Author Note
Welcome to Book Three.
It's time for Battle City, an event full of action, sexy girls, intrigue, growing responsibilities and new characters.
Team Gothic will have their hands full during this new tournament as an unknown enemy seeks to destroy them, and a mysterious stranger is out to win the championship by an means necessary.
Also people will be playing Duel Monsters.
Tamer Gothic – Book Three – Battle City
Lucky 38 Casino – Thrill Town
After making my way up to the top floor of The Lucky 38 Casino I was once more drinking expensive coffee, that had been served by Mr House's sex slaves, while I sat before a large screen. The owner of the casino and I were spending some time catching up. Judging by the files on his desk, we had a lot to talk about and I was wishing we didn't. I just wanted to sleep.
To start with he had wanted to discuss the adventures I'd had since our last meeting. House had been keeping track Team Gothic, the only time he had lost track of me personally was when Thomas and I had gone down into the Underdark.
That was a place House had some interest in, as he knew little about the Dark Elf city and after some talking I was able to assure Mr. House that everything was okay. Not only was impressed that Thomas and I been able to stabilise the city, he was also pleased that an army of Drow wouldn't be running around the Kanto Region taking spoils and slaves.
House then brought up footage of my allies to show me what they were currently doing. By the looks of things Jayden and Gary were out gambling, as one does when in they are in Thrill Town.
Mr. House pointed out the difference between the two. Jayden was playing cards and losing, but what he didn't realize was how much he was spending because he won a big hand every now and again. Yet overall he was losing money.
I imagined that Mr. House loved these types of gamblers especially when they came from well off families.
Gary in comparison could see when he was losing and would leave the game to find something with better odds. Which meant that he knew when to hold them and when to fold them. I was encouraged by this as it meant my friend wasn't letting his pride get in the way so much these days.
Mr. House then told me he planned to reward Gary with a Pokegirl during some later game of chance. He justified it by saying that such intelligence needed to be rewarded, and that other gamblers seeing someone winning such a prize would make them think they could also win.
Last of all there was Nikita who was off watching the live performance, which tonight was a stand up comedian. She was sitting at a table, and was soon joined by my other two girlfriends. They weren't tempted to gamble, and were just taking fun while hanging out together.
Thomas on the other hand had left the casino and was currently visiting the other side of town. Perhaps because he knew that gambling in Thrill Town meant there was a good chance of losing it all, not just your credits but your entire harem. For some reason Tom was in what passed for the slums, the place where the minimal wage people had to live when they aren't working the undesirable jobs, the area was rather nice when compared to places I'd seen in my world because Mr House took care of his people but still it was dangerous so I had to wonder why my buddy was there.
"Gary, Nikita, and Jayden all have family legacies to live up to and have above average chances of being successful" House was now saying "But unlike you they also have safety nets to fall back on should they fail. Gary could become a researcher like his grandfather, as for Nikita and Jayden they can simply go back to working on their family ranch".
As for me I had nothing to return to should I fail, other than May who had already invested enough in me, and that was the point was trying to make as we discussed my friends. Even Thomas had his job as Hunter should he decided not to enter any more contests.
House was trying to tell me that I needed something to fall back on should my career come to an end. Right now I was famous and wealthy, but that could change. It was time that I found myself a good accountant and that I made some wise investments. Perhaps I could even get myself whatever Tamers had as talent agents in order to get more work.
"Misty Waters is a gym leader" House then said "And as such she has already achieved success".
In fact she had everything I was working towards. She was a Harem-Master, a League champion, she owned a gym. She had made enough money to be able to retire at the age of twenty-three, and while her family money had funded her while she was Taming she was indecently wealthy. Which didn't stop her from getting to my pay for things, but I didn't mind as it meant she would have more for the baby.
"As for Amy Pond, she does not exist" the owner of this place said as I shifted in my seat.
I knew I had to handle this carefully as if Illyria was exposed then everything could fall apart.
"My conclusion is that she is a pokegirl" House said next "And that you for some reason unknown to me desire that everyone think she is human. I only wish to know one thing: Would revealing the truth endanger the stability of the Crimson League?".
The answer was simple.
"Yes" I told the powerful man.
House nodded, then he shuffled some papers on his desk, before changing the subject. This surprised me, but I kept my mouth shut as I didn't want to talk about Illyria unless I really had to.
"You're friend Thomas concerns me far more than Amy Pond" House then said "I suspect he is a sleeper agent. There are factions out there that use Tamers with strong Blood Gifts as tools in their wars".
My first instinct was to rush to my friend's defence, but I was able to keep calm and look at things rationally. Tom did have a big chunk of his life missing, and someone who didn't know he was a spy was very difficult to expose. It made a chilling kind of sense.
"Given his Blood Gifts and Curse, I believe that he is from the Sanctuary" House then old me "It would explain the attention he receives from them".
I didn't know much about the Sanctuary Goths as they were a secretive group and most information on them was classified. However I did know that they had tried to grab Thomas in the past, and they had tried to kill me, but I did keep being a pain in their ass. In fact it was possible that the Sanctuary Goths were the ones spying on me.
"A less well known fact about Sancutary is that not all the Goths hate males" the casino owner then informed me "Nor do they want them destroyed, they just prefer to have power over them".
In essence they wanted role reversal, and they had been willing to become terrorists in order to get it. That also explained why they wanted me. A powerful Tamer such as myself would make a great agent for them.
"I can track his travels from the point he was first arrested in a town he register to become a Tamer in, but no further back" House said to me as the screen changed to show a map.
Mapping Thomas's travels was really easy as Tom had a habit of getting into trouble. Also according to House my buddy had become a Hunter because of the fact that a lot of his arrests were due to him stopping the abuse of Pokegirls. Hunters had a lot more authority when it came to protecting people and pokes than normal Tamers did.
Some examples of Tom's work as a Hunter were also displayed. The highlights were.
A Grass Pokegirl that been spreading poison spores was soaked in high grade alcohol, set on fire, and burned to death.
A Water Pokegirl taking over a public fountain, was electrocuted to death.
An Electric Pokegirl stealing city power being taken out with fire hose.
"This pattern goes on right up until Thomas meet with you and there is an immediate decline in deaths" House added "Mostly because the reports centre around you".
I was getting a stress induced headache by this point.
"So Tom is not only a possible sociopath and/or psychopath he might also be a ticking time bomb" I summarised.
This was not of the good.
"I have another piece of information to share with you" House the said "I am not the only one spying on you".
One of House's sex slave presented with a load of files, that were full of numbers, and my headache got worse.
"Let's start with page one of one hundred" House said.
I was going to need some aspirin.
(Line Break)
The Lucky 38 Casino – Thrill Town
My return to Thrill Town had not been as joyful as I had expected.
The good news was that I was now living it up in penthouse suit near the top of the casino, having been moved up a few floors due to being Mr House's right hand man for the duration of Battle City. Also I was something of a celebrity around these parts if only because a lot of people had bet money on me becoming the Shadow Lord.
Sadly as it turned out all this attention was a bad thing because now it seemed like a group of people were after me. There was proof, however it was nothing I could go to with the police, but Mr House had agents all over the League and beyond. His loyal spies knew how to divide rumour from cold hard facts.
To me it all looked like numbers on the screen, because it was all just numbers, and none of the pokes in my harem were good with this sort of thing so I had invited Thomas to my room so he could have a look at all this information. Being a paranoid bastard I figured he would see the conspiracy that I could not.
Also Misty was here as she hadn't been given a room at the casino, as like me she wasn't competing in the tournament. However unlike me she wasn't here to judge anything so Mr House hadn't made arrangements for her. Not that I minded as if there was danger around then I wanted my baby's Momma close to me.
The rest of Team Gothic did have nice rooms here as Mister House had plenty of space to spare since he was keeping his friends in a fancy new apartment block across the road from the Lucky 38 casino.
At first that had seemed odd to me as the owner of the casino liked to keep his allies close at hand, but this small city was growing and it made sense that a fancy new state of the art building would attract so many powerful and rich people. Heck even I was tempted to check the place out as it had a pool, but the casino had much better security so I was staying here.
"I don't get it either" admitted Tom as he rubbed his eyes "It's all just electronic transfers, there's no context to any of it".
Sometimes Thomas and I seemed to be very different people. He kept out of sight, he was anti-social and he was a dedicated hunter, as well as a possible Sleeper Agent. I on the other hand was in the public eye a lot. I had lots of friends. I was rich too and I didn't take my duties as a member of the Hunter's Guild that seriously.
Then there were times like this, when we were both confused by what was going on around us and neither of us had any idea what to do next because we simply weren't smart enough to figure these things out. This was when we were very alike.
"So what did House say this all meant" Thomas then asked me.
I really wasn't sure because while my current employer was clearly a mathematical genius I was not.
"That someone, or more likely a group of people have been paying other people to follow me around" I explained "All the payments have gone to accounts that were emptied at places I've been to" I told Tom "At the times I was at those places".
At least that was what he had told me was going on.
"Which means I'm being followed" I added "And whoever is behind this is either rich or being funded by an entire group".
Knowing that didn't help much as there were plenty of organisations out there that had a reason to keep an eye on me. I'd hurt Team Rocket so they might be planning something even if revenge hits weren't their style. Also when I had become to Shadow Lord I'd risen up the ranks of Tamers very quickly, and the job was more political the higher up the ladder a person got. So I might have rivals with resources far greater than mine.
"You know I think its May"
Misty had said that upon entering the room and sitting down on the comfy couch. I didn't mind her hanging around Thomas, as she wasn't effected by his Blood Curse having nearly Thresholded into a pokegirl.
What I did mind was that she was only wearing a towel. One that looked like it was barely holding together. Not that I minded too much as Tom didn't have much interest in human girls, for understandable reasons, and Misty was doing her nude photo shoot tomorrow so lots of people would see her naked soon. I was still against the idea, but I couldn't bring myself to forbid it as it was her last chance to do something crazy before she had to go home and raise a baby.
"You think my wife is paying people to spy on me?" I asked.
I found that hard to believe as May just didn't strike me as the type of person who would hire agents. However she did see our marriage as a business relationship and me as investment, so it was possible she had someone keeping an eye on me.
"You could be right" I said to my girlfriend "But this feels more sinister and May could just call me to find out what I'm doing".
It was also possible that Sexibi was behind this. I didn't fully understand her powers, so she might not be able to watch over me herself. Perhaps she could have gone back in time and set up a spy network to keep tabs on me, but again my gut was telling it wasn't that innocent.
"It was just an idea" Misty replied "but I do think you are being followed. Remember when you wanted some of my panties during the scavenger hunt back on the islands, and the pair you took off me just vanished?".
That I did recall.
"What if some invisible person or pokegirl took them not because they wanted to sabotage you, but because they just wanted my sexy underwear" Misty then reasoned "It would have been a big lapse in judgement for a spy but even smartest people make mistakes"
At the time I'd figured it was some perv, but thinking back it was rather odd even for this world. She might be on to something.
"Did anyone try to get close to you when I wasn't around?" Tom inquired "Someone harmless looking".
In fact there had been someone, and I had hooked with her despite my friends warning to keep people I didn't know at a distance.
"There was a Tamer called Summer" I told them "We had a sex battle and then went to her room. I didn't think she was a spy".
She'd seemed like a normal person, but now it seemed odd that a pure blood girl had been by herself. They didn't often become Tamers, and they were far less likely to sleep around that other girls because they didn't want to breed with men who had strong pokegirl genes.
"Bugger" I muttered "She used sex to get close to me, she didn't do anything bad but I bet she was reporting to someone".
We hadn't talked enough for her to get any information from me, however she could have just been a distraction. We'd gone to her room, so someone else might have gone to my room while I was distracted.
"This is what happens when you don't have a girlfriend who knows how to drain your balls" Misty said as she flipped through a magazine "You get too full of testosterone, then you end up thinking with your dick and not your brain. You need to have sex at least three times a day, maybe four if I'm not too tired".
That sounded like very strange thinking at first, but Misty wasn't being that strange. In this world there was no guilt or shame attached to sex. It was open, safe and perfectly acceptable for everyone to enjoy as long as children weren't subjected to it. Being so liberated Misty would naturally see things differently than a woman who had grown in my world were sex was sometimes seen as dirty and could have consequences, like STDs.
"You're a man it's normal for you want to spread your seed" Misty went on to say "but you need to be more careful your getting more famous now and I know a few Tamers who aren't afraid to jump into bed with a guy so they can use them to help advance their own careers".
I'd grown up a liberal household and had known girls who didn't see sex as shameful, but still they would never have thought along those lines. They would have seen my actions as those of a pig rather than of a guy who just wanted to experience the pleasures this strange world had to offer. Misty was a odd duck for sure.
"Okay let's get back to the spy situation" Tom then suggested "I can keep an eye out while your doing your celebrity stuff, but you need to think about your safety. To start with I suggest keeping some of your pokes with you at all times. Raven can teleport you out of danger and Daphne's powers are good for shielding you from danger".
My Nightmare pokegirl could cover a person in darkness, and while that wouldn't actually stop an attack it was very hard to hit what you couldn't see. That combined with Raven's magical shields and teleporting it would be very good defence.
"Callisto could destroy nearly anyone sent to you kill, but you don't want collateral damage" Thomas was now saying "So I think that Kira should be with you if go out at night. She's sneaky and she knows how sneaky people think".
Again that made good sense.
"Anything else" I then inquired.
I was trying not to yawn. It had a been a long day with a long meeting with Mr House to go over arrangements for Battle City and much more. Thankfully there wasn't much I was expected to do as I while I was judging the finals and semi-finals, which would be held in a location even I didn't know about yet, my job until them would involve simply being around. I also had to open the tournament, but that wasn't a concern yet as the games wouldn't begin until after Halloween.
"You want some coffee, honey?" Misty asked me "I put some on it should be ready by now".
I couldn't recall the Gym Leader ever calling me honey before, but I put it down to the hormones and to the fact that we would be living together like a couple for the foreseeable future.
"Please" I said.
Misty didn't get up right away.
"Please what?" she asked.
I thought fast.
"Please, sweetie" was my answer.
That seemed to make her happy and she went off to the kitchen, and as she did I watched her leave. She was super sexy even with her hair wrapped up in a towel.
"Gothic!" someone then called out.
Thomas clicked his fingers to get my attention and when I snapped back to reality and focused on the business at hand.
"Sorry" I said "She has that effect on me".
I couldn't tell what it was that made Misty so appealing, but I liked it and she seemed to enjoying her role as girlfriend. We were both happy.
"Someone has applied to join Team Gothic" Thomas informed me "And I think we should take him".
Given that we'd just been talking about spies I found it weird that Tom of all people would say such a thing.
"What if he's a spy?" I asked.
Tom shook his head and that made me realise how long his hair had grown since I'd known him.
"I don't think he's a spy" the Hunter told me "But if he is then, and we can catch him the act then we can find out more about what is going on".
Risky, however since we had next to no information it might be worth while, and if someone as careful as Tom didn't think this Tamer was a spy then I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"His name is Forest Kyder and he's 16 years old" I was informed.
Before my buddy could say anything else Misty returned with coffee for me and Tom. I didn't know if she'd offered him any or just assumed he'd wanted some, because my mind had been elsewhere.
"Whose Forest Kyder?" she asked "I don't know that family name".
Certain families in the Crimson League were like nobles in that controlled a lot of land and properties, my wife was one such person she just didn't care much about her ancestry, but she was different than other Pure Bloods in many ways.
Then were the likes of Mr House who pretty much owned entire settlements. Misty's family, despite not being pure blood, were important as they owned an entire lake, a gym, and a very successful ranch, so she knew the families who co-existed with hers in those higher social circles. Thankfully she was no snob.
"His file doesn't mention any famous or important relatives" Thomas informed us "And that's partly why I don't think he's a spy. He's not connected to anyone outside his own village".
I didn't care much about his social standing. If this Forest guy wanted into Team Gothic then he needed to have skills that would be useful.
"He has blonde hair, green eyes and he's 5ft 7in" Tom then told us "I've already met with him and he didn't react badly so that confirms he has lots of pokes in his family tree".
Also it told us that he had some strong Blood Gifts or even Blood Curses.
"I checked his school records" Thomas told me "According to most of his teachers, Forest is a good person in general, but he's been known to fight to protect his friends".
Which for us was a bonus as a Team like ours needed people who stand up for each other.
"According to his records he acts brash around strangers, but he is more subdued around people he knows" Tom went on to say "He also has a habit of acting hostile towards people who are super competitive, or who act like they're better than everybody else".
If this was true then Jayden might annoy Forest as Nikita's brother was competitive and arrogant, but for all his faults Jayden was loyal and talented so keeping him around was worth while.
"As for Blood gifts: To start with he has Fireborne: that gives him EXTREME heat tolerance, as in, he can jump into a bonfire and come back without a single burn, this has been tested".
Which meant that Forest, despite having a name which suggested plant types in his family tree, was in fact descended from fire types.
"Retarded Luck: which is a two edged sword. Put simply it means Forest can find good things, like say a rare pokegirl, but bad things tend to happen to him as well" Tom told us "Like being chased by that rare pokegirl all the way home who then got caught by another Tamer who paid him for the girl. That actually happened".
It would be interesting to see how his Luck Blood Gift would work along side mine. Perhaps I would lessen the bad things.
"He's also got Fire Affinity" the Hunter said.
Which meant he would work best with fire type pokegirls.
"As for Blood Curses he has Combustion which makes it so that Forest will explode if he gets too stressed out, however, he has a variation called Fester, which means that the explosions don't kill him.
That I had to ask about.
"He explodes?" I questioned "Why would we want a guy who can blow up on our team. He could kill us all".
This time it was Misty who explained.
"He doesn't explode like a bomb" she told me "It more like fire comes out of him and that destroys everything around him. Some people with the curse have died from it, but there a few who have survived it. But don't worry he'd have to be in mortal danger to trigger it. It's only called a curse because other people can get hurt by it, and because it can't be controlled".
So as long as I didn't pull a gun and try to shoot him, it was unlikely he'd hurt us.
"Hydrophobia" was what Tom said next "This makes him extremely uncomfortable when he's wet, to the point of feeling pain. Which means we shouldn't go swimming with him".
In my world hydrophobia would mean he had a fear of water.
"I got this from his Tamerbook profile" Tom told us before reading outloud "Forest never really wanted to become a Tamer, but when his friend Layla, who was the only person in his village that shared his passion for Duel Monsters, thresholded into a Damsel, she soon became a Duel Damsel".
I had no idea what a Duel Damsel was, but this was no time to look it up.
"He's decided to become a breeder after being a Tamer" I was then informed "This is because of the lack of 'girls in some small villages he's been to, he wants to become a travelling Breeder to help supply villages like his own with Starter Pokegirls".
Well that seemed like a goal I could support. But it would be an easy as in order to ensure that more villages had start girls, more Pokecenters would have to built. That would require funding.
"I guess I could met him" I decided.
Then I yawned big time.
"But for now I am going to bed" I told Tom.
He took that to mean 'get out' and soon left.
"I need to sleep too" said Misty "I need to be rest for my shoot tomorrow, and you must have something to do tomorrow".
As a matter of fact I did, and hopefully it wouldn't be dull. Not that I ever really needed to worry about that.
"If you want me to jerk you off before you got to sleep then you better get to bed now" Misty told me "And I do mean now, mister".
Normally it would have been offputting to have someone to tell me it was bedtime, but a handjob did sound relaxing so I headed off to the bedroom without delay.