When Joan and the rest of her family, Kori included, reached the main battlefield of the Arbon Gym it was already occupied. The current head Gym Leader, Rayne Dakota was on the field leading his team of powerhouse pokegirls through a combat scenario. Rosa shepherded her family into the stands surrounding the open-roofed arena floor. Chandler parted ways from them there, descending the back steps of the stadium and weaving his way through the hallways until Joan could see him appear at the double doors leading to the arena floor, where he waited patiently until Rayne noticed and jogged over to him.
Rayne was a decade younger than Chandler, and had graduated from the Pokegirl Academy in Crown City, the league capitol, but was originally from Fort Thomas to the south of Arbon. He was well known in the area for the strength of his harem and his willingness to help train the Academy students when he wasn’t hosting challengers in the gym. “Chandler, what brings you here on a Saturday? Didn’t your daughter just graduate? Shouldn’t you be off celebrating with your family?” Rayne smiled as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, his tanned skin coming away glistening with sweat. He slapped Chandler on the shoulder as he smiled, and Chandler smiled back. The younger man’s energy was infectious, the result of one of his empathic bloodgifts.
“She’s actually up in the stands, believe it or not. For all the talk that she had about leaving home, she’s being rather slow about it.” He laughed and pointed up at Joan sitting in the stands, causing Rayne to turn and look up.
“Wow, you brought the whole family along, I see. What’s the occasion? You’re not just here to watch us train, are you? I’m just running laps and the ladies are practicing combination attacks on the dummy targets.”
“Joan’s new pokegirl. Caught her last night, but she’s something of a threshold. A Witch, like Eira used to be.” Chandler nodded to a brunette haired woman with pale skin in a sports bra and tight pants who was swinging a heavy wooden staff around in a complicated pattern, purple sparks flying out of the end of the pole each time she changed the direction of her swing.
Chandler shaded his eyes against the noon sun filtering down through the open roof of the combat arena, studying the small crowd. “Girl with the white hair?”
“Yeah. She’s completely untrained. Doesn’t know what she’s doing. She uh, thresholded and wandered away from her family. The change was a bit traumatic to her, she wasn’t expecting it. Went feral, was outside the city for a few weeks until Joan went out and found her. She’s not at all sure about combat.”
Rayne sighed and studied Kori from afar. “Late bloomer. Threshold sneaks up on you sometimes. Once you think you’re out of the woods, then it hits you like a Rhynodame at full speed. Gotta feel sorry for her.” Rayne looked back at Chandler. “You want to see what she can do, I take it?”
“Exactly. Rosa and I were thinking that she should take a crack at her, just to keep things from getting out of hand, but do you think that possibly… I mean, since you’re here. I don’t want to interrupt your training…”
Rayne snorted and whistled loudly. “Nonsense, this is just routine for us. I’d be glad to help.” Behind him on the battlefield, the four women in Rayne’s harem had stopped what they were doing at his whistle, and they were in various rest positions as they tried to catch their breath.
“Thanks, Rayne, really. Rosa and I owe you one.”
Rayne laughed and clapped Chandler on the shoulder again. “Tell you what, I’m actually short on people wanting to be gym assistants for once. Find me one of your students that you might recommend for the position, and we’ll call it even.”
“Oh? Did Erik finally decide to leave?”
“Yeah, decided he wanted to enter the championship again this year. Took off with barely an hour’s notice. Nice kid, but never planned ahead very well.”
“Well, I’ll see what I can do. Anything in particular you’re looking for?”
“Well, between myself and Andrew, we’ve pretty got the pokegirls that the gym is regionally known for well covered. I mean, we’re in the middle of a forested valley, so Plant-types are a dime a dozen, and Magic-types are pretty common league wide. Someone with a bit more experience outside those two would work well.”
The two men’s conversation was interrupted as two of Rayne’s pokegirls approached. The first was the woman that Chandler had pointed out, Eira. She was carrying her staff over her shoulders, her wrists hanging off sides as she used it to support her arms. The other was a tall, raven haired woman carrying a coiled whip. “Calling it a day already, sweetheart? Or could you just not keep up with us after all?”
“Oh, don’t tease me Khloe, I could run laps around you with how slow you’ve been moving lately.” Rayne smiled and gently pushed the whip-carrying woman’s shoulder. “No, no, Chandler here had a favor to ask.”
Eira, the staff-wielding pokegirl raised a hand in greeting to Chandler. “Mr. Paris. What can we do for you?”
“Well, as I was telling Rayne, we didn’t expect you to be here, actually. Rosa and I were going to handle it, but since Rayne’s here, and you especially, Eira, I thought you might be able to help.”
Eira raised an eyebrow. “What is it you need help with?”
“My daughter, Joan. She just graduated yesterday from the Academy. A combat tamer, like Rayne and I used to be.”
“Right, the one with the Flowergirl who thinks she’s a fighter. We heard about that.” Khloe was carefully recoiling her whip, eyes down as she listened.
“Well, part of my graduation gift to her was a Round Stone, so hopefully Tess won’t be a Flowergirl forever.”
“You want us to fight her until she evolves, I take it?”
“No, no, this is about the pokegirl that Joan caught last night near the West Gate. She’s a thresholded Witch. I explained it to Rayne. The threshold surprised her, and she got away from her family. She went feral out there, and now that she’s with Joan, she doesn’t even know what her combat capabilities are.”
“What happened to her family?”
“Travelers from another League, unfortunately. We don’t have a way to contact them.”
Rayne nodded. “I was going to ask about that.” He looked at Eira. “Chandler says she wasn’t prepared for the threshold, wasn’t expecting it. She’s got no idea what she’s capable of, might even be a bit frightened of combat itself.” Chandler nodded. “Think you might be able to help her get up to speed, see what she’s capable of?”
The brunette nodded. “I’m sure I can.” She turned around and walked back onto the arena floor as the other two women approached, carrying water bottles and towels as they dried the sweat from their bodies. Rayne waved up into the stands, and Chandler raised his hand as well, beckoning to Joan.
A few minutes later, Joan and Kori were standing beside Rayne and Chandler as Eira stood in the center of the battlefield, swinging her staff in a wide arc, purple sparks flying out in long streamers. “Dad, what’s going on? I thought you and Mom were going to help us, not the Gym Leader?”
“Gym Leader?” Kori’s eyes widened and she shook her head, taking a step back.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. Rayne agreed to help. Besides, Eira is a Sorceress, she’s much more suited to helping Kori than your mother or I are.”
Joan looked back at Kori and took her hand, before looking at the Gym Leader. “She’s only ever been in a fight with Tess before, as far as we know. She doesn’t want to fight if she doesn’t have to.”
“Relax, Joan. This isn’t a fight. It’s just a training session. Eira will see what she can do, and we’ll take it from there. Eira won’t hurt her, and I seriously doubt she could hurt Eira.” Rayne chuckled and beckoned to Joan and Kori as he left Chandler’s side and headed out onto the battlefield.
“Dad…”
“Relax, sweetie. You and Kori both will be fine. Go ahead, you can do this.”
“I know, it’s just that this wasn’t what we were expecting.”
“Joan, I think the time for expecting that you can anticipate what’s going to happen is over. A lot has happened in the past twelve hours. A lot could depend on what you do in the next two.”
Joan looked at Kori, who was watching Rayne and Eira out on the grass floor of the arena. “Are you okay with this, Kori?”
The white haired Witch snapped out of her trance and looked back at her tamer. “No. But we don’t have a choice, do we.”
Joan shrugged. “There’s always choice.” Kori shook her head and pulled Joan out towards the two people wating for them in the center of the arena. The young Witch had changed into a tight fitting pair of athletic pants and a pair of old sneakers of Joan’s, and had borrowed an old t-shirt from her tamer. Megan had promised to take the pair shopping later that evening for clothes that would fit Kori until she could learn how to magically conjure her own.
“Joan, is it? It’s nice to finally meet you.” Eira held out her hand as the younger women approached. Eira was a good foot taller than either of them, almost as tall as her tamer. “And you’re Kori, Rayne tells me?”
Kori nodded as Joan shook Eira’s hand. “That’s us. Dad said that you would be able to help us; help Kori.”
“That’s my intention.” Eira turned and focused all of her attention on Kori. “How old are you?”
“I’m nineteen. Does that matter?”
“Some. It gives me a guess at where your initial skill level might be. Rayne says that, frankly, you don’t scan as being very powerful, according to the initial pokedex screening. That’s always a good indicator, but there’s always latitude for unforeseen techniques and capabilities other than what the pokedex suggests. For a magical pokegirl, personality plays a large role in our capabilities. Where did you grow up?”
Kori looked at Joan, who nodded. At Rosa and Chandler’s suggestion, it had been decided that until the League said otherwise, she would introduce herself without her last name, that she was a threshold Witch, and that she was from the Amethyst League originally, so she wasn’t expected to be able to answer any questions about Emerald or it’s customs. “In the southern portion of Amethyst.”
Eira nodded. “What was the climate like there?”
“Usually pretty cold, year round. It snowed fairly often.”
“Rayne says that you’re not fond of combat, either?”
“I don’t want to fight unless I have to, to protect myself. Or Joan.” Kori hastily added the last part. She wasn’t yet used to thinking about someone else holding an important position in her life, pokegirl or otherwise.
“Mmhmm.” Eira looked at Joan. “You captured her when she was feral. Did she have any techniques that you recognize?”
Joan nodded. “She threw a magical bolt at me, and hit Tess with what looked like an Ice Beam. And she seems to have some sort of magical glamor or the ability to summon clothes unconsciously. She started the morning without shoes and then suddenly was wearing a pair of heels that she had never seen before. And my clothes fit her perfectly even though we’re different sizes.”
Eira nodded. “Not that hard to imagine. Though I doubt you have control over your ability to summon things yet. I wasn’t able to conjure my own clothes for two months after I thresholded. Even then, it was just clothing that I had worn before or seen other people wearing. But it’s different for every pokegirl of our evolutionary line.” She thought for a moment. “A Mystic Bolt technique would probably be within your reach, and what Joan saw when you were first captured would seem to confirm it. The Ice Beam is unexpected, but not too out of the ordinary, especially if you grew up around snow and ice, or in a cold region of the world.” The brunette Sorceress studied Kori for a long moment, lips pursed and sweat-damp hair dangling in front of her left eye. “You don’t want to fight, or don’t like to, rather. There’s nothing wrong with that, in and of itself, but it might make it harder for you to learn offensive combat techniques. Defense, though, might come easier to you. And the ability to cast a curse would be a given, I’d think. We can all do it naturally, if not consciously.” She looked at Rayne. “I think I’m ready.”
The gym leader nodded and patted Joan on the shoulder. “We should probably step back a bit. Don’t want to be in the way.” Joan looked Kori with a bit of worried panic, but the young Witch was refusing to look back at her, staring intently at her older counterpart and steadfastly ignoring her tamer. “Don’t worry, nothing bad is going to happen.” Rayne wrapped an arm around Joan’s shoulders and pointed her towards the Tamer’s Box at the end of the field where Chandler was waiting. The box itself was constructed of a dense, heavy metallic base inscribed with runic symbols. Most gyms had some sort of Tamer’s Box designated for each tamer to stand on a battle field, and most contained some sort of protection for the tamer who was standing so close to the super powered individuals fighting it out only a few body lengths away. In the Emerald League, Tamer’s Boxes were usually constructed in much the same way as the magical fields that protected the audience stands from flying beams of energy or other pokegirl attacks. Chandler, Rayne, and Joan crowded into the three-meter square box, the actual physical portion of the box only rising up to the middle of their shins. A line of glittering material that Joan could only imagine was magical was set deep into the top surface of the box, ringing all the way around it. Any incoming pokegirl attack would be deflected or absorbed by the enchantment of the box, keeping the anyone inside safe so long as they stood within its perimeter. Joan had personally seen a tamer stand in the way of an incoming hyperbeam and not even flinch as the attack was dissipated against the magical barrier of a Tamer’s Box.
Back in the middle of the arena, Eira was holding her staff in both hands in front of her, the thinner base of the carved wooden weapon planted firmly against the grass. “I want you to close your eyes and take a hold of my staff with both hands. I’m going to test just how much energy you can hold before it begins to leak out of you. Now, and this is important. You need to relax, and whatever you do, don’t try to hold the power in. Just let it flow through you and fill you up until it simply overflows.”
“I don’t understand what any of that even means…” Kori shook her head and reached out for the staff, only to have Eira lean it away from her. “What’s wrong?”
“You need to take this serious, girl. If you try to hold too much magic at once, you can hurt yourself, sometimes seriously. This is one of the main reasons that Witch’s don’t survive in the wild, especially if they find themselves in a place with abundant natural magic. Curiosity killed the Catgirl, remember? Don’t focus on anything, just let your mind be blank. Floaty. Like after a particularly satisfying taming. Don’t think of anything.”
Kori blushed crimson, the color clashing with her pale features and white hair as she nodded and gulped, reaching out to take a hold of the staff again. This time, Eira didn’t jerk it away, and Kori instantly felt a tingling sensation travel up her arms and into her chest, spreading slowly through the rest of her body from the tips of her ears to her toes. It quickly built in intensity to something like the prickling sensation that she got whenever her foot fell asleep, except this time she wasn’t wobbling around and trying to maintain her balance, nor did it particularly sting or hurt. “Keep your mind blank, Kori.” Eira chastised the younger mage and Kori let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, and the prickling sensation promptly faded away, leaving her with just the warm tingling that she had initially felt.
“Is this what magic feels like?”
“It is. But yours is inherently different from mine, it seems. Open your eyes.” Kori opened one eye, and then the other, and gasped at what she saw. Around Eira was a nimbus of sparkling purple and gold mist that flowed and swirled around her as if driven by an unfelt current of wind. The older woman’s eyes were similarly glowing purple, a bright ring around her pupils having turned a brilliant golden color. But when the mist reached the staff, it changed colors into a bright, soothing blue and a pure, icy white. She couldn’t see it, but her own eyes were glowing blue, brighter than her natural color, and like Eira she had a ring of the secondary color associated with her magic around her pupils, a stark white ring that pulsed and shimmered before beginning to fade as Eira pulled the staff out of Kori’s hands. “You have quite the potential, young lady. More than I had at your age.” Kori looked around her wildly as the colors faded into nothingness, and she was left with a calm, warm feeling.
“That was amazing… I don’t know how to describe it.”
Eira smiled. “I understand. But now it’s time to see what you can do.” Kori opened her mouth to ask where she should begin, and was suddenly staring at the empty space where Eira had just been standing. She whirled around just in time to take a bolt of energy to the gut, tumbling backwards and falling to the ground with a grunt as she clutched her stomach. She looked up to see Eira standing at the far end of the field twirling her staff in the air beside her as if she had done nothing wrong, waving to her. “Block the next one!” Kori scrambled to her feet, about to curse at the older Sorceress when the staff in Eira’s hand stopped moving, the glowing purple tip pointed directly at Kori. The young woman’s eyes widened as a streak of colorless energy flew from the tip of the staff towards her, the air rippling around the fast moving Mystic Bolt and distorting the view of the world through the magic missile’s surface, colors inverted and the image reversed as it streaked in Kori’s direction.
Kori didn’t have time to dive out of the way, the attack was moving too fast, and she threw up her arms in front of her and bowed her head, gritting her teeth and waiting for the attack that never hit her. She snapped her head up, ponytail bouncing, and marveled at the wide, hexagonal shield of energy that had formed in front of her. The interlocking plates of bright blue magical energy dissipated as Kori bit back a curse of surprise and excitement, and as she raised her arms over her head and smiled the Shield technique faded away, just in time to allow another bolt of energy to take her in the groin. The young woman’s eyes bugged out and she collapsed to the ground, curling up into a ball and screaming in pain. In less than a second, Eira was crouching beside her, the Sorceress’s palm on her stomach. The older woman’s hand was surrounded by a green glow for a brief second, and then the pain in Kori’s body subsided, and she was left with nothing but the shock. “You should have kept the shield up. Or perhaps I should have explained my intention, I am sorry, Kori.”
“That. Hurt.”
“I don’t doubt it. When I saw you block the second Mystic Bolt, I sent another with more power behind it, to test the strength of your shield. I didn’t expect you to immediately drop your defenses.” Eira took Kori’s hand and helped her to her feet. “You are new to this, and so it is inevitable, perhaps, that your magic is going to be tied to your physical actions. Using your arms to block the attack summoned a shield of energy to protect you. The moment you relaxed your stance, the shield relaxed and disappeared as well. Eventually, with practice, you will be able to create and maintain the shield without moving a muscle.”
“That’s good to know, I guess.” Kori stood hunched over with her hands braced on her knees, panting at the phantom pain in her gut.
“So, you can cast a Shield. It is the crudest form of defensive techniques, and you can use it without any focus, or imbue your magic into an existing object to make the shield stronger. Now, let’s see if you can cast Reflect.” Eira pulled Kori upright with a hand on her shoulder. Do the same thing that you did last time, but imagine your shield as less of a solid wall, a more as a net. Some of my attack will come through, but it won’t hurt you much if at all. Instead of a gut punch, it will be a slap on the cheek.”
“Doesn’t sound like a very useful technique, why lessen an attack if you can just block it entirely instead?”
“Because a Reflection spell takes much less concentration to maintain, and uses much less of your internal reserves of magical energy. Imagine you end up in a protracted fight for your life, and suddenly you find that you are unable to cast a wall of magic to protect yourself. Sometimes taking the lesser blows and saving your stamina to block the larger ones can save your or your tamer’s life. If you wish to know more about why you might find this technique useful, you might ask your Tamer or your harem sister. They graduated at the top of their class, with a focus on combat strategy and tactics.”
Kori peeked around Eira’s shoulder at her tamer standing with the gym leader and her father. Joan wore a concerned expression on her face, and was standing outside of the Tamer’s Box with Rayne’s hand on her shoulder as he tried to pull her back in. Kori waved at her tamer to indicate that she was fine, and then faced Eira again. “I’m ready.” The brunette magician nodded and in the blink of an eye was standing at the other end of the field, teleporting away without a word. Kori turned to face her across the arena, raising her arms as Eira spun her staff and launched another colorless bolt of magical energy. Kori’s fingernails dug into her palms as she made a fist, then remembered what Eira had said about imagining her magic as a net. She relaxed her hands slightly, and when the hexagonal shield of magic reappeared, it seemed to be slightly porous and translucent. Kori squeezed her eyes shut as the Mystic Bolt approached her, and she felt the reflect technique in front of her shudder as it absorbed some of the blow, but not all of it. The white haired young woman was forced back several steps and she felt like someone had just shoved her hard in the chest. She looked up, and this time was able to see the next bolt coming, and imagined the wall growing solid. The translucent blue hexagons became more opaque, shining brightly as she felt more than saw or heard another attack colliding with her shield. She gasped as another hit the shield barely a second later, and then another and another.
Kori relaxed her shield slightly, and the next attack sent her tumbling backwards even though the force of the bolt was mitigated by the power of her Reflect technique. She lay panting on the ground, staring up at the sky as Eira walked up and stood over her. “You recognized that your Shield was about to break and leave you defenseless, so you switched to Reflect and took half of the blow rather than the full force. There might be some hope for you yet.” She reached down and offered Kori her hand, and pulled the young Witch to her feet. “Now, you’ve seen me throw Mystic Bolts, let’s see if you can do the same. You cast one at your tamer while you were feral, so we know you’re capable of it.” Eira waved her hand towards Rayne, and he turned around and shouted something back into the hallway leading away from the arena floor.
A few moments later, one of the women who had been training when they arrived returned to the arena. She stopped momentarily by the Tamer’s Box to converse with Rayne, before jogging over to Eira. “Yes, Eira?”
“Marie, this is Kori. She is a Witch belonging to Chandler Paris’s daughter. Kori, this is Marie, one of my harem sisters. More importantly, perhaps, she is my training partner. Marie is a Golden Elf, and is capable of learning nearly every magical technique that you might have access to as you are now, except perhaps your Ice Beam attack.” Eira turned to the tanned Golden Elf. “She’s a recent threshold, and unsure of her own power. She can form and hold a Shield and make it porous enough to serve as a Reflect technique, but now I want to see how she forms her Mystic Bolts. Would you mind holding a Shield for her to target?”
“Not at all.” Marie turned and walked away, placing herself halfway down the combat field and turning around before signaling her readiness.
“Now, Kori. I use a weapon, my staff, to focus my attacks. You will find that using a focus will nearly always allow you to concentrate less on forming your attacks, and more on actually delivering them. But it is, of course, possible to use your magic without a focus. Watch what I do closely.” Eira raised her hand to Marie, and the Golden Elf waved her hand in front of her, a shimmering orange Shield appearing in the air before her. Not only different in color, Marie’s shield was more of a translucent, curved wall without the hexagonal pattern that was present in Kori’s. The Witch started to open her mouth to ask why, when Eira anticipated her question and answered it before she could ask. “Nearly every magic user’s techniques are different. Marie’s shield looks different from yours, and yours looks different from mine, and mine looks different from my mothers, so on and so forth. The form our magic takes depends much upon who we were trained and influenced by, as well as our own personality, and even our current moods. Now watch.”
Eira held her hand out in front of her, and balled her fingers into a fist. Kori could see wisps of purple energy flowing around Eira’s wrist, and when the older woman snapped her fist open, it was filled with a pulsing, formless mass of clear light. It refracted the light around her, and the reflection of her hand and face were distorted and blurry. The Sorceress raised her fist above her head, and the once formless ball of magic elongated into an elongated spear shape, the tip rippling with arcing currents of magic. Eira suddenly took a step forward and threw the spear of colorless light as if she had done so countless times before, arcing it perfectly towards Marie’s Shield. It impacted the surface of the Shield, orange ripples of light spreading out from the point of impact before dissipating near the edges. Eira stepped back. “Your turn.”
Kori turned her head to look at Eira, and then shook her head and set her shoulders. She raised her fist just as the older woman had done, staring at her hand for what seemed like an eternity, trying to imagine her magic filling her hand. When nothing happened, she turned to look back at Eira with a shrug. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I keep imagining creating that kind of ball of energy, but nothing happens.”
“Don’t imagine, do. Don’t think about it, just do it. Don’t imagine or ask or plead with your magic to obey you. Don’t demand it obey you either. Just… expect it to.”
“Right…” Kori turned back around and stared at her fist. Expect her magic to obey her. Don’t force it. Just… expect it to obey her just like she expected that her father’s servants in her home would have prepared a meal for her. That her driver would be waiting for her to arrive. That her instructors would have tailored their lesson plans to her. Expectation was sometimes different from reality, as she had so painfully learned recently. But this was different. She had magic. Sure, she was a pokegirl, but she could be a damn powerful one if she put her mind to it. Expect her magic to obey. It was a part of her, just like her hair or her legs or her fingers. It worked how she willed it. Kori lifted her eyes from her fist to the Shield that Marie was standing behind, and then raised her fist as if she were going to throw a pokeball. The Mystic Bolt that she hurled was larger than the one Eira had conjured before elongating it into a spear, and when it hit Marie’s Shield the entire surface flickered once before solidifying.
Behind her, Eira was careful to mask her shock. “Impressive. But you must be careful not to waste too much energy in a single attack. Your strikes must be measured and precise, both to save you valuable time and energy during a fight.” Kori, for her part, was smiling from ear to ear. She raised her fists above her head and cheered, and the members of the Paris family in the stands cheered with her. “Now, your Ice Beam.” Eira stepped up again, and this time she had her staff tucked under her arm. She thrust it out, a cloud of bright blue light forming around the gnarled tip before it lanced forward like an icy blue laser, dragging across the surface of Marie’s Shield until the Golden Elf was forced to abandon it, ducking as the beam of frozen energy carried on past her and dug ground behind her.
In the Tamer’s Box, Rayne was shaking his head. “She’s showing off. Your girl surprised her with how strong her Mystic Bolt was, and now Eira’s got to prove that she’s a stronger magic user. Her pride will be her downfall, I keep telling her.
Chandler patted Rayne on the shoulder. “We all like to compete. Combat Pokegirls most of all, Rayne.”
Back across the field, Kori had made a fist just as she had with her Mystic Bolt. And this time, instead of imagining her fist turning icy cold thanks to the magic she held, she just expected it too. The white haired Witch thrust out her palm, her fingertips curled inwards as a thin blue beam of icy energy followed much the same path as Eira’s own Ice Beam, raking across the surface of Marie’s orange Shield before sputtering out. Kori shook her hand quickly and rubbed it against her thigh, trying to warm her hand back up, but was smiling broadly, perfect white teeth showing.
“Very good, very good. You’re a quick learner.” Eira waved to Marie, and the Golden Elf dropped her Shield and made her way back over to the Witch and Sorceress.
“Her Mystic Bolt was stronger than yours. I had to pump more power into my Shield to compensate.” Marie was looking at Kori with an appraising stare, clearly impressed.
“My own Mystic Bolt wasn’t at full power.” She jerked her thumb towards Rayne when Marie started to reply. The Golden Elf nodded submissively and then trotted back towards her Tamer. “Now, you said that you’ve only just barely begun to summon your own clothing, yes?” When Kori nodded, Eira held out her hand and traced a finger down the front of the younger woman’s shirt. Kori’s eyes widened in shock and dismay when the shirt ripped cleanly down the front, falling open and baring her breasts to the open air.
“What the hell?” Kori tugged the remnants of her shirt back around her chest, hugging herself closely and blushing crimson as Eira smirked.
“You need to learn to summon clothing. Not just for yourself, but your Tamer and sisters. In battle, or in the wilderness, there are precious few chances to wash your clothing, and having fresh clothes that don’t smell like a two-week trek through a swamp are a great morale booster.” As if to demonstrate, Eira took a step back and spread her arms. A translucent wave of purple light washed over her body, and literally by magic her sports bra and athletic pants were replaced with an elegant, over the top dress with sheer sides and a plunging neckline. The Sorceress smiled, resting the butt of her staff on the ground and raising an eyebrow at Kori. “Well? Come on, you need to be able to do this.”
“I… I can’t!” Embarrassment was overriding any sense of confidence that she might have had a moment ago, and she was turning scarlet from the tips of her ears to her now exposed midriff as she stalked off the field and towards Joan.
Rayne was shaking his head as she approached. “I’m sorry, Kori. Eira is a bit… cocky, sometimes. When she’s embarrassed, she lashes out.”
“Like hell she’s embarrassed, just look at what she did!” Joan had taken off her jacket and now draped it around Kori’s shoulders, the Witch hastily buckling up the front to hide her nude chest and ruined shirt. Rayne shook his head again and apologized once more, before walking out onto the field towards Eira, who was oblivious to the coming storm she had just created.
Joan took Kori’s hand. “You did great. Really, that was amazing. You were amazing.” Kori herself wasn’t sure if she was blushing still from being exposed in front of so many people, or from Joan’s praise.
Her voice was a mumble as she squeezed Joan’s hand. “Ineedanewshirt.” Joan smiled and nodded, and led Kori off of the field and towards the audience seating again with Chandler following behind and wondering what exactly it was his daughter had gotten herself into.
“What about this one?” Megan held up a black and blue dress she had found among the racks of clothing. Kori leaned around the stacks of blouses and tight leggings she had been browsing and made a face somewhere between apprehension and uncertainty.
“Too frilly.”
“Too frilly? All the ones we started with weren’t frilly enough!” The redheaded Doppledame replaced the dress on the rack and began sorting through the rest of the clothing in front of her.
“Kori, you’ve got to come to some sort of decision.” Joan was pushing a shopping cart laden with clothes ranging from panties and stockings to jeans, t-shirts and elegant dresses. And they hadn’t even gotten to the shoe section yet.
“I have made a decision, what are you talking about?”
“I mean I can’t afford to pay for all of this. You’re going to have to choose a handful of outfits and be satisfied with them until we earn some more money or you’re able to summon your own clothing.” Joan was shaking her head and looked at the full basket she was following Kori around with.
“Oh. Ohhh. Right. You’re right of course. I’m sorry for getting carried away.” Kori looked genuinely ashamed, and she approached the buggy and began lifting items out of it. “I shouldn’t have assumed. I’m just used to… well, having more.”
“I’m not surprised, and I’m not judging.” Joan shook her head and smiled. “We just have to remember that circumstances have changed.”
Kori nodded and began draping items of clothing she wanted to keep over her arms, occasionally handing an item to Joan to hold on to. Megan popped her head back out from the middle of the racks, spotted where she had left Kori and her sister, and hurried back over. “Look at this!” She held up the dress that she had found, and Joan had to admit that the idea of seeing Kori wearing it was rather appealing. The dress was a white, off the shoulder and high cut, ending just six inches below the hip line, and trimmed in black and sky blue. It had long sleeves that ended in a stylized blue lace gauntlet that wrapped around the middle finger, and was split up the sides of the hips and held together by black ribbon along the cut.
Kori took the garment in her hands, feeling the soft, featherweight material. “This is beautiful, what’s it doing here, it has to be worth so much more than everything else we’ve seen…”
Joan stepped up beside her, and found a dangling pricetag hanging from the gauntlet-style sleeve. “You’re not going to believe this, but it’s actually on sale!” She held up the tag to Kori, who’s eyes widened and took on a hopeful glimmer. “We’re getting it, because you’re going to look beautiful in it.” She took the dress from the Witch and draped it over her arm, before nodding towards the shopping basket. “Anything else you want?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Kori shook her head and then headed towards the counter.
“What about shoes?”
“I have the heels that I somehow summoned, and the sneakers and the hiking boots that you gave me. They fit already, so there’s no need to buy more. Let’s go!” She waved Megan and Joan forward, and then disappeared towards the front of the store. The sisters looked at each other, and Joan shrugged and followed her pokegirl through the racks of clothing.
The next morning, the entire family was present to wish them well as they departed the city. Joan, Kori and Tess had stayed up late planning where they would go next, and had settled upon heading north through the wintry mountain pass to the village of Bellemeade, and then on down the river that had its roots in the mountains down to the coastal resort of Cross City. At David’s request, they would contact him before attempting to check into a Pokecenter, given that Kori’s fate was still up in the air. To that end, Rosa, Chandler, and Charlotte had presented their daughter with the most expensive gift she had ever received.
“I still don’t believe it. A portable healing unit. This had to cost a fortune!”
“It cost enough. But we don’t want you three going out there without some way to make sure that you can keep yourself safe. And the safest way to keep you, Joan, safe is to make sure that Tess and Kori are healthy.” Chandler took the cube shaped device from his daughter and motioned for her to turn around, unzipping her backpack and snugly securing it in the top where it could be easily accessed in times of emergency. “Since you won’t let your mother or aunt go with you, this is the next best thing.”
Joan rolled her eyes. “I’m not taming Mom or Aunt Charlotte. I mean, you’re beautiful, and I love you, but no, gross, sorry. Not happening.”
Rosa smiled and hugged her daughter, before kissing her on the cheek. “No offense taken, sweetheart. I’m not sure I’d be that comfortable with it either. Besides, your father needs all the help he can get. David’s transfer to the academy was just approved. He’s actually going to be Rayne’s new gym assistant.”
Joan’s eyes widened and she looked at her sister. The ‘original’ Megan was here, the brunette smiling from ear to ear as Joan hurried over to hug her. “That’s awesome! You’re going to be in gym battles!”
Megan hugged Joan tightly. “It seems like it. Though I expect that Irene will do most of the heavy lifting. That, and we’ll have to add several more people to our family. Rayne can handle the highly ranked tamers that challenge the gym, but we’ll be handling those tamers who are choosing to start their competitive journey here in Arbon.”
“So I won’t have to fight you when we come back, eh?”
“Oh, you might. It just depends on how well you do out there.” Megan smiled and kissed her younger sister on the forehead before stepping back.
Chandler cleared his throat. “Ahem. Well Joan… I’ve, we’ve never sent one of our daughters out into the world like this before. It’s uh… it’s dangerous out there, so be safe, you understand.” The man of the family was clearly uncertain of how to proceed in his little speech, but as he went on he seemed to grow more confident in his advice. “Get plenty of rest, but only inside the safety of a village or city. Call home every week. Every day, if you can. Always keep your wits about you, don’t go trying to tame a wild pokegirl without Tess or Kori to help you, and find someone who can heal your own injuries as quickly as possible. The PPHU will take care of your girls, but you need to find someone who can take care of you. In fact, find someone who can teach Kori healing magic as soon as possible. Always be aware of your surroundings, and…”
“Dad!” Joan too her father’s shoulder in her hands and raised up on her tiptoes to kiss both of his cheeks, wrinkling her nose as his beard stubble scratched her lips. “We’ll. Be. Fine. Don’t worry so much. We have the emergency beacon, remember? Thank you for the PPHU, but please, have a little faith.”
Chandler smiled and pulled his daughter into a massive hug, motioning for Tess to join them. “I do have faith in you, both of you. Just stay safe, you hear? I don’t want to have to be one of those parents who ends up burying their own children because they misjudged their own abilities out in the wilderness.”
Tess smiled and buried her face in her adoptive father’s chest, squeezing both he and her tamer. “I’ll take care of her, don’t worry.”
Behind them, Kori shuffled nervously. Rosa saw this, and reached out to take the young woman’s hand. “Kori... I know that you’ve been through a lot lately.” The Witch started to respond, but Rosa raised a finger. “Just hear me out. Joan will do her best to care for you. I know my daughters. That young woman will bend over backwards to accommodate you if you allow her to. Your situation isn’t ideal, but for a moment think that this family faults you for the problems that have been forced upon you and us both. If ever you need our help, we will gladly give it. My only request is that you protect my daughter, please.”
Kori looked deep into Rosa’s eyes, and realized that despite all that had happened to her, she felt at ease. She was comfortable around Joan, around her family. Maybe it was pokegirl genetics and an Alpha Bond setting in, but regardless, the young Witch nodded firmly, before wrapping her arms around the older Doppledame and hugging her tightly. “I promise, Mrs. Paris. I’ll keep Joan safe.” Rosa, though surprised at Kori’s sudden forwardness and display of emotion, returned the hug before pulling back as Joan and Tess backed away from Chandler.
“Okay, Tess, Kori. It’s time to go.” Joan looked at her parents, her Aunt, and her sisters. “Bye bye, Mia. You be good for Mom and Dad, okay?” The little girl was peeking out from behind her mother’s leg, suddenly shy. When her older sister said her name, the little blonde human dashed out and wrapped her arms around Joan’s legs, bawling and pleading with her not to leave. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, sweetie. I’ll be back before you know it, okay? Hush, it’s okay. I love you, Mia. Don’t worry. And hey, guess what?”
Mia looked up at her older sister, blonde hair that matched Joan’s plastered to her tear-streaked face. “Wha-what Joany?”
Joan produced a pokeball from her pocket, simple, unadorned. She depressed the trigger and enlarged the device, before bending down to Mia’s level and wrapping the little girl’s hands around it. “This is for you. I want you to hold onto this, okay? It’s yours, and one day, you’re going to use it to capture your very own pokegirl, okay? You’re going to love her, and she’s going to love you, and you’re going to be a family, alright?” Joan brushed hair out of Mia’s face as the little girl nodded, and then looked up at Charlotte bent down to gather her daughter up into her arms.
The Bramage wrapped one arm around her niece, hugging her tightly before stepping back. “Good luck, Joan. We love you, don’t ever forget it.”
Joan smiled and gently poked her half-sister on the end of her little pink nose, making her wrinkle it just as Joan herself was prone to do. She looked up at the Pokewoman who had practically been a second mother to her and grinned. “I don’t think I could forget if I tried, Aunt Charlotte.”