeneyes here must have ordered them not to, but he's said nothing to anyone but me thus far. On top of that was the perfect, unsignaled timing of that amazon's attack earlier. Did he order them in advance, or is he some sort of telepath? Sayla grinned at the thought. Yes, yes, I like this.

 

“Nah, I think I'll pass on that,” she replied, “Like it or not, you definitely ARE my Master.”

 

“Like it or not, just like the man you killed?”

 

“Ehhh.” The Dark lady gave an expression of disgust, waving a hand around carelessly. “Details, details. If you want to get technical, it wasn't actually me that killed him, and he was only 'master' in law, not body.”

 

“But you tried to.”

 

“Wouldn't *you*, in my place?” Sayla turned away and shrugged again. “The idiot had it coming to him.”

 

Vikram frowned. “So you admit it.”

 

“Well of COURSE I'm going to admit it! For all I know you've got a psychic girl out there in the hall double or triple-checking everything I say for validity. I'm not stupid!” Sayla growled, throwing up her hands in exasperation. “I was sent by my previous master to kill that man, Gregorio, under the guise of a new pokegirl. It was part of a deal. Gregorio dies, I go free.”

 

Scratching the back of his head, Vikram could feel a major headache coming on. Who would go so far as to train a girl to be an assassin, and then try to make a deal with her? This makes no sense. Shaking his head, he continued. “Who was your previous master?”

 

“I don't know.”

 

Vikram glared at her darkly. “Don't shit with me, woman.”

 

“I'm telling you the truth!” She hissed in annoyance. “I've never actually even SEEN him. It was a security measure, like the explosive collar, to make sure I couldn't rat on him.”

 

“Right, the collar. We'll have to get that removed. I don't feel like having a murderer or anyone else I don't know controlling an explosive on one of my girls.”

 

“Eh. Don't bother.” Sayla reached up and tapped it nonchalantly. “Doesn't work. Disabled it weeks ago. I keep it for the...ah, fashion statement, not the security.”

 

Now was Vikram's turn to look surprised, his jaw dropping slightly. She disabled it?! How the hell do you safely disable an explosive collar?!

 

“You'll have to show me how you did that, but that can come later. Next question. You don't fight like any Dark Lady I've heard of. Why is that?”

 

“Forgive me, but I just recently evolved, master, during the battle with the Daimo-” She paused. “With the Droido, I mean. All of my training and skills have been with a nimbler form, so I'm...” She sighed. “.rather clumsy right now.”

 

“Daimon...? You mean that Daimon had just evolved, too?”

 

“Yes. Gregorio had a moon stone. We started fighting over it, and in the fight we both caught a hold on it and evolved.”

 

“What? That's impossible. It's well known that you can't evolve more than one pokegirl with a single evolutionary stone. It only works on the first effective girl to touch it and then gets consumed in the process.”

 

“Hey, I never made the rules, did I? Maybe it broke or something. If you could ask the Daimon, she'd tell you the same damn thing. I'm not making it up. ”

 

 

“I still have questions.” Vikram pointed to her left hand. A complex weave of blue lines covered it's palm, and from it, more lines extended out one her fingers and up her arm. “There is a strange tattoo on your right hand. What is it?”

 

A flicker of anger crossed Sayla's face. “It is...a curse. A curse and a weapon.”

 

“You'll have to be more specific than that.”

 

“Are you familiar with the concept of a 'geas'?”

 

“...'Geese'?” Vikram frowned, trying to gnaw at the strange word.

 

“No, geas. Gi-Us. It's a...compulsory magic of sorts, one that compels whomever affected to do something against their will. It's much like being a pokegirl in general, actually,” She said with a shake of her head, “Excect that this sort of control doesn't go away even if the Master changes.”

 

“I see. And what is this command, then?”

“'Kill her.'”

 

“Kill...who?”

 

Sayla paused for a moment. “Can you remove these bindings?”

 

Vikram hummed thoughtfully, before nodding and motioning to Zhao to remove the bindings, curious as to her reasoning.

 

Her arms free, Sayla slowly slid off her white 'jacket' (if something consisting mostly of a pair of sleeves and some cloth connecting them in the back could be called a jacket) and turned her back to Vikram, holding her hair back and to the side to that her back was clearly in view.

And that's when he saw it. It was not simply a tattoo on her arm. An entire complex network of tattoos began to spread across her back, veins of black reaching down her arm to the killing hand, all springing forth from a great black X emblazoned in the center of her back.

Sayla raised up her free, left hand in front of her and the entire tattoo flared white, exactly as it did the day before.

 

“This...is why I am a mage hunter.” She said softly. “Thanks to this curse, detection magic cannot find me and all but the strongest magic attacks wash off me like water.”

 

Vikram's eye widened in understanding. Who in the world would go to such awkward lengths to...

“So...your target is a mage. Pokegirl, or human?”

 

“I don't know. It could be either. But that's as much as I know. I've had this tattoo, this ORDER, for as long as I can remember. There is someone it wants me to kill, someone it wants to destroy at any cost...but my masters never told me WHO!” Sayla screamed in a sudden fit of rage, nearly striking the wall, but her fist was quickly stopped by Zhao, who intercepted the strike and sent Sayla flipping head over heels, landing on her feet with a slight wobble on the edge of the bed, quite surprised by the unexpected flight.

 

I'm going to have to get used to that, aren't I? Sayla thought to herself wryly.

 

“Another person you don't know?” Vikram glared at the petite girl, seemingly ignoring the outburst but inwardly congratulating Zhao for a job well done. “Do you know anybody Anybody at all? All I've gotten from you is more questions than I started with.”

 

Sayla threw up her hands helplessly, and Vikram just sighed - heavily – before he went silent for a moment and paused to think.

 

 

“Alright, listen up. This may seem redundant, but I'm making this absolutely clear. You aren't killing anybody on my watch. If anyone dies, it will be by my command, and my command ONLY. If or when we end up running into this poor soul, you will let me know, and are forbidden from harming her until I say otherwise. You feel any sort of unexpected killing intent, you are to fall back and notify me. No exceptions.” Sayla looked betrayed, but then Vikram quickly held up a hand to forestall the inevitable complaint- “I said UNTIL. You'll be rid of that curse, mark my words. It just has to be done RIGHT, and I won't have you dragging me down in some blind stupidity, do you understand me?”

 

“You mean...you'll actually help me?!” Sayla's face lit up like the sun.

 

“Yes. I will.”

 

“THANK YOU, MASTER!” The little girl cheered, leaping forward to hug him fiercely. “Yahoo!”

 

“Grrrr! Flat girl! Get off Zhao's master!” Zhao indignantly roared.

 

Lynn's jaw dropped. “Master, you can't be serious! You can't actually be considering this! I know you're frustrated with people, but MURDER is...” She trailed off, suddenly unable to continue her accusation as her pokeball snatched her up.

 

“I do what I need to do.” Vikram remarked to the empty space where Lynn stood, before returning to the Dark Lady. Sorry, Lynn.

 

“Why Biikram do that?” Zhao looked over at Vikram, confused, as he walked over to the desk and placed Lynn's pokeball back on his belt.

 

“I don't need her as a distraction right now,” Vikram replied, leveling a finger at the girl. “Let me make this clear to you. I've said it once, and I don't want to say it again. You will neither kill nor injure anyone, not even the person this 'geas' demands of you, without my exact order. If you harm ANYONE without my command, I won't just kill you. I will let you rot in a pokeball for the rest of your natural life, with nothing but that curse to keep you company!”

 

* * *

 

“It is really okay...to just leave him in there?”

 

* * *

 

A single memory, like a fickle wind, flashed into Vikram's head. Where did that come from...?

 

“Ooooooi. Biiiiiikraaaam~”

 

Suddenly, Vikram realized that Zhao was waving a hand in front of his face. He blinked. “S-sorry, what?”

 

“Biikram went all empty-sleepy.” Zhao cocked her head to the side. “Biikram awake now?”

 

“Err...yes, yes, I'm fine. Thank you for asking.” He patted Zhao on the head, who closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling.

 

“Umm...Master...” Looking over, Vikram was surprised to see Sayla quite subdued, sitting on the ground and deep in thought.

 

“Yes, Sayla?”

 

“I understand your orders. I will not kill or harm anyone without your command.”

 

“Do you know why I gave you those orders?”

 

She shook her head. “No, Master. I have my suspicions, but I honestly do not understand you so well quite yet.”

 

“Smart.” Vikram nodded. “Well, let me spell it out for you. If your target's a Pokegirl, then I'll find myself in a nice right mess for destroying someone else's property – and you'll soon learn that I'd prefer to avoid entanglements with the law.”

 

“Are you...a criminal, master?”

 

“No, I am not, and I have no interest in becoming one. All that said, if your target happens to be a Pokegirl, I might conceivably be able to get away from that with only so much trouble.”

 

On the OTHER hand, you were trained as a Dark Elf, not a Dark Lady. Dark Elves are not the most impressive of combatants and you're not likely to have the opportunity to use those sort of skills to sneak up and kill anything but ferals. Not to mention, any pokegirl which is significant enough to warrant an assassin would probably need one much more obviously suitable for the task.” He smirked. “You really don't seem the sneaky type, after all.”

 

The little girl curtsied, as if receiving praise. “You doubt my ability?”

 

“Doubt or not, I'll know the full extent of your abilities soon enough. More importantly, it's more likely that somebody with a grudge against a pureblood or some other powerful family created that curse against a specific human woman-”He thought of the girl's now-dead 'master' “-and THAT is a dangerous scenario!”

 

“Which means, however we go about this, we must proceed carefully.” Vikram slammed a fist down on the desk. “You hurt somebody, for any reason, and you can kiss any chance of me helping you deal with that curse good-bye!”

 

Sayla nodded and bowed. Huh. I hadn't considered that one. Yeah, a spree of random killings like that would definitely bring Master trouble. I must be careful...

 

The dark lady did a double take.

 

 

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

 

“For now, I believe I've asked enough questions. I'll release you later for food and perhaps some training.”

 

“Understood.” Sayla bowed towards Vikram as he brought the pokeball to bear on her.

 

Come to think of it... she stared, looking at Vikram's face, Weren't his eyes yellow before? Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she tried to puzzle out the mystery, even as her vision went red, and then black as the capture beam activated.

 

As she vanished, the thoughts of both master and servant were the same.

 

 

* * *

 

This is odd indeed. While she certainly has some violent tendencies, she seems...much calmer than I thought she'd be. Vikram stared at the Pokeball curiously, setting it down on the desk and then releasing the other 'ball placed there.

 

“M-Master! What are you thinking!” Lynn was once again free of her pokeball, Sayla stored away safely in hers as Vikram raised up a hand to stop the quickly rising tirade of complaints.

 

“I have no intention to kill, or let Sayla kill, anyone. I have not lost my mind yet, Lynn.”

 

“Well then why the hell would you tell her otherwise?!”

 

“You're a widely read reader, Lynn. Have you read anything about 'geas' magic before?”

 

“Not really. Never really popped up in any of my books. Why?”

 

“I've read about it before, when doing some research on more common or famous types of ancient magic. Never come across it in person, of course, but I've heard enough to understand that we have to proceed very cautiously here.” Vikram lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, hands behind his head and a troubled expression on his face.

 

“I don't know how powerful this compulsion is, but I DO know that geas magic is one of the more difficult types of magic for any sort of spellcaster. No normal girl's going to pull off a complicated curse like this, much less one that's lasted for what is probably many years. It could be strong enough that, if Sayla thinks we are an obstacle to her completing it, she will kill us, and then she will be on the loose with nothing to restrain her.”

 

“But we don't know that for sure.” Lynn crawled into the bed next to him.

 

“No, we don't. But I'd rather err on the side of caution with a girl like her.” Vikram frowned. “So, we are going to try and find someone capable of removing that geas from her, completely. Once the geas is gone, she'll have no reason to seek whomever this mystery woman is, and our problems will be solved.”

 

“Ahhhh.” Lynn nodded appreciatively. “But why didn't you just SAY that?”

 

“The first step to tricking your enemies is to trick your allies.” Vikram said, looking rather apologetic. “Didn't I already say? I have no idea how powerful that curse IS. Even if Sayla herself would be fine with getting rid of the curse, there's no guarantee a curse that powerful will just sit back and accept oblivion. She has to think that we are helping her, at least until we find someone with enough power to remove the curse completely.

 

Beyond that, if she doesn't know even know who the person she's trying to kill is, how can we even be sure that the curse is only set for one person?” Vikram muttered darkly. “What if there's actually a whole group of people out there that she's after? The curse must go, and Sayla mustn't learn about it until we're ready.”

 

Several minutes passed with neither speaking. Slowly, she moved to rub against him, hinting at a taming, but Vikram shook his head and lay back to take a nap.

 

She frowned, annoyed at being brushed off but knowing she was in no real need of a taming for a while. Rather, she wondered, staring at her master as she opened one of the room's curtains to let in some sunlight, and considered the pros and cons of releasing Zhao to play with, could anything get rid of her master's troubled face?

 

* * *

 

Elsewhere, a certain silver-haired tamer was having problems of his own. He, too, had been questioning his latest acquisition, gathering details about her and the events the previous day. All had been going well, until he had mentioned the Dark Lady's own capture.

 

“SHE'S HERE?!” The Droido roared. “WHERE IS SHE?! I'LL FUCKING KILL HER!”

 

“You will be QUIET!” The Droido he had captured stood before him, eyes wide with rage, her anger barely under control. Only Shiho, blade unsheathed and ready, stood between the two, and from the display yesterday, she was far from confident in her ability to defeat the far more experienced and powerful Droido, especially now that she had been healed and was no longer reeling from the intial battle with the Dark Lady.

 

Yzak couldn't understand it. By all rights, Droidos were supposed to be among the most calm and composed of any pokegirl breed. And yet this one seemed to be a freaking firecracker for all the self control she had. A flash of red, and the raging statue was back in her pokeball. He sighed and leaned back, the Droido returned to her pokeball, as he tried to make sense of the anomaly.

 

“What do you think, Shiho?”

 

The Slicer paused to think, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “I am...unsure, Master. It could be her personality, or perhaps a side effect of her recent evolution...”

 

“Perhaps.” Yzak rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before motioning Shiho to follow him.

 

I guess I'll just have to run her through a taming cycle or two and see if she calms down some, he thought, as Shiho sheathed her sword and fell in step beside him.

 

* * *

 

Dearka sat at a table on the Pokecenter roof, looking up at the clouds as they passed by, and feeling, intently, the once-cold, but now lukewarm precipitation drip down from the side of his untouched 'iced' tea and onto his right hand. It was such a familiar feeling, and yet now so completely alien to him. He rubbed his right arm with his left, as if to assure himself that yes, the arm was still there.

 

Even if it wasn't the original.

 

A surge of pain shot up the arm, a echo of the previous day, and he frowned.

 

Grasping the glass of tea, he downed half of it in one great gulp before pausing to take in a welcome gasp of air.

 

“Bah, the guy's such a worrywart.” Dearka spoke aloud, before coughing as the remainder of the tea went down the wrong tube. “Nraaagh!”

“Don't drink it too fast, now.” Milliaria said with a smile, walking up behind him, camera strapped to her side. “You alright?”

 

Dearka grinned even as he fought to fill his lungs with air. “Hey!” he said indignantly, “I'm not about to be beaten by a cup of tea, ya know?”

 

Milliaria laughed. “Really? You sure looked nervous about drinking it. It's been almost an hour since you came up here.”

 

“Eh? It has?” That was weird. Did he lose track of time that fast? Shrugging, he finished drinking the rest of the tea and stood up, giving Miriallia a small hug before turning towards the roof exit -

 

And fining a tall figure in a simple black suit in front of him, short red hair and a silver cross adorning him, a single pokeball on his waist and a briefcase by his side. As Dearka stood there awkwardly, trying to decide what to do, the man bowed his head.

 

“Excuse me, but might I have a moment of your time?”

 

-----------------------------------------------------

Notes:

 

Lynn – Boobisaur

Zhao - Amazonkapaoeraa

Sayla – Dark Lady

 

Milliaria – Cameragirl <Alpha>

Traxia - Guntit

 

Shiho – Slicer <Alpha>

Izumi – Rack

???? - Droido