Vikrama Samvat date: 2356, Phalguna Suklapaksa 15.
International standard date: 298 AS, February 21.
“Suka?” Sukanta awoke to her Pidgy pet- actually, now that she was a tamer, Pidgy Alpha by default- gently brushing her feathered wingtips against her in an attempt to wake her. “Your brother made it here already, and you should probably wake up now to meet him.”
With that, Sukanta rubbed the sand out of her eyes as she sat up in bed. Given she hadn’t packed any pajamas in the limited space of her duffle bag, she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday, and thus didn’t need to spend time getting dressed. Getting out of bed, the human girl stretched as she looked around the Pokecenter taming room where she and her Pokegirl had spent the night. There were some loose feathers from Parbati that the staff would need to clean, but that was it. Compared to the mess some people surely left behind after taming, the staff must have seen far worse, and loose feathers were probably nothing to them.
“Right- I’ll just brush my hair and teeth and I’ll be out to see him.” By the time she finished her sentence, Sukanta already had a hairbrush in hand and was quickly brushing of her hair. In less time than she probably should have spent on such a task, she finished with passable results, before cleaning her teeth just as quickly. The moment Sukanta finished her rushed morning hygiene, she rushed much more quickly out the door.
As she rounded the corner into the Pokecenter’s main lobby, the newly registered Student Trainer stopped to look around for her brother. The Pokecenter already had some people walking in with clothing (and often skin and hair) colorfully stained from the Holi celebrations. Spotting Atulya and his Night Nurse Alpha, both wearing such splashes of paint themselves, Sukanta briskly walked over to them. Upon seeing her approach, her brother stood up from where he had been sitting and spoke to her.
“Sukanta! Abhimanya and I just got here, after spending an all-nighter getting to Gangtok, finding someone to teleport us, and then finding the Pokecenter. I also had some time to talk to mom and dad, and… um…” Atulya paused. “And it’s probably best if we went ahead and registered me as your Mentor Trainer, right?”
Sukanta nodded. It was obvious that her brother had mentioned their parents without thinking, and had hastily changed the subject. Considering she didn’t really want to talk about mom and dad either, she was in full agreement with that subject change. Reaching into a pocket, she brought out the Pokedex she had received upon officially registering as a Student Trainer. “Here you go- I just got this, obviously, so I don’t quite know how to register that on it. Also, I’m guessing Abhimanya is the student you kept?”
Atulya nodded as he accepted her Pokedex and clicked through it. “Yeah- sleeping right there after the all-nighter we pulled,” he said, pointing to a young man sleeping on one of the couches in the Pokecenter’s lounge. “The other one was more of a newbie, and was willing to leave if I got them the Rare Pokegirl that they wanted from a ranch. He wanted a Cherry, due to their reputation of Delta bonding so easily, and… Got it. Now all we need is a voice recording of you saying that you accept me as your Mentor Trainer, and I’ll buy your level 25 starter. Because in the time since I last saw you, I really doubt that Parbati was trained anywhere close to that level.”
“Is the recording function currently on?” Upon seeing her brother nod, Sukanta spoke for the recording device. “I, Sukanta Silwal, accept my brother, Atulya Silwal, as my Mentor Trainer. Does that work for the voice recording?”
“Yup.” Atulya turned off the Pokedex’s recording function before handing it back to Sukanta. “Now, what kind of girl do you want as your level 25 starter? You already have a Pidgy. When dealing with Rock-types and Electric types, a Ground-type would be good, and when dealing with feline breeds, a canid breed like a-”
“Actually, I think I heard Suka mentioning something about wanting a Fire-type to deal with Ice-type ferals, and narrowing it down to the Firemaiden because of how they can shield against Water-type attacks. Of the various other breeds she suggested to deal with other types, all of the rest could potentially be found feral. If my mistress wants something in her harem that can’t be found feral, maybe that should be what we go ahead and get?”
Atulya paused. “You’ve already started planning out breeds you want in your harem?”
Sukanta nodded. “When I got back to the Pokecenter last night, I talked about it with Parbati a bit. This is the Mountain League, after all, and given how high-altitude and cold the mountains can be, Ice-types are Common. And given that they’re mountains, Rock-type, Ground-type, and Steel-type Pokegirls are also common. I was thinking about a Fire-type to deal with Ice and Steel, and a Water-type to deal with Rock and Ground. More specifically, I was wondering about, once I’m stronger, seeing if I could eventually convince a Wet Elf from Queen Iridansa’s Court to join.”
Sukanta had assumed that her brother would be happy to hear about her planning, so she was rather surprised to see him frown. “Very few people actually manage to convince an Elf of any kind from any court to join them on their travels. I’ll get you the Firemaiden, but I think it’s best if you give up on that Wet Elf plan. For your first few Pokegirls, let’s just see what luck we have before we start planning anything out.”
“Weren’t you just planning things out with the whole Ground-type suggestion?” Sukanta asked.
“I meant for the first feral ones you catch and add to your harem. Just… I’ve been awake for a while, and need some sleep. You just take your time looking through the ranch catalogues, paying close attention to stuff like psychological profiles. If you have any questions, my Night Nurse here can answer them. Find the Firemaiden that you want, and wake me up when you’ve made your decision.” And with that, Atulya went towards an unoccupied couch. The celebratory Holi paint covering him smudged against the previously pristine furniture as Sukanta’s new Mentor Trainer joined Abhimanya in slumber.
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Half an hour passed, as Sukanta browsed the online catalogues in which the Mountain League’s various ranches advertised various Firemaidens. Though there was some individual variation by ranch, it was minimal. All of the sites had pictures of the girls unclothed, taken from different angles for a full picture. They all had levels listed, along with notes about the Firemaidens’ combat capabilities. They all had a psychological profile of the girl, along with the source of the profile listed. As she was looking at the psychological profiles, Rinki, her brother’s Night Nurse, who had been silently observing, finally spoke up.
“You’re marking that girl as one to look at more closely later, and you did so after seeming to focus primarily on the psychological profile of each girl. Given who provided the psychological profile for her, I wouldn’t recommend that one.”
Confused at the Night Nurse’s words, Sukanta double-checked the information her brother’s Alpha claimed she had missed. There had been some ranches which provided the psychological profiles themselves, claiming it was a temporary measure until better could be obtained. All of those cases were thresholded girls who hadn’t been Firemaidens for long, or feralborns who hadn’t been tame long, so Sukanta wouldn’t have had any interest in them anyways. This girl, however, didn’t have such obvious red flags, with the source for her psychological profile being listed as a government-approved source that seemed fully accredited.
I think that Rinki might be referring to the fact that the listed methods used by the source never involved actually meeting her, much less using a Psychic-type in their evaluations. As Sukanta listened to Parbati’s telepathic words through their Delta bond, that issue became much more noticeable. There was a past evaluation that was over ten years old, but the one that was listed most prominently had only been completed a few months ago. Looking at the method listed, it said that it was performed by a tradesman with a Video Girl and an Elephuk in his harem.
First the Video Girl gathered footage from the ranch’s various security cameras, and then excluded only scenes of empty rooms and hallways. Then, the scenes with Pokegirls were provided in a split screen format with the words and sounds being shown only through subtitles. The Elephuk, who was fully trained in what to look for and evaluate, would watch all of the over 100 various scenes in the split screen format. Given her perfect memory, she then evaluated the ranch’s Pokegirls based on the months of footage featuring all of them.
“Would the reason have to do with the evaluators never actually meeting the girls or using a trained Psychic-type?” Sukanta asked. Given that Parbati had used a Delta bond, Rinki couldn’t have possibly heard what the Pidgy had suggested to her mistress. And that meant Sukanta avoided having the Night Nurse thinking of her as a complete idiot. Parbati was really going to deserve some kind of reward after this.
The Night Nurse nodded in response. “When dealing with Dark-types and breeds with the Blank Mind enhancement, such a tactic as the evaluators used is genuinely the best. However, when dealing with breeds without such a resistance to full psychic probing, any evaluation without a Psychic-type’s input is, in my opinion, incomplete. Perhaps this ranch was located far away from a city with a trained Psychic-type, and tried using such an alternative method because of that. Perhaps an evaluation involving a Psychic-type was also performed, and the Psychic-type used later lost their accreditation, so they don’t list it. Whatever the reason, you have plenty of more reliable sources for the other girls you’ve marked as interesting, so you don’t need to even bother with Firemaidens from this ranch.”
Sukanta nodded, before deleting the listed profile from the collection she was making of potentially interesting choices. “Thanks for the advice, Rinki- and I’d appreciate it if you could speak up again if you see me missing anything else like that.”
“Of course. Even if my master hadn’t commanded it, I wouldn’t want a student trainer to make preventable mistakes.” Sukanta nodded yet again at the Night Nurse’s words, as she continued scrolling through lists of Firemaidens offered at other ranches. Once she had a sizeable enough collection of options that she found interesting- maybe 15 or 20- she’d stop her search and instead start narrowing down the list she had compiled.
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After another half hour, Sukanta had finally settled on the Firemaiden that she wanted. A ranch-bred girl, not only did she have the breed’s typical loyalty to their masters, but she also had a more docile temperament than usual for Fire-type breeds such as Firemaidens. The psychological profile also stated that she exhibited higher analytical abilities than was average for the breed. Overall, she seemed to have a stable and unproblematic temperament alongside a capacity for planning and organizing that should prove helpful.
“I’ve made my decision,” Sukanta told Rinki. Holding up her Pokedex, she showed the Night Nurse the page on the ranch website dedicated to describing the chosen Firemaiden.
“Got it,” Rinki replied. “Master, wake up, your sister has decided on the purchase.” As the Night Nurse said this to Atulya, she had grabbed him to move from his curled up sleeping position to a sitting up position more suitable for being awake. Needless to say, such handling easily woke her brother up. Yawning, he stretched a bit, before looking at the specific Firemaiden that his sister had chosen.
“Alright- combat capabilities at Level 25, with descriptions of such capabilities sounding adequate, no major problems in her psychological profile, and can’t see any red flags elsewhere. I’ll send in the request to purchase her, and…” Her brother trailed off as he clicked through the ranch’s website to make the purchase. “And now that that’s taken care of, you go out and enjoy Holi. As you can see from all the paint on me, I already walked through the celebrations, and I’d really rather just get some sleep now. I don’t know when the Firemaiden will arrive, but given she’s purchased for your harem, your Pokedex will alert you. When that happens come back, but until then… like I said, just go out and enjoy the start of Spring.”
“Right. Ready to go, Parbati?”
Sukanta’s Pidgy grinned at the invitation. “Just like last year. Except this time, we’re going to remember you’ll take a picture of me after all of the Undine mist clouds I fly through.”
Sukanta nodded, grinning right back. “Definitely. You looked awesome, and it’s my fault entirely we don’t have pictures. We are so fixing that this Holi.”
“Let’s go, then!” And with that, Parbati headed for the door, her mistress following right behind her. As Sukanta and Parbati arrived outside, the typical sights of the Holi festivities were plainly visible. A multicolored affair, it involved humans and Pokegirls alike spreading paint and pigments through whatever means they could. From colored powders being smeared on skin and clothes, to colored water bursting from tossed water balloons, it was chaotic. Everyone was targeted in this ritual to celebrate the end of winter, the coming of spring, Vishnu’s triumph over evil, and probably other stuff her religion teacher wished she’d remember.
Their first paint was received almost the moment they walked out of the Pokecenter, with an Ar-Tits who saw them quickly painting some designs on them with a summoned paintbrush. Sukanta laughed as she spread her arms out and spun around, the Ar-Tits continuing to brush against her spinning body. It didn’t really matter how much paint got on her clothes- Sukanta had known that today was Holi, and had worn suitably chromatic clothing. Then, turning to Parbati, the Ar-Tits did something unexpected.
Instead of painting her directly, the artistically inclined Pokegirl grabbed a loose feather that was sticking from the Pidgy. Quickly running her brush across it with a variety of different colors, the Ar-Tits returned the feather, now transformed into a canvas for a work of art. As Parbati grabbed it with her foot, she held it up to admire the mountainous landscape the Ar-Tits had painted. As Sukanta leaned in to look as well, the Ar-Tits ran off, looking for her next target to paint.
“Huh. Pretty,” Sukanta commented as she admired it.
“We should probably put it away before any thrown paint ruins-” And just as Parbati was speaking, a water balloon caught her off guard as it burst upon her. Water infused with green pigment coated her clothes, body- and the feather she had been holding. For a moment, the Pidgy just stood still in shock. Then, she shook her head, tossing the now-green feather to the ground. “Eh. It’s the day of Holi- what else can you expect?”
“Yeah. If you’re looking for art that actually works with the color thrown, instead of being ruined by it, do you want to see one of those free Milliprisma performances?” Sukanta asked. By this point, it had become tradition for performance artists who worked with Milliprisma to offer a free sample of their skills on Holi. They would claim territory, advertise the spot beforehand, and were then put on websites meant to direct people to those spots. Milliprisma wasn’t a common Pokegirl, and if it hadn’t been for how prominent the breed had become as a result of their participation in Holi, Sukanta might not even have heard of them. As it was, however, most Mountain League citizens were fully aware of their skill manipulating color and light to work with the colors of Holi as they were being thrown.
“Nah. We don’t know how long we have until the Firemaiden arrives. My first Holi celebration as a Pidgy I never got a picture taken after my trip through the colored Undine mist clouds. I don’t want to not get the opportunity on my second!” Undine, being famous for their control of the weather, were fully able to create and control mist and fog. Not only did they ensure that the weather on the day of Holi was good (at least in big cities such as Kathmandu), they also joined in the celebration by creating mist out of water colored with different pigments. Given the colored mist hindered visibility, it was, with a few carefully-managed exceptions, kept high enough in the sky that it wouldn’t cause any trouble for pedestrians. The colored mist became especially exciting at night, when the pigments used were the sort that would glow in the dark.
For Flying-capable Pokegirls, however, such artistically manipulated mists of swirling color were more than just a pretty sight. Flying-types had developed their own fun, waiting turns to fly through the colorful mist, and see how the variegated colors painted them. As long as they didn’t do anything too dangerous, such as allow multiple Pokegirls to fly through the vision-obscuring mist at once, the Undine didn’t interfere. The entire the mist was, in certain carefully-managed areas, brought down to the ground was because of humans wanting similar fun.
On Parbati’s first Holi after her threshold, she had tried the tradition for herself and liked it. It was only the next day that she realized Sukanta hadn’t taken a picture of her afterwards, and she became a bit regretful. This Holi, she wanted a picture of her colored-up self, taken in the moment she emerged from the Undine’s mist so as to have a swirling backdrop of color.
“Alright then- I see a pretty kaleidoscopic mist cloud in the sky over that way,” Sukanta said, pointing at the area of sky where she saw it. “Let’s go!”
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In the next few hours, Sukanta and Parbati had plenty of fun enjoying Holi. They successfully got the picture taken that Parbati wanted, smeared paint on others, and had plenty of time to also watch performances by two separate Milliprismas and their harem sisters. And naturally, they both got completely covered in paint from having it thrown at them, smeared on them, and of course shot at them with water guns filled with colored water. Overall, this year’s Holi celebration was proving to be an absolute blast- completely perfect for taking their mind off of the negative events of the past few days.
Eventually, however, Sukanta’s buzzing Pokedex notified them as to the arrival of the Firemaiden her brother had purchased for her. The moment the message was received, the two of them started heading back to the Pokecenter. Upon arriving, they looked around the Pokecenter, now messy from paint being tracked in, and spotted Atulya and Abhimanya. Additionally, they spotted Atulya’s Night Nurse Alpha, a fur-covered feline Pokegirl whose lap Abhimanya was sitting on, and a red-haired Pokegirl talking to them. The skin color of the red-haired girl was a dark brown typical of the Mountain League, and when she turned to face them, the orange eyes and facial features confirmed her to be the purchased Firemaiden.
“So what have you been talking about with her?” Sukanta asked as she approached the group.
“Mostly talking about combat tactics. When talking about her battles, she claimed to be good at making strategies, so I just suggested some matchups for her to see what she’d come up with. We were just talking about the strategies she’d prefer to use against a Gravelgal- and she was making the claim that she had beaten a similar-level Gravelgal in battle before.”
Now that sort of claim definitely caught Sukanta’s attention. Given what she remembered of a Firemaiden’s Pokedex entry, she wouldn’t have expected her to stand much of a chance. If her new Firemaiden was capable of intelligent battle decisions that led to victory against such overwhelming odds, that was a very good sign. This sort of success was exactly why she had gone for an analytically-inclined Pokegirl.
“Really? How did you manage to defeat a Gravelgal? What was the trick?”
The Firemaiden paused before responding. “Would I be correct in assuming that you are Sukanta Silwal, my new mistress?”
Oh, right. This was the Firemaiden’s first time seeing her, and getting introductions accomplished was definitely important. Anything else could come later, after the basics were established.
“Um, yeah. Guess I should have mentioned that earlier. I’m Sukanta, and this is Parbati, my Pidgy. She was my pet before I needed to become a Pokegirl trainer… And on that note, did my brother tell you my reason for doing so?”
“No. That topic of conversation never came up. Do you wish to tell me now?”
“No! Not-” Sukanta broke off, seeing the Firemaiden flinch at her outburst. Sukanta had reacted to the possibility of airing such dirty laundry in public with a level of horror, but her new Firemaiden had no way of knowing that. All she knew was that she had attempted to behave politely and respectfully, and her new mistress yelled at her for an unknown offense.
Parbati, I think I made a mistake, and I have no idea what to do. How is a Pokegirl trainer supposed to get themselves out of this sort of situation? I didn’t mean to yell at her, I just-
Act the same way you did with me as a pet owner. The Pidgy’s telepathic response over the Delta bond was… interesting. Pet owners could easily afford to pamper their pets, given they never had to rely on them for serious tasks and responsibilities. Was it really okay to do the same with Pokegirls who had to be managed to be driven to serious training and work? Or would it be better to show some level of firmness and authority, and to thus avoid apologizing the way she would have as a pet owner?
“Are you sure about that, Parbati?” Sukanta didn’t realize until too late that she had said that out loud, instead of through the Delta bond. The Firemaiden, though she maintained her poise, looked to be on the fearful end of nervousness. Her brother was simply observing with a slight wince, and his other student trainer was just watching with confusion. “Um…” Sukanta trailed off, not at all sure of what she should do, scared to say anything else, and wishing she could have the opportunity to redo the first meeting.
“Okay, everyone calm down. My mistress accidentally freaked out at the thought of publicly discussing her reason to become a trainer, and you did nothing wrong. She was just telling me through our Delta bond that she wasn’t sure how a Pokegirl trainer was supposed to handle not being absolutely perfect around their Pokegirls, even when said trainer is a beginner. I mean- you were being advertised as a good potential level 25 starter, so you must have expected a newbie, right?” Parbati spoke up.
Her Pidgy’s words were probably on a technical level insubordinate, but Sukanta really didn’t care. At least those words were helping to salvage the situation, clearly explaining to the new Pokegirl what had just happened without any serious criticism towards Sukanta. Everybody was new at some point, and it was a much more palatable excuse than Sukanta’s self-criticism of having been an idiot who was helplessly floundering around was.
The Firemaiden nodded hesitantly. “…Yes, I was expecting someone who was new and needed a level 25 starter.” Beyond this simple confirmation, the Firemaiden said nothing more, although she did shift from nervous to a neutral expression and poise.
Sukanta, you didn’t get a Delta bond with me for nothing. Prove to her that you’re the kind of human who could maybe earn such a bond with her. Treat her with the same level of empathy and kindness that you showed me when I was struggling over my new status as a Pokegirl.
“So, Suka- do you think it would be a good idea to go back to the room we got for more of a private discussion? That way the issue could be explained clearly without any problem.” Parbati would have appeared to have a casual demeanor to most observers. What the Pidgy continued to say through the Delta bond, however, was a different story entirely. And remember- no Pokegirl expects their trainer to be perfect, but they do hope their trainer won’t be cruel. If she’s nervous right now, the best way to calm her down is to prove otherwise- and whatever hang-up you have that’s causing this, we can talk about it later.
For a moment, Sukanta paused as she absorbed what her Pidgy had said in both spoken language and through their Delta bond. Then, the human girl took Parbati’s advice.
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault that the conversation turned to a subject that was sensitive to me. I really think it might be a good idea if the three of us went back and discussed this privately.” Sukanta was probably breaking so many rules of recommended trainer behavior by apologizing to her Pokegirl right now. But her brother was no longer wincing as he silently watched, and it was his job as Mentor Trainer to intervene in any major mistakes. So she couldn’t be too far off.
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It hadn’t taken long for Sukanta to explain how her own actions had unintentionally caused her infertility, which had caused her to be kicked out of her house and become a Pokegirl trainer. Fortunately, she didn’t fumble too much when talking to her level 25 starter. After clearly explaining that story, the Firemaiden seemed to find Sukanta’s earlier reaction to be at least understandable. Now that the horrible first impression had been smoothed over, it was time to finally get to addressing more fundamental matters.
“So, I’ve been thinking about a name for you. I thought of some fire-related stuff, but couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t sound stupid when used as a name. So then I started thinking about some more normal names, so what do you think of the name Sikendra? It kind of matches with Sukanta, so I figured that could be kind of fun.”
The Firemaiden bowed her head. “If Sikendra is the name that my mistress wishes to give me, I will gladly accept it.” Though her words were just as submissive as before, and her body language mostly poised, the Fire-type was noticeably more relaxed. That was probably a good sign, in that Sukanta was no longer scared of her. Parbati was sitting on the edge of the bed in the Pokecenter taming room they had gone back to. Throughout the conversation, the Pidgey had been silent, not even seeing the need to intervene with words spoken through the Delta bond.
“So, um, Sikendra… If I’m you’re trainer now, I guess we should go ahead and tame? Get the Alpha bond made and all that. There’s already some burn cream the Pokecenter offers in the cabinet drawers over there, so we could get started right away. I mean, if the Pokedex is right and that’s going to be necessary.”
Sikendra nodded at her mistress’ words. “I may dislike using techniques such as Rage, and I may try to be rational… But losing control from orgasm is another matter entirely. I’ve never tamed with a human before, and I mostly only have experience with other fire-resistant breeds of Pokegirls, but I do know how my temperature rises from that. You’re going to want to cover any body part that touches me in that burn cream. Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to use a bit of it even on the body parts that won’t be touching me.”
Sukanta made a noise of affirmation as she went to the aforementioned cabinet to grab some bottles marked as containing burn cream. Tossing them on the bed, the human girl then began to casually undress. “I’ve tamed with Fire-types before, but this is my first time with a breed that you’re supposed to use burn cream with as a precaution. Given that it’s not edible, the most annoying part is going to be that I can’t perform cunnilingus on you. I checked the internet, and none of the burn creams strong enough to protect from a Firemaiden in taming taste good- even the few brands that are technically edible. Given most tamers are male, they probably don’t even worry about those sorts of issues, or else it would have probably already been invented.”
“Actually…” Sukanta perked up as she saw her now-grinning Firemaiden issue a very welcome rebuttal to her statement on cunnilingus. “While I doubt the Pokecenter has them available for free, it’s possible to purchase heat-resistant dental dams made for this situation. They’re advertised for both males and females who would like to perform cunnilingus on breeds such as mine in which such protection is needed. If you ever got around to purchasing that sort of thing, I think we’d both enjoy it.”
“Huh,” Sukanta responded, trying to imagine what that sort of taming would be like. On the one hand, part of the fun was the taste… But it could definitely be interesting to try it out, still. Might be some techniques that could be found with it that would make it even more fun. As she was thinking this to herself, Sukanta had opened the lid from the bottle of burn cream, and squirted some of it onto her left arm. As the cold cream touched her skin, Sukanta shivered slightly. Just because it was meant to counteract heat didn’t mean it had to be so cold…
“Wait. Yet again, I’m being an idiot. I was just thinking to myself how annoying it was that the burn cream was so cold. But I have a Fire-type with me, who’s capable of using the Burning Hands technique. Maybe before we could start, as a bit of foreplay, you could heat up the lotion- I mean, heat up the burn cream- before massaging it onto me. The moment I’ve been covered, I’ll be sure to return the favor and make you feel twice as good.”
Sikendra’s grin became even wider. “I think I can do that.”
Name: Sukanta Silwal.
Age: 18.
Licenses: Trainer Permit.
Harem:
Pidgy (Parbati). Level 7.
Firemaiden (Sikendra). Level 25.
Notes:
Alpha: Parbati. (Nominally- subject to change).