16

Standard Disclaimers apply. Written by Micah Hakubi at feynman dot project AT SPAMOHMYGODHELPUSALL gmail dot com. You can guess the drill regarding contact.

The story is mine, the setting is not. We all give thanks to Metroanime daily for putting up with us messing around his in awesome world. Ahmen.

To quote Kerrik Wolf, "You should not read this work if you are under the age of legal consent wherever you reside. This work may or may not contain any and/or all of the following: death, dismemberment, violent acts, implied sex, explicit sex, violent sex, rape, cannibalism, blasphemy (depending on your religion), BDSM, torture, necrophilia, mimes, and just about anything unwholesome that you could consider."

Feedback welcome. I probably need the syntax abuse.

Major thanks to Kerrik Wolf for proof-reading and offering spelling and grammer abuse corrections for this chapter. All corrections are his, all mistakes are still mine.

[Chapter 16]

A shift of fire-gold hair, clearly unnatural, as the pokegirl felt a spike of nearby magic. Eyes calmly opened, her body not shifting from where she lay next to her tamer as she surveyed the interior of the dark tent until her gaze came to rest on a scroll that had not been there a moment previous. Marked with a wax seal that would prevent anyone else but its intended recipient from opening it - indeed, many who attempted such a thing, without a strong will, would find them sickening in short order. Some could even die from the attempt, but they were rare.

She cast a spell to prevent her Tamer from rising, pushing her nude form up from the bed roll as she picked the scroll up, broke the seal, and unfurled it to read.

A few minutes later, Astarte let out a soft, near inaudible sigh. She had enjoyed playing the part of a Demoness in someone's harem, but when her mistress commanded, so she went.

With a negligent thought, she canceled the spell that obscured her true identity from scanners. The Hild pokegirl stretched and then glanced down at her Tamer. Well, before she left, she had a number of things to attend to. Canceling the sleep spell, she spoke in a clear tone, "Peters. Wake up."

Peters stirred faintly, eyes opening blearily to stare at his Alpha. "Whum?"

She laughed; the sound clear as bells. "I just wanted to let you know, that I've always hated you." Gripping his throat, she began sucking energy from his body in a voracious torrent, not caring to be subtle as he began screaming. She held his head firmly so that he was staring into her eyes when he died, and wiped her hand clean whenever she was done.

Once she had done similar to the remainder of her harem, she left their corpses scattered around the campground. Astarte had a specific person to seek out and deal with, and the orders of the Legendary Hild were absolute.

-[***]-

Johnson regarded the abandoned assembly of prefabricated buildings with barely concealed distaste. As a security operative of the Ruby League, he admitted that it chaffed a great deal to learn that some self-deluded freak had not only set up residence in his League, but that all signs pointed to this bastard being so tight with Sanctuary he squeaked when he walked.

"Fucking worthless," he spat. His harem had been going from building to building, trying to find something to point as to why it had been put there, but apparently it had been cleaned out rather thoroughly. The copse of dead trees nearby was another oddity, but one that could be examined later.

His Guntit Alpha regarded him nervously, but wisely did not say anything. Her Master had a tendency to take his aggravation out on his harem, and she could only hope they found something soon to make this job worthwhile. She could tell that Johnson would rather much be on the security perimeter, helping to keep Capital Tamers (and a few others) out, rather than trying to pick through a metaphorical carcass.

Johnson's Armsmistress stepped from one of the buildings, waving to get his attention. "We've found something!"

"Finally," Johnson muttered, heading over with his Alpha in tow to get a look. What they found had all three staring in confusion, as it looked like a cobbled together pile of junk. Johnson could pick out what had to be part of a Pokedex sitting in the middle of it, wires crisscrossed amid other elements and what looked to be a lot of half-disassembled pokeballs. Only the solid glare of red LEDs gave hint that it was something more than a refuse pile.

"Master?" his Guntit queried softly at his side. Johnson waved her off, moving in to get a closer look.

With an audible click, all the red LEDs shifted to green.

Johnson's eyes widened in realization too late. "GET-"

Boom.

-[***]-

Micah paused, the roll of seaweed, rice, and raw crab paused halfway to his mouth as he regarded Euphemia with more than a little surprise. He didn't know how Ludmilla knew of places in Edo League where she could get a lot of food in a hurry without questioning why a pokegirl would be purchasing it, but given the state of his harem(and himself) right now, he didn't care. More so, as Edo was currently on his 'stay away' list, but... "You left a BOMB behind?"

Euphemia's quiet, self-satisfied expression fell into one more hesitant and embarrassed, the dusky-skinned redhead now looking uncertain. "Did... Did I do something wrong?"

"Wow," Cornelia murmured, sipping rice wine, her expression mellow as she eyed Euphemia with something akin to surprise. "Good job."

"Not exactly," Micah replied. "I'm just surprised. One, I didn't expect you to be that vindictive. Two... Well, tell me, next time. I wouldn't want any of the Grim Angels stumbling across it if they had to go back." Not that any of them could go back. It hurt, unexpectedly, having to put all of them in stasis, like pushing an unwanted toy to the back of a top shelf to be ignored. He simply didn't have the room to keep them all, at the moment.

He shoved the brain-gripping, bowel-shaking stab of panic when the gnawing question of what he was going to -do- seemed to sit up and howl in the back of his mind. Only to be calmed by the soft sensation of a wing brushing against his own as Nunnally leaned closer, or Ludmilla gripped his arm. Not that the comfort wasn't unappreciated, but it didn't offer up many solutions.

"So what's the big deal about this Macavity?" Lina asked as she shoveled rice into her mouth, several empty bowls a testament to how much the FarFuck'D viewed as a passable meal.

Micah gave a wing-rustle of a shrug. "She's a Legendary."

Lina gave him an arched glance over the rim of her bowl. "So?"

"Legendaries were Sukebe's equivalent of biological weapons. Living, breathing, tactical thermonuclear bombs."

"Thermo-whatsits?"

Micah smiled, and tried a different tact. "Think of them as self-casting Giga Slaves. You pointed them at a problem and they make the problem... go away."

Lina let out a gust of breath. "Woof." She set the bowl aside and regarded Micah. "So why the hell would she care about -you-?"

"I honestly don't know." Micah's eyes grew distant, his expression not changing when he had to interpose his chopsticks between his bowl of rice and Lina's grasping hands. He let out a small sigh. "It doesn't make any sense. I've done nothing, to my knowledge that could bring her attention to me or piss her off." He gritted his teeth in a snarl. "The only thing that I can think of is that someone pointed her my way, or one of the Authors running around did something that drew her attention to me, somehow. Which makes no sense. There's no feasible reason any of the Authors running around would single me out." Beyond one. Micah forced himself to not go there. "As I've made all attempts to stay well away from any of the Legendaries..." A shake of his horned head, tossing that problem aside. Solving it right now wasn't likely. "Next problem, of course, is what League I'm going to screw around with next, now that Ruby's crossed off."

"You need to rest," Ludmilla stated at his side.

Micah smiled wryly. "I'll rest when I'm dead."

Her grip on his arm tightened. "If you don't rest, and head into things without pause or thinking, you -will- end up dead." Her expression softened, ears shifting. "Master, even if this is a setback, consider what victory you did salvage from this. You had well advanced warning of anything happening, and so far our base here is still an unknown. Doesn't that count for something?"

He chuckled softly. "True enough." Another smile. "But I still have obligations. It wouldn't do to stuff Charolette and her Herd, along with Blueberry and her miniature colony, alongside our Celestial Harem back in Capital."

"It's not very fair to them, either," Anya noted. "How much longer are you going to force them to stay?"

"Whenever I make some concrete process on my research, for one," Micah replied. The entire Blessing mechanism was more complicated than he had given allowances for, and unraveling it's secrets to the point that he could then rebuild it into something he could use to evolve pokegirls in a Sanctuary Goth without an Ebony Stone or the S-Goth Venom he had devised... well. Never let it be said that he backed down from a challenge.

Anya's smile was teasing. "So. Not for the foreseeable future, then?"

Micah stuck his tongue out at her, stuffed another roll of sushi down his gullet. He wouldn't expect to be this hungry normally, with bowel-gripping fear... but beyond the fear was a seething, white-hot -hatred- that threatened to surge forward and engulf him if he let idle thoughts turn toward it. And the idea of Macavity showing up had an odd, delicious appeal to some of the darker portions of his brain as they wondered just how the Legendary's blood would taste.

Consuming another roll, he forcefully ignored that part of his brain and concentrated on the here and now. "Suggestions?"

"Opal," Ludmilla replied. "Mountain. Rumors still place some of Sukebe's labs in the Himalayan Range, and I can't argue the idea of a fortress dug into the side of a mountain is unappealing." Ludmilla smirked, the expression properly wolfish. "It -would- make defense easier. Forest League is another option, and more amenable to army support. Edo is an option, but you've specified that League is off limits."

Nunnally regarded Micah. "May I ask why?"

Micah smiled faintly. "I can sum that up in two words: Kerrik Wolf."

Cornelia blinked from around a cup of rice wine. "What does he have to do with Edo?"

Micah chuckled softly. "It's a matter of report and fact that there are other Kamis in existence in Edo - Kerrik made mention of them in his stories. Given the oddity of my appearance, combined with my abilities and odd luck, I'm not one to tempt fate worse than I already am."

Anya giggled. "Not one to try and woo a comely Kami Princess?"

Micah stuck out his tongue at her. "Or deal with a pissy supernatural entity that thinks someone else is trying to horn in on his worship. It could go either way, really. Still, there's paranoia, and then there's too much paranoia." He glanced at Euphemia. "Start collecting survey data on the Forest League to identify a large enough island with no inhabitants we could effectively claim. Co-operate with Blueberry. She should have a good grasp of what's necessary. Your second job is to begin collecting data on the Mountain League to locate a good place for another beta site. Work with Ludmilla on that." He glanced at the Dire Wolf in question, receiving a firm nod in reply.

"Don't you think the chance of having to deal with an actual Kami is rather remote?" Euphemia queried, her tone slightly skeptical even as she dutifully wrote down everything Micah was assigning her.

Micah smiled thinly. "Euphemia, I've been summoned across worlds by a group of individuals whom think I was some sort of God-like individual whom helped to shape this world. Quite frankly, I'm not putting anything beyond my luck." He glanced at Ludmilla. "Regardless, start research Edo, as well, though put it on the bottom of the list. A shake of his head. "And enough planning. Let's finish eating, first."

-[***]-

Vince McMahon, Grand Harem Master of the Capital League - the only Grand Harem Master -in the world-, as a matter of fact - lightly rubbed a knuckled fist as he leaned back in his private office, thinking.

Alone.

Vince McMahon, you see, was not stupid. He had a temper, for certain - an explosive temper that had a tendency to spread out like caustic liquid to burn everything around him, yes - And he was many things besides that, but stupid wasn't among them.

He respected and loved his wife. He honestly did. There were reasons, after all, that she controlled near as much as the Capital League as he did. She completed him, covering what he lacked.

He glanced at the rumpled flyer sitting on his desk. But, he also admitted, she wasn't perfect. And sometimes, subtle machinations were all well and good - but other times, the best way to handle a matter was to go for the goddamn throat.

He toggled the communication software of the computer sitting on his desk and spoke. "Get me the Warfare Master of the Furies."

There wasn't even a pause as a screen opened up and the Warfare Master of the Furies Group of the Electronic Warfare Division of the Capital League, the Video Girl Upgrade Iteration Seven(Sevy to her friends) stared back at Vince with a measure of surprise. "You rang?"

Vince grunted by way of reply, and held up the flyer that had announced a supposed Capital League-sponsored event. "You heard about this?"

"You're joking, right?" Iteration Seven regarded Vince as if he had taken a clear leave of his senses. "You remember who you're talking too?"

Vince let out another grunt. "Then you know that this 'demon lord' the flyer spoke about is the same guy who gave us a big 'fuck you' at the Sadie Pokens Day in Anchorage."

"Uh huh." Iteration Seven's expression made it clear she was just humoring him.

"He was a registered Tamer with the Capital League. Which meant he left traces for -you- to find. I want them. All of them. Task all the Furies on this if you have too. Show me where this bastard is."

Iteration Seven's image smiled. "Done and done." And promptly winked out, the Video Girl Upgrade terminating the call.

Vince nodded to the blank screen, lightly smacking his fist in his palm. If Macavity was fucking around with this son of a bitch, then Vince wanted answers. Worse was the possibility of Macavity co-operating with him. It galled him to think about it, but if he possessed half the abilities everyone and their mother ascribed to these author bastards, then it was possible he had already suborned some of the Legendaries.

And that would just not do.

-[***]-

Before Micah had been... -invited-, for lack of any better term('summoned' had too many unpleasant implications) he'd admit that 'alone' was his default state more than often not. And, in many ways, he liked it. It was... comfortable. Safe. Quiet time, for him to work out plans and ideas and other projects, among many.

Now? Now being alone was the oddity, and he typically had more people around him than he knew what to do with. Not just his harem, but the Grim Angels and Charolette and Blueberry and all the associated pokegirls he'd accidentally gathered up. He wasn't certain if he -appreciated- it, but he sure as hell wasn't about to complain.

But despite that, he still needed his private time - for research into magics, or to just degauss his brain and make sure his head was on straight. That was why he got an hour every evening that was typically spent sequestered in his Sanctum Sanctorum. And this evening was being spent pouring over some of the copies of books in the Ice Maiden Preserves and Joketsuzoku's libraries, mostly to distract him from maudlin thoughts of how to solve his current mess of problems without resorting to genocide. Both Preserves were near three hundred years old, their birth dates coinciding with the twilight years of the end of the war. Correspondingly, they had very long records - and some very old information that others had thought lost.

The tome he was currently reading was much more current than that, and from the Ice Maiden Preserve. He had picked it out at random, only to scowl in confusion whenever he realized that it was apparently part diary, part report collection of a Capital League Mage who had later associated with the organization Department H. Micah recognized the name of it, of course, recalling the Bogeywoman entry that mentioned them. He smiled faintly. Pity those pokegirls didn't exist in this world. It might have made things -much- more interesting.

He went back to reading, something niggling in the back of his brain. He could have sworn that he had heard the name 'Faris Knight' before... It took several minutes when the name clicked - he had seen it mentioned in one of the books they had taken from the Scarlet League. Reading into the entries further, his eyebrows shot up in surprise, tails whipping in agitation.

"They couldn't have," he muttered softly. "They -didn't-..."

Which was how Ludmilla and Euphemia found him, pouring between scattered tomes and the Grimorum Astra, muttering to himself as he made annotations and notes.

Micah glanced up as they entered, frowned, and checked the time, surprised to see that he still had twenty minutes left. "Something amiss?"

The two shared a glance, the set of green eyes - thought not matched, Micah absently noted, Ludmilla's was a lighter shade, Euphemia's a darker cast - wary and nervous. Well. It couldn't be -that- bad, could it? If Sanctuary was invading, they wouldn't have been having a casual conversation. Instead, Ludmilla likely would have hit the door at a full run, bundling him up like some misshapen package with the remainder of his harem hot on her trail.

Euphemia was easily the more nervous of the two, but the G-splice steeled herself and quietly elaborated. "The Capital League has deployed its Electronic Warfare Division to locate and sequester all accounts and information regarding your Tamer identity."

Micah stared at Euphemia, incredulous and fearful before something woke up in the back of his brain, and -snarled-. The anger and hatred swamped every other emotion, leaving room for nothing else, the feeling thick enough that he could have broke off chunks of it with his teeth and chewed. "How much did we loose?"

"Not as much as they think," Euphemia murmured. "And the majority of our resources weren't associated with your account." 'John Smith' was still a handy identity that had no present association with Micah. "But it's clear that Capital League has begun to marshal more resources to track you down." The redheaded G-splice swallowed. "I'm sorry," she murmured quietly.

"No," Micah murmured softly, voice taunt with anger that he refused to let bubble up and consume him. "No, you shouldn't be." He glanced at them both. "Where is Capital's Electronic Warfare Division located?"

"In Stamford," Euphemia replied. "They have their own specific building sequestered for their use."

"Excellent," Micah replied softly, plans and ideas and 'how to do this' already formulating in his mind. He glanced at Ludmilla. "Ready the Grim Angels for deployment."

Both pokegirls expressions widened in shock near simultaneously when they realized exactly what he was suggesting. "It's impossible!" Euphemia blurted, even as the Dire Wolf grimly nodded. "Not even any of the Teams considered stealing from the Electronic Warfare Division!"

"Excellent," Micah replied. "That means -no one is going to see this coming-."

-[***]-

Euphemia's brand of G-splice possessed capabilities that put her on par with a Video Girl in terms of network manipulation and hacking capabilities. In a one on one battle, it would be clear who the victor would be. Even a Video Girl Upgrade might find Euphemia a capable opponent.

But she certainly couldn't face the 20 Video Girls and 2 Video Girl Upgrades that composed the Furies group of Capital's EW division in battle. But that inability to face them on the electronic ether didn't equate to invulnerability on the Furies part. They were an important facet of Capital League's management system, and as such, cast a large data shadow that offered vital clues, if you could find them.

Video Girls and Video Girl Upgrades were the ultimate example of a Catch-22 for Teams. They were horrendously valuable breeds, with all sorts of useful capabilities for an extra-legal group. Yet acquiring one was difficult, if not impossible, and stealing one wasn't even an option. What would be the point? Even if you managed to pull such a feat off, you now had the resources of an entire League breathing down your back to find you - and no shortage of other extra-legal groups who would adore being able to quietly take such a boon off said Teams hands. Moreover, their loyalty was questionable - unless, of course, you level fived her. But that would negate the major advantage of stealing her in the first place, never mind wiping out centuries of EW experience. You could try to reprogram them, but that was iffy, at best, and history had plenty of examples of fools who tried. No. Instead, there were far easier targets to be had.

Which was why, despite being headquartered in Stamford, the security elements of the headquarters the Furies were located out of was light at best. There was barely a human presence at all - the Furies themselves didn't need taming all that often, and the only real human in the physical command loop was the Tamer of one of the Video Girl Upgrades. All of whom lived there near 24/7.

Ironically enough, the odd housing of the Furies Group and the futility of trying to kidnap Video Girls were linked. A number of years ago, several of the Video Girls in the Furies group belonged to a Tamer whom was effectively an operative for the Capital League. A Team managed to kill the Tamer and steal all the Video Girls in his possession - for all of two days, before the Capital League managed to track him down, with aid from the stolen Video Girls themselves. After dealing with the emotional and psychological fallout, it was quietly decided such an important group of pokegirls should be isolated for their own protection.

All of this, Euphemia had learned of in the Furies data shadow. With it, scheduling times, supply, and building plans, all on public record and access.

Micah and his harem didn't quite stride into the building that headquartered the Furies Group at around 1 am, local time, but it was a close enough thing. Telepathy coordinated teleportations assisted via phasing had Micah and his full Harem with 11 Fireteams teleport into the entrance office at roughly that time. With a nod, Micah mentally commanded the 12th Fireteam, stationed at the power junction box for the building, to destroy it, simultaneously kicking the building onto emergency backups as Anya manifested her Maze card and sealed the building inside a magically-delineated orrouborous.

Fireteams began sweeping the first floor, securing stairwells and entrance ways. Ludmilla, Nunnally, and Illya, with Euphemia and 2 Fireteams trailing made a direct line for the secured entrance that lead to the part of the building where the Video Girls were located at.

Micah didn't bother moving from where he stood, guarded not only by Otsana and Cornelia, but his own assigned Fireteam, as well. Danielle smiled faintly at him, her eyes glowing from the Warchive spell in the dark gloom of the building, before returning to sweeping the entrance for potential threats with the other four of her team.

Even as the quad of pokegirls headed toward the secured entrance, the security elements were still active, running off emergency backup power. A second later, and they were gone, the Fireteam that had cut the breakers having taken care of the backup generators, effectively shutting down everything electronic in the building that didn't have a direct battery backup.

For Videogirls and their evolutions, you might as well have cut their legs out from underneath them. The likely hood of them panicking right now, Ludmilla mused, was very high.

The quad of pokegirls didn't even bother trying to brute-force their way past the locked doors - Illya had Nunnally, while Ludmilla took Euphemia, the four phasing through the door. A telepathic note to the two Fireteams following them, a short teleport-hop later, and the group continued on as if nothing had momentarily barred their way.

Ludmilla was already on the hunt, homing in on the psychic bloom of the pokegirls in the building clustered together. While the building plans didn't label things specifically, and things change over time, Ludmilla and Euphemia both had a good idea of logistics, and there were only so many places you could situate where twenty Video Girls could do their assigned League work. When they reached the first Server room, Ludmilla telekinetically blew the door down, the two Fireteams streaming through the opening with sickening speed.

Ten Videogirls, having manifested from their Life disks and conferring in a state of general confusion as to what the hell was happening, found themselves battered by the psychic assault of multiple Auras of Command as the two Fireteams ordered them to sit down, shut up, and not even think of attempting to resist as they proceeded to use hacked Masterballs to capture the pokegirls in question.

The weapons all eight Grim Angels carried and the apparent willingness to use them merely sealed the matter.

The second group of ten Videogirls offered about was much resistance as the first. Ludmilla and Micah both had operated under the assumption that the Grim Angels primary tactical application wasn't brute strength per se. Instead, blitzkrieg tactics were the rule and standard, the idea being that a Grim Angel Fireteam was to overwhelm a target critically before they could offer resistance. Ludmilla had taken it upon herself as the resident master psychic to study Sanctuary Goth's unusual psychic attacks to see if they could be augmented or strengthened, somehow. She had found in quick order that multiple Sanctuary Goths acted as amplifiers when working in tandem -a capability augmented further with psychic links that allowed for better co-ordination among each other. Training such a capability was easy enough for Ludmilla - Sanctuary Goths still held enough of pokegirl competitiveness that war games between two fireteams could get very, very messy. Especially whenever one attempted to make another submit by the combined assault of four Grim Angels utilizing their Aura Attacks.

The Videogirls, however powerful in the electronic realm, were far from combat trained for field conditions. They never stood a chance.

-[***]-

Iteration Seven was beginning to gain the opinion that her fellow Video Girl Upgrade, Burning Dynamic(Dyna to her friends) had gotten more than a little touched in the hard drive now that she had access to regular tamings.

Technically, Veron, the Tamer in charge of the Furies, was her Master as well - along with the twenty other Video Girls that belonged to the Furies, whenever they required a Taming. But like most things, the arrangement wasn't perfect - Veron clearly had favorites. The typical sleeping arrangements had Iteration Seven in her private room with Burning Dynamic a near permanent fixture of Veron's bedroom, putting aside taming rotation.

Dyna, Sevy thought, was also getting a little stupid from all the attention. It was the only reason she could think of why she actively had to track her and Veron down when there was clearly an issue with the buildings power supply. More annoying, she couldn't get in contact with any of the Videogirls in the building, which meant it behooved Veron and Dyna both to get their rutting asses out of bed and help deal with the damn problem!

Dyna rubbed at her eyes, regarding Sevy with a sleepy expression even as Veron snuggled under the covers. "You're worried about nothing, Sevy."

Veron muttered from under blankets, "It's probably the Capital League having a maintenance check without telling us. Unless you want to join us for a threesome, go back to sleep."

The door to Veron's bedroom detonated inward in multiple pieces, as if struck by a very strong pokegirl; simultaneously, the wall next to it sheered aside as if torn down by a powerful psychic attack.

Ludmilla smiled wolfishly as she stepped through the debris, Nunnally coming through the door. "Hi. Please surrender."

Over-sexed idiot or no, Dyna's combat reflexes weren't amiss as she came up to cover Sevy's flank, attacks at ready.

Ludmilla held up a clawed finger, even as Sevy regarded the armored pokegirls behind her leveling weapons their way with some confusion and worry. "That would be, as my Master would put it, inadvisable. Look behind you."

"Dyna!"

Dyna glanced behind her, expression stricken. Veron had been hauled out of bed, held immobile with a blonde-haired pokegirl, eyes an unholy, lambent red, all her teeth in a grinning mouth needle-like fangs. "Please do," Illya noted cheerfully. "I'm sure his soul would make for a passable snack."

"Please don't hurt him," Dyna whispered. "Please."

"If either of you resist being captured, then he dies," Ludmilla replied. Sevy glared at Dyna hotly before relenting as two hacked Masterballs floated upward and captured them both. Ludmilla waited patiently for the capture tone to sound before picking both items up.

"You'll never get away with this!" Veron yelled. "Never! Vince McMahon himself is going to unleash all his private bastards on you, I swear!"

"He's gonna have to get in line," Euphemia muttered as Ludmilla telepathically knocked Veron out.

Ludmilla smiled as Illya slung Veron over her shoulders, the Lucarda in adult form to make transporting her bundle easier. "Let's get back to Micah, shall we, ladies?"

-[***]-

Micah, Ludmilla, Euphemia, and Nunnally stood well-away from the building that had housed the Furies - now empty completely, according to Ludmilla. A tone from the PPHU sounded, signaling the healing cycle was finished, and Micah toggled the cover open to retrieve Anya's pokeball, letting the StarMystic free in a flare of decompression.

"Ready to rock and rule?" Micah grinned.

Anya gave him a stricken look at the pun, then drew her Earth card. With a flourish of her staff, the Card pulsed as she forced its abilities. The building across the street seemed to shiver, the visibly shudder, then begin to roar in a collapsing cloud of dust as the entire thing imploded into the sinkhole that opened up beneath it.

"I'd say that sends a clear enough message," Micah remarked, he and his harem protected from the voluminous cloud of dust that had been kicked up by Euphemia having cast a shield spell earlier. "You know, I -almost- want to see Vince and Linda's expression whenever they hear about this."

-[***]-

Vince grunted at the knocking to his private bedroom. A quick glance at the clock made it clear that he damn well hadn't overslept. And if he had overslept, that meant Linda had overslept as well, and he couldn't recall an instance of that occurring in all the time he'd known her.

Linda smiled sleepily at him. "The trials of ruling a state?"

Sounds from the antechamber attached to their bedroom showed that Luna and Esme were stirring as well. Vince let out another grunt as he crawled out of bed, pulling on a robe to see what was happening, Linda a second behind him.

Beatrice was waiting for him, alongside his own private secretary, Amanda, who, wonder of wonders, was an actual human female. The OfficerJenny, however, was a bit of a surprise.

"Beatrice, Amanda, Officer," Vincent grumped. "Is there some sort of problem?"

Beatrice glanced nervously at Amanda. Amanda gave Vincent a bland look in reply. "You recall the command center setup for the Furies to operate out of?"

Another grunt.

"It's gone."

"Collapsed, actually," the OfficerJenny spoke up for the first time as blank surprise spread across Vince's face. "Via a sinkhole. We've had rescue personnel going over it for the past few hours, and we've no sign of any bodies whatsoever, or Life disks. Which means that your Furies were likely stolen before the building collapsed."

"Given the orders you gave to the Furies yesterday," Amanda replied, her expression still bland(Sometimes, Vincent wondered if Amanda had some Ice Maiden ancestry for all the reaction you got out of her beyond sarcasm), "I thought you'd prefer to know before you read the Stamford Morning Edition."

"One other thing," the OfficerJenny noted, and Vincent swore she was smiling, "That's lead us suspect there weren't any fatalities. We have the Tamer assigned to the Furies down at the police station, as he was tied up and gagged in front of -this- building. With a note attached, fyi. Oh, there's also a small charge of public indecency, but as it wasn't -his- fault he was wearing a crotchless gimpsuit, I'm sure we can settle that charge quickly."

"Vincent," Linda commented in a carefully controlled, pleasant tone. "Perhaps we should have an early breakfast to discuss matters?"

Two things went through Vincent's mind at that point; One, that he was going to strangle Micah Hakubi with his bare hands, even if it killed him. Two, that perhaps, just perhaps, that he was getting too old for this shit.

-[***]-

Yvonne stretched as she headed into the back of the Pokecenter, her late-night shift finally done and finished. The Megami privately admitted that while she didn't exactly prefer the late shift per se, but it gave her plenty of time to think about things.

The bad part, she had to admit, was that it gave her time to think about things. And there was nothing so maudlin for a Megami as introspection; the private question of 'what if' and 'what could have been'. She sighed, recalling the blood cursed Tamer that had helped her out against that Infernal. Given what had happened, she could understand why he'd taken such great efforts to conceal his appearance. Worse still, she could very easily see how an over-zealous Celestial could put him off them as a whole; it spoke a lot that he'd been polite and cordial to her despite all that.

She paused in mid-step, her face forming a moue of confusion. Wasn't Carly supposed to be here already? The Catgirl didn't make a habit of being late. Perhaps she was in the break room? Resuming her walk, the Megami went to go check and see if this was the case.

Pushing the door open, her immediate thought was that someone had made a cataclysmic mess with red paint. Then her brain fully processed exactly what she was seeing, the stark horror striking her momentarily dumb when she recognized scattered bits of pieces that was once a body, and she collapsed to the floor, vomiting.

She didn't even have the energy to cry out whenever her legs where cut off above the knees; Yvonne's throat was too abused to scream properly as she felt herself being picked up and summarily slammed on her back on the floor, a dusky-skinned hand gripping her throat as a halo of flame-colored hair filled her vision, energy being guzzled off her in a torrent to destroy any attempts at teleporting.

"You know," Astarte mused aloud, "The horrible part of genius is that you so rarely find someone to appreciate it." She leered down at Yvonne, who gasped up at her, trying to get enough air to breath. "You can't find the Creators, of course. But that doesn't stop you from finding those who've been in contact with them. That certain sort of flavor that clings to -you-, for instance, like a stench." She leaned in close. "The demon. The man-child who thinks himself a lord of hell." She giggled at the idea, clearly amused at the presumption. "Where is he? Don't say anything. Your mind is weak, just think it, and we'll end all this shortly..."

Yvonne glared up at Astarte, and spat in her face.

"And to think," Astarte mused, "I thought I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself any." A flick of long digits, a muttered incantation, and metal erupted from her fingertips, edges gleaming in the light as she reached down for the Megami's chest. "Hold still please..."

A nearby wall ripped apart, Seraph's wings battering at masonry and wood with enough force to splinter and crack material. "LET HER GO!" Cloud bellowed, weapon clear as she went straight for Astarte.

Astarte responded faster than she had any right too, energy blade manifest as she maneuvered under the Seraph's overhand swing and sheered the poor Seraph nearly in half, willpower and pokegirl physiology keeping the militant Celestial from collapsing then and there. Astarte body checked the mewling Seraph, sending the white-winged pokegirl sprawling. A swing of her blade, and Astarte merrily picked up the Seraph's now decapitated head; she'd want to perform some necromantic investigation later just to clarify events and make sure her obscuring spells hadn't failed.

Glancing back, Astarte sighed as she saw the trail of blood that marked where the Megami had crawled away and out the door of the break room. "Didn't have anything of worth in her brain anyways," Astarte mused, her free hand making arcane gestures, power building in response to her spell.

The entire front half of the pokecenter dissolved in a storm of fire and energy.

-[***]-

"What are you planning on doing with the Video Girls and the two Upgrades?"

Micah paused in mid-stroke of the shaving razor to glance over Ludmilla, the majority of his face slathered with shaving cream. He gave a careful shrug, mindful of wings in a too-small space along with Anya leaning against the bathroom wall, wearing naught but a white shirt and watching him while he shaved. "I'm not planning on keeping them indefinitely, if that's what you're asking," Micah replied as he resumed shaving. "I was thinking of something like keeping them for something like six months or so, before returning them to the McMahons. It'll depend on how they react long-term."

"If another League decides to go after us in a similar manner, we may need more resources to fight them off," Ludmilla replied softly.

Micah paused in shaving as he quirked a smile. "None of the other Leagues are that stupid, and none of the other Leagues have a reason to go after us. And none are willing to take the risk that we'd do to them what we did to the McMahons. VideoGirls are a carefully finite resource."

Ludmilla smiled softly, tail wagging behind her. "We could make more."

Micah gave the Dire Wolf a glance. "You just want the challenge, don't you?"

Ludmilla grinned.

"What are you two talking about?" Anya look was mostly curiosity, though she was slightly irked that Ludmilla was forcing in on what the StarMystic had judged to be 'private time' with her and Micah.

"In one of the stories I wrote, a character discovered a way to force a PussyCom to evolve into a Video Girl in a very short order," Micah replied as he finished shaving and began wiping his face clean. "But it requires a powerful and skilled psychic to pull it off." Micah quirked an eyebrow at Anya and non-to-subtly glanced at Ludmilla with his eyes, causing Anya to giggle. "Clearly, Ludmilla feels that she's up to the challenge."

Ludmilla smile was all fangs. She then sobered. "Have you considered what kind of effect you have on pokegirl evolutions?"

Micah paused in mid-application of lotion to his face. "I don't follow."

"I've been thinking about the host of unique pokegirl breeds you have in your brain that no one else in the world has seen," the Dire Wolf replied. "You know better than I that Nunnally evolving into an Arkhangelsk, by your own notes, is an impossibility."

"Yeah," Micah admitted once he finished rubbing his face down. "It was. The other facet is that the events surrounding her evolution, however, were in line with how I created the breed. High-level Armsmistress. Delta bond." A slow breath. "The fact of the matter is, even if I did somehow affect Nunnally's evolution, I don't know how I pulled it off. Beyond that, even if I could, the majority of breeds I have in my brain aren't -that- overpowering."

"You could attempt to create a Goddess of the Twilight."

Anya glanced between Ludmilla's serious expression and Micah's slightly stricken one. "A Goddess of the what?"

"It's a title for a unique G-spliced pokegirl I developed," Micah replied in a grim tone. "A pokegirl can't evolve into an example of the breed. You'd have to create her from scratch. She's not on Typhonna's level, but if I deployed her properly on a battlefield she could do a lot of damage." A sigh. "This, among other reasons, is half the reason I haven't explored the option. I'm trying to figure out a way to deal with Sanctuary that doesn't resort to genocide. Or, for that matter, us having to leave shortly after dealing with them."

Anya blinked. "I don't understand. Why would we have to leave?"

Micah smiled faintly. "Because, likely, the Leagues and the Legendaries would be trying to kill me. How else would they react to the sole person with access to a weapon that can wipe cities from the map?"

Anya was staring at him. "How could a pokegirl have that sort of power and not be a Legendary?"

Micah smiled. "That's a very good question, isn't it?" His smile slipped. "But I wouldn't even need such a pokegirl, if I was serious about annihilating Sanctuary. Maybe I'm being stupid. Maybe it's the folly of youth. Maybe it's just foolish adherence to the laws of reprisal and escalation. But unless pressed, I'm not willing to introduce that level of slaughter to the battlefield unless it's absolutely necessary." He gave a violent shake of his head. "And this sort of moral quandary is not the type of discussion I want to have before breakfast, even if I -have- been up for near two hours already. Ladies, let us go gorge ourselves on sustenance."

-[***]-

Micah glanced up from the array of books spread around him in a circle on the large table he used for study, the Grimorum Astra floating above them all as he used it to correlate the various data between them. For a moment, it didn't click exactly what had disturbed his readings, this his mind snapped back fully to reality and focused on where his pokedex sat, merrily buzzing to announce that he had a new message. Micah rubbed at his neck, rolling it as his wings shifted from where they had been laid tightly against his back. Letting out a gust of air, he reached over and curiously glanced at the message data.

And promptly dropped the pokedex as if it had physically burned him, blurting out, "son of a BITCH!" as he physically leapt out of his chair when his eyes fell upon the sender data, with summarily read: 'Tradesman Kerrik Wolf'.

Micah stared at the pokedex for several seconds, torn between laughter and screaming his fool head off. Gritting his teeth, he retrieved the pokedex and toggled the message to play.

He watched the message five times before he finally gave up, left his Sanctum Sanctorum, headed for the kitchen, snagged a bottle of hard cider, returned to his Sanctum Sanctorum without thankfully running into anyone, twisted the cap off and promptly downed 2/3rds of the bottle in one go. "Argh," he muttered, setting the bottle well away from where it could spill on anything before slumping into his seat. "Right. I can't think about this. It's time to call in reinforcements."

It took roughly a minute for Ludmilla, Euphemia, and Nunnally to arrive in response to his mental summons. "What's wrong?" Ludmilla asked without paused.

Micah wordlessly toggled 'play' on the message and let Ludmilla, Euphemia, and Nunnally watch it.

"Sukebe's blackened, withered balls," Euphemia whispered softly.

Ludmilla's ears were flat against her skull as she regarded Micah somberly, Nunnally worryingly silent. "Do you think this is a trap?"

Micah let out a bark of laughter. "Honestly? I don't have a loving clue." He rubbed at his face. "Worst case scenario of Sanctuary somehow getting a hold of Kerrik, coring out his soul, and making him into some kind of abhorrent meat puppet... Well, that's what it would take, with him."

"Don't you think you're giving him too much the benefit of the doubt?" Nunnally murmured softly. "Anyone can break."

Micah stared at nothing in particular for a long moment. "Maybe I am." He stood up from his seat, mindful of his wings as he began to move around, tails lashing furiously behind him. "Maybe it's too high-minded of me, but Kerrik always gave me the impression of the sort of person with no middle ground. If they broke him, well, then they'd have to kill him." A laconic shrug. "I could be off. Who knows?"

"There's also the matter of people knowing about you evolving Sanctuary Goths," Nunnally pointed out.

Micah waved the matter off. "Not really. I always counted on it. Hell, I half-expected Sanctuary to find out in short order, and regardless of how they acted, they'd fall perfectly into my plans."

Nunnally and Euphemia both were staring at him, while Ludmilla looked on with a measure of pride, her white-furred tail wagging gleefully behind her. "What do you mean?" Euphemia asked, expression confused.

Micah stopped in mid-step, turning to face her. "Let's assume a worst case scenario that, upon learning about, oh, Cologne’s brood of Amazons turned Sanctuary Goths. They organize a kill strike team, and manage to wipe all of them out. Done and simple, right? No."

Micah went on, his voice assuming a lecturing cadence. "For one, such an attempt in the middle of Cologne’s power -cannot- be done so without taking losses. Even if it's just one lone Sanctuary Goth or Dameosaur, they would be facing a group of well-trained pokegirls getting assaulted -in their homes-. Sanctuary is used to fighting from a position of superior firepower. When they begin to take losses, the cracks show.

"Secondly, such an act would make it well and clear; this is how Sanctuary treats their allies. All secret treaties with them would be suspect, at best, and the majority of the Leagues would likely start to move onto war footing with Sanctuary. That's not what Sanctuary wants. Quite frankly, it didn't matter what Sanctuary did. Let them kill Cologne. Let them wipe out the entire Joketsuzoku. Or let Cologne have her brood of Amazon-turned Sanctuary Goths to use as spies and tamers and wandering mercenaries, her eyes and ears across the world. Doesn't matter. I win."

Ludmilla was grinning wolfishly, while Euphemia and Nunnally both were regarding him as if they'd never seen him before.

Still smiling, the blonde Dire Wolf queried, "What do you think about the rest of the message?"

"Rather unexpected," Micah admitted. "The confusing part is that he seems to have somehow gained access to the travel to the same world that Bhavacakra takes place in. How he pulled that particular trick off, I have no idea."

"Are you going to take him up on his offer?" Nunnally asked.

Micah was silent for a moment. "I don't really know. If I was concerned about escape, I'd likely be experimenting with Ludmilla's ideas regarding time travel. However which way you cut it, I at least have some obligations toward our Sanctuary Goth allies..." He trailed off, thinking. "But that's neither here nor there at the moment. Right now, there's the idea of what I'm going to say when I reply to him."

"...so you think it's real," Euphemia murmured softly.

Micah let out a sigh. "Honestly? Yes. It honestly does feel like him." He glanced heavenward. "Hell, it's almost blatantly similar to how he orchestrated correspondence between two characters in 'Where No One Has Gone Before'."

"Does he know that you carried around copies of his stories to read when bored?" Ludmilla asked, amused.

"No, I don't think that particular fact ever came up," Micah replied.

"You're going to talk to him," Nunnally stated.

Micah chuckled softly. "Well, it would be rude not to reply."

"But... what exactly are you going to say to him?" Euphemia asked, her tone one of that of confusion.

"Not much I can say at this point," Micah admitted. "We can't really trust one another, and communications of this nature are privy to intercept. But I can at least let him know that I'm here." His lips curved into a smirk. "Nothing else, I can pretty please ask him not to shoot at me should we somehow run into one another."

"Don't you want me to find out all I can about him first?" Euphemia looked at him, green eyes clearly wondering if he had lost some of his carefully horded sanity.

"...don't do anything intrusive," Micah replied. "Find out all you can from public access. He's clearly listed in the Blue League." He rolled his eyes heavenward. "Last thing I want to discover after the fact is that he somehow has access to a Tirsuli-class ACI."

Euphemia blinked. "'Tirsuli-class ACI'?"

"Autonomous Cybernetic Intelligence," Micah replied. "It's a better word to describe them than saying 'Artificial Intelligence'. Ludmilla can tell you about them. They're rather god-modding in terms of capabilities, but given that Tirsuli has easy access to high-order hypertech..." A shrug. "Anyways, short form of it, be careful, don't do any intrusive hacking, and please respect his privacy. While you do -that-, I'm going to hash out what the hell I'm going to say to him in reply."

An hour later, Micah had finally put together a tiered overview of how he was going to do this. He decided to utilize the same 'set' that he used in all his communication; less in worry about whatever Kerrik would pickup in his background, and more concerning what those that got hold of the message would pick up in the background. Settling back in his seat, dressed in casual clothing that he typically wore when not in training, Micah quietly centered himself, made sure his wings weren't flared outward, focused on the recorder, and toggled it active.

"Hello in return, Kerrik Wolf." Micah grinned despite himself. "Greetings, felicitations, salutations, and congratulations on surviving up until this point relatively intact."

His smile turned wry. "Given your introduction to this world was likely as delightful as mine, I'm not going to say something stupid like, 'I hope you're doing well', and merely hope that you haven't been required to rack up a kill count in the triple digits. As for my appearance, well... the jury is still out how that particular trick was pulled off. Good to hear you've managed to flourish in this world, at least."

Loosing the smile, Micah went on in a wondering tone. "I admit, I'm half curious as to which preserve you learned about my recent... oh, let's call them extracurricular activities. Yes, as in, more than one." Micah held up a finger, only the tip of one claw obvious. "I'll give you that one for free; if you want specifics, you'll have to ask me in person. As for them learning about it, well, quite frankly, I was planning on it, though I thank you for the warning. And as for your generous offer, I'll get back to you on that."

Micah let his hand rest on the small table next to him, running out a staccato tapping of claws against wood, his expression thoughtful. "And that brings us to the crux of the matter. Quite frankly, as things stand, you can't trust me, and I can't trust you, for fear that we've been compromised by our... mutual antagonists. And, more than likely, you have people yourself that you have a responsibility toward and feel a need to protect, just as I do." Micah snorted. "Conversely, there's the other matter that these communications are about as secure as cheesecloth, so, if you and I are going to have any sort of long-term dialogue, we'll likely have to include a third party, somehow, to arrange a face to face meeting. Barring that, a type of disposable neutral ground. To insure, if nothing else, that we don't end up accidentally shooting at one another. Of course, given my luck, you'll tell me that Macavity can arrange a meeting between the two of us. If this is the case, that screaming you'll be hearing will be me." Micah glanced heavenward, as if already expecting the worst.

"Even if circumstances conspire to arrange that we never meet in person in this brave new world with such people in it," Micah went on, "All I can say is, good luck in whatever your endeavors are."

He reached over to toggle the recording off, and then paused, something occurring to him that he might as well throw out for the hell of it. "Oh, and one other thing. One of these days I'm going to pick your brain so I can find out how the heck you took a pokegirl breed whose archetypes include the ranks of Belldandy Wishbringer and Skuld Ravenhair and somehow came up with the Celestial Alliance." He gave the record a look that basically amounted to 'Seriously, what the heck?' then broke into a grin, giving it a jaunty salute before toggling the recorder off.

Micah saved the message and fired it off to Kerrik before he had second thoughts about the matter. "Of all the things I was expecting to do today," he muttered, then stood. Time to get back to his current research.

-[***]-

Lina never had the forethought to knock whenever she barged into Micah's Sanctum. The petite, redheaded mage simply barreled through without pause, her form garbed in heavier clothing than was her norm to protect her from the chill of their mutual hideout.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" Lina said without any preamble as she put herself directly in front of Micah, hands on her hips as she gave him an irritated look.

Micah regarded Lina back with a sotto expression on his face. "And good evening to you too. You know, that's a very interesting question, come to think. Given that I'm planning multiple things. Dare I ask which in particular has gotten you in such a huff?"

Lina snorted, giving a toss of her hair. "Don't try to deny it. You've got a look I get when I'm thinking of trying a spell that's potentially risky. I don't care if Ludmilla can crawl through your brain - you can't fool a fellow mage!"

"I'm a mage now?" Micah mused aloud. "News to me."

"So? Come on. Tell me."

Micah regarded Lina with a flat expression, mentally juggling various factors, from harem interaction to trying to fathom why the FarFuck'D was suddenly so desperate to metaphorically cling to him all of a sudden. If he had to put words to describe his relationship with the pokegirl he'd classify it as weird as all hell without hesitation. After a further moment Micah finally let out a soft gust of a sigh. "Ever heard of Department H?"

"Nope." Lina pushed herself up on the table Micah had been using to study and propped her arm up on her knee, sitting cross-legged.

"They're an extra-legal magical organization that studies what would be less-than pleasant sources of magic."

Lina rolled her eyes, as if she'd heard it all before. "So they're a bunch of robe-wearing evil mages trying to take over the world."

Micah smiled faintly. "Something like that." He lightly tapped a claw against the desk. "This is where things get interesting, and slightly confusing. I knew of one experiment that Department H was undertaking that went out of control and subsequently resulted in a remote town being turned into a no-go zone due to the influences of the experiment. The problem is, I had initially thought that this event hadn't occurred."

Lina frowned. "So... you know something happened, but then you're saying, you know it -didn't- happen?"

Micah laughed. "The thing is, this event supposedly resulted in the creation of a specific pokegirl. The problem is that pokegirl doesn't exist." He quirked an eyebrow. "Just like I can tell what a pokegirl is by a glance, it seems that knowledge also extends to knowing whether a certain breed exists or not. So, if the breed didn't exist, then the event didn't happen. Follow me?"

Lina nodded, her blood-red eyes blinking. "Sure."

"Well, here's the interesting part. The event -did- happen, it just apparently didn't result in the creation of any new pokegirls." Micah pulled over the journal exerts he'd gotten from the Scarlet League's Alexandria R&D Library. "Faris Knight was doing some correspondence with researchers in the Scarlet League concerning the theoretical possibilities of summoning and binding extra-planar entities for utilization and experimentation. Whenever the correspondence was cut off, the Scarlet League Mage, whom went by the name Arnold Dent, investigated and secured some of Faris' notes." Micah quirked a smile. "Naughty Arnold, as he didn't tell anyone in Capital about this. It seems Faris and a number of others were attempting research and binding of theoretical entities with 'untold of and imaginable powers'." He cocked an eyebrow. "My. What does this sound like?"

"It sounds like what they thought you were," Lina whispered softly.

"Which just goes to show that good insanity, like sickness, spreads whether you want it to or not." Micah rolled his eyes. "Of course, they got what they wanted, basically. Near as anyone can tell, everyone involved in the summoning effort is either dead, missing or irrevocably insane."

"It's a nice story." Lina rocked in place on the table-top, back and forth. "What's it got to do with us?"

"The Grimorum Astra didn't come from this world," Micah replied. "Near as I can tell, it's been around the metaphorical block a couple of times. And one thing it has, is a bestiary, which includes some Extra-planar entities. From all the hints I've gathered, I know what type of entity they caught. The Grimorum calls this species the Devourers."

"And?" Lina held herself in place to eye Micah skeptically.

A leather-rustling shrug. "I'm considering capturing and binding it to my service."

Lina's half-bored expression froze. She then leaned forward and gripped Micah's shoulders. "No. Micah, please don't do this."

Micah didn't try to wriggle out of her grip, instead reaching over the the Grimorum Astra, opening up to the requisite page, and offering it to her. "Read."

"I-"

"Read, then we'll talk."

Lina grumbled but obediently pulled the book over to her. Despite her overall attitude, she could consume and understand information at a very quick pace; she wasn't kidding whenever she said she was a genius. "Okay," she relented once she had finished perusing the entry. "So it's not an infernal in the strictest sense. What part of 'capable of powerful mental assaults' did you miss?"

"Yes, it's not as if I don't have access to mental protection that seems to break all known laws of how these things are supposed to operate," Micah replied in a wry tone, grinning.

"Look, this is stupid and foolish!" Lina roughly shoved the Grimorum off to the side, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at him. "I'm -not- going to let you do something this patently idiotic and get yourself killed, or worse! I'll-"

"LOOK at me, Lina," Micah tone rose even as he leapt from his seat, hands slamming down on the table on each side of the redheaded mage with such speed that she jerked back in surprise. He went on, wings spread wide, voice low and intense as he leaned in close, "Look at me. I'm a rat in a goddamn cage running back and forth; they chased me from Ruby and there's only so far I can run before there's no place left. If I need an army then I need a space to keep and train that army, where I know they can be safe and not having to worry about sub-intelligent superweapons with more hormones than sense dropping in because they want a good laugh. I sure as hell can't be with them twenty-four/seven. I sure as hell can't be with -you-, twenty-four/seven. Did you think of that? I don't give two flying shits what you think about me, but I'm -not- going to be happy unless I can leave you somewhere and at least have a slight measure of certainty that I -know you're safe-."

Lina was thankful there wasn't a mirror nearby; she could at least fool herself into thinking that the heat on her face was from anger, and not toe-curdling embarrassment. "You could die," she blurted out, and quietly wondered when her mouth had started to betray the rest of her.

Micah's expression went from that of an encroaching thundercloud to a smirk so self-assured Lina had the vague urge to slap him. "Of course not. I'll never die. Even better, I have a very large number of rather powerful pokegirls to help in keeping my skin intact while I pull off the impossible."

Lina scowled at him. "I -could- tell Ludmilla about this."

Micah quirked an eyebrow. "I plan on telling her regardless. Last I checked, she wasn't my mother. And while I have no problems in listening to and following advice from my harem, I'll also point out that -they're not the ones in charge-. I am."

Lina looked about ready to reply when Micah's pokedex went off; Micah blinked, pulled away from looming over the redhead and went to check his messages.

"So what about me?" Lina grumped, slightly annoyed that she no longer had his full attention.

"If you ask very nicely, then you won't get to come along regardless," Micah replied, not looking up from his pokedex.

"What!?" Lina blurted.

Micah glanced up. "Did I stutter?" He shook his head. "Now I know how Susan Ivanova felt."

"I'm coming with you," Lina replied flatly, hopping down from the table and regarded him, hands on her hips.

"No, you're not," Micah replied, eyeing Lina with a bland expression.

The redheaded mage regarded him for a long moment, her apparent frustration building. "FINE!" she yelled out, spun around, and marched from the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

"I half wonder if the general attitude some tamers develop over time isn't because some pokegirls act like petulant children," Micah mused, half-under his breath, then shook his head and went to do discuss some matters with Ludmilla. The message had been from Wendi with a request to join her for some afternoon tea, which was an effective code as any that she had some half-serious business to discuss.

-[***]-

Micah enjoyed the sensation of the cool salt air filling his lungs even as sunlight fell on his wings, momentarily allowing himself to be distracted by the foliage and view of Wendi's private island.

/We need to talk,/ Ludmilla thought to him.

/It'll have to be later,/ Micah silently replied, even if he had a good idea what Ludmilla would be bringing up. /Lets go see what Wendi wants./

Nunnally and Ludmilla fell behind him as they made their way up the path to Wendi's home. Micah could feel the displeasure radiating from Ludmilla. Nunnally was calm and collected as always, but even she was slightly discomfited.

Ah, well, Micah thought to himself. Never let it be said that managing a group of women was -easy-.

Micah smiled when they arrived; Wendi, Tamar, and Udiya were all present, along with two other pokegirls he'd never seen before, a Drow Zee and a Guntit. Didn't Wendi mutter something about getting a harem together? "Ladies," Micah greeted them all, the two new pokegirls included, with a swept back wing, glad for the open-air design of the meeting gazebo giving him room to pull that trick off. "I see you're blessed with pleasant weather, as always."

Wendi giggled, kicking her feet. "Nice when you live on your own private island, isn't it? You should visit more."

There were so many implications in that statement Micah had to stifle the urge to run away screaming and instead replied, "Work keeps me busy to the point that relaxation is anathema to my overall outlook." He held a chair for Ludmilla, slightly gratified to see the Dire Wolf relax some as she settled into it. Nunnally, playing the bodyguard, stood off to the side.

Wendi's expression narrowed slightly. "Charlene, Xiu, why don't you join us for tea, as well."

The Guntit and Drow Zee shared a momentary look of equal confusion, then the Drow Zee spoke up. "Yes, Mistress." Udiya and Tamar both looked like they were trying to parse this development before they all settled down to the matter of serving tea and sustenance.

"You like strawberries?" Wendi spoke up when she saw Micah happily devour one in a single bite.

Micah chuckled. "Where I grew up they had strawberries as a local cash crop - you could get an entire flat of them cheap on the side of the road, sweet, large, and juicy. So yes, I'm rather fond of them."

Wendi blinked. "What's a flat?"

"Around twelve baskets of strawberries," Micah replied.

Udiya blinked. "And you could buy them on the side of the road? Where did you grow up?"

Micah smiled faintly. "Somewhere that doesn't exist anymore."

Tamar regarded him somberly. "Do you miss it?"

Micah chuckled faintly. "Well, can't say much for the weather. But everything else? Yes."

Udiya was regarding him with an expression as if she'd never seriously looked at him before, her face softening with compassion. "Did you leave anyone behind in coming here? A lover? A wife? A family?"

Micah had been taking a sip of tea when she asked him this, and had to work not to choke on it. "Yikes," Micah coughed to clear his throat. "Married? Do I look married?" he wondered aloud momentarily before shaking his head. "No, I had none of those things before coming here. I have to admit, I'm curious as to why the sudden surge of questions."

Udiya gave a weak smile in return. "I'm sorry. Some times it's hard to think of you... That is," she paused, trying to find an appropriate word, "It's hard to think of your kind as something human. With everything that implies."

"I don't even want to consider what opinion Sanctuary at large has about me," Micah gave a snort. "Along that thought..." He glanced at Wendi. "How skilled are you at Necromancy, out of curiosity?"

Wendi blinked at the non sequitur. "I'm... passable, I suppose. I'm hardly an Arch Necromancer. Why are you asking?"

Micah snorted. "I was half curious if I showed up with Macavity's severed head if you could bind her soul to it as a type of necromantic oracular artifact. I mean, I'd hate to have it go to waste, in such a situation."

Wendi's jaw dropped. "You haven't... you didn't...?"

"Killed Macavity? No. More's the pity." Micah rolled his eyes heavenward. "If she does show up, however, then she will be summarily removed from the playing field."

"For all you've accomplished, I find myself somewhat skeptical that you could kill a Legendary," Udiya said, though her eyes gave lie to that statement.

Micah smiled faintly. "Fair enough."

While Udiya looked discomfited by Micah's odd reply, Tamar spoke up. "You don't like any of the Legendaries?" From her expression, she was somewhere between confused and horribly fascinated. "I thought... well, I kind of assumed they were the pet darlings of all the Authors."

"I'm sure a number of them are quiet pleasant to sit around and have some tea or coffee with," Micah replied. "Sadly, they're a bit of a mixed grab bag. Some are nice. Some aren't. So far, I seemed to have had tertiary encounters with the annoying ones."

Tamar got a thoughtful expression as she slowly digested this information. Charlene and Xiu both looked confused as all hell and too timid to speak up to clarify matters.

Udiya waited patiently until Micah had finished his first cup of tea before saying anything more beyond polite chatter. "You're probably curious what business we wanted to bring up with you today."

Micah smiled faintly. Perched on the edge of his seat as he was to allow for his wings and tail, he couldn't lean back, so he instead took a sip of his tea. "The thought had occurred to me, yes."

Udiya paused a moment, the Blessed S-Goth trying to find the right words, then said, "The group of us have agreed that we need to start acquiring more powerful pokegirls. With that in mind, we were wondering if you'd help us in acquiring some Tyrannodames for us."

Micah quirked an eyebrow. "You can't utilize Tyrannodames for harems in other Leagues. Why would you want to include them in your harems?"

"Security elements," Tamar replied. "None of us are stupid enough to try and include a Tyrannodame in a traveling harem." The redheaded S-Goth paused, visibly trying to work out what she was about to say, then went on. "But if the worst comes to worse and we have to fight against someone, more firepower on our side is best."

"Hum," Micah mused aloud. "I see." He honestly couldn't fault their reasoning. If anything, the rather aggressive nature of such a move was rather surprising. "So, if I may ask, why are you including me in this discussion?"

"Your... what did you call them? Grim Angels?" Wendi asked, and went on at Micah's nod. "If any of us try and order a crèche of Tyrannodames to come with us, no questions asked, such an incident would likely bring some uncomfortable focus on our activities. But if a fairly large group of S-Goths no one has ever seen before comes in and starts issuing order, then people can draw their own conclusions."

"That's remarkably sensible," Micah replied with a smile. He canted his head to the side. "Though it can't be as easy as you say it is. Given how valuable Tyrannodames are, I'd imagine they're treated like the crème de la crème of Sanctuary's fighting elements and kept under strict control and constantly tabulated."

Udiya looked faintly uncomfortable. Tamar just sighed, and it was Wendi who spoke up in reply. "To be honest, no. Most Tyrannodames are kept isolated and under heavy control by other Dameosaurs and Sanctuary Goths, and treated pretty badly."

Micah stared at Wendi for several moments, then calmly reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I see," he replied. "May I ask why?"

"Psychological conditioning and brainwashing," Ludmilla spoke up, earning a surprised look from everyone at the table barring Nunnally and Micah. "Given their devastating combat capabilities and crushing strength, early indoctrination would be crucial to keep them under control later in life, doubly-so given pokegirls overall aggressiveness and competitiveness. Establishing early social dominance and pecking order, exacerbated by Sanctuary Goth aura conditioning, would turn them into fairly malleable soldiers." Ludmilla smiled quietly, ears perked forward as she silently added to Micah alone, /Aggressiveness and competitiveness that S-Goths still seem to possess, no matter what they claim otherwise./

"Astutely put," Micah congratulated Ludmilla, smiling at her telepathic addendum.

Udiya coughed. "We don't think we can have your... Grim Angels pass them off as a Shuuja group, but we're thinking if they implied an affiliation with Sanctuary's R&D conglomerate..."

Micah glanced at Udiya. "What's a Shuuja?"

Tamar blinked, running a hand through her short red hair. "You mean you don't know?"

"As I've noted in the past, I am far from omniscient," Micah replied. "Trust me, if I was, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Udiya brushed a long strand of dark hair behind an ear. "Why would that be?"

Because I would have located Sukebe's cache of WMD and turned Sanctuary into a pool of molten lava after my arrival here, Micah thought to himself, but verbally replied, "It's not important. So. What's a Shuuja?"

"Shuuja are the elite operatives of the Watcher's Group, which act as the defending force of Sanctuary's borders," Wendi replied.

Micah frowned thoughtfully. "I see. I'll likely need to make some further inquiries in the future."

Udiya nodded. "Just so."

"How many Tyrannodames are you thinking of acquiring?" Micah asked suddenly.

Udiya, Tamar, and Wendi shared a glance. "We were thinking six or seven..."

Micah absently rubbed thumb and forefinger together, letting a claw flex out to play against calloused skin. "No. You need to get as many as you can grab in one go. Assume you'll only be able to do this once. Thirty seems a nice minimum. Let's shoot for that, with anything more lagniappe."

Everyone, his own harem included, stared at him in minor confusion. "What's a lan-yap?" Wendi ventured to ask.

Micah blinked, then chuckled. "It means 'a little something extra'."

Udiya coughed. "I see." She glanced at Wendi, and went on. "Given our standard habit of helping one another, what will you request as payment for this? If you'd like some of the Tyrannodames for you own harem..."

"No, thank you." Micah tried to lean back, and stopped when his wings got in the way. "Instead, I'm going to want the location of all the small villages and towns in Sanctuary."

Udiya swallowed. "Why would you want that?"

"Depending on the number of Dameosaurs and Sanctuary Goths in-residence in each town, I'll start with the one with the lowest population and systematically wipe them out via pokeball capture." Micah gave a casual shrug. "It's a good and relatively bloodless way to spread fear and terror around Sanctuary as a whole."

Tamar looked resigned, Udiya looked horrified, and Wendi looked confused. "How many Sanctuary Goths are you expecting to find in these villages?" she asked, the Chibi S-Goth giving a kick of her feet.

Micah blinked. "I don't know. I'd assume they'd be in the majority. Why?"

Tamar coughed. "Um. Some of the villages don't see Sanctuary Goths outside of Watcher Patrols."

Micah stared at Tamar as his brain gnawed hungrily on this piece of information, then applied it to what he knew. "Do I want to know what condition the majority of these villages are kept in?" Micah murmured in a dangerously soft tone.

"Uh..." Wendi glanced awkwardly at any place but him.

"Son of a bitch," Micah murmured. "You know, a part of me had hoped that despite all the horror I had suffered, that Sanctuary could at least do -some- good, -somehow-. Tamers, humans, saviors - your kind can't manage -any- of it right, can you?"

"Hey!" Tamar blurted out, glaring at him angrily.

"Sorry," Micah blurted out, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose yet again, eyes closed, as he blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry. My temper got the best of me, and none of you deserved that." He gave a shake of his head. "I believe that's a good enough cue as any to let you enjoy the rest of your tea in peace. Wendi, I'll contact you later so we can correlate timing issues with acquiring your Tyrannodames." Micah stood, Ludmilla matching him, as he gave a nod and mentally ordered his Dire Wolf to teleport him out, Nunnally following a second later, leaving behind three Sanctuary Goths and two other pokegirls, all of whom wondered what kind of minefield they had just stumbled through.

-[***]-

A/N: The Furies group isn't an official Capital League idea. I just made it all up. Sounds cool, though, doesn't it?

Beatrice and Amanda are also made up - IE, they don't exist in the mainline whathaveyou. Vince's harem -is-, however, as accurate within FF's notes as I can make them.

I make no comment regarding characterization. I imagine FF is sharpening his knives for me as we speak.