Disclaimer:
This work is fiction. The work is presented under fair protection where applicable.
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You should not read this work if you are not of legal age where you reside. This work may contain concepts or written actions that some readers may find excessive or disturbing. This may include (but not be limited to) rape, BDSM, or death.
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Chapter 09
What He Is
Nicholas bent low, avoiding the wayward burst of water spewing from the battle ahead, and let fly. The pokeball curved through the ground clutter before smacking the angry Psyduck who disappeared inside with a pop.
Sohn slowed to watch the ball. Her body was shaking, steam rising as her flames fought the water that drenched her. When the ball finally clicked her trembling legs finally gave out and she sank to the ground with a groan.
“I didn’t say you could rest!” Sohn tilted her head slightly to stare tiredly at Zisela. The Gabite was glaring at the exhausted Monferno, arms crossed. “Get up! There’s another Psyduck hiding ahead.”
“Alpha I’m about to faint,” Sohn gasped. “One more hit-“
“Then don’t get hit, Sohn,” Zisela retorted. “If you can only take one more then take none at all!”
Sohn let out a frustrated howl but shoved herself back upright and staggered past.
Nicholas picked up the latest pokeball. “And when she gets hit?”
“She’s exaggerating. She’ll be fine.” Zisela watched Sohn search the road. “Her whole problem is power. Endurance. Stamina.” Zisela glanced at him. “You know all about that, my drake. She barely can satisfy you at night.”
Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Sohn and I tame for a few hours at a time. That’s pretty normal.”
“For a whe- for one of them. Yes. But we usually battle all night.”
Nicholas gave her a teasing smile. “For a who?”
Zisela avoided his eyes. “For one of my… harem-sisters.”
“You have to remember, Zisela,” Nicholas chided, “you and I are different. You can’t judge the others by your own standards.”
“I am different,” Zisela corrected. She strode forwards. “And I can and will judge my harem by my standards, my drake. For they are different.”
She had moved because Sohn had just taken another blast and fallen. The Psyduck she had tried to ambush scrambled, fleeing before the approaching Gabite could reach her.
Nicholas watched her lift Sohn over her shoulder. Zisela worked the others hard but none of them complained. They weren’t afraid of her, either, because he saw the other pokegirls smiling and laughing even when she was around. They wouldn’t be at ease if they feared the silent Gabite watching them.
She was a powerful Alpha. He was lucky to have discovered her.
Zisela never asked him to put Sohn back in her pokeball, instead carrying the unconscious Monferno the rest of the way to the city they had been approaching. Hearthome. Nicholas was on guard when they entered but other than a few people seeming to notice him the streets were quiet. “Pokecenter?”
Zisela nodded and led the way. Only when she had laid Sohn on the pokecenter counter did she let Nicholas recall them both.
The nurse was eyeing him while the machines worked. “You’re that tamer. Topolski, right?”
Nicholas gave her a smile. “That’s me.”
The nurse blinked. “You’re quieter than I’d expected.”
“I see no reason to give you any trouble, miss,” Nicholas replied. “Unless you’d rather I…?”
The nurse quickly held up her hands. “No! No, that’s fine. Erm, thank you.”
Nicholas chuckled.
After a few minutes she returned his pokeballs. “I’m… supposed to wish you luck, sir, but you’ll forgive me if I don’t.”
Nicholas small smile grew. “I forgive you because it is the only defiance you can show. It will change nothing.” He turned, leaving the nurse and the conflicting emotions swirling across her face behind.
His laughter broke free as he stepped back outside. That was what he had been aiming for with all his talk. Even if it was only that one pokegirl right now he had succeeded in drawing eyes onto him. Just one less set could make the difference.
He glanced at what appeared to be the gym building, just a few blocks away. He could head straight there, take the badge, and vanish again, but if the plan was working he should work on building even more attention. There ought to be some public area he could visit.
He left the harem in their pokeballs as he wandered Hearthome, both to keep them fresh and also to limit attention on the streets. Random crowds didn’t accomplish anything. He wanted to make a scene.
He blinked. His feet had brought him in front of a grand building. He saw stained glass decorating the exterior, a climbing steeple… a church?
He glanced at a nearby sign. No, it was labeled as the… ‘Foreign Culture Building’. Some kind of information stop then. His lips twitched. There would be lots of people inside.
Just in case his first instinct had been correct he pushed through the doors normally and took in the interior. It really looked like a church, with benches bordering aisles leading to a raised stage in front.
He’d taken a few steps inside when he finally processed the decorations throughout the interior. He whirled, eyes widening as they followed the intricate pieces of art - stained glass windows, statues, tapestries, many of them depicting something familiar.
He lost focus as his eyes swept past a towering statue of an inhuman pokegirl. This was a church. But not a human one.
Every legendary he had ever met, or heard mentioned, was here. Well, perhaps not all. He moved from another tapestry filled with blazing flame to the next statue near the front, this one depicting an armored angel of sorts. He could see massive shoulder pads, vast wings, but like the other statues in the building it had no color to define it. It also was somewhat… inhuman. A half-face helmet obscured the figure’s eyes and her mouth stretched wide, unnaturally so, with jaws loosely open and rows of jagged teeth forming her smile. He was immediately reminded of the cavern murals of Groudon and Kyogre he had seen in Hoenn. This building glorified these beings, the legendaries, but even on the few depictions that displayed nudity or otherwise sexual features they were very obviously something beyond the humans around them.
He found himself gazing at the centerpiece stained glass and blinked, looking away after a minute to take in the other statue near the front. He wasn’t sure why the centerpiece was there. It was just a pretty mosaic of light.
The other statue was the completely inhuman one he had only barely taken notice of. It contrasted completely with the angel. She had shoulder pads, her torso bare; this one had a chest plate, her limbs exposed. The angel stood tall, and this one hunched, almost animalistically on all fours. Her wings were short, stubby, and modeled thicker. Not built for flight. But the head was the same. Eyes obscured, jaws open. Though this one had tusks framing her smile.
Both had a thick tail winding behind them that Nicholas’ eyes were drawn to. No fur, no feathers… could it be…?
“Welcome, traveler.” Nicholas blinked, torn away by the greeting and turned to see an elderly woman in ceremonial garb smiling at him. “You are free to explore more closely. All are welcome within these walls, and many here would enjoy listening to your tales.”
“What exactly is… here?” Nicholas asked. “The sign outside was vague.”
“A place for us to understand,” the woman replied. “This city lies at the center of Sinnoh, its heart, a nexus, where all pass through. This building acts as a place for all travelers to come together and to share their stories, to glorify this creation, and to most of all understand our places in it. For we are all but specks of dust compared to the eternal beings.”
Nicholas grunted. “I don’t think I should stay then. Apologies.”
The woman folded her hands into her robe. “I hear a story asking to be told.”
“Ha. No, not really.” Nicholas gestured aimlessly at the decorated walls. “You’re missing a few, and some of those you have depicted here probably wouldn’t appreciate it. I’ll leave you to it.” He’d turned away when the woman spoke again.
“Perhaps then there is a tale one of us can tell you.”
Nicholas looked back. The woman still held her hands in the sleeves of her robe and her body had gone quite still as she watched him. “I know a lot more about the figures depicted on these walls than you, I think. I mean no offense but this is not a place for me.”
“Just because it is a place for humans does not mean it cannot be a place for you as well, traveler.”
Nicholas stopped. He’d turned away again as he’d dismissed the old woman but her words had not been accidental. “What… do you mean by that?”
“Though you may know much, there is only one who knows all. You are obviously not her.”
Nicholas slowly turned back. The woman had barely moved. “Who are you?”
The woman withdrew one hand to gesture as she turned. “If you would follow me?”
The woman did not slow even as Nicholas deliberated so he had to hurry to catch up when he finally followed. He caught up to her not long before she stopped in front of an unassuming door, withdrawing a key from her robes and clicking open the lock.
He stepped in after her and had to blink a few times for his eyes to adjust. The room was dim, the only source of light two windows on one wall. It appeared to be a storage room of some sort, spare benches pushed together and some smaller statues scattered about.
“Please. Sit.”
Nicholas watched the woman find a seat and did the same. “Who are you?”
“A story-keeper. That is all that matters, is it not? You do not care for my name. I do not interest you. What I know is what does.”
Nicholas studied her. The woman gazed back. “You’re just some human. I’d like to address you by name, but if you’d rather not give me yours I’ll keep on like this.”
The woman leaned back a bit with a slight frown. “It is truly strange to hear you speak as you do, traveler, because now that I have taken a good look at you… well, you are ‘just some human’, the same as I am.”
Nicholas shook his head. “I’m not.”
“Oh, but you are,” the woman murmured. “And you say that with such ease. You deny it either way, don’t you? Whichever you are accused of being. You have much to learn, child. You are correct. This place is not where you should be.”
Nicholas breathed out. “You have no idea who, or what, I am. This whole conversation is a waste of time."
"Do you only acknowledge power, then?” the woman asked curtly before he could stand. “It would make sense. For one of your kind. They are always conceited, shortsighted. The world did not begin with you, whelpling.” Nicholas felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise as the woman’s face slipped into shadow. “There are powers much older you would do well to respect.” She paused for a moment before snorting quietly. “Pitiful.”
With a start Nicholas realized he’d jumped to his feet and held one hand out in a defensive posture. He could feel his aura flickering as it tried to form around him. “What?”
“So much potential. All waste-“
Both whirled when the door banged open and another person stumbled into the room. “Grandma!” The newcomer stopped when they saw Nicholas before sighing and shuffling over to take the old woman’s arm. “Grandma. You can’t just do this.”
The woman shook off the other’s grip. “He would not have touched me. There was no danger.”
“We are here only as listeners, grandma,” the newcomer chided. “You taught me that, remember?”
“Pah.” The woman turned away from Nicholas. “There is no need to remind me. This one was just leaving.”
“Hold on,” Nicholas called after the two. “You… elder. You said you had a story to tell. One I did not know.”
The old woman grew a crooked smile. “So willing to listen once you are challenged. No, I think not. My granddaughter is correct. It is not my place to guide you. It is to listen. If you are not interested in sharing your tales within these walls that is the end of it.”
“What if- What if I was?” Nicholas blurted.
The woman let out a barking laugh. “Ha! Such a greedy whelp. Perhaps once you have come to understand what you lack your stories will be worth listening to.” She paused before leaving. “There is certainly potential in you. What is your clan?”
“…Draconid.”
“Ahh. The Empress’ chosen.” The woman gave him one final look before her granddaughter could pull her away. “The Celestica listen for the worthy in the shadow of the mountain.”
“GRANDMA!”
Nicholas watched them go, some part of him wanting to give chase, another trying to keep himself safe. The Celestica again. Zisela had talked about them. That woman had been one of them, he was sure of it. The first human clan. She and her granddaughter both had given off no power he could sense, and yet… for an instant, as each turned their attention to him, he had felt… fear.
More questions. More and more. There had been nothing but questions for him in Sinnoh. He wanted answers.
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What did he lack? That was the question that echoed through his mind as Nicholas entered the gym. As he put on his show. As the gym leader, Fantina, answered him.
He dragged his attention back when the battle began, Sohn leading them off. She advanced, flames licking across the floor before the Monferno attacked with a shout.
Things blurred together. Nicholas was not distracted; he saw when the pokegirl Fantina had led with, a Gengar, began her tricks. He was well accustomed to Gengar, and he did his best to order Sohn properly. Even still, he found himself recalling her. Moving to Sammy’s pokeball as a feeling of dread began to grow. Ghost-types. Every pokegirl type had its own defining aspects to it, and he’d long known about theirs. Ghost-type pokegirls were the most inhuman out of all types. That made them dangerous, as their appearances and tactics were impossible to predict.
Sammy tried her best, her lightning working as the indiscriminate attack they needed to counter the Gengar’s shadows, but the next pokegirl that appeared turned the tables. As a Ghost-type that did not embrace her ghostly nature Sammy was helpless as the Dusknoir played with her perception until she was left staring wide-eyed at Nicholas while the Dusknoir’s body closed around her.
Nicholas recalled her when the Dusknoir spat her back out, Sammy’s body losing cohesion and returning to a puddle of goo. He’d been so rattled by his encounter in that church he’d forgotten to plan for this. He’d expected the Sinnoh gym leaders to step up their game after Roark’s statements in Oreburgh, and the harem had trained hard on the road here. But he’d just come straight in. No discussion with the harem. No preparation. Was he… about to lose?
Zisela appeared and Nicholas clamped down on his feelings. He could show no weakness to the Gabite. She could close this out. She’d done as much against Roark.
Nicholas blinked. The Dusknoir was gone, another pokegirl floating in the air before Fantina. He blinked again. He was covered in sweat. And Zisela…
The last few minutes came rushing back all at once. He’d clamped down too hard and gone on autopilot. Zisela had… lost.
He slowly raised her pokeball and recalled the unconscious Gabite. “I forfeit.”
The judge had been calling the score when he heard Nicholas’ words and whirled in surprise. “E-Eh?”
Nicholas placed Zisela’s pokeball back on his belt. “I forfeit. My Buneary can’t beat ghosts. Leader Fantina!” He smiled when the glittering woman cocked an eyebrow in his direction. “Perhaps I have been too hasty. It appears Sinnoh is worthy of my respect after all. I will repay you for this defeat soon.” He turned, avoiding the clamoring reporters to slip out the gym. He needed to get the harem to a pokecenter.
An hour later he looked up. After healing the harem he had retreated to the pokecenter’s laundry room and now sat in a new outfit, his sweaty clothes tumbling in the washer in front of him. He’d used the time to think.
He hadn’t been completely present for that battle but even if he had been it likely wouldn’t have gone much differently. Kalmiya had analyzed the three pokegirls Fantina had used and each was a fully evolved pokegirl. They had been at a disadvantage. Not just in power but in positioning. Zisela, his strongest, had had no space to use her Ground-type abilities, as the ghosts levitated out of reach. Sohn similarly had found her physical strikes sailing harmlessly through shadow, only her much weaker fire techniques doing any damage. Miru could do nothing without breaking her cover. And Sammy… she was their best weapon in this gym. But she shied away from being it. Every one of his pokegirls were hobbled here. Fantina may be the hardest challenge they’d encounter in the entirety of Sinnoh.
With a flick of his wrist four pokeballs activated and the girls clustered around as Nicholas spoke. “I’m going for a walk. I need to clear my head. Zisela, I want you, Sammy, and Sohn strategizing. You on leveraging the dragon, Sohn on her flames, and Sammy… if it’s all she’s comfortable with, her electricity. Those aspects will be how we defeat Fantina.” He turned to Miru. “Miru. Stay out of trouble and do as Zisela tells you.”
“What troubles you, my drake?” Zisela asked curiously as Nicholas slid off the dryer he’d been using as a seat.
“Weakness,” Nicholas replied. “I need to look for answers to my questions, and I will not find them in this room. I may not find them at all. But I must look.” He raised a hand as he left. “I’ll return soon.”
Zisela watched him go. “Hm.” She turned to appraise the others. “Well. Let us discuss our strategy, harem-sisters.”
Nicholas ignored the flashing cameras that followed him when he left the center. He needed to rethink that as well. He’d established himself as the loud villain, but showboating would not overcome gym leaders holding a grudge. It was time to twist the prideful face to an analytical one. Time to take this seriously.
He slipped back into the community center, leaving the reporters behind as they debated following him. He had a very specific piece to see here.
The light streaming down the middle of the building held his gaze as he approached the front. A pretty mosaic of light. One holding the position of honor here. It was not just some window.
He stopped between the two large statues and gazed upwards as he replayed every conversation he’d held with Celine. They’d discussed the power structures between legendary pokegirls quite often, usually around the times Kali was acting up or Zinnia was reminiscing. There was a nebulous hierarchy that existed, and at the very top… light.
Perhaps not literally light but a concept, a radiant one, spreading everywhere and nurturing creation. Had Celine, or Zinnia even, ever called her by name?
Arceus, he think he remembered. That was the first pokegirl, the creator. Then the two statues he stood between were of Dialga and Palkia. He’d been thrown off because Celina always spoke of a trio of legendaries, and there was no third statue to be seen here. Giratina. The antithesis of her two sisters, but no less important.
Compared to them, not even Arceus, the eternal ones who had joined his harem were children. Just as young and just as weak. Kali, Mewtwo, in particular – she was younger than many humans and though both Celine and Zinnia acknowledged she would grow to become the strongest in time, the strongest pokegirl on the planet meant nothing to the ones who had created it.
He was the same, wasn’t he. He was Kali. Drunk on his own power. Constantly searching for a challenger. Losing himself in the process. Ash had warned him, and he hadn’t listened. He was a fool.
He had been slipping away from his humanity. At the end of the day, that was what he was. Human. A human with power perhaps, but still a human. Every time he had claimed otherwise it had been to show dominance. To exert power. He held power, that was true. But standing in this room, surrounded by the images of beings much more powerful than he may ever be, he finally understood. He had always sought control. With every revelation, every new teaching, or gift, or awakening, he had sought to control it. Always something had slipped away. Even when he had successfully taken control something would break it soon after.
He had sought to change and control his fate. But there was an inescapable truth in this world. Fate could not be controlled. Perhaps in an uncaring reality, one with no god, his efforts would bear fruit. He could rise to become the most powerful. But in this one, there was a god. He’d spoken to those who’d met her. Here he was attempting to rise only to be shown he was trapped, the puppet of a being above all.
He wasn’t quite sure how this revelation made him feel. On some level he was angry, but overwhelmingly he felt a quiet acceptance. It didn’t truly matter, after all. Even this revelation was not outside of Arceus’ gaze.
Although… a frown flickered across his face. He thought he had known his fate. It had been to die there, at the peak of the Sky Pillar. To die and allow Rayquaza to be reborn.
Memories flashed. Celine’s confusing words. The shadowy images. The overwhelming peace, and then in the months after the hollow emptiness.
Could it be that he truly had died that day?
Celine, as Celebi, saw all of time. She had said many times that she had met him and traveled alongside him until the end of his life. And yet, she had been afraid and confused when he had returned from the Sky Pillar. She had mumbled something… something about seeing him die, and how that should have been impossible.
How did time work? He frowned. Celine said he was outside of her perception of time, ever since Ho-oh had granted his wish to break free of the influence of the eternal ones, the legendary pokegirls. Still, it presented a paradox no matter how he viewed it. Celine had met a version of him much older than he was now. She had met that older version and also claimed to have watched him die, his thread of fate be cut, to resurrect Rayquaza. Yet he had not died, and now stood here trying to make sense of it all.
His eyes widened. No, there was one way in which it made sense. Celebi had said she could not perceive him after Ho-oh’s blessing. So how could she have perceived his death?
Only if it had been the version of himself from before Ho-oh’s blessing. The Nicholas that had never escaped his fate was destined to die that day. But he, he was the version Celine had discovered and been intrigued by. He was the version that had escaped fate. An anomaly. An alternate timeline.
The truth hit him like a thunderbolt. He was not the only Nicholas out there. For Celine to have seen him both die and also live, multiverse theory must be true. Every moment split infinitely to create new realities, new possibilities. Did Celine know? Did she know that she traversed not just a single linear timeline but infinite branching paths?
Now that he knew, what did it mean?
It meant that actions did matter after all.
Nicholas raised his eyes back to the stained glass, a smile beginning to spread. He had no doubt that an omnipotent creator such as Arceus would know every ending. It was the nature of infinities. An infinite infinity was larger than a defined one, and reality had an end. At some point, the infinity of time would run out. Arceus would endure. But until that point, he had infinite possible actions to take. The future spread before him, and though each and every instant of it was already written, his path through it was not. That was what he could choose. Each and every infinite version of him chose their own path. He chose to be the best of them all.
Back at the pokecenter, Sammy sulked. Zisela glowered at the Rotom. “Stop messing with that machine and give me a straight answer. Why have you constantly avoided using Ghost-type techniques?”
“You said it was good to see me getting stronger with my electricity,” Sammy replied sullenly.
“I thought it was. Now I understand you did so because you feared yourself.” Zisela bared her fangs and hissed. “I do not accept your cowardice, Sammy, and neither will my drake.”
“He’s accepted me just fine,” Sammy shot back. “He’s accepted this me and I’m not going to change his mind.” She pressed backwards, clutching the washer Nicholas’ clothes still spun within. “You- all of you don’t understand. You can’t. You only have one you for Masters to see. I have to be so careful showing them one they like.”
Sohn sighed quietly. “Sammy, I thought I talked about this when we first met.”
“I… I accidentally showed him this me,” Sammy stuttered. “He liked it, so I’m not going to change!” Her fingers tightened their grip. “I don’t want to talk about this. I’m tired, and I’m hungry, and…”
Zisela glared at her but slowly settled back. “This conversation is not over. But I agree that we all need a moment to clear our heads, just as my drake did. He was intelligent to do so.” She turned to their gear and began rifling through the trail food. “Let’s have a snack.”
Sammy’s body trembled as she slowly came down off the adrenaline high arguing with her Alpha had hit her with. As she did one of her fingers brushed over the washing machine’s front and she shivered. She could feel the device pulsing, its electronic heartbeat just beneath the surface. She was so hungry…
Sohn took the energy bar Zisela handed her and sighed, lowering her voice as she leaned in. “Alpha, maybe we should wait for Nicholas to get back before talking to Sammy. She probably won’t budge unless he’s telling her the same things directly.”
Zisela grunted as she tossed Miru a bag of dried fruit. With an unusually agile hand Miru plucked it out of the air and Zisela took a moment to stare at the Buneary before returning her attention to Sohn. “She is as stubborn as some of the dragons of my mother’s weyr. It was not good for them and it is not good for her.” She glanced back at the Rotom. “She-“
Everyone jumped when Sammy yelped and sparks sprayed from the washing machine. Behind her, the lights of the display flickered and died, the drone of the motor winding down as it ground to a halt.
“What did you DO?” Sammy squealed in panic when Zisela dropped the jerky she had been going for and stalked towards the flustered Rotom. “ANSWER ME!”
“I- I-“ Sammy slammed her other hand against the machine and whirled, sliding in front of it with a winning smile as she blocked Zisela’s view. “Nothing, Alpha! It just suddenly uh-“ She squealed when another pop came from the machine, electricity arcing through her body.
Zisela shoved enough of Sammy aside to see the remains of what had once been the control unit before the Rotom could block her view again. Sammy’s ‘hand’ was buried deep in the circuitry. “You broke it?!”
“N-N-No!” Sammy exclaimed. “It uh, it- It was just um-“ She was deforming, her body spreading out over the metal as she fought to get as far away from Zisela as possible. “It was… I was…”
“She was hungry.” Zisela turned at the new voice to see Kalmiya flickering into view. “There is a reason I refuse to let her anywhere near Master’s pokedex, Zisela. My home.”
Zisela blinked. “Weren’t you with him?”
“I am a Porygon. I can be wherever I wish,” Kalmiya replied. “He is returning and I wanted to see what was going on here before he arrived.” She gave Sammy a look. “Try to clean this up before he has to get involved.”
Sammy melted even more when Kalmiya vanished. “Oh no…”
Zisela sighed and began searching the room. “That’s the one he was using as well, isn’t it? Maybe if we move his clothes to one of these others…
Sohn was staring at the machine. “Um, Alpha…”
“What time was it at?” Zisela called, inspecting another machine. “Maybe we can set it and he’ll think that other one was always broken.”
“Er, Alpha?” Sohn said again. When Zisela finally looked at her she pointed. “Sammy just…”
The machine hummed along happily, the Rotom nowhere to be seen.
Zisela blinked at the repaired washer. “Where’d she go?”
“Well…”
The door swung open and Nicholas stepped inside. “Hey. I’m back.” He breathed out, closing his eyes before opening them again with a smile. “I think I’ve found some answers. Zisela, have you and the others discussed how we’ll be reattempting the gym?”
Zisela swiveled to him. “Ah…”
“Are these done yet?” Nicholas peered into the washer before checking the time. “Yeah, good. They’re draining. What was that Zisela?”
“We… have, my drake?”
“Great.” Nicholas pulled the machine’s door open when it dinged. “Once I get these dry I want to sit down with all of you and discuss what you went over. Speaking of, where’s Sammy run off to?”
“She is…” Zisela watched him retrieve his clothes and flip the washer door shut. When he turned away the frame of the machine flexed slightly and a bit of Sammy’s ectoplasm coalesced on top as a pair of panicked eyes. “She is clearing her head, my drake, as you did. In fact, I believe this is a perfect opportunity.”
Nicholas started the dryer and turned back, Sammy’s eyes instantly vanishing and the washing machine returning to normal. “Oh? For what?”
“We need to discuss her place here, my drake. I wish to do so when she is not here to influence your words.”
Nicholas rifled through the food Zisela had spilled and took a seat facing her. “There’s no discussion. Sammy is a part of this harem for as long as she wants to be.”
“That is not exactly what I am referring to,” Zisela soothed. “She has her issues but that is on me to address. I am not suggesting she does not belong. Rather I wish to discuss her place – and what you believe it is.”
“Her place is here as I just said,” Nicholas replied. “This is about her self-loathing, isn’t it? Her fear of her own abilities.”
Zisela nodded. “It is that and more, my drake. She has told me she fears herself but more importantly fears losing you.”
Nicholas frowned. “Why would she? I’ve never told her anything that might make her believe I don’t want her here.”
“It is not what you have said or not, my drake. She believes you only like her as the pokegirl she has accidentally shown to you. If she changes herself, as her breed can easily do, she fears you will not like what she becomes.”
“She must have been abandoned by a human she really liked,” Nicholas said with a sigh. “She’s a Rotom. She’s supposed to change her body on a whim, like my Ditto Sasha. Seriously, where is she? I need to talk to her about all this. I could care less what she looked like as long as the pokegirl inside is still Sammy.”
“No matter what?” Zisela asked. “Truly, my drake? Unconditionally? That is not something humans do.”
Nicholas chuckled. “I know what you’re expecting me to say. You’re expecting me to say ‘that may be so, but I am not human’. The problem is, Zisela, I am human. That is the undeniable truth. I am human. I am not a dragon; I am not something more. That is something I realized today.” His smile grew when he saw Zisela’s eyes flicker over him. “I am still more than willing to prove my status as your drake, Zisela. Don’t test me.”
Zisela’s lips curled back in a grin. “I will.”
“Hm. As I was saying, I am human. But yes, Zisela. I do. I do unconditionally want Sammy in my harem. The pokegirl who I have named and who has joined me I want in my harem. It will take something much worse than seeing her change her shape to change that.” He gazed at a piece of jerky for a bit. “She showed me in Eterna. A small peek. There is a terrifying pokegirl hidden beneath Sammy’s excitable persona, and I wish she would show it to me more.” He looked back up at Zisela. “Does that answer your question, Zisela? Sammy’s place is here, and I hope one day she will stand with me as both the bubbly impulsive Sammy and the eldritch horror of a Rotom she hides away. That and every other facet she holds. She could be a new pokegirl every day and I would be happy as long as she is happy with me.” He popped the jerky in his mouth and stood. “Where is she. I need her to hear this.”
Zisela nodded behind him. “She has.”
Nicholas whirled. For a moment the machines were still, and then one crumpled, cracking metal and popping electricity filling the air as Sammy consumed the washing machine she’d been possessing. Water sprayed into the air as she lurched forwards, still processing the massive amount of metal while she approached Nicholas, her amorphous body slowly beginning to reform something more human.
“Huh,” was all Nicholas could say. “Is there a turnoff valve…?”
Zisela silently found the valve in question, shutting off the flow of water before it could flood the room. Sammy stopped in front of Nicholas and though her general shape was humanoid she was still a mess of ectoplasm and metal.
“Even this?” Sammy asked, her voice emanating from within her body. “I am a monster, Master. I am barely a pokegirl, and not at all human like you. Don’t I scare you? Don’t you… Don’t you hate me?”
“What else can I say to make you believe otherwise?” Nicholas asked. “For fuck’s sake Sammy I had no idea you were in the room. I had no reason to lie to Zisela.” He poked her, watching her ectoplasm ripple in waves from where his finger touched. “You’re a pile of goo! So what! Even ignoring the other pile of goo I already have in my harem EVERY pokegirl or human are piles of goo if you think about it. Some of us just have these hard things called bones forcing our goo into a certain shape.” He prodded her again. “Look at you right now. You’re full of hard metal, and I saw what you were doing with those bits of pokeball. If you’re really that bothered by not having a skeleton make one for yourself.”
Silence. “It’s… weak,” Sammy mumbled. “It’ll just dissolve. Once something is inside I eat it.”
“So until it does make the most of it,” Nicholas replied. “Come on. Now you’re just making excuses.” He spread his arms. “You don’t like being a goopy ghost? Fine. Don’t be. Take a human form, do that little light thing you did before or something to make yourself feel better. I don’t care, Sammy. I want you to be whatever you want to be as long as that makes you happy.”
“You wouldn’t tame me like this,” Sammy retorted, though her voice was growing less sure of herself. “That’s… that’s the truth.”
Nicholas responded by dropping his pants.
Sammy recoiled slightly before letting out a frustrated noise somewhere between a scream and a growl and sliding backwards. Nicholas watched as she shifted, her ectoplasm cycling over and over as the twisted wreckage of the washing machine began condensing. Soon enough it was a small cube about a foot on each side and now Sammy began reforming, legs and arms sprouting, a head poking out, returning her to the appearance Nicholas had become accustomed to – but also not quite the same.
She wasn’t orange anymore, for one. Instead as she’d worked at the metal the water saturating the machine had saturated her instead, giving her body a blue tinge to it. And the excess water had had to go somewhere. Nicholas could see it swirling around the cube of metal in Sammy’s stomach as well as where the rest had found the best feature on the Rotom’s human shape to expand. Her breasts had multiplied in size.
Sammy pawed at her bloated chest, whining as she did. “Damn it that was way too much…” Her attention was ripped away when she felt another set of hands squeezing her breasts and she looked to see Nicholas sidled right up against her.
“I thought you said you ate metal, not liquids,” he teased, pinching the nipple Sammy had formed for some reason and licking the water that dripped out. “You’re about to burst.”
He blinked. He’d tamed Sammy many times before but she’d always kept her body smooth. Defined, sure, she walked around functionally nude and she had always had breasts, but even when he’d penetrated her it had just been him sticking his dick into the squishy ectoplasm around where she formed her legs. The body under his hands was not smooth. He could feel tiny bumps under his fingers mimicking hair follicles. He had just teased Sammy’s nipple. And…
His dick popped out of his underwear when Sammy shoved her groin against his. He could feel her. A fully formed and defined pussy sucked at him as Sammy ground her hips back and forth.
“I… I feel so good,” Sammy breathed, letting out a cry when his stiffening erection began pushing inside. “Master!”
“You look completely different, Sammy.” Nicholas grabbed her head to give her a probing kiss. “Guess what? I love it.”
“I can be… Whatever I want to be,” Sammy cried, and Nicholas fell onto the floor when she surged on top of him. Her appearance had barely stabilized a moment ago and it was shifting rapidly now, different faces and expressions cycling almost as fast as the Rotom was bouncing herself. “Master promises!”
“I promise!”
“This- Is- Me!” Sammy howled happily, punctuating each word with another bounce before throwing her arms back, a scream of ecstasy piercing the air as she came. Nicholas felt what was probably more than just the water filling her squirting down his shaft and in a flash Sammy had jumped to her feet and was yanking him up as well. “Master likes me.”
Nicholas grinned and clasped her by the arm. “Yes, Sammy. I do.”
“Hehehehe!” Sammy spun away, her stomach still swirling. “Master really likes me!”
“Now that you finally get it, Sammy, it’s time to focus on growing your ghost abilities,” Zisela called sternly. “You don’t have an excuse anymore.”
Sammy spun in front of the Gabite, her eyes bright as she grinned at her Alpha. “Nnnno.”
Zisela’s eyes snapped down into a glare. “Sammy…”
“No! I have a much, much better idea.” Sammy spun to Nicholas. “Master! I can be whatever I want to be?”
Nicholas nodded. “Of course.”
“Then I want to be this!”
Nicholas blinked. Sammy had struck a pose with her fingers pointing at her own stomach. “You… what?”
“Don’t you remember Master?” Sammy asked brightly. “When I was the tv!”
Nicholas blinked. “When you’d possessed the television in the mansion? Sure, but if you’re saying you want to possess the washing machine you already did. And now you’ve eaten it.”
Sammy’s eyes twinkled. “No, Master, I haven’t. It was way too much to eat all at once. I just ate the yummy bits. The bland bits are right here.”
Nicholas gazed at the swirling vortex in her stomach. “And?”
“And if I can be anything…” Sammy’s face screwed up for a moment as the vortex in her stomach began picking up speed. “It went like this and then BOOM!”
Nicholas was, unfortunately, standing right in front of her. He was blasted off his feet by the deluge of water that rocketed from the Rotom and quickly covered his head, swearing in pain when he bounced off a table and finally spun out across the floor to slam into one of the walls. As his head cleared he could see Sammy staring at him with a mixture of excitement and horror that only began to clear when he raised a fist in her direction with his thumb up.
“Nice,” he managed to groan. “You absorbed the machine and learned how to… do water stuff. I guess.” He winced. “Yeah… Yeah, I remember reading that. Machines possessed by Rotom going wild and blasting off elemental attacks. Wonderful.”
“Er… I…” Sammy jumped when she felt someone grab her by the shoulder.
“You’ve got a nice new trick but I’m more interested in your old ones,” Zisela growled in the Rotom’s ear. “Can you manipulate the shadows like this?”
“Yes Alpha!” Sammy squeaked.
“Then why don’t you show me?” Zisela turned to give Nicholas a charming smile. “Now that Sammy is willing to fight, like a pokegirl should be, I believe she should practice against those other ghosts that humiliated us this morning. Don’t you agree, my drake?”
Nicholas was wringing the worst of the water from his clothes. “She’s still vulnerable to them. I want you and Sohn more prepared before we head back.”
“Actually, Master,” Kalmiya interjected, the Porygon appearing and picking up his pokedex from where it had been thrown free, “because Sammy is possessing something she is no longer exposed. Functionally, her Ghost-typing should no longer matter in battle.”
Nicholas blinked. “The water and the washing machine…”
“Are like an armored shell, yes,” Kalmiya explained. “The effect could likely be made even stronger if Sammy took the ‘bland’ metal and used it as an exoskeleton, but the pokedex scanner already sees her as a Water/Electric-type instead of her previous Ghost/Electric.”
“Fascinating,” Nicholas murmured. His eyes widened. “Hold on. That means she’s no longer vulnerable to Fantina’s pokegirls.”
Kalmiya gave him a confident smile. “But they are vulnerable to her.”
“Sammy?” Nicholas addressed the Rotom. “I told Zisela I wanted to see the terrifying pokegirl you hide. Will you show her to me?”
Sammy was trembling and her voice cracked as she replied. “Y-Yes, Master.”
“Then we go back.” Nicholas pulled off his wet clothes and chucked them in the dryer with the rest. “We go back and you show me everything you are.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Topolski! Why are you back so soon? After your defeat to Fantina-“
Nicholas glanced at the reporter. “I am back because what I have always said is true. I would defeat Cynthia herself if she dared show herself to me today. Compared to her this Fantina is nothing.” His eyes moved back to the road in front of him, the Hearthome gym just feet away. “I did not see any but perhaps Cynthia worthy of my respect. I see now I was wrong to believe that. This time, Fantina will fall.”
The Gym Leader herself was waiting in the lobby when Nicholas walked inside. He’d sent her a message right after he’d finished at the pokecenter. His bank account was a bit lighter after paying for the damages, but it would be well worth it if Sammy had finally opened up.
“I must say I’m disappointed, Topolski,” Fantina breezed. “You are like a petulant child throwing a tantrum, demanding a rematch so soon. Will you make excuses when you fail this time as well?”
Nicholas stopped in front of her. “You have done something very foolish, Gym Leader Fantina. You have woken me from my lethargic state of mind. Byron, Gardenia, Roark – they all got off easy compared to what I will do now.”
Fantina laughed daintily. “We shall see. Won’t we.”
What did he lack? This time when Nicholas stepped into the challenger’s box, he knew. He lacked humility. He lacked focus. He lacked many things, but he did not lack power. Whether his own or the power he granted his pokegirls, he did not lack it. A human’s power. He understood the difference.
The first step Riley had told him to understanding more.
He did not yet understand what a pokegirl’s power was. But he had an idea. He could barely manipulate his aura, after all. He could see others’ weakly. He held some level of understanding. Just not quite enough.
But that was not important right now. Now was the time for his humanity to take control.
Fantina led once again with her Gengar and this time Nicholas released Zisela. Two curt commands and Fantina was reaching to recall her pokegirl, but before she could the Gabite slammed to the floor, unable to enter the artificial ground but still quite capable of sending shockwaves throughout the arena. The Gengar fell.
Miru held no value in this battle, at least not that she could reveal, so she fell to the Drifloon that came next, taking hits so that he could safely withdraw Zisela and pivot into Sammy. It was a bit early to be bringing her in but the Drifloon denied everyone else. He needed the Rotom now.
Sammy appeared and stared up at the floating girl above. For a moment, indecision crept across her face. Then it cleared. And Sammy grinned, one hand raising to the sky as sparks began zipping down her arm.
“I can always be this me, right Master?” Nicholas jumped when he heard the voice in his ear. Sammy’s mouth hadn’t moved but the radio she had absorbed all the way back in Eterna still existed in some form and she used it to speak to him now, with a voice clear of any doubt. “The me I accidentally showed you before. The bubbly me, you called it.”
Nicholas smiled. “Does it make you happy?”
“It does, Master.”
“Then I look forward to seeing it, Sammy.”
Sammy’s smile spread across her entire face and she screamed with laughter, lightning spearing from her fingers and coursing through the hovering Drifloon. The other girl never had a chance, the ghostly flames she had been peppering Sammy with only leaving a few inconsequential scorch marks on the Rotom’s body.
The Dusknoir appeared next, and last. That morning they had been struggling, trading two for one in fantina’s favor. Now he felt a thrumming bond linking him to the jittering Rotom in the arena, one that promised an explosive ending to this battle. It would only be the first of many.
The Dusknoir led with the same tricks that had utterly destroyed Sammy before, but this time, they did nothing. Sammy tore through the shades the Dusknoir was creating to swallow her and fired back, first with electricity, and then when that didn’t seem to have much effect she wrapped her arms under her breasts and squeezed.
Nicholas had never seen a pokegirl focus an attack with their nipples before but the jets of water that sliced from Sammy’s chest were as real as they got. One whipped straight through the Dusknoir’s incorporeal body and carved a streak in the floor.
When that didn’t seem to work either Sammy doubled her efforts, blasting water, lightning, a mixture of both into the hulking Dusknoir. In return the Dusknoir drowned her in shadows, seeking to suffocate her opponent as she had before but every time Sammy broke free, her eyes bright.
Finally though she ran out of steam. The Dusknoir’s shadows had been draining her and Sammy had been fighting back by slowly consuming even the ‘weak’ metal she hadn’t yet touched. Eventually it ran out. Her water attacks began growing weaker, her body becoming more orange. She was fading and before long she would be vulnerable again.
“It’s, haha, funny, Master.” Sammy took a heavy step back from her latest attack as she spoke in Nicholas’ ear. “I’ve still been avoiding… the me you want to see most.”
Nicholas straightened. “I wasn’t complaining, Sammy. I want you to move at your own pace.”
“I know Master, but… I promised you, didn’t I?” Sammy shook her head. “You asked me and I said yes. Promise me? Promise me you won’t get rid of me when you see?”
“I swear it, Sammy.”
Sammy’s smile had grown tired but she still managed to keep it on her face as he spoke. “Thank you, Master. I… trust you.”
Her body exploded.
The Dusknoir slunk back when the laughter started. Sammy no longer held anything even remotely like a human form. Sparks zipped through the air, linking dozens of globs of Sammy’s body together in a lattice of electricity. But the laugh. There was no mouth to produce it; not even a face where it might be coming from. It emanated from the sparks as they buzzed through the air.
One moment Sammy was hovering there and the next the laughing electricity was in front of the Dusknoir. The girl struck, seeking to consume the laughing Rotom in shadow but letting out a keening wail when electricity cut through her. The nucleus that was Sammy moved faster than any eye could follow, cutting through the Dusknoir again and again as the noise she made grew more and more eerie.
Even with the amount of hits Sammy was making the Dusknoir did not fall and Nicholas could guess why. Sammy was incorporeal like this, barely dealing any damage but sacrificing all of her power for incredible mobility. At least her electric power.
The noise had continued to grow more distorted until Nicholas swore he could see something forming in the sparks that zipped around the Dusknoir. If it was a face it was unlike anything he had ever seen. Something that shouldn’t exist. Something that laughed. It was not shadow, like the power of every other Ghost-type he’d experienced, but rather something that simply should not be. And when the Dusknoir finally turned, seeking her opponent, to face it, it consumed her.
The eerie laughter snapped off as Sammy seemed to collapse inwards, capturing the Dusknoir within her web as shadows fought to break free. A few seconds later, she vanished. Leaving the Dusknoir all alone in the arena. Frozen in place until an explosion of sparks ripped from inside her, scattering her shadow to dissipate across the arena.
Nicholas jumped when he noticed Sammy standing in front of him. She hadn’t been there a moment ago. As Fantina recalled her pokegirl Sammy spoke. “Well, Master?”
Nicholas stared at her. She was back in the orange, athletic human form he had grown accustomed to, though now he saw just as much definition to her body as she had taken when possessing the washing machine. It was now one she chose to take.
He chuckled. “The only thing I don’t like about your… what do we call it. Your true self? Your monster form?” He gave her a savage grin. “The only thing I don’t like about it is there’s nothing there for me to fuck.” His eyes twinkled when the worried look in Sammy’s eyes faded away to be replaced by a giddy joy as she realized he was just teasing her. “But you’re a clever girl. I’m sure you’ll figure something out for me.”
Sammy phased through the dissipating barrier to join him, her sparks racing throughout her body as she whispered her response. “Isn’t this form the one you liked, Master?”
Nicholas held her at arm’s length. “No, Sammy. This is just Sammy’s form. The one my name triggered. It’s not your name. It’s never been. You understand that now, don’t you? You don’t have to be Sammy if you don’t want to be. Just tell me who you are.”
The flashing cameras, the approaching gym leader, none of it mattered to them as Sammy gazed deep into his eyes, her own acting as twin portals into the anomalous something beneath the surface. “Master has named me Sammy,” Sammy replied breathily, her lips finally brushing his as she did. “There is nothing else I can be.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POKEDEX UPDATED
Tamer:Nicholas Topolski
Badges:
Mine Badge
Forest Badge
Coal Badge
Relic Badge
Harem:
Zisela, Gabite (Alpha) – Level 29
Sohn, Monferno – Level 27
Miru, Buneary – Level 26
Sammy, Rotom – Level 29
Non-Com Harem:
Kalmiya, Porygon-Z – Level 10