Saturday February 20th, 302AS
11:34
Allat Island, Asteri Region, Jade Islands League
Vince had made the mistake of implying that he'd reach a decision about the issue of 'Who is alpha?' by lunch. Lucky for him, he was in charge of when lunch was if he put his foot down, so he kept his 'girls training while he looked over the schedules they had come up with. He picked up the first of the five papers. He didn't recognize the handwriting, but the markings looked slow and deliberate. Whoever had written it hadn't been writing enough to develop a penmanship that was truly hers. Written across the top was Tuulikki's name, so this must be hers. A lot of time was devoted to her and Ava, and it didn't look like she had taken Reshmi's libido change into account after her evolution to an Arachnae. He shuffled that schedule to the bottom of the stack. Directly under it was a nearly identical schedule, though this one had the letters A, V, and A written across the top, with plenty of eraser marks underneath. It must have taken a lot of effort for the Combusticunt to even get that down, and Vince had to smile at that. The next schedule made him outright burst out laughing. He had overheard Reshmi explaining to Hana that the purpose of a taming schedule was to make sure that all of his 'girls stayed tamed and didn't feel left out. The schedule the Flowergirl had came up with definitely did that, she had listed every member of his harem on every day of the week. He waved his hand dismissively at the looks his harem were giving him, and Reshmi looked at Hana knowingly and chuckled a little to herself before resuming training. The second schedule written by Reshmi was hers, and it was definitely the best so far. It would definitely work for the five 'girls he had. It didn't take a very long glance at the last schedule to know that it was the winner, though.
Constance not only set up a schedule that covered all of his 'girls' needs with him, she had also planned ahead for theoretical sixth, seventh, and eighth members should he decide to pick up the two non-combatant slots that were available. There were two nights set aside with him for his alpha and beta, and he hadn't even considered appointing a beta before this point. She also wrote up a complete inter-harem schedule, and that alone could keep them all tamed without his involvement. To top it all off, she also managed to work in a few nights where he, his alpha, and beta could choose a partner for the sake of reward or preference.
Vince had his 'girls stop training, told Reshmi to start getting lunch ready, and called Constance over to talk with her privately. She smiled triumphantly as he handed her the schedule she had written. “How did you come up with that?”
“I told you, Mom put me through a bunch of courses after I went through threshold. You like it?”
“It's amazing, I don't think I would have even came up with something like that. What else did you have courses for?”
She leaned against him and traced a finger around in circles across his chest. “A lot of things a pokegirl needs to know... etiquette, fighting,” she whispered in ear, her lips brushing against his lobe. “...sex. I can show you some tonight if you want, though most of it is for other 'girls.”
“Well, maybe you'll have to teach your harem sisters what you know. Help them prepare in case I ever enter you in a sex match. Consider it a part of your duties as alpha.”
Constance stood upright, her hands on his shoulders. “...Really?” Vince nodded and she threw herself around his neck. She moved fast enough that the air lifted up her rather expensive hat and he had to catch it before it hit the ground. “I'll be great, I promise. You won't regret it.” She let her feet drop back down to the ground and Vince placed the hat back on her head. Standing just next to the tent was Reshmi, who was looking downtrodden.
“Oh, uh...” Her gaze drifted to the grass. “Lunch is ready... when you want to eat.”
“She looks disappointed.” The way Constance said it made Vince doubt she was feeling much sympathy.
He caught her by the wrist and turned her around to look at him. “Don't be like that. If you weren't here she'd probably be alpha. And I'm sure she would have done fine.” Constance's eyes narrowed a little, but her expression lightened when Vince continued. “So be nice to her. I don't think it'll be right now, but she's probably going to wind up being our beta.”
“Beta? Oh, sure. I can do that.”
They made their way out in front of the tent, where the rest of his harem already had their lunch and had begun eating. Vince sat down and accepted the sandwich Reshmi handed him, they ate a lot of sandwiches but these would be the last for a while. They were out of bread. “Listen up girls.” When he could see he had all of their attention he continued. He considered going for a more elaborate announcement, but opted for being straight forward. “I'm making Constance the alpha, so um... Unless I tell you otherwise, listen to what she says.”
Reactions were less than what he was hoping for. It was perfectly clear that Ava was unhappy from the way the air was heating up and Tuuli was looking pretty jealous as well. Hana wasn't one to hold a grudge, but she did know she had lost at something and was unhappy with that. Constance's moment of pride seemed to wilt from the hostility of her harem sisters, until Reshmi placed a hand on her shoulder. “Congratulations. Take good care of us.” Constance was shocked that it was her biggest rival that was the one acknowledging her first, but then maybe that was why Vince had considered her in the first place.
Constance reached up and touched the Arachnae's hand with her own. “Thank you. I will.” That little bit of warmth was all Hana needed to decide that whatever happened was a good thing, so she got up and embraced Vince's new alpha. Tuuli was the next to change moods, and Ava reluctantly offered her congratulations as well.
-
Saturday, February 20th, 302AS
21:03
Allat Island, Asteri Region, Jade Islands League
Since they were switching over to Constance's new schedule right away, Vince wound up with no one to tame for that night. Technically this was one of the nights where he could choose whoever he wanted, and he might still take the chance to do that, but right now he was just sitting in the tent watching Hana and Hanako sleep. He'd left the 'kit out because she usually didn't get a chance to sleep outside of her ball, and if he did want to tame one of his 'girls he'd just take her outside. Constance and Reshmi were the two that were staying up to keep watch until miserably early in the morning, when they'd switch with Ava and Tuuli. His Flirt and Combusticunt were currently resting in their balls.
Hushed voices carried through the walls of the tent. It seemed Reshmi was trying to learn more about her master, and using Constance's knowledge of him to achieve that goal. “What was Vince like, before his blood traits?”
Constance hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I can't really see that much of a difference. Well, besides his Rebel curse, but that's kind of obvious. I asked my friends who were still in Mamlambo about him every now and then, after my parents moved me away. It sounded like he had a really hard time at first. Every week he was getting into fights, getting kicked out of class. It got bad enough that halfway through the year he just stopped going to class. He failed that year, of course, but I guess during that time he trained with his mother, and got a lot better when he came back the next year.” Constance laughed. “He was such a mama's boy when we both lived in Mamlambo. Can't really blame him though.”
“Why not?”
“She was one of the few people that was always praising him. He's actually pretty smart, and when we had classes together he could keep up with me, and I was the top of the class. But no one ever acknowledged that, because he was a boy, and because it was obvious he had blood traits. Other kids would always make him play the bad guy. Like if they played Revenge War he was always the pokegirl. Or he was always the Team member and they were the cops. But when he was training with Pritha, it was always 'Good job, Vince. You're wonderful Vince. That's my boyazon.' And he loved every word of it. You could just see it on his face.”
Vince laughed a little at himself as his mind took him back to one of the exact moments Constance was talking about. He really couldn't deny any of what she was saying. The strongest memory he had was the first day of middle school. The other boys and some of the girls had made fun of him again because of his hair, but he did as Azar always told him and didn't get into a fight. It still hurt, and he came home angry and launched himself at a punching bag...
“Boyazon, what's wrong?” His mother had heard him from upstairs.
“Nothing!” The twelve year old Vince spat out, though the hurt on his face made it clear he wasn't being truthful.
The Herochan pokewoman knelt down in front of him and took one hand in hers. She pulled out a long strip of fabric and started to wrap Vince's hand and wrist with it. “Here, don't want you hurting yourself while training. And remember what I told you?”
The young boy took in a deep breath and held it in as he closed his eyes. As he exhaled, he was visibly calmer. “There's no room in a fight for your feelings. It's only you and your opponent.”
Pritha finished wrapping the one hand and started working on the other. “That's right. So what happened today?”
“They made fun of my hair again, and called me Joy Boy. The teacher didn't stop them either, even though Miss Azar told her to.”
Pritha nodded her head, finishing with both of Vince's hands. “Well, we'll tell Miss Azar they did it again, and I'm sure she'll see to it it's the last time. Now, hands up!” Vince put his fists up in front of him, and Pritha made a few easy jabs and smiled as he blocked them all. “That's my boyazon.”
Vince turned his attention back to the punching bag, with Pritha watching him with pride, when he stopped to turn back to her and ask. “Mom, how many tournaments did your tamer win?”
The Herochan was a little shocked by the question, but thought back to the time she had spent fighting for the man. “Let me think... Six, that I know of.”
Vince nodded with determination. “I'm going to win seven then!”
“Why is that?”
“Cause, I love you more than he did.”
Pritha dropped to her knees again and pulled her son into a tight hug. The pain from thinking about her former master had been completely washed away from the overwhelming warmth she felt from hearing her son's words. Tears rolled down both cheeks as she held him and whispered, “You must love me a lot, then...”
Vince was surprised by the reaction, but then hugged his mother back and nodded against her shoulder. “Yeah...”
The pokewoman finally let go of her human son and asked him, “So, anything good happen today?”
Vince blushed a little. “I sit next to a pretty girl, and she was nice to me. Her name is Constance.”
…
Vince's thoughts returned to the present, and he quickly wiped a tear away when he realized that his little bout of homesickness had caused one to fall. Constance and Reshmi were still talking about him outside the tent, and Hana was still asleep holding her daughter, so no one would know about it. A low whimper and moan caught his attention, and he pushed aside the tent flap to look out into the campsite. Constance had Reshmi on her back on a blanket in the grass near the campfire, sans skirt which was discarded a little ways away. The Ticktock had her hand down between the Arachnae's legs, and whatever she was doing had the spider-type's hips rocking as she squeezed the magic type's arm with her thighs. Vince quietly made his way out of the tent, standing behind the two on the ground. Reshmi saw him and her eyes got big, but Vince put a finger over his lips so the only thing to escape her mouth was a gasp and groan. Vince lined himself up behind his Ticktock and waited for the right moment, where she moved to shift her mouth downwards on the Arachnae's body. This left her ass up in the air, the fabric of her pants stretched tight over both cheeks. Vince made a motion of covering his mouth and then pointed at Constance, and Reshmi grabbed hold of her head and pulled her face down into her cleavage.
Constance's surprised yelp was repeated even louder when Vince delivered a moderately forceful spanking, though both times they were muffled against Reshmi's breasts. The Arachnae released her alpha and Constance sat up, her face bright red, eyes watering a little. She looked at her master with hurt eyes, though there was a playful twinkle in them as she nursed her rump. “What did I do to deserve master hitting me?” She stuck a moist, pouty lip out at him.
“You're supposed to be keeping a heads up for ferals coming into the camp, not going down on your harem sister.” Constance stuck her tongue out playfully, responding to the humor in Vince's voice. “I'm serious though, you're going to have to wait until your shift's over, or get someone to keep watch for you.” He grinned at the two of them. “Like, I could watch.”
“Pervert. You just want to see a show.” Constance made the accusation even as she moved back down to Reshmi, “Well, there won't be an encore unless you help.”
Thursday, March 3rd, 302AS
15:13
Jade Gym, Allat
“It's ok Reshmi,” Vince spoke to the pokeball he had just recalled the Arachnae into. “You did good.”
When Vince returned, he didn't face Hector, but one of the other assistants who apparently had a strong preference towards feline breeds. She was using three pokegirls, and Vince had to eliminate them all using his full harem to win. It had taken Constance's time magic and then Tuuli to bring down the Cheetit that the gym representative lead with, and then a Shadowcat took down Tuuli and Ava before Reshmi was able to score a win against her. This left his Arachnae to face the last pokegirl, a Tigress, and the match had been close. Up until the point where the Tigress got in a scratch attack to the spider-type's eyes anyway. Now he was once again in a situation where winning just didn't seem to be an option, and this time he was even closer than before.
At least that would have been his thoughts before he had gone out training with his harem. He did have one last desperate card to play though. Hana still felt like she had to prove herself, that she was worth a spot in Vince's harem with his combat types, so he had reluctantly let her take on some of the easier ferals they encountered. The Flowergirl proved rather creative in how she got around her lack of offensive attacks, but as she had tried to say the day he issued the challenge to make a taming schedule, she had lived twenty-one years, give or take, out in the wilderness without anyone to fight for her. To say she was completely incapable of fending for herself was ignoring the fact that she was still alive.
He released Hana from her ball, though she wasn't quite in the ring yet. He quickly explained the situation to her, “Listen Hana, we're fighting here for practice. All you need to do is make it so that Tigress in the ring can't fight, and Reshmi already has her worn down. She might even be poisoned. You think you can get her?”
“I will try, master.” The Flowergirl bravely stepped into the ring, the gym assistant looking rather confused. Vince just started reminding himself that no matter how the match ended, he had to make sure he didn't seem upset around his Flowergirl.
The ref called for the final round to begin, and Hana stood her ground as the Tigress started a wide circle around her. The Tigress took one step towards her opponent, faking the start of a charge and testing the Flowergirl's resolve. Hana flinched but didn't budge.
Since Hana seemed determined to be an actual opponent, the Tigress started to attack in earnest. Hana was grazed by a swipe from the Tigress' claws, and lost her balance from the clumsy way she dodged. She was in no position to avoid the follow up attack, which was a sweeping kick that sent her sprawling almost to the edge of the ring. She lay on the floor, rocking back and forth while cradling her head as the Tigress sauntered her way over. Just as her opponent was almost on top of her again, the Flowergirl jumped up, an explosion of dust billowing out all around her. She crashed into the Tigress' chest, sending them both tumbling. Hana wound up sitting on her opponents stomach once they stopped, and clamped a hand over top of the animorphic 'girl's muzzle. The Tigress fought off the smaller, weaker girl, and tried to wipe away a heavy coat of dust from around her nose. Seconds later she collapsed, and Hana sat down onto the floor of the ring, breathing heavily.
A ten count and the recall of the Tigress later, Vince had won the match and sprinted out to pick up his victorious Flowergirl. “Master, that hurts.” She whimpered as he hugged her, and he relaxed his grip and let her lean against him. “I did good?”
The gym referee started to make her way over to award Vince the win officially and grant him his badge. “You did amazing.”
Hana smiled weakly. “Master?”
“Yeah?”
“Don't forget. I don't want to fight anymore.”
-
Tuesday, September 6th, 302AS
20:10
Wadjet, Jade Islands League
A few days over half of a year saw Vince with four more victories at a gym, including his first win against a gym leader in Abuk. He was also sitting on a nice pile of saved up bounty points from hunting ferals, so as he was passing through Nut he stopped at the Gera Ranch and purchased his sixth pokegirl. They were training in Wadjet to bring the new addition up to speed before challenging the gym at Isis. After that his plan was to head back west, all the way back to Mamlambo to challenge the Storm Gym and visit family.
Reshmi was now a confident fighter, and was eager to win in Isis. Vince made it very clear to the Arachnae that he didn't intend to limit the visiting to only his family, and that they wouldn't be leaving Mamlambo until she had a chance to see her father again. And, if things went right with his new 'girl, the next step would be to purchase his first non-combat slot, move Hana to that, fill all six combat slot with active fighting 'girls, and finally appoint Reshmi as beta. He hadn't told her yet, but he and Constance were both in agreement on the issue.
Constance was a superb alpha, and also a decent fighter, though she really shined when she could support at least one harem sister as opposed to fighting one on one. She also was his best sex battler, though the only 'matches' they'd really done were between him or other members of his harem. It was something he was considering though.
Ava held onto her spot as his most powerful combatant. Although her attitude towards her harem sisters did improve over time, her attitude overall had worsened thanks to weeks and weeks of rain after rain after rain. The best way for Vince to get her in a better mood was surprisingly teaching her reading and writing. It had started with Tuuli helping her with the schedule and had evolved to every member of his harem, save for Hana, teaching her a little more every day or so.
Hana and Hanako were both doing much better so far as being socialized went. Hanako had actually surpassed her mother in speaking ability, and had about the same grasp on written language as Ava did. Vince was fairly certain that it wasn't normal for her to be progressing that fast, since she had now surpassed what a typical human child would be capable of, and the research team that had administered their experimental T2 agreed. They were desperate to buy her from him, but had to settle for setting up a bi-monthly check up for her to mark her progress. Hana had taken up the mantle of the harem's cook, since it was something that interested her and she admitted it was the easiest way for no one to question her worth.
Finally was Tuuli, who still treated the average pokegirl battle like they were a game but would at least become serious for gym battles. That was enough for Vince, since the Flirt's carefree attitude served to uplift everyone else's spirits, especially throughout the gloom of the rainy season. That was why Vince was standing under a canopy with a dry towel. Tuuli hadn't even been in the air for a minute when she touched back down, drenched to the bone with her dress clinging tightly over every inch of her body. Vince wrapped her in the towel and started to rub her dry. “You have fun up there?”
“No.” His Flirt pouted. She was probably the second most ready for the dry season to return, just so her flight time would stop getting interrupted by torrential downpours. She pressed herself up against him, getting his front soaked just from the contact. “Can't you do something to cheer me up, sir?”
Vince gave up on the towel. It was just as wet as the two of them now. “Sorry, it's Constance's night and you know how much she likes her schedule.”
Tuuli sighed. “I guess I'll just have to let Ava warm me up then.”
Vince lead the Flirt back inside to the room he had checked out, where the rest of his harem, and started to exclaim, “Caa-” before her mother clapped a hand over her mouth. The word she had almost blurted out was 'cake' and Hanako had practically been chanting the name of the desert ever since she was allowed to have a taste by the pokewoman running the counter at the bakery they stopped at. But the reason for stopping at a bakery to pick up a cake was supposed to be a surprise, and the enthusiasm of the 'kit had come close to ruining that a few times.
Vince went to his pokepack and removed the item in question, which was stored in an indistinct white box. He kept it behind his back as he made his way back to the small ring his harem formed. The room fell silent as he rejoined them. Tuuli tried to peek around him to see what he had. “What is that? What do you have?” Vince only grinned at her question, so she tried to reach around him to grab whatever it was. He passed it off to Reshmi, who passed it to Constance, who passed it back to Vince, and so on, until the Flirt was standing in the middle of all of them too frustrated to continue. Each member of Vince's harem then took turns kissing her on the cheek as a way of apology, and she was finally given the box. She opened the lid and stared dumbly at what was inside.
All there was was a small white cake, two layers thick with the words, 'Happy Birthday' written across the top in blue frosting. She looked up at everyone else in the room, and they all cheerfully exclaimed, “Surprise!”
The Flirt's eyes welled up as she started sputtering out words of gratitude. Her birthday was something she had learned to keep off her mind growing up in the ranch after she went through threshold. After all, no one cared about when a pokegirl was born. “You got me a cake... it says... it says...” Her tears were making it difficult for her to even state the obvious, and Hana had to catch the cake, much to the relief of Hanako, when Tuuli let it fall from her hands so she could wrap her arms around as many people in the room as she could. “It's my birthday and you remembered!”
As her emotions wound down enough for her to speak again, they all sat down on the floor or the edge of the bed. Vince got out a knife and cut the cake up into eight pieces. Constance stared at the one remaining piece after they were all passed out. “You're really going to save a piece for her?”
Vince shook his head. “Let me go ask if she wants it. Don't want her spoiling the mood in here.” Vince made his way out into the hall and released his sixth pokegirl off of his belt. He had named the Sayjin Natsumi on a whim, and so far Natsumi hadn't been making a very smooth transition into the harem. Although she was obedient and powerful, she just didn't mesh with any of them well, not even Vince. He looked at the Sayjin as she kept her face neutral, arms crossed over her chest and tail wrapped tight around her waist. “Last chance, there's still a piece of cake for you if you want it.”
Natsumi snorted. “I don't need any cake. When are you challenging a gym? I want to show you how strong I really am.”
Vince sighed. According to the 'dex, this was pretty standard for the breed. The best part was that even if he managed to win her affection, she was just most likely going to start insulting him as her way of showing it. A rather loud part of his mind was telling him that he had chosen the wrong breed, but he was still hoping things would work out. “Tomorrow we're going out to hunt ferals one last time, then we're heading to Isis. There's a gym there.”
The Sayjin nodded. “Good.” She then fell silent, and Vince waited a minute before he simply recalled her and rejoined the small celebration in the room.