"So you're saying that without this particular root you won't be able to complete the ritual that can change me into a drow?" asked Ru to the Drow Archmage.
The dark-skinned female tilted her head. "I did just say that, yes..? At any rate, it's a fairly rare plant back on our homeworld. I've yet to see a single sample of it here on this one."
The nominally and possibly only good, or at least neutral, aligned drider in existence sighed wearily. "So.. I may be cursed to stay in this form for years uncountable.."
Alanera nodded. "This is true. However, there are a few other options, none of which you may enjoy."
"Oh..?" he asked with a hopefully and curious tone.
"Yes.. there's prayer and hope that the dark maiden will hear you.." said the drowess, drawing a momentary eyebrow quirk from the half spider creature.
"Hmm.. no? Well.. there's always the reincarnation spell.. though we'd have to kill you first..?" she suggested, with a hint of sarcasm.
Ru just stared at her.
"Fine...we could just go ahead with the ritual, and hope that you turn into an elf of a racial type that will be to your liking. Without the root, there's no way to guarantee you'll regain your Drow-hood." she said finally.
He nodded, "How about being male..?"
"That's taken care of easily enough with a change sex curse. Though, if you need that cast upon you, we want you to keep it quiet. The last thing we need is for the league to find out that several of us can turn a male to a female, and the reverse." said Alanera.
"You have my word to silence."
-----
Chapter 14: Knight in a day
----
Scott sighed lightly as he looked at the online price guide for the T2's he was interested in. After he'd been revived this morning he'd checked on his girls, found that they were largely alright if a bit shooken up by the near fatal battle. Then he'd set about doing what he could to find an edge.
His team needed one. They couldn't rely on the senshi transformations to bring thing victory as even Sailor Moon's attack had proven largely ineffective by itself. That youma had nearly killed them.
Hell, it 'had' killed eleven people via energy drain. Something normally not possible. Sadly, the constant drain effect had weakened them to the points that various organs had massive failure and ceased to function.
Henry the douche bag tamer, was now wanted on multiple counts of murder in the first degree, along with destruction of public property, and subversion of league governance. In short, if he ever was found he'd be lucky to survive long enough to make it to trial.
The league had posted a hundred thousand credit bounty on him dead or alive.
Scott knew the truth though. Henry for all his jerk relatedness was just as much a victim in all likelihood as the poor bastards caught in that attack.
The youma he had used nearly escaped as well, once she came around. Apparently Jupiter's attack had only knocked it out for a considerable amount of time. Luckily though a league strike force had been sent in via emergency teleport just prior to her coming around, and the high level team had contained the creature. Currently, it was being studied as to its genetic makeup and creation.
None of this mattered all that much beyond curiousity to the man as he sifted through online stores and auction sites. His team needed training.
He was saddened to see the prices of the T2's he most wanted to find. The cheapest premium heart T2 on sale, for instance, was well over the quarter of a million credit mark. The next cheapest was twice that price. With his thirty thousand or so credits he was sorely lacking in funds to purchase much.
He refreshed the page that was showing them for sale and then muttered to himself. Both items both had 'sold' tags under them now. They'd been up for roughly ten minutes before some lucky bastard bought them.
Scott hadn't expected that particular skill to come cheap or easy anyway. It was almost as rare here as it was supposedly in the pokegirl world written about back home.
For now, he'd have to go to work with his girls, and train them between missions. This sadly also meant that he'd possibly end up having to give up the adventurers guild all together, and become a regular tamer.
The three limit rule he still operated under would not allow him the freedom to gain more team mates he needed. Sure, they could give him special 'dispensation' but that was only for individual missions or so he thought.
'My girls..' thought Scott, momentarily blanching that he considered them as his, 'Need to get some advanced training. Their regular skills are very good for their levels, but what we need is elemental attacks and a decent magic user.'
"Hmm.. Serena, might be able to use magic since she's a magic and flying type. I know her.. other self has the strongest overall senshi ability too." said the man to himself. Of course whether the sweet, but so very flaky, girl can learn to cast spells is another question entirely.
Being a creature who needed magic as part of her life didn't necessarily mean she'd be good at learning to use it effectively.
The logistics problems and tactical issues came in when he tried to determine a way the girls could work as a team. Obviously they'd need to learn how to combine their powers when facing youma as strong as the last one.
Scott continued musing on how best to help the girls grow when a knock on the door startled him. He sighed lightly hoping that it wasn't yet another league investigator trying to get him to tell them something new.
Upon opening the door he found himself facing Analise. The irate look in her eyes told him that he might be in some sort of trouble. She was seriously giving off a kind of pissed off vibe.
"Uh.. hey P-chan..what's.." he began, but was cut short a moment later as she said, "Come to the training room. We need to discuss something."
Scott, didn't particularly like her commanding tone, but nevertheless he went along with the dimensionally displaced dark elf in human form.
They walked silently down the halls of the pokecenter until they entered training room three. Once inside she pressed the button that marked the room as, 'in use' and then turned to him.
"Um.." began Scott, but the irate professor raised on hand and shook her head.
She then pointed down the training area to a target dummy already set up. "If you would be so kind as to use the spell you never bothered to tell me about learning on that dummy down there so I can scan you, I would be ever so grateful."
Scott groaned lightly and finally knew a bit of what pissed her off so much. He hadn't kept her in the loop on his progress, an he'd promised to do so.
"Sure.. though it really takes it out of me.." he said.
The female professor nodded and then crossed her arms. "Well.. get on with it, everything's set up. You just need to go stand in the red square there so the system can scan you, then use that attack of yours."
The man feeling a strange creepy pissed off girlfriend kind of vibe from the woman nodded mutely and did as she asked. Best to go along with her right now as she owned the place he lived at between missions. Plus there was the whole, his word is his bond thing he likes to maintain.
Scott took up a relaxed position in the square, his hairy legs feeling a slight chill since all he was wearing was a wife beater style t-shirt, and a pair of boxer's.
Analise wandered over to a control panel on the side of the room and then pressed a few keys.
A moment later a light green column of light shined at him from the floor underneath, and a distinctly mechanical voice said, "Subject scan complete. Compiling data."
"Alright, let's see what we have here..." began the woman before her eyes widened almost comically. "Are you kidding me?! You've progressed this much and didn't tell me!"
The man blinked at her and shrugged, "I'm not sure what you're talking about.. I mean.. I was unconscious most of the last two months after all."
Professor Analise turned to look at him with a slightly less irritated glare. 'True.. it's not entirely his fault that he hasn't kept me updated... He's usually been very good about that sort of thing.'
"Well, come see for yourself then." she said.
Scott walked over and looked at the screen.
-----
Scott
Human: No pokegirl Dna found
Journeyman Grade Soldier of the Adventurer's Guild
Age:28
Level: 5
Experience:N/A
Experience to next level: N/A
Type: N/A
Element: N/A
Frequency: Unique
Diet: human diet
Role: Swordsman, Front-line Fighter, Team Leader
Libido: N/A
Strong Vs: Normal, Psychic, Magic
Weak Vs: Ghost, Dark
Abilities: Swordsmanship Lv. 9 (Intermediate) Hand to Hand Lv. 4 (basic), Black Band Magic Lv. 7 (Intermediate) White Band Magic lv. 14 (intermediate) Elemental band Magic lv. 3 (basic) Regeneration lv 3 (basic)
Attributes
Hp:42
Chi:57
Mp:64
Psi:27
Attack rating: 24
Defense rating: 38
Strength:19
Agility:16
Endurance:18
Speed:16
Intelligence:19
Wisdom:17
Will:19
Charisma:18
Current Attacks: (Still registering)
Enhancements: N/A
Evolves: N/A
Evolves From: N/A
Equipment:Cotton T-shirt (Size large), Cotton blend briefs (Decoration entitled, Crescent Moon Surprise, via the tag.)
A human male. No pokegirl Dna detected. He stands Approximately 5' 11". He has light brown hair, light brown eyes, and two noticeable scars. Scar number one is a small circular indentation at his right temple. Scar number two, a series of small gouges roughly one inch in total length and a quarter inch in width, is located on his stomach's left side center.
---
Scott took a moment to stare at these figures and tried to make heads or tails of them. There was no way he had gotten that much stronger overall since his last scan at the institute.
"Wait.. wait.. this can't be right.. my attack and defense rating are that high? I'm nearly naked!" he exclaimed in shock. While the numbers in and of themselves were abyssmally low compared to even Minako's current statistics, they were much higher than they should have been.
Hell his NATURAL body defensive ability rated higher than his armor! This machine had to be buggy as hell. His skin did not stop sword strikes or hard blunt trauma nearly as well as his armor. In fact, they tended to render him into a battered heap.
"I'll run a diagnostic check but.. apparently it's true." stated the woman. She was a little concerned about his rating too. "Though I must point out, that your defense and attack rating include things like tendon strength, as well as attribute scores. So it's a reflection on total ability to avoid or absorb damage, unlike say a suit of armor."
Scott nodded. That did freak him out slightly less. For a moment though he'd day dreamed about what it would have been like to have nearly four times the defensive strength as his cerametal armor.
"My attack rating..?" he asked quietly.
The woman finished running the diagnostic check. All systems seemed nominal. "Is your raw damage potential based on your physical fighting skills. Right now it's a reflection of your hand to hand ability."
"But.. i'm nearly as attack capable as Minako was at level one.. Heck I'm bordering on three times her initial level of defense.." said the man slowly, as though speaking to someone who didn't understand the scan far better than him.
"Yes, that is what the system is saying. You're apparently the rough physical equivalent of a defensive fighting type pokegirl with no enhanced attributes, at around level one or two." stated the woman with a bit of awe. Sure, it was really saying all that much. Her own stats were far and away higher than this, but of course she'd been a sword swinging adventurer for many centuries before she took up the life of a researcher.
On her world of origin there were many humans, elves, dwarves that would easily outstrip these abilities. However, they'd been fighting all their lives. The young man before her had only been at it for around six or seven months. Though, he had been a soldier in his homeland for a short time. He had the equivalent of three or four years total of training experience due to those factors plus the accelerated training regime she'd put him through.
That still wouldn't account for this though. A blood gifted human, definitely could have this. Hell, they'd probably have had this BEFORE training. A pure blood human who wasn't trained from birth though was an astonishing sight to see with statistics like these.
"My only hypothesis on this would have to do with that minor bio-regenerative upgrade you have. It's causing you to progress much faster than the average pure blood human." stated the woman.
"Oh.. because it forces my body to heal faster, clear toxins and all that?" he asked, guessing at her meaning.
"Pretty much what I was thinking. In a way it's like you have a minor pseudo-blood gift. For all intents and purposes.
"Hmm.." said Scott, while he tried to comprehend all that he'd just taken in. It would definitely explain why he'd been surviving these fights he had gotten in.
"Any clue why I seem to be immune to energy draining attacks?" he asked.
"Well, since for some absurd reason you seem to have type advantages and disadvantages.. i'd say it has something to do with that." said the woman, as she tried to wrap her head around that tidbit of knowledge. The scanner didn't really base such things on genetics so much as skill-sets and random tidbits of cell memory.
Except in the case of elemental attributes in the body, it was usually more of a mental thing and skills acquired that determined why a pokegirl was weak or strong to certain types of pokegirls. All of that typing was based on the bare minimum capacities anyway.
She'd heard of plenty of times where a psychic type had managed to use a psychic attack on a dark type. Training won out over type advantage unless of course the one with the advantage had equivalent levels of training. Then it' more determination.
"Yeah, but it says i'm weak to Dark and Ghost types.. so how does that equal me not being energy drainable?" he asked in confusion. If anything he should be absurdly easy to drain, not the opposite.
"I honestly can't tell you." she said, while chewing her bottom lip in an adorable manner. It really didn't make much sense.
Scott sighed. More and more questions. While he wasn't apparently superhuman or anything, he did have a few little perks that came with his arrival in this dimension.
"Anyway.. can we get back to the reason why we're here.. the spell?" she asked lightly.
The man snapped out of his mild daydream like trance and nodded to her. "Yeah, i'll give it a try. I'd like to know more about it anyway."
He wandered back over to the box and glanced at her. A moment later she nodded her head.
Scott took a deep breath and raised his hands. His various energies began surging and focusing on the task at hand as he began the vocal portion of the spell.
"Lay down your souls
to the gods' rock and roll!"
"BLACK METAL!" roared the man, as the dark energy formed and shot out of him with the force of a cannon. The wedge shaped energy raced across the training room to impact heavily into the target.
Scott staggered a little as he felt his strength leaving him, but somehow managed not to fall to his knees this time.
Analise widened her eyes once again comically at the data that came up on the screen. "How..?!"
Scott wobbled over to her to see what she was looking at and joined her in the comical eye widening.
"Attack power 145?" he asked her curiously. He had expected it to have at least a moderately high to high rating. He of course was right.
What had caused his eye widening was the information gathered beyond that fact. The spell seemed to have a separate effect besides raw damaging force. There was a moderate strength 'demi' style effect of gravitational force that could knock half the hit points out of a target.
The training dummy was designed to take the rough equivalent of a thousand hit points. Scott's little wedge of black energy had knocked around six hundred of those out. The demi effect having worked to cut those hit points in half before the destructive force of the attack hit fully.
"No wonder, you feel so tired afterwards. That spell utilizes more than just your magical energy." Said P-chan a moment later.
The man looked down and nodded. "It took a fourth of my chi, ten percent of my hit points, five percent of my psychic energy, and fifteen points of my magical energy? What the fuck..?"
"Geez, i'm killing myself everytime I use it." said the man uncomfortably.
"Only a little.. but this also would account for the sharp incline in your statistics. Taking all this out of you, while your regenerative capacity is working over time to try and restore the lost portions. Yes, yes. It makes sense." said the woman, as she finally put a piece to the puzzle.
"Hmm.. I feel weak and tired, but I didn't drop to my knees this time.. so..does that mean anything?" he asked.
"Well, apparently for a while as you use this spell it'll probably rapidly advance your capacities, but if the lessening weakness is any indication, then eventually you'll hit a plateau and the advancements will slow down greatly." said the professor, while she hit the save key. She'd want to have a hard copy of this as well as the download on her computer system back home.
Scott hmm'ed at this. While he didn't really like the idea of using black band mana as his energy source, the effects couldn't be denied. Right now, he had the most powerful attack of any member of his team outside their senshi forms. Of course, a few more levels of training and they'll easily outstrip him even without the transformations. Plus there was the whole part about where at absolute most he could use it four times before being so drained that he'd be hovering on the brink of life and death. At least that's what it had been.
Soon it might be, four times and then he can't use it again until he rests for a day or two. The only percent drains he saw was the hit point and psychic energy ones. The chi and mana drains will be less problematic with time and training.
For a time though, he'd remain viable in their fights, even if he was still the small squishy one.
A knock on the training room door caught their attention and professor Analise glanced at the window that popped up, showing the security camera footage of the door's assailant. "The guild leader of Oldtowne's Adventurer's guild?" she asked, easily recognizing the man from the random meetings she had to go to.
"Oh Aaron's here?" Scott asked curiously.
Analise blinked at him a moment wondering just when her charge had become acquainted with the guild leader to the extent that they were on a first name basis.
Another knock come from the door, followed by a press on the door buzzer.
"Well, apparently he wants in.." she said before walking over and tapping the unlocking button for the door.
Aaron strode in wearing his customary traveling gear. Muted forest colors, and a sword at his hip.
"Sup, man." said Scott off-handedly, drawing a curious stare from Analise.
The much, much, older man chuckled heartily and then smiled. "Ah, thought I might still find you here Sir Scott."
Scott smirked a moment but then something about that statement caught his attention, "Excuse me.. did you say 'sir' Scott?"
"Why, yes I did. Though, it is a bit premature true. You're technically only a squire right now, until you've managed to pass the initiation trial. Still, I have no fear that you'll fail." informed the man, much to the confusion of the two people present.
"Wait.. are you saying the guild wants to knight Scott?" asked P-chan. A sharp one that one.
Scott scrunched his eyebrows together as he tried to understand what the hell they were talking about.
"Yes, that is it exactly. They feel that with the way his team has personally defeated two of these 'uber' Youma pokegirls and saved dozens of innocent lives that he no doubt merits the chance to attempt the trials."
"Um.." began Scott.
"Are you serious?!" snapped Analise. "He's a great fighter, and all, but he doesn't have the time in rank or the experience for that! He could be killed!" finished the woman, heavy concern in her voice.
"Well.. uh.. can someon.." began Scott again, but got cut off by Aaron.
"This is true, but considering that to date only three other guild teams have been a part of a battle with these new pokegirls, and none of those teams managed to survive intact, the guild felt he could manage it."
Scott raised his hand, hoping someone would notice and let him speak. Sadly, he continued to be ignored.
"Yes, that's true.. but.. he isn't a fully guilded aventurer yet! He has to pass his journeyman's test and become a full member." countered Analise.
Aaron smiled lightly at her and nodded, "True, but after he finishes the assignment he has here, he can undergo the testing, and once he passes with flying colors he can begin knight training."
Scott jumped up and down in the background waving his hands trying to get their attention.
"Well.. yes... but.." said the dimensionally dispossessed hottie. A nervous tremor in her voice.
The older man nodded again, "I understand.. it's really his decision though.. in the end.. no matter how some might feel about him.."
Neither man missed the mild coloring of her cheeks at that statement.
----
Minako hugged Artemis softly to her and stroked his fur. He'd nearly bought the big burrito or some such yesterday. Luckily he wasn't resistant to healing magic, anymore than the average pokegirl or human.
He was still missing patches of fur, but at least he was alive.
The girls had been in training room seven working on their various skills all morning while Scott tried to find them an 'edge'. Though Minako suspected he was looking at online pokegirl porn.
While they had trained for a few hours, it eventually dissolved into 'girl talk'.
Most of said talk revolved around filling Serena in about their master.
"No really? He always fights along side you?" she asked in shock.
"Well, us now, but yes. He isn't really as good as either of us, but compared to most of the tamers around he's the best!" exclaimed Makoto. She really liked having a tamer that was willing to spar with her, even if she had to pull her punches.
"I'll have you know he beat me by himself, the first day we met." said Minako.
"Whaaat?" exclaimed Serena.
"I was borderline feral at the time, but still, he did beat me. He hasn't won a sparring match but like once or twice since then, but he CAN win if he puts his mind into it." said the blond haired slicer.
"Wow! I guess they must make em tougher where he's from." said Serena happily.
The other girls blinked at her and said, "Wait.. you know he's...?"
"Not of this perverted earth? Ya.. I was there the day he showed up here.." she started happily, but ended quietly.
Luna and Artemis perked up at this and seemed interested. This Scott character wasn't a Senshi, or even a Knight of the moon kingdom, but he was still a part of things whether he should be or not.
"Sooo..?" asked Artemis curiously.
"Well.. i'd been kicked out of my house, or at least thought I had been.. I guess.. after I thresholded into an angel pokegirl..." the girl began.
Minako had heard Scott mumble a little of this in his sleep at times, but never could get him to answer questions about it.
"Well.. anyway I was in the woods alone for a few days, a week or two I can't remember. I was scared.. and well.. slowly going feral I guess." she continued.
"That's when that tamer.. you know the one that attacked the town here.. that's when he found me." said the girl, tears starting to form in her eyes.
The other girls gathered around and hugged the sensitive seeming angel pokegirl. Luna and Artemis looked at each other. Both of the now no longer extinct species of Lunar Felidae thinking the same thing. Douche bag tamer must die.
"He.. well.. you know what tamers do when they find a pokegirl in the wild.. I tried to get away, even talk my way out of it but.. he and that witch of his kept attacking me." she said sorrowfully.
The girls nodded. Yeah, it was a common occurrence. The sad part of which was that it had to happen. With the feralborn and feral pokegirls on the loose someone had to catch them and end their threat. They didn't need to be assholes about it though.
"Anyway, i'm not really sure what happened. I think I cried out for someone to help me... Next thing I know there's a bright flash of light and he was there.." said the girl with a hint of wonder in her voice.
"Scott..?" asked Minako Softly, thinking back to the vauge memories of their first encounter and how he'd given her hope again even after she'd beat the shit out of him.
"Y-yeah.." sniffed out the pokegirl. "He.. knocked the tamer out, but the witch caught him dead center in the chest with a fire enhanced manabolt.."
Makoto growled and slammed her fist into her hand. That ugly bitch was so lucky she was dead, or the pony-tailed powerhouse would have tracked her down and killed her for that.
"Somehow, I knocked the witch out with a psi-blade and then went to check on Scott.. he was hurt pretty bad, and well.. I ended up dumping a few potions and stuff on him trying to help him." said Serena.
"I remember hearing him and the professor talking about him an x-potions a lot. When I first got 'captured'." added Minako, wanting to be part of the story.
Luna merrowed up at her curiously. "What's an x-potion..?" She was rather new to this whole pokegirl thing after all.
"Just something to heal wounds." said the girl in response. "It's only supposed to work on pokegirls and people with a lot of pokegirl dna, though."
The cat was satisfied with this for the moment.
"Y-yeah.. anyway, after the potions and all took affect finally.. they sure took a while.. anyway, he came around.. and his eyes were hurting him badly. He'd been flash blinded or something. he said."
A low growl escaped Makoto hearing this. Everyone turning to glance at the Amazonchan caused the powerful teenaged pokegirl to flush prettily and shake her head. She so didn't wanna talk about it.
"Anyway, he asked me if I could check on the douche bag, or was it idiot? I can't remember. Eitherway since he was alive, he said we couldn't leave him out there... wish we had though.." said the girl, the last part in a muttered tone that caused a gasp from Minako. An angel pokegirl wishing they'd left someone for dead? He really must have been an asshole.
"Hey.. I had to deal with.. a lot of.. stuff.. from that creep." said the girl sadly. No one disbelieving after having witnessed some of his antics.
"Well.. after we finally got back to town.. they arrested Scott for 'interfering with the lawful capture of a pokegirl, and tried to pin attempted manslaughter on him." said the girl sadly, a hint of anger in her voice.
"No way..!" exclaimed Artemis. "What kind of nutty legal system arrests people for saving someone!"
Minako rubbed his fur and sighed, "The kind where pokegirls are property. It sucks, especially if you don't have a master who treats you right."
"Yeah.. heh.. we aren't 'people'.. we're possesions.. pets at best." muttered Makoto.
Serena nodded sadly.
"How can they do that?! It's inhuman!" exclaimed the black moon cat at her feet.
"Well you remember about that war all those years ago? Well, there's still millions of feralborn pokegirls in the wild that are worse than any wild animal. That's why..I guess." said Minako.
"I guess.. I can understand that but.. it's not like you girls are running around attacking random people on the street..!" exclaimed the little cat irately.
"Actually.. that's how me and Scott met.. I attacked him on the road. Like I said.. nearly feral at the time." countered the girl.
That drew some of the wind out of the prissy little cat's sails. She may have been rightly angry at such inhumane treatment, but if someone like Minako was going to run around attacking people.. there might be a point to those nutty laws after all.
"Let's talk about something else.. k?" asked Serena softly. She didn't like thinking about going feral, and stuff.
"Right.. hey.. did you see those shoes at the shop here? I went out with Scott this morning before he sent us off to train." said Minako excitedly.
"No WE didn't get to see any shoes miss Alpha." groused Makoto.
Minako grinned at her happily. "Boy did YOU miss out."
"Hey!" exclaimed the ponytailed pokegirl.
They glared at each other for a second and then dissolved in a fit of giggles, leaving the other three to stare at them in confusion. Must be an inside joke.
-----
Back in training room three Scott was about to leave and head over to room seven when the door opened again.
The three occupants of the room glanced at the new entrant and saw a familiar looking Amazonwu, following a determined looking nursejoy.
Scott recognized the pokegirl that had tried to kill him only yesterday.
"Sir.." began the Nursejoy. Her name tag read, Anne.
Seeing that she was addressing him Scott answered, "Yes...?"
Analise and Aaron watched the bi-play as the two began talking.
"Well.. the thing of it is.." began Annie, before the Amazonwu rolled her eyes and barged in front of her.
Scott slipped into a loose fighting stance expecting trouble, but was shocked when the sword wielding pokegirl knelt down in front of him with her eyes gazing at the floor. Though he did note that her sword was made of wood instead of steel now.
"Wha..?"
"Please take this humble Samurai as your vassel!" exclaimed the girl feverently.
"Um.." said Scott, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "Little help here..?" he asked Annie.
"Well.. see.. the thing is.. She attacked a human being.. normally she'd be executed for that.. but since it was proven that she was under magical duress and on top of that it was at the behest of her tamer.. well they do grant one chance for leniency.." said the Nursejoy pokegirl.
"Ok...?" he asked. What did this have to do with him?
"Please let this humble samurai girl be your apprentice master!" exclaimed the Amazonwu, before leaning forward and touching her forehead to the floor.
"..."
"Sir.. um.. basically if you don't take her on as a part of your harem.. she'll be.. uhm.. Euthanized.,, so to speak." finished the nursejoy timidly.
It took Scott a second to realize what she meant and then he snapped out, "WHAT?!"
Analise took a step back and the almost palpable rage that seemed to radiate off the man. She could swear she almost saw a battle aura for a moment.
Aaron for his part took it all in and nodded. 'An interesting dilemma the 'boy' finds himself in.'
Scott seethed internally at this. Just one more reason to hate this fucking perverted mud ball. They were going to kill someone even though she'd had no control of her actions.
His anger faded to sadness that wrenched at his heart a moment later. He'd have to say no. He had his limit alloted to him by the league.. if he took her on.. he'd have to give away one of the others.
"I.. I can't.." said the man much to the surprise of the ones present.
"No.. PLEASE.. I'm sorry I attacked you..!" wailed the girl, thinking he found her unworthy.
"Scott.. you'd really.. let them do that.. to her?" asked Analise in shock.
He looked at her, tears forming at the edge of his eyes that slowly leaked down. "I'm only allowed three members on my team.."
The woman's eyes widen in growing horror. He had caught his limit.
"I'd be more than happy to take her on.. but i'm not allowed to..I mean.. " began Scott as he had a moral dilemma on his hands.
The nursejoy nodded sadly as she was about to ball the girl.
Before she did though Scott spoke up with conviction. "Fuck it. Screw the guild, i'll just go take my tamer's exam."
Once again he was gazed at in shock. This time by Aaron.
"You'd really.. give up a chance at league sanctioned knighthood.. for a pokegirl that tried to kill you?"
Scott glanced at him and nodded, "She is innocent of the crime they claim. I don't care what a bunch of idiots with shiny badges say. I will NOT allow someone to die needlessly when I can do something about it."
Aaron nodded, "You willing put the lives of others above your own.. this we know.. You have a good sense of tactics and have won seemingly impossible battles against dire threats to life and league.. this we know."
Scott stared at him for a moment, as the others tilt their heads towards the elder gentleman.
"You treat all those around you with respect, regardless of their place, purpose, gender, genetic disposition and station in life. This, we know." said the man, as though explaining some great truth.
The man took a deep breath and then smiled. "You choose live, integrity, honor, and the service to the needs of others over your own aggrandizement. This we know now."
Analise gaped wide eyed at the man. Was this really happening?
"Kneel, young man." said Aaron with finality, as he drew his sword.
Scott, normally would have balked at this, but something about this situation made him follow the command. He knelt down before the older man.
"I find you worthy, in the eyes of the church of a thousand gods, the league, and in my own." he said in a ritual manner, before gazing around at the others. "Does any find fault with this?"
No one spoke up, though they wondered what was going on.
"Very well then. With the power vested in me, by the gods, and by the league." he said, before placing the blade of the sword on one shoulder of the kneeling man, and then the other. "I hereby dub you Sir Scott, let no man speak against it."
"Rise, Sir Knight, and claim your duty."
Scott, stood up and said.. "Um.. so I'm like a knight now or something."
Aaron smirked and nodded, "Good enough young Knight."
"Ok... but that's.. really cool I guess.. thanks? Um.. but what about the girl here..."
The older man quirked an eyebrow. "Tell me Sir Scott.. you are currently on a mission here in this town are you now?"
Scott nodded. "Yes, I'm supposed to investigate the creatures in the woods.."
"Tell, me.. how many pokegirls did you have alloted as the maximum you were allowed for this mission?"
"Well.. three? I guess.. no one mentioned.." began Scott.
Analise smiled happily at what she was hearing. That old coot of a knight had just solved things nicely.
"Would you say, that it would have been a great asset to the accomplishment of this mission, had you.. four pokegirls with you instead of the typical three?" he asked with a smug look on his face.
"Certainly, woulda helped out yesterday..?" Scott answered with a hint of a question in his voice.
Aaron seemed to ponder for a moment, though it was obvious he was merely heightening the supposed drama. "Then, as the Head knight, and guild leader of the Oldtowne adventurer's guild I hereby grant my subordinate special dispensation to utilize as many assets as he needs in his current endeavor."
"Um.. huh?" asked Scott. What was the old fart on about.
"Yes, quite.. basically I just granted you the authority to have more than three pokegirls in your harem, and to use as many of those as you feel you need in a manner befitting the requirements of this mission." informed the man.
Scott nodded and then said.."So that means what?"
Aaron seriously considered doing something as undignified as face vaulting, but decided against it. "You can have as many pokegirls as you want, you have the right to apply for a knight's weapon license, and you've been granted the right to keep up to six pokegirls in your personal group at any given time, without further dispensation."
"OH, right..um.. thanks?" he said, while trying to take all that in. Just because he had an IQ rating that bordered on two hundred now, didn't mean he could figure out babble talk.
The old man smiled at the younger man's antics.
"So wait, basically without any kind of written exam or 'trial' you just gave me all the normal rights and limitations of a tamer?" asked Scott seriously.
"In a manner yes.. but in some ways no. For one, a knight is a different organizational grouping than the tamer's. In a way it's like the answer to the ranger's, hunter's and various similar organizations in other leagues. So you have greater overall responsibility now, but you have the perks that come with it too." explained the man.
The red-headed Amazonwu spoke up then, "Soo.. does this mean I get to be your apprentice?"
Scott glanced at her and said, "Yeah.. I guess... you do realize you aren't a Samurai pokegirl right..?"
The red head frowned cutely at him and then said, "Genetics does not a Samurai make!"
"Right.."
----
Whelp there's chapter fourteen. IF the ending sounds a bit Marty and or Gary-Stuish, or even just plain stupid, then I do apologize. Basically all that did was end up putting him on equal footing with the typical tamer. Able to have six girls with him, plus a storage license.
He'll be able to get better gear for him and his girls at the various guild offices, and he has to handle random tasks a knight would handle. Like helping local police, tamer all calls, and such.
Plus it sets him up for later, as it'll allow all the senshi to be able to work together.. that is if his guild leader will grant him dispensation.
Oh yeah, and he gets paid more. hehe.
Hooray for contrived plots and formulaic storylines!