“Alright,” the Pirouette said, “try it again.”
Nodding, Ruth lunged towards the ground, punching hard with both of her fists, her arms plunged to their elbows. In under a second, she had grabbed large chunks of the dense material- similar in appearance to concrete, but harder- that made up the floor in this room. Snapping her body into an upright position, the Elephuk rapidly spun around in a circle, the slabs of the unidentified stone material dangerously held in her outstretched arms. After three such rotations, Ruth dropped her makeshift bludgeoning weapons and smiled as she looked to her trainer for approval over her well-done Quagmire Twister attack.
The Pirouette, named Pas de Eaux, or Pas for short, smiled back as she nodded. “It’s obvious that you’ve improved. I’m glad to see that you’ve been putting so much effort into my training regimen!”
It had only been a bit over a week since she had been assigned to live at the military base. As such, Ruth was definitely surprised at how much she had been able to improve in her combat skills. Still, when the human she was temporarily assigned to turned out to be the drill sergeant in charge of the base’s training, it made a bit more sense. All of his Pokegirls had some proficiency with managing the training schedules of other Pokegirls in the base, with the Pirouette having been the one assigned to teach Ruth.
As the Elephuk and her trainer discussed details of and potential adjustments to the individualized training regimen, Ruth couldn’t help but wonder how she’d do if she was attacked again. The military base was certainly a secure location for her to stay while she was a target. However, the attack at the construction site proved that she couldn’t expect her enemies to necessarily avoid taking outrageous risks. She wanted to be prepared if she was ever attacked like that again, and she was grateful for the training provided here. Pas was a strict taskmaster, but also fair in that she seemed to intuitively maintain exactly the challenge rating Ruth needed at the time to improve without failing. At least, without failing too much.
The conversation between the two Pokegirls was interrupted by an automated voice coming from the PA system. “Mess break begins now. Personnel will have thirty minutes for lunch. Repeat: mess break begins now. Personnel will have thirty minutes for lunch.” As the speaker system went quiet, there was an immediate exodus from the training room. While most of the Pokegirls in the room (and the occasional humans with them) looked glad for the break, Pas looked disappointed. After all- she definitely lived up to her breed’s reputation of enjoying rigorous training schedules.
“Well, time to eat lunch. I know from experience that I’ll get in trouble if I try to keep training during lunch break.” While Ruth hadn’t heard that particular story before now, she couldn’t say she was too surprised. As she and Pas walked out the door, with her enhanced hearing, she heard similar grumbling coming from some Lambchops. That breed in particular was probably the reason for the rule, given Lambchops’ infamous tendency to neglect themselves in favor of training.
As she left the training room to join the throng of military personnel heading for the mess hall, Ruth saw a now-familiar individual waving her over. Given the climate’s effect on her appearance, Ruth had mistaken her for her pre-evolution when first seeing her. After all, the Pokedex entry for Ice Princesses showed them with their lower arms frosted over, as the breed appeared when not in a warm area such as the Silver Islands League. The mistake didn’t last long, however. Upon seeing how emotional the Ice Princess was, Ruth sifted through her perfect memory to realize and mentally correct her mistake without it being noticed.
“Neige!” Ruth cried out, walking over to the Ice Princess. The Ice-type’s full name was Flocon de Neige, for the Noir word for snowflake. Colton Kuwahara, the drill instructor to whose harem she was assigned, seemed to have been fond of giving his Pokegirls such French names. It hadn’t taken the Elephuk long to realize that he was a definite Francophile.
“Ruth,” the Ice Princess responded, smiling as she nodded slightly. “You are to accompany me to a meeting ordered by the base lieutenant. While Maistresse is going to be with Colton at lunch, Vouivre is going to be at the meeting to report back to him.” Vouivre was Colton’s Dragonqueen Alpha, and Maistresse was his Mistress Beta. When Ruth heard that the drill sergeant had started as a tamer with both as Dominas, she thought it sounded insane. After learning they were twin sisters who both thresholded into Domina, and who had been willing to get along because they wanted to stay together, it seemed a bit less crazy.
The sisters tamed separately, of course. And having been part of taming sessions with both of them by this point, Ruth could confirm that Colton was better at sex than Emilia. He may have been a small bit less attractive than she was, but he obviously had much more skill. Being with him had caused Ruth to realize that after her first time with Emilia, she had been mistaken to think she was lucky not to have gone through taming shock. All that meant was that the sex hadn’t been good enough the first time to cause the taming shock to happen until a few taming sessions later. If a male had that little skill, the taming shock would probably happen anyway- but for a female tamer, more effort seemed to be required.
Lost in these sorts of thoughts, time seemed to pass quickly as Ruth was led to the place of the meeting by the Ice Princess who was acting as a temporary harem sister. As Neige finally knocked on a door that they had arrived at, the Elephuk returned her thoughts to the present situation. It wouldn’t do to have her mind wandering when she had been called to listen to the words of whoever she had been summoned to speak with.
The door opened, revealing Vouivre the Dragonqueen, along with a human male and what was probably a very near human Pokegirl rather than a human woman. Ruth and Neige stepped in to the room, with Neige closing the door behind them. The room was moderately spacious, with multiple chairs facing a desk at which the man sat. Sitting down in some of the chairs, the Elephuk and Ice Princess faced him, both waiting for what he had to say.
“Well, then,” the man began. He briefly rifled through some papers in a thick file as he glanced at them, and then turned his attention to Ruth. “In the week since you were attacked, we’ve made much progress in shutting down the splinter group that attacked you. Not only that, but we’ve made some inroads into dealing with the more established teams the group was trying to imitate. After talking it over, we’ve decided to tell you this information for one simple reason.”
At this point, Ruth leaned forward eagerly, extremely curious as to what he would say next. As the human steepled his fingers while resting them on the desk, he spoke slowly. “I suppose… While we know that your memories are perfect, and that they’ve been combed through, you still might know something that was missed. While an Elephuk can’t forget information, there is definite precedent for overlooking something, or failing to connect it.”
“So you want to look through my mind again, after this new information?” Ruth asked. The Elephuk was somewhat disappointed at how banal the impact of this new information was. Her memories weren’t ever going to change, and she highly doubted that the military’s new information would answer the questions they had. If they had any leads, the pachyderm Pokegirl suspected they would have been brought up at the start of the conversation.
“Eventually. But before that, we have decided it would be best for you to read through selected portions of the information we have gathered. Reading through it all will probably take at least an hour, even without questions. If at any point while reading the files you notice anything you want to mention, feel free to tell me. I supposedly know enough about what’s going on to answer any questions you have. The Ice Princess and Dragonqueen are no longer needed for any of this, so they can go off to lunch, now.”
As the man was saying this, the very near human Pokegirl gathered the thick file of papers that the human had been rifling through, handing them to Ruth. Having finished giving his instructions, the man started reading some other files, presumably so as to do something productive while waiting for her to finish. Neige, having been dismissed, left the room quietly.
“If I want to stay and listen to this, do I have permission?” The question came from Vouivre. Instead of taking the opportunity to leave the way her harem sister had, the Dragonqueen Alpha seemed to have the opposite wish.
“Um, sure, I guess, but you’ll still need to go back to your regular duties once lunch is over,” the man said.
“Understood.”
As this conversation had been going on, Ruth had started reading through the beginning of the documents she had been given. As the minutes passed, the Elephuk had to admit that this was quite interesting information. It dealt with what must be highly classified anti-Team information. Part of her was surprised at how little had been redacted, while another part of her saw it as somewhat reasonable. The military needed to figure out what it was she knew that might make her a target, so of course they needed to give some information here.
About ten minutes through reading the various pages, the Elephuk froze at a sudden realization as the result of new information. The surprising thing was that it wasn’t even information from within the files. Instead, she thought, as she glanced towards Vouivre, it was almost sheer luck that she came across the information. This would really change everything.
“I just figured out what I knew that they were targeting me for,” Ruth said.
That certainly got a reaction. All three of the other individuals within the room immediately turned to stare at Ruth in shock. The human male was the first to break free of the shock, grinning broadly at the statement.
“Perfect! So what in the document-”
“It’s nothing in the document. In addition to a perfect memory, Elephuks have good hearing. In a different room, not too far from here, I just heard a voice on the telephone that was identical to a voice I heard the manager of the ivory farm talking to on the phone. That person, whoever he is, had major connections to the ivory farm, and given what I’m hearing him talking about right now, he must have some major pull within the Silver Islands League government too. It’s just…”
Ruth shook her head as she trailed off, with all three of the others staring at her intently. “All of us spent so long trying to figure out what the content of what I heard was that would explain why I was being targeted. None of us considered that it had nothing to do with that, and was instead because I heard someone speak on the phone whose voice I might remember. It had nothing to do with anything specific he said on the phone while I overheard him at the ivory farm. I think… It’s just the simple fact that I heard him speak at all…”
“My species has better hearing than yours. What has this individual been saying on the phone?”
Ruth snapped out of her ruminations at that point. Vouivre was exactly on point with her question. The others would need more concrete information in order to act on what she was saying.
“They were discussing matters related to marketing issues as regards to which companies to contract for shipbuilding for the navy’s ships. The person speaking here referred to the other person as Mr. Selby-” Ruth paused upon seeing the human man’s reaction. Whereas the very near human and the Dragonqueen lacked familiarity with the name, it would certainly appear that he was fully aware of who she was talking about. “I guess you know already know who he is?”
The human man frowned as he replied. “Yes. And this could definitely explain why you were targeted, if he realized you had this sort of information. This is going to be such a scandal…” He sighed and furrowed his brow before standing up from his chair. “In that case, I don’t think you need to see the information in those papers anymore. Hand them over, and then stay here as I contact my superiors about this development.”
The Elephuk promptly followed instructions, placing the file full of sensitive documents back on the man’s desk. As she returned to her seat, the human male picked them up and started walking out of the room, the Pokegirl of indeterminate breed following him. The two were silent as they left, leaving Ruth alone with Vouivre in the wake of the dramatic revelation.
“…So am I supposed to stay here with you after having heard this information, or would he still want me to return to my duties training the soldiers’ Pokegirls?” Ruth blinked. The Dragonqueen’s question was certainly far more down to earth than what had been on her mind. After all, the Elephuk had just potentially unraveled a secret behind a major conspiracy that had severely impacted her life. They were counteracting the remnants of Black Mist- the recently disbanded group that had almost killed the Despot Chancellor. Not only that, but it would seem Ruth had just discovered team infiltration that had yet to be rooted out, even with the past decade’s Anti-Terrorist Fervor. So how could Vouivre already be thinking about something as basic as normal life?
“I really don’t know,” was all Ruth said out loud.
The Dragonqueen shrugged. “Well, we have about fifteen minutes left before lunch ends and I need to be back to training the others. The last orders he gave me were to resume my training duties once lunch was over. Given he didn’t provide any contradicting orders, I’ll just go with that. I’ll need about five minutes to be sure to be at my station on time, so that gives him ten minutes to return and tell me otherwise if I ask.”
After ten minutes of what Ruth felt to be an awkward silence, Vouivre did exactly that.
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The rest of the day was surprisingly boring. The military officials didn’t seem to think that specifics of what was going on were necessary for Ruth to know. As such, they explicitly stated that they couldn’t share such ‘sensitive information’ with her when she asked about Mr. Selby. Instead, they eventually set Ruth to doing something rather repetitive.
First, Ruth was told to allow her mind to be read again, this time with the Psychic-types focusing on the sound of the voices she had heard on the phone, with the number of people the voices belonged to being carefully noted and assigned a number. After that ended (and after the Psychic-types confirmed that they themselves didn’t recognize any voices), on came the time-consuming part. A part which was surprisingly unproductive, in the wake of such a momentous breakthrough in the case.
Audio recordings of various different voices were played, and Ruth was asked each time if any of the voices matched up to any of the voices she heard talk on the phone in the ivory farm. Each time, the answer was no- and given that there were only four voices total she had ever heard on the phone (plus the voice of the ivory farm manager), that probably wasn’t surprising. The pachyderm Pokegirl would have certainly hoped the military would have developed more of a lead than they had in the hours after she identified a suspect for them. As it was, however, the sheer number of voices she was listening to that didn’t match had her eventually suspect the military was playing a guessing game. The part of things that prevented complete boredom was that so many of the voices belonged to prominent political figures. And those were just the minority of voices she recognized- indicating that whoever Mr. Selby was, he was probably well-integrated into the Silver Islands League’s upper crust.
Eventually, after hours of such an activity, the man playing the various audio recordings and checking off answers finally stopped. “So none of them were a match,” he said. “Not sure whether I should feel relieved there weren’t any more moles discovered, or disappointed we didn’t make any more headway.” As the man mused over such thoughts, Ruth watched him quietly.
Who exactly had she implicated, and why was he such a big deal?
“Well, it doesn’t matter too much. Once Selby’s mind is read through, we should have plenty of more answers and more leads. And then once everything is over, you can probably be returned to your owner without any problems,” the man said. Ruth got the feeling that he was talking to himself more than he was talking to her. Still, there was one word in what he said that caught the Elephuk’s attention.
“Probably be returned? Why do you say probably?” Ruth asked.
The man shrugged as he responded nonchalantly. “We’d probably wait until we were relatively sure possibility of retaliation has gone away. Given the major incident before, and how the news stations had been all over it, a repeat of that would be really bad PR. As such, it might take a few months before we give you back, as we work on rooting out the people you’ve helped implicate.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Ruth said. It probably was best to be safe about this sort of thing. Even if she wanted her life to return to normalcy, the pachyderm Pokegirl knew that she had to be careful. Enough trouble had already been caused due to her previous carelessness, and she had already learned from Bria how it had impacted her standing in the harem. Not only could it potentially harm other people (or even herself) if she was returned too quickly, but another attack would probably find Emilia selling her for sure. As she thought about this, the man had stood up to leave, and was about to open the door.
“Wait,” Ruth called out.
The man turned to look at her questioningly.
“When will I find out who Selby is? I know I can’t learn his identity yet, but how long do I have to wait?”
He shrugged. “Probably same as the rest of the public- you’ll find out when the scandal is declassified and you see it watching the news.” And with that, he left the room.
Author's Note: And so the story is almost done, with the only chapter left being the epilogue. Now that you know why Ruth was being targeted, I hope you find the answer at least mildly clever. The plot bunny for this started after reading the Elephuk Pokedex entry, and wondering how a breed that could remember everything might be written well. At first it seemed dangerously easy to make them overpowered, but then I thought of little tricks like this, where their perfect memory might not be sifted through properly even with psychic probing. I hope you enjoyed the read, and everything will be wrapped up in the coming epilogue!