Friday, September 22nd, 302AS
14:44
Isis, Jade Islands League
Vince came to expecting to feel the stinging pain of his burns, and blinked owlishly when his skin wound up perfectly healthy. He lifted one hand to inspect and then the other before sitting up. “Good, you're awake.” One pink haired individual looked at the next as Vince noticed he was being watched over by a Nurse Joy. Looking around it would seem he was still in the pokecenter, it wasn't the lounge or taming rooms, but maybe a break room for the staff. He noticed his tamer's belt, with all of his pokeballs accounted for clipped on, sitting on an end table with the rest of his gear.
“Your Officer Jenny managed to deal with the police for you. You've got some nasty fines for what happened to the training room but no one else or their pokegirls were hurt, so that's all being left up to you.”
“What happened? I thought I was far enough away from Ava to not get burned.”
“Your Combusticunt? You were.” When Vince just stared at her dumbly she went on. “How long have you had your Arachnae?”
“Um, well she was a Spinnertit at first but like nine months. Why?”
“She must be something special to you.” The tamer only continued to look clueless. “Or maybe you're someone special to her...
“You've got the beginnings of a delta bond forming with your Arachnae. It's not fully developed but it seems to be far enough along now for you to have the empathetic link with her. What you felt when you thought you were being burned was her getting burned. You'll have to be careful with her in combat now until the bond is at full strength and you both learn to prevent sending pain across it.”
“I've got a...” Vince grabbed his belt and was about to release Reshmi when the healing pokegirl grabbed his hand.
“You can't let your pokegirls out in here! You'll have to go into the lobby or check into a taming room.” Vince scowled at the Nurse Joy and then threw his belt on over his pants and left whatever room he'd been resting in. It exited into the very back of the hallway that also connected to all the taming rooms. He made his way out into the lobby where Aiden was waiting with his Archmage. The older tamer had gotten his Alaka-wham out of storage while Vince was still unconscious and Shannon and Comfort teleported the two of them back to Aiden's home.
It was funny how teleport could affect people. Some people felt nothing, and went from here to there like it was nothing more than blinking their eyes. Other people felt some discomfort for reasons no one could really explain. Most of them could eventually get used to it, but some never did. Vince never did teleport much, not having a pokegirl of his own that could use the ability, so he didn't know which of those two categories he fell under. But he hoped he was the kind that eventually got used to it, because for the very few times he had teleported, it made him dizzy and disoriented for quite a while afterwards.
“You okay?” Aiden asked the young man he'd sired and was now spending time getting to know. The pink haired younger tamer was leaning against a wall woozily.
Vince waved a hand towards him dismissively. “Yeah, just. I don't teleport well. I'll be fine after a while.”
“If you say so.” Aiden let out all of his pokegirls that had gone with him. Ashley tended to stay in the backyard the whole time, but Shannon, Comfort, and Nanna had all traveled with him, and there was the Alaka-Wham from Aiden's storage now too. The large breasted psychic type glanced at Vince. “That's Vince, Ayn. I'll have to introduce the two of you later, he's a little out of it right now.”
The Alaka-Wham, apparently named Ayn, nodded as her antennae flicked about. “Of course master Aiden. Has it really been three months already?”
“Nope, but Comfort's got a project for you to work on and I missed you, so I let her talk me into pulling you out early.”
“That's sweet of you, Master.” Ayn turned to face her long-lived harem sisters. “So what is this project?” All of Aiden's pokegirls lead the psychic type off while the Pinielf explained the situation with Hana. As their voices drifted farther down a hallway they started what sounded like bartering for nights spent with Aiden.
Vince's head cleared up enough to push off the wall, though he'd still take it slow if he wanted to walk anywhere. “You doing better?” Vince nodded at Aiden's question.
“Hey,” Vince started, “you have any delta bonds?”
Aiden held up a number of fingers to compliment his answer. “Four, actually. Congratulations by the way. Things might be weird right now, sure as hell were for me the first time, but it's worth it.”
“I wouldn't suppose you'd have any advice to give to someone... if they wanted it.” Aiden laughed, though if it was at Vince's indirect way of asking for help or not the tamer with the Rebel blood curse couldn't tell.
“Don't worry about it. Trust me, the fact that you and Reshmi have one means you're doing things right; for her, at least. Your Sayjin and Combusticunt though...”
“Hey! Ava's been a perfectly good pokegirl up till now, at least after we got used to each other!”
The century year-old nodded. “Then you've gotta' figure out why that changed today. You should probably talk to all of your harem, today was pretty big for all of you.” With that Aiden left Vince to his own matters.
Vince removed Reshmi's pokeball first. Constance would have made more sense but he just wanted to talk to his Arachnae. The familiar black spider 'girl appeared after the red flash and she suddenly caught herself stumbling and held one hand to her forehead. “Woah! Careful!” Vince nearly fell over himself catching her, but they both managed to stay standing.
“Sorry about that, Vince. I just got really dizzy all of a sudden.”
“No. I think that was me that was dizzy still.”
Reshmi blinked at him for a moment. “Wah-what?” Suddenly they both started chuckling as realization struck both of them and they held each other as they laughed. The Arachnae sighed into his shoulder. “I thought we're supposed to be able to know what the other is feeling, like emotions and stuff. Or I could always know where you are.”
“Well, a delta bond is supposed to do all of that, eventually. Figures things would happen backwards with me.” He grinned as Reshmi gave him a questioning look. “Remember how I wound up becoming a tamer? At least I'm consistent.”
“Maybe...” They both moved over to a small sofa and sat with her leaning on his shoulder and his arm around hers. “What are you going to do about Ava and Natsumi?”
Vince was silently thoughtful for a moment. “I don't know. I figured I'd talk to Constance first but I just wanted to see you all of a sudden.”
“Mmmm...” The Arachnae snuggled closer. “She's going to be jealous, don't you think?” Vince nodded. “I hope I don't cause too much more trouble.”
Vince gave her a gentle squeeze. “Don't worry about it. You want to stay out while I talk with her?”
“Yeah...” Reshmi paused, “but it'd probably be better if you two were alone. She'd like it more.”
“Okay.” Vince stalled for a few moments until Reshmi poked him in the side. “Oh, right.”
One swapping of pokegirls later and Constance took up the exact same spot Reshmi had occupied unknowingly. “Hey.” Was Vince's alpha's only greeting.
“Hey.” It seemed simple enough to respond the same way.
“I'm glad you're okay. That really surprised all of us when you started screaming and passed out for no apparent reason.” The Tick Tock shifted her weight around and then let out a long breath. “So what about Reshmi now? This will probably get in the way of her fighting, you know.”
Vince would have shrugged but with Constance's head leaning on his shoulder he didn't think she'd appreciate that much. So he lifted his hands and turned the palms up before dropping them back in his lap. “I dunno'. We'll figure something out.”
“If...” she paused as if debating whether or not she really wanted to get into this particular 'what if' scenario. “If I were the one that went to you on the ferry... would we... instead of her?”
“You knew about that?”
He felt Constance nod against his shoulder. “I was worried about you too, and I did come looking for you after she did. I would have come sooner but you left all of your stuff under the seats. I wanted to make sure someone was watching them. By the time I decided to carry it all with me, you two were already together on the back of the boat...”
Vince pulled Constance up into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “It might have had something to do with that, yeah. But thanks for watching my stuff, even if you did miss out on a chance to get the first delta bond with me.”
Constance got up out of his lap just long enough to turn herself around to face him while straddling his lap. “You really think there'll be more?”
“Why not?” Vince grinned at his alpha. “It's not like I can only form one. It could just be a matter of time.”
Constance returned the grin. “You really think you're going to get a delta bond with all of your harem, huh? You'd better make sure your alpha gets the next one then, or I'm going to be mad. I'll forgive you the first time but now you should know better.”
“Noted.” The grin vanished from his face. “And I don't think things are working out well enough for everyone to get a delta bond...”
“Yeah. I guess now would be a good time to talk about that, huh?” She scooted closer to him. “Or we could tame on Aiden's couch.”
“He's home right now you know.”
Constance played at frowning and let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine then, harem business it is then. Do you want my opinion or do you already have ideas?”
“Go for it.”
“If it were up to me I'd run Natsumi through a level five...” Vince suddenly scowled at her. “But that wouldn't be right after what happened to Hana. So we've got to get rid of her some other way. Ava... You like Ava so we need to figure out some way to keep her around. You're not going to stop me from punishing her, are you?”
“No. Ava was being good for a long time, but I can't have her losing her temper like that again. That was worse then when I first got her. What are you thinking?”
“Well, her training's going to be hell if I have anything to do with it, and I'm taking her out of the taming rotation.” Vince's eyebrows shot up and he opened his mouth to say something but Constance cut him off with a finger pressed to his lips. “I'm not planning to let her go feral, she just doesn't get to tame with you. I'll probably do it and it'll be in restraints, and then right back into the pokeball she goes. I figure taking away her only access to dick and any chances at cuddling for a couple weeks should drive the point in.”
“If you'll make sure she doesn't go feral, then I guess that'll work. Keep an eye on her though and if she starts acting funny, I want her with me right away. You slip up and it's on my head.” Constance gave him a look that told him she already knew what he was saying anyway. She did tend to think of those kinds of things more than he did. “Well, I guess now we get to deal with Natsumi, don't we? Want to do this here?”
“I thought you were worried about Aiden catching us?” Constance smirked as Vince groaned at her. She slip off his lap and offered a hand to help him up. “No, somewhere less comfortable. Let's go down to one of the empty guest rooms and talk to her there.”
As they were walking, Vince decided to try to get more of the story about what had happened. “You said Natsumi said something to set Ava off. What was it?”
“I didn't hear exactly what she said, but it stopped Ava dead in her tracks for a second before she went berserk. It was something about Wadjet.”
Vince stopped in shock, then shook his head. “That monkey-tailed bitch,” he cursed, “why the hell would she bring that up?”
“I don't know, but we're going to find out.” They'd made it down a level to the hallway with the guest room, so Vince took the Sayjin's ball off his belt. He looked at Constance questioningly and she nodded. With a now familiar pulse of red light the fighting type was released into the middle of the room.
“Master Vince, it's good to see you're-”
“Shut it.” Vince's alpha cut the Sayjin off mid sentence. “Master?” She looked up at Vince. It was a rare event for the Tick Tock to use such a formal title for Vince, and her using it now was a clear indication of her serious attitude for the time being.
“Natsumi,” The Sayjin when from glaring at Constance to giving him a questioning look. “What was earlier today all about?”
“I don't know, sir. Your Combusticunt just freaked out and started trying to kill me. You'll have to ask her what was up, or just get rid of her if she's that unstable.”
“Constance says you said something to her that made her that mad. What was it?”
“Just smack talk, like any fight. Nothing she should have freaked out over.”
“Ava has never freaked out over 'smack talk' in any of the fights before. What did you say?”
“I told her she was weak, and she is. I mean jeeze, you've had her how long and she's still a Combusticunt? I definitely would have evolved by now.”
Constance apparently wasn't satisfied with that answer, so she took over asking the questions. The first one she asked not only took the Sayjin off guard, but Vince as well. “You lied to me about going with them, didn't you”
“What?” was the response from both of the others in the room.
“After they knocked you out, I was let out of my ball surrounded by their pokegirls. They told me I could join their harems willingly, or they'd put me through a conditioning cycle or something. They did the same thing with the rest of your harem. I asked everyone what their choice was... Hana's was obvious. I know I can trust Reshmi's answer now and I think Ava would tell the truth too; if she's one thing besides a bad attitude she's loyal. But Natsumi,” she paused to give the Sayjin a dirty look, “has been avoiding me ever since I asked her and she's become even more of a bitch since then. Especially trying to prove she's better than the rest of us.”
Dealing with the Sayjin was put on hold in Vince's mind. “Wait, they did what? Why didn't you tell me?”
“I thought it'd sound too much like bragging if I just told you about me, and since I thought everyone gave them the same answer I figured it wasn't a big deal. But if you want to know, I told them they were better off shoving their special conditioning machine up their ass than threatening me with it.”
“And you were a moron to!” Natsumi blurted out. “I mean, they were going to turn our tamer into a pokegirl and level five him! What's the point in dying too?”
Vince clenched his fists together so tight that the tendons were pulling his fist back since there was no more room for his fingers to curl. He was fighting to keep his cool and focused on the breath behind each syllable. “So what did you really say to Ava, since you've already lied once and Constance heard you mention Wadjet?”
“I didn't lie. I said she was weak and that we lost on Wadjet because she was weak. She was the first one to go down after all.”
“Get rid of her.” Constance hissed. “She's not useful enough to keep around even if Verse couldn't take her place.”
“Oh, and you'd all be useful if you wound up like that pansy Flowergirl? I made the smart choi-”
“You selfish little bitch!” Constance began, but Vince's mind decided there was a better way to communicate than with words at the moment. He grabbed both straps to Natsumi's top and shoved her against the wall.
“You. Are. Done in my harem. Got it?” She tried to say something to protest but was cut off when Vince shouted to repeat himself. “What part of DONE don't you get!?”
“What are you going to do, five me?” There was less concern in her voice than an arrogant sneer.
Vince suppressed the urge to see if he couldn't beat the fighting type to a pulp with his own two, squishy, human hands. “No. Thanks to what happened to Hana, the pansy Flowergirl who was a thousand times stronger than you'll ever be, I wouldn't feel right doing that to any pokegirl. But as soon as I find someone stupid enough to let me make you their problem, you're gone.” As soon as he knew the words had sunk in he recalled the Sayjin to her pokeball, shoved her into the stasis of his pokepack, and went off to look for potential trading and selling options.
-
Monday, September 25th 302AS
15:25
Isis, Jade Islands League
Vince tossed the new pokeball in his hand as he walked down the sidewalk with Constance and Reshmi out. “He really thinks he got the better deal out of that, doesn't he?”
Vince smirked at Constance's question. The tamer he had found to trade with evidently also made the trade with the intention of dumping a problem 'girl, a fact he gleefully revealed to Vince after the deal was done along with the declaration of, 'No trade backs!'. Unfortunately for him, the problem seemed to be as simple as the Belle Awesome getting into constant squabbles with the tamer's alpha. Considering the tamer's alpha was a Harpy, Vince had to wonder if the fights were really the electric plant type's fault. “Hey, if he thinks the Sayjin being rated higher for combat makes the deal worth it, he can go right ahead and think that. You see Verse around?”
The Officer Jenny wanted to visit with some police friends, so she was allowed to go her separate way while they were making the trade. They agreed to meet up just ahead within the next five minutes. Part of him as a tamer didn't think it was right letting his pokegirl wander off on her own in the middle of a city, but how much trouble could an Officer Jenny get into? A blue, violet, and red head of hair bounced up over the crowd for a moment, letting Vince know that Verse was trying to see over the crowd between them and her. An arm raised above the crowed with its wrist decorated by a set of handcuffs, so she must have spotted them.
“Well, anything interesting happen with you?” He asked his not quite police pokegirl.
“A little, sir. After I reported that you had tamer's disease to the chief-”
“What?”
“Sir, the responsible thing to do in your situation is to declare your condition to the authorities so they can make preparations should your condition become an issue.”
“In case it becomes an issue?! I'm a tamer, for crying out loud! How the hell is it going to become an issue when I'm with one of my pokegirls every night?”
“It doesn't hurt to let them be prepared, sir.” She said weakly.
Vince noticed all the cautious looks he was getting and released a drawn out sigh. “You're going to do the same thing for every town we go to, aren't you?”
“It's the responsible thing to do, sir...”
Vince grumbled inaudibly. “Fine. Let's get out of here. People are gawking. Dammit.” Verse followed after them with her head hung down the entire way. Finally he stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. “Look. I know it's probably just something you've got to do but you should have ran it by me or Constance. And don't bring it up in public. Okay?” She nodded and seemed to cheer up a little. “Okay, you were going to tell us about something.”
“Well, it's funny sir. It seems like things got exciting the minute you bought me. Besides some new leads on a human trafficking ring based somewhere in the city, a lot of missing persons reports have popped up from all over the island. The strange thing is, looking at all the photos of them, they're all males who have really obvious blood traits.” From there he was only half listening, remembering the words of a madman when he was locked up and helpless. Vince was sure it had to be Vsevolod, who else would be kidnapping heavily traited humans? They were as easy to find as a ball point pen after all. Vince fought back a snarl at the memories. “...she almost got away too. Luckily one of the crew was able to catch her before she could damage any other ships.”
Vince blinked, having missed everything leading up to what Verse had just finished saying. “Wait, what? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention.”
“A pokegirl attacked the docks just a while back, sir. Security footage of it leaked onto the internet and it's been a pretty big deal in the city. No one knows where she came from.”
“Huh, that is weird.” Vince's mind went right back to Vsevolod and how badly Vince wanted some payback.
“How did the trade go, sir?”
“Oh. I got a Belle Awesome. She's not as strong as the Sayjin was but that's easy enough to deal with. I'll let her out when we get back to Aiden's so everyone can meet her at once.”
Assembling his harem in the back yard just meant he had to get Ava out, though technically it was his harem plus Hanako since the Flowergirl pokekit wanted to see what was going on. She wound up perched up on Vince's shoulders sitting behind his neck. She put both hands on top of his head and leaned over to look at him. “What's the red lady doing with mama?”
Vince looked up at her, and his upside down face made her giggle. “Red lady? Ayn? She's trying to see if she can help her. She might be able to help Hana wake up and find things she forgot.” The Alaka-wham had already gave Vince her opinion. Whatever process Hana had been ran through, and the rest of his 'girls threatened with, it wasn't any of the standard conditioning cycles. Likely whatever they used was modified for a custom purpose. According to Ayn, the effects were more similar to a T2 than a conditioning cycle in how it influenced memories. She didn't seem to realize Vince wasn't as well versed in ideas of the mind as she was, so he didn't understand all of it but what it seemed to have been doing was removing specific details about her life while leaving any practical knowledge and skills in tact. Assuming it worked and was given enough time, it could leave a pokegirl with all her training but without the previous personality. Ayn's criticism of the results seemed to indicate that it wouldn't have been successful. Now the Alaka-Wham was overseeing the process of repairing the damage done. Her telepathy also helped when it came to taking care of the Flowergirl, since she could take control enough to allow her a limited ability to care for herself. It was disturbing to see Hana acting like an automaton, and everyone had taken to avoiding the room.
Hearing that there might be hope for her mother, Hanako's eyes got big. “She will?”
He hadn't gotten any guarantees, so he was careful not to the same when answering the pokekit. “I hope so.”
“Me too.” Hanako peered over his head down at the pokeball in his hand. “What's that?”
“It's a pokeball, it has my new pokegirl in it.”
“It's not another SayJenny, is it? She wasn't nice.”
Vince held back his laughter at Hanako's confusion of the two different breeds. He really couldn't blame her for mixing them up when she was four years old and there were something like seven hundred or more different breeds recorded. “The mean 'girl was a Sayjin and Verse is an Officer Jenny. And no, this new 'girl is a plant type like you. She's a Belle Awesome.” Hanako started squirming on top of his shoulders and dinging at him to let her out, so Vince complied.
The Belle Awesome was fairly close to Constance in her height. Her body definitely earned the awesome component of the breed's name, having a narrow waist with wider hips, graceful limbs, and generous breasts given the rest of her frame. Her only piece of clothing was a white t-shirt that looked to be five sizes too small, leaving it stretched thin over the front of her chest, making it perfectly clear she wore no support underneath the top. Like all of her breed she had a skirt-like ring of leaves circling under her waist line. The long vines that made up her hair fell past her shoulders, and interestingly enough were a pale, almost white green. Her face was round, her lips full, and her royal purple eyes were sweeping over Vince's assembled harem before settling on him.
She sighed sadly and then bowed her head to her new master. “Would I be correct in assuming you obtained me through a trade?” Vince nodded. “May I ask which pokegirl is to be my alpha, master?”
“That would be me.” Constance answered, stepping forward. “We were told you were fighting with your previous alpha. Is that going to be a problem here?” The Belle Awesome eyed her up and down for a moment and then smiled.
“I don't think so, hun, unless you've got some self image issues. My old alpha was jealous after I evolved, and she took it out on me and then convinced my former master to trade me away. You don't look like you have any reason to be envious of little, humble me.”
Constance returned the exact same smile. “I don't know. Maybe I'll have to get you alone some time to see for sure.”
Vince quirked an eyebrow at the two. “What's going on?”
“I want to train with her.” Constance stated. When Vince's eyebrow's went up her smile widened. “Yeah, that training. She looks like she'd be fun. Anyway, our master's name is Vince, and he doesn't mind if you call him by his name, Sir, or Master. I'm Constance, his alpha and Tick Tock, the Arachnae is Reshmi, the Officer Jenny is Verse, and the Combusticunt is Ava.” Hanako started squirming again so Vince put her on the ground. “And the Flowergirl 'kit is Hanako.”
Hanako stuck out a hand with her fingers stretched out in greeting. “Hi.”
The Belle Awesome squatted down so her head was level with the pokekit's as she mirrored the gesture. “Hi, Hanako.”
“What's your name?” The Belle Awesome looked to Vince to provide the answer to Hanako's question.
“Um, I'll get right on that. Constance, why don't you figure out what she can do in a fight?” His alpha nodded and lead the Belle Awesome away, resting her hand on the other pokegirl's lower back. Something seemed to have clicked between the two, though if it was the start of a rivalry or the meeting of kindred spirits he couldn't tell yet.
Bringing up the trusty database of names he used, he watched his newest pokegirl give low power demonstrations of all her attacks. When it came to her electric element techniques, the vegetation that was a part of her body glowed a bright purple, so much that the green was lost completely. The sparks and bolts of her attacks were the same color. It was rather striking, and Vince decided to pick a name based on that color.
He noticed Ava watching him as Reshmi lead Hanako inside to read a story and Verse followed the two of them. “Come here.” He motioned for the Combusticunt. She reluctantly complied. “You know why me and Constance are doing this, right?”
“Yes sir,” was the fire types' reply.
“So you know what you did wrong?”
“Yes sir...,” was all there was to her reply again.
“Good.” Vince nodded. “I'm sure it'll only be a couple weeks, it won't be that long. Why don't you go inside and read with Hanako? You haven't done any reading in a while.”
“I will, sir.” She lingered like she wanted to say more but then obeyed anyway.
Constance brought the Belle Awesome back over with a smile. “Vince?” She continued when she had his attention. “Turns out her former tamer didn't know half the techniques she could use as a Belle Awesome. She might be a match for any of us. Even if she isn't it won't take long at all to bring her up to speed.”
“That's great. Oh,” he turned to the electric plant 'girl, “I'm thinking your name will be Ione.”
“Thank you, master Vince.” She bowed her head to him.
“Alright then. I guess now we'll take care of getting you in the harem officially.”
“I look forward to it. One request though, Master.” Vince looked up from where he'd been registering her new name. “Could you include your alpha when you bring me in?” Constance and Ione shared another one of those smiles they seemed to be bringing out in each other.
-
Constance shoved her hat into Vince's hands as soon as the door was shut behind the three of them with the order of, “Officiate.”
“Wha-...?” He paused mid-thought to watch his Tick Tock pin the Belle Awesome against the wall and start to no less than ravish her. “Constance, what the fuck?”
The Tick Tock stopped when she couldn't manage to get Ione's tiny top up over her breasts. “How did you even get this on?”
“Practice.” Was her only reply as she removed her only piece of clothing with the sound of strained fabric and protesting stitches. The leaves that made up the Belle Awesome's natural skirt shifted to the sides and folded flat against her thighs, revealing that like her top, she wore no undergarments.
“We're having a sex battle.” Constance informed him as clothes flew off her body as well.
“Okay... Why, and you know I still have to tame her tonight, right?” But both of his pokegirls were focused on their 'match' and he was stuck being frustratingly horny watching his pokegirls tame each other while he 'officiated.' It would have helped in his duties if he knew what the heck the rules of a sex match were.
There was a soft knock at the door and since he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing as an officiator, he cracked it open to see who it was. Reshmi peeked at him through the crack on the other side of the door. She looked a little panicked and needy. “Oh God, the bond. I almost jumped Verse in the middle of the living room. Tame me, now.”
The Arachnae quickly slipped in as he opened the door wider for her. She didn't have to tell him twice.
Tuesday, September 26th 302AS
9:53
Isis, Jade Islands League
Vince went up to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water as he mentally went through the events of the previous night trying to figure out if he'd managed to tame his new pokegirl or not. Best that he could tell, he had. His endurance and recovery gifts let him be rested before the three of his 'girls, so he'd wait until they were awake to be sure.
On his way through the living room, he spotted Ava cuddled up with Hanako on the couch, the Combusticunt sleeping with the peacefully snoozing pokekit in her arms; a small blanket over both of them. Verse was sleeping in a sitting position in another chair in the room.
Aiden was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee while watching a video on a handheld screen. “Hey, have you seen this?”
“What is it?”
Aiden handed him the electronic device. “It's that pokegirl that attacked the docks. People sure are getting worked up over nothing. She really can't fight at all from what I've seen. She doesn't have the training of a domestic or the natural ferocity of a feral. I almost want to bet she's a threshold, but I have no idea why a threshold girl would attack the docks.”
Vince's mind ground into motion and after a few turning of the gears, “What if she was being smuggled in for someone doing illegal tests on people with a lot of pokegirl genes?”
“...And went through threshold on the way? That seems a little far fetched though. Who's to say there's a crack pot doing tests like that?”
“I was almost one of his tests. It's why I lost my Flirt and Hana got mind wiped. It was in Wadjet and he got away to somewhere else before the league showed up.”
Aiden folded his fingers and looked thoughtful for a moment. “And what makes you think someone would be smuggling girls like that in?”
“I heard from some of my friends still on the force that there's a human trafficking ring based in the city, most likely.” They both looked up at Verse as she entered the kitchen. She smiled at them both. “I smelled coffee.”
Aiden gestured with his mug. “Help yourself. So, if there is a good chance that what's going on is what you two think, what are we going to do about it?”
Verse stood stirring a lot of milk and sugar into her coffee. “We should notify the police about our conclusion. They may have also figured it out but it can't hurt to let them know.”
“I'd rather go check it out myself.” Vince said. “I'm sure we're right and this will be a little bit of payback. It's not illegal to do that, is it?” The question was in response to the look Verse was giving him.
“Not... really... Because they're authorized to go after bounties, tamers can also go after any known criminals. It's not always advisable, and we're not sure, we just have a strong hunch.”
“Then we go check it out to make sure we're right. Don't want to waste the police's time if we're wrong, do we?”
Verse kept stirring her coffee before taking a sip and setting the cup on the counter. “I suppose... But make sure I'm out and with you the entire time so I can tell you if you're crossing a line. You can't meet me again if you get arrested anyway.” When Vince smiled at her joke she smiled back.
-
Tuesday, September 26th 302AS
22:30
Isis, Jade Islands League
“Wink doesn't sense anyone nearby, let's get this shipment to our guys here so they can get them to the client.”
That was the words of one of the crew of the ship. It wasn't there earlier in the day when Vince and Aiden went to the docks to investigate, but someone had been helpful and told them when it'd be coming in tonight. Now Vince and Aiden were hiding nearby, with their full harems on their belt with the exception of Ayn and Verse. Vince was wondering who Wink was, obviously some kind of pokegirl but if she could sense people, then why hadn't she sensed them?
She hasn't detected our presence because I'm in her mind blocking her perception of us. She is merely an A-bra. The answer came from Ayn's telepathic communication. It is as you suspected, this crew has been smuggling in human girls that are a high risk of threshold. They don't know who the client is and I'd have to dig too deep to know where they got them from. I strongly doubt it was through legal means though.
Aiden nodded to the other three, and Ayn broadcast the plans via her telepathy. Now that we've confirmed they are criminals, the next thing to do is take them down. There are four humans and each has a pokegirl out. There could also be dark type pokegirls, but none of them have any thoughts concerning a dark type so I'm doubtful that's the case. Aiden will release Shannon and she will put the crew and their pokegirls to sleep at the soonest opportunity. Then we will secure the human females on the ship and call the police. Vince, you and your harem will be staying off the ship to make sure no one unexpected arrives. Call for help if you need it. The Alaka-Wham looked at Verse with a hint of amusement. You're the Officer Jenny. Shouldn't you know if reading surface thoughts is legal or not? Well if you can't remember reading anything about it then there must not be laws concerning it. Any other concerns?
No one spoke, or thought, up. Alright then. Aiden tossed a blanket over his arm, and underneath the edges skirting the ground there was a red flash. He pulled the blanket away and his Archmage stood ready. Vince was impressed at the idea, and made a mental note to get his 'girls used to the idea of it in case they had to be released at night when the light of the capture beam would risk giving them away.
Another one of the crew's voice could be heard from on the boat. “Damn this sure sucks. Whoever this guy is makes it a pain in the ass to do business. What's the point in grabbing human girls if they're just a bunch of boomers anyway? We could just ball 'em and carry them in a sack.”
“Shut up and be ready in case another one's a pokegirl by now. One always seems to threshold during the trip. There was a creaking of a hinge and the slap of light weight metal against metal. Confused yelling was shouted out by a few of the crew. “What the fuck?! It's empty!” “Where the hell did they go?”
One voice that seemed to be the one in charge raised to be heard over the other two. “You dimwits. It's an illusion. You're telling me you can't see through it? You! Pokegirl, get out of-” Shannon teleported away, and there was the sound of bodies slumping to the deck of the ship as she cast Hypnotic Gaze on everyone on the boat. Ayn grabbed Aiden and teleported with him, while Vince and Verse moved quickly to a point where they could intercept any potential trouble.
And trouble did make its way towards them. Apparently there was a fifth crew member that just happened to be wandering back to the boat at that time. When he saw an unknown tamer and, more importantly, an Officer Jenny he grabbed a pokeball off his belt and released the 'girl inside. Vince never got a chance to identify her because Verse slammed into the girl and sent her sprawling into the water. Vince grabbed the arm that the crewman had released the girl with and twisted it around behind his back. The sudden pain of getting his arm wrenched caused him to drop the pokeball, which Vince caught and used to recall the pokegirl he could hear but not see spluttering in the surf.
“Ah! Take it easy man, you're breaking my arm!”
Vince twisted the arm just a little further just to prove that, no, he wasn't. “Verse, get his belt and put this back on it.” He handed the ball to his Officer Jenny the pokeball and then shoved his prisoner to the boat. Aiden was looking over the sleeping 'cargo' while all of his harem save Ashley were watching over the slumbering crew. The fifth man Vince dealt with fell under hypnosis too.
“What were they freaking out about before Shannon put them to sleep?”
Aiden pointed inside the cargo area towards a silver haired, green skinned pokegirl. “One of the girls must have become a Moonflower in transit, like the 'girl that wound up on the news. She must have been able to throw together an illusion to try to fool them and escape. But good work.” Aiden nodded. “I'll take Comfort and Nanna and watch the docks. You're the ambitious young tamer, you call in the report of what went down.”
The older man with light brown hair jumped down onto the docks, the two pokegirls he named going with him. Vince unclipped his pokedex from his belt and handed it to Verse. “And you're the police 'girl. You mind making the call?” Verse shook her head as she started punching in the number.