Disclaimer: Same old song and dance. I own nothing. Pokegirls is based off of MetroAnime's stuff. This'll probably be the last time I do this other than to say 'I disclaim things.'
/Run Author's_
Well, here we are again. Once more in the basement of my house, pretending to be an author writing something of value or interest whilst shamelessly fulfilling my deepest sickest fantasies. Enjoy! For those who haven't cottoned on? I've pre-written at least 5 chapters in advance before posting any of this, so forgive me if I don't do responses in-chapter.
/end Author's_
/Run Chapter
The next smegging day. It only took a day before he got a response from the original tamer for the Firemaiden. That's discounting the number of false flags he'd gotten. People claiming she was theirs, people who just messaged him saying 'dud u suk' or 'go back to bed, grampa' and the like.
Honestly, the only reason he knew to whom she actually belonged was the fact that some of her features came up on a search of 'Lost Pokegirls' online. Usually, that page was dead, only containing Pet Owners and Tamers who'd been robbed. No one ever wanted to admit to having *lost* a member of their Harem. But apparently the guy in question had, in fact, lost her and was willing to admit it in order to get her back.
The email read as such.
'Re: Angela:
To whom it may concern,
My name, if you care, is Max. Angela, the Firemaiden you posted as having caught feral in the area around Celaboner and Sapphron, is mine… Yeah, I know, laugh it up. 'Dumb dudebro lost a Firemaiden, hur dur' but please. Hear me out before you make any judgements. We got separated during an attack by ferals on our camp, she's my Starter, ya know? We were having some taming Time. Anyway, we got separated, and by the time I realized she wasn't with me, she'd gone too far for me to track her down. I asked the police to help, but they just laughed at me.
Here is a copy of my personal statistics from her Pokeball, you'll see that they match the one you've caught. I triple-checked. I'm willing to pay to have her returned, or trade the feral Vampira I caught from the group that separated us… Fuck, I'll let you pound my own ass if that's your thing. Just please, I want Angela back, and if you do decide you'll take payment out of me? Don't *tell* anyone, yeah?
Hoping you're not an asshole,
Max Steffonsen'
Markus nearly laughed when he'd read the message. It did have an attachment, and after connecting the pokeball with the Firemaiden in it to a computer, the stats did match. Down to the birthMarkus on her left shoulder.
His response read as such.
'Re:Re: Angela:
Hey, Max.
No worries, dude. Only payment I'll ask is for a new Pokeball. I haven't touched her. She was feral when I caught her, and Firemaidens are domesticate-only so far as I know, which is why I started checking about. If you caught a Vampira? And it was part of a group? I'd be happy to tell people you traded her for information on where that was, but I'll get her to you with or without that information. I know how attached people can be to their Starters, and how much it hurts to lose them for any reason. I'm in VerMuffEatin' City for the next few weeks, so stop by the Pokecenter and we'll get her back where she belongs. Most I'll do is put her through a cleaning cycle. She was… Well, she was nude when I caught her, and covered in soot and ash.
Totally not that big an asshole,
Markus W.
Sure, they were a bit formal, but Markus figured Max was trying to be polite and not offend someone who had something he wanted. And he wanted 'Angela' back badly.
After a few more messages, including an exchange of phone numbers so they could coordinate better when Max got to VerMuffEatin' City, Markus was set to get that 'girl back to her original owner. He DID make sure to check with the Police to confirm, and there was a Missing Pokegirl report filed in Sapphron City, but the officers involved put it down to 'tamer negligence. No action needed.' If he'd just kept her and didn't mention it? He'd have been fine to keep her.
Markus didn't like that thought, personally, and made damned sure to get Anti-Capture collars for his current group… Including the new addition, whom he hadn't taken out of her ball since he got it back that morning. Salohiel already had one, but Pythia and Xiao didn't yet, so he rectified that oversight right quick.
As he'd promised, however, He handed over his credit-chips to Salohiel after calling out Xiao and Pythia, so the three of them could have a 'day off.' Granted, by city laws, he had to be with them, but that basically just meant he spent most of the day reading outside of stores, or at a coffee-shop while they got their nails done or got a massage… he didn't pay too much attention. Audible hadn't been idle in the last few hundred years, and he thankfully had an account, so he was busy looking up LitRPG novels, fantasy, and Sci-Fi books by the series.
By the end of his first full day in VerMuffEatin' City, Markus had had more than enough of the military-base layout of the city to last him a lifetime. It was… Impersonal. There was no 'neighborhood' kind of areas, just 'housing sectors.' Still, there were shopping areas, at least, where he saw more people relaxing with retail-therapy than he'd seen since leaving Celaboner. Maybe it was his initial impression of the world, with Celaboner being more liberal and more 'entertainment oriented' but going from that to VerMuffEatin' was a bit of a shock. Still, at the end of the day, his three currently active Pokegirls had gotten their nails done (A practice he would never, ever understand…) gone shopping for new clothes, Xiao had gotten new boots, and Salohiel had gotten them all back massages.
When he checked his email at the Pokecenter, he saw he had a response from 'Max.'
'Re:Re:Re: Angela
Hey, thanks, dude. I'll be there in a few days. Three tops. If you wanna go hunting Vampira? Go for it. I'll sit in VerMuffEatin' for a while, I think. Train up Angela for a bit so we don't have to go through that nonsense again.'
Markus nodded at the message, mostly out of habit, and closed the mail application before going book shopping online. Basics of Magical Theory would run him a bit, thankfully Amazon, ironically, was still around, so he bought the digital version which had a bit of a discount… instead of 500slc, it only cost him 450slc. Based on what he knew, the Standard League Credit amounted to about 10 cents, which meant by his measurements it was a $5 discount. It WAS an academic book, so that was to be expected. He wasn't a student at Vale, so he probably wouldn't be getting that discount ever… Sadly. Still, it was 600 pages of information on the basics of magical theory.
He made sure to have Pythia take a look at the sample, just to be sure. She said it was worth it, and they'd made plans to study it together. When the three had finished their shopping trip, Markus had recalled them and walked into a book shop. It'd been so long since he remembered being able to walk into a real bookshop that the feeling was still a welcome bit of nostalgia. Barns and Noble only existed in, like, 3 places in Minnesota, after all, and Borders Books had all but vanished. Half-Priced Books was better, but still second-hand… The store he entered had a young woman sitting behind the counter reading 'A Brief history of Time' who barely looked up to nod as he entered the store.
He went through the sections quietly, looking at the titles he'd never remember. There was something about holding an actual physical copy of a book that was just so much more powerful to him than an e-book could ever be. He bought a couple of books, a wide net of interesting topics, like the book written by… he hated to say it, but it was basically written by this world's version of Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Looked like the popular physics icon in the author picture! But the name? Neil DeGrass Trysome.
There were days when Markus almost forgot he was in a world completely taken over by the need to have sex. They were rare, but they were some of the more relaxing days, owing to the lack of constant reminders that he wasn't, in fact, in a completely different world than the one he'd been living in not a 2 months ago. 2 months ago? He had a job as a security guard working for just over minimum wage. Now? He was in a sex-pot of a world, but making money pretty well, given the free housing and discounted food at the Pokecenters.
After the bookstore and his purchases of books on Physics including Pokegirls and the various theories surrounding everything, Markus made his way silently to a movie theater. One of his favorite ways to waste time before doing what he knew needed to be done sooner rather than later. Seeing a movie.
When he saw 'Princess Mononoke' in the showtimes? He'd thought he might have gotten to a Hayao Miyazaki festival showing or some such. Turns out? Completely wrong. They'd remade the masterwork of animated fantasy. They'd done a live-action remake, too. The special effects were fantastic, to be sure, but Markus was fairly certain the original didn't have Ashitaka boning San three ways to Sunday in a variety of creative positions. Nor did the original have San and Lady Eboshi settling things by seeing who could get the other off first. And he was damned sure a Legendary pokegirl wasn't involved.
"God… Damn it all…" Markus muttered to himself as he left the theater. He couldn't even say he'd hated it! He actually did enjoy most of the movie. It was actually tastefully done for the most part, and again, the special effects were fan-fucking-tastic. But they'd taken a piece of his childhood and… Well. Bent it over a table… At least they'd offered a reach-around by keeping to the original plot?
When he returned to the Pokecenter that evening, he was frustrated in more than one way. He was tired, he was more than slightly aroused, and he was fairly certain that there was pressure building up behind his forehead signalling an immanent headache. So? He downed a couple of Ibuprofen, took a shower, and sat down in his room with the TV on tuned to a channel showing an 'old' movie marathon. Old for this world, maybe. New to him.
With slumped shoulders and an air of resignation, Markus called out the Arachnae. He hadn't even considered a new name for the poor girl.
She solidified out of the red light, standing stock still, confused and probably seeing the world for the 'first' time and thusly coming to terms with the little bits of knowledge she still had. She could speak english, she knew she was a Pokegirl, she knew all the basic things, the kinds of things one learns over the first few years of life in a normal fashion, there was just absolutely nothing personal there. No likes, no dislikes, no favorite foods, no knowledge of what foods she'd even like to begin with. Basically? Induced Retrograde Amnesia.
When she formed, Markus watched. The girl was wearing pretty standard clothing, a skirt and a pink T-shirt. Beneath that her skin was a light brown. Thankfully it was skin and not chiton, but with the way the girl looked, Markus wasn't too sure it'd really matter. She was kind of spindly, with black compound eyes and a few dots on her forehead seemingly forming an arc between her two normally placed eyes, which Markus could only assume were meant to look like the other eyes a spider is supposed to have. She was very pretty, in features at least. Nicely formed face, aside from the compound eyes, breasts in the high end of the C-cup range, and legs that Markus could look at for hours.
She began to move about the room, investigating things. The computer, which she turned on, the TV, the bed… Then Markus himself. While she didn't touch him, she did give him a visual inspection. Then she spoke
"My name is Ari?" she asked, utterly confused.
Steeling himself as best he could, Markus put on the face of someone 'in charge.' he didn't feel it, but… 'Fake it 'till you make it' was a good motto. "I'll be renaming you 'Grace.'" he said. "You're mine now, after your former Tamer tried to steal my Harem's Alpha. Ari seems like such a waste on a spider breed. Unoriginal." And it'd help him separate the girl from 'salvage' in his mind to think of her as his. "Do you understand what all of this means?" he asked. Part of him was concerned. He'd read a lot of different interpretations of a level 5 taming Cycle, but he'd never thought he'd witness the effects first hand… Or that he'd have been the one to order it. It still made him a little sick to think about.
Or maybe it was the food. Who knows.
The newly-named 'Grace' nodded. "Grace… Am I stolen?" she asked.
"No." Markus said, more firmly than necessary, but mostly for himself at this point. "As it's been explained to me in detail, you were won. Your former Tamer died because he had you attack my Harem's Alpha with stated intent on removing her anti-capture chip and likely performing a level 5 taming Cycle on her." he explained.
'Grace' nodded again. "I understand, sir." she said. The effects of the Taming Cycle were… Rather profound.
With the serious awkwardness out of the way, Markus sat down on the bed. "So. You know that you are a Pokegirl. You know what that means?" he asked, trying to avoid having to tell her she needed to be fucked regularly to keep her sanity.
"I am a Pokegirl…" she repeated. "I am an Arachnae, a spider-based Pokegirl. I serve my Tamer…" she trailed off, not quite sure where to go from there.
"And I am your Tamer. Now, I'm not going to ask you to clean up the place, since I like a little mess every now and again, at least until we leave the Pokecenter. I'm not going to ask you to cook for me, though I did put in the Cooking T2 when I got you healed and cleaned up because I want you to be able to cook for yourself if need be. But we DO need to establish at least an Alpha-bond…" it was his turn to trail off.
"Ah." she nodded and began taking off her shirt, followed by her bra, then her skirt. Markus noted that the girl was not, in fact, wearing panties. She seemed utterly ignorant of the idea that disrobing on a whim was odd to Markus, and stood in front of him, completely nude. As she moved, Markus saw a darker-brown marking on her upper back, looking vaguely like a violin, if he turned his head and squinted a bit. Brown Recluse base, then. That was only mostly terrifying.
Markus made a note to buy a dildo for the sole purpose of training her before ever conceiving to ask her for a blowjob. The last thing he ever wanted was brown recluse venom anywhere near his junk. He might almost feel like he would deserve it, but that didn't mean he wanted it to happen.
'Grace' now stood, shifting her weight from foot to foot awkwardly, staring at him. It was almost unnerving.
"Just… Come sit next to me, for now." Markus said, trying to cut through the sheer amount of 'Awkward' involved in this whole process… "Why can't there just be a montage for this?" he asked himself. "Or just have it 'off-screen?'"
"Master?" 'Grace asked, looking at him even more confused. She moved to obey, and sat down next to him on the bed before Markus pulled them both towards the wall behind the bed and leaned against it so he could still watch T.V.
"I just want to watch a movie at the moment…" he sighed. "And this is awkward as hell. I feel like complete and utter shit for putting your through a Level 5 out of fear for what you might have been like before." If there was one thing Markus took out of most situations? It was that the catharsis of brutal honesty usually helped him deal with situations in which he was uncomfortable. "I feel like an asshole, and now I need to fuck you seven ways to Sunday after basically ordering your mind wiped of everything that was 'Ari.' I've renamed you 'Grace, taking away the last bit of connection to your past, for my own comfort, and the worst fucking part of all of this is that in this world? That's considered just fucking dandy. It's my 'right' to do with you as I wish, now. Even the police agreed after I reported it, and all i got was a Fine for not telling the cops about things before dealing with it, and a charge to transfer ownership of you to me from a dead man."
'Grace' nodded. "I don't think I understand the problem, Master." she said. "But I understand I make you uncomfortable? Perhaps it might be best to recall me and give yourself time to come to terms?" she offered.
"No." Markus said. "Like I said, I want to watch a movie. You will need to be Tamed sooner rather than later, and hopefully just… Sitting and watching a movie will help me relax a bit. With the way movies in this world go? I should be awkwardly trying to hide a roll of quarters in an hour or so. Until then? Having a beautiful naked girl next to me should be a pleasant mix between 'awkward' and 'aroused' to confuse me. Absolute worst-case scenario is I call out Xiao and ask for her help on this."
"Who is Xiao?" 'Grace' asked.
"Xiao is my Slicer. She's… Well, let's just say she has no qualms about 'gender' and would be more than happy to give you a full introduction to the Harem. I don't know if there's a line with her, but I haven't found it, yet." he shrugged.
"Master?" 'Grace' looked slightly more confused, now.
"She likes girls. She likes guys. She likes to eat pussy with a dick up her ass. She likes to suck breasts while giving a handjob. She likes to get her own muff licked by a girl with a cock shoved down her throat. I haven't tried yet, but I'm fairly sure she'd like getting eaten out while I pound her ass like a war drum and another girl sits on her face." he said, his voice flat as he described Xiao's sexual appetites. When it came to Sex? Xiao was on a 'see-food diet.'
'Grace' nodded, the image of her 'Sister' in Markus's harem clarified. She was still getting used to her new name…
"Now. Indiana Jones is on. And let me tell you? They really changed things up with this franchise. I'm fairly certain they got a Pinielf to help make a Harrison Ford body-double." he said. "After this is the Librarian series, thank holy christ. I loved those movies."
'Grace' just nodded, sat next to her new Tamer, and watched the the time when Indiana Jones and his father were discussing the fact that they'd both tamed the same girl, Grace found an arm over her shoulders. Only about 2 and ½ movies in, and he was ready to do more than sit next to her… Progress?
About the time that Indy was infiltrating a Nazi book-burning rally by way of seducing one of the Pokegirl guards, Markus's hand had found itself resting over Grace's left breast. It was light, to be sure, like he was afraid of possibly being bitten. When Indy was attacking the tanks of the advancing Nazi column through the desert, his apprehension had dissipated, seeing she wasn't going to stop him, and in fact seemed to be helping him if the hand she put on his, directing it to be a bit more forceful was anything to go by. He was playing with her nipple before the german commanding officer was dead, drawing small circles on her skin with his fingers around the hardened nub of flesh before going back around her breast and then to running his fingers over the protruding bundles of nerves.
When they were discovering the hidden path to the Holy Grail, Markus's apprehension was gone. They'd gone through two different sex-scenes already… If there was one thing those were good for? It was adding almost an hour to the runtime of most movies. Most theaters had an 'adult showing' and a 'family-friendly' showing of movies. Tamers were almost always automatically put down for the adult-showing, which is why Markus's experience with the Live-Action Princess Mononoke was so very different to what he'd expected… his pants were beyond uncomfortably tight, and not even trying to think of baseball, or what he'd order for food, was helping to diminish the fact that he was at full mast, flesh and cloth battling over which one was tougher. So far? Cloth was winning.
So when Grace got up in the middle of the main villain drinking from the fake Cup of Christ, pulled Markus's pants down and sat herself down on his dick, Markus was more than happy to let her. Netflix and Chill, indeed. She was soaked down there, even after such a short amount of actual foreplay. Small rivulets of her arousal were running down her thighs visibly in the reflections off her skin before his view was obscured by a light-brown back, long brown hair, and his dick being wrapped by a tight, hot, wet feeling.
Grace gave herself a few minutes to get used to the feeling. This was the 'first' time she remembered feeling it, after all, and it was nice, but the urge to move was overwhelming. As she pulled herself up, she felt Markus's hands on her hips assisting, then he pulled down on her, pushing himself back into her as deep as he could go.
Soon the moans coming from the television were joined by a secondary chorus, as Grace bounced up and down on Markus's lap, and Markus held on for the ride by the lovely firm and well-formed ass in front of him. Or her hips. Or, when she leaned back and ground her hips on him, reaching around to cup the bouncing breasts of the spider-girl on top of him. The mirror on the small closet door gave him a much better view over Grace's shoulder than the television. In the mirror he could see himself going in and out of the brown girl's puffy lower lips. He could see the streams of lubrication coming from her, making his passage all the easier. And with her leaning back, he could quite easily hear her moaning and almost growling when he stopped her movements every now and again to fully appreciate the view.
He lightly bit her neck as she leaned further back, her head resting on his shoulder while he played more with the dark-skinned nipples on her breasts. He was marking her as his, rather than just as a 'salvage.' He wanted to fuck any sense of remorse away and blow it and a load of cum into her pussy.
"Do you see that, Grace?" he asked, pointing at the mirror with one hand. "You straddling me and pumping your hips back and forth, trying to milk me?"
Grace nearly growled, but looked nonetheless. She'd enjoyed his light biting, damn it! And the pointing took attention away from her breast! She looked as saw her face in the mirror. Eyes glazed with lust, her pussy spread for her Tamer's intruding dick and her leaking juices practically streaming out. When he lightly pinched her nipples while she was distracted, her face contorted slightly, and the bundle of tension that had been building inside her released all at once. Her moan raised in pitch as her mouth opened, but couldn't form words. She felt, then saw, him tense up beneath her before his hands went to her hips, which had been shaking jerkily with muscle spasms, and hold her still, trying to hilt himself in her as she felt splashes of warmth inside.
It felt like he was dead set on breeding her, by the amount of cum he'd poured into her!
With a lazy motion, he grabbed for one of his Pokeballs, one with a sticker of a sword on it, and called out the girl inside. Xiao appeared out of the red light, reserving her flourish with her Guan Dao owing to them not being in the wild.
When Xiao saw the position her Tamer was in, underneath a spider-girl who was still spasming slightly on his dick, she grinned.
"Oh, Master… you know just how to say 'hello' to a girl, don't you?" she asked, removing her shirt and making for her belt, boots and pants.
"Indeed I do, you nymphomaniac Wire-fu Mistress." he said, going back to lightly running fingers along Graces' flesh. "I have a project for you. Grace here just finished both of us off, and probably needs to be cleaned up. I leave the 'how' up to you, but she's not moving from my lap until this movie's over."
Markus enjoyed games like this with people. Give them a situation, give them limitations, and most people wouldn't question it. It was a bit of a power-trip, sure, but he had so little control in his life, a little fun and games every now and again were well worth it.
Xiao smiled wide as she came up from pushing her pants and panties down around her ankles. She stepped out of them and sauntered over to the Spider girl before capturing a nipple in between her lips. One hand went to the other breast and began playing, while her right hand moved down her stomach towards where Grace was still joined with Markus.
Markus relaxed against the wall, letting Xiao get to work on Grace. He could see it happen, of course, but he was more interested in letting his heartbeat come down to a manageable level. When he slipped out of Grace, the fun apparently began for Xiao. The bed was a bit crowded, but that didn't seem to stop the Slicer as she simply used the positions of the two on the bed to her advantage.
By the time the movie was finished, and the next one had begun playing, Markus was happily sitting with a cigarette in his mouth watching Xiao go to town on Grace just as much as he was watching the opening sequence for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The remake, thank god…
Much as he'd loved Shia LeBouf as an actor… As a person Markus had grown to detest the man. His 'art project,' no matter the descriptive attached to it, had been amusing until the actor had seemingly gone off the deep end with his politics over the project. So when the remake of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull got rid of the aliens, kept the much younger Indiana Jones and gave him a human son to work with for the movie who didn't wind up swinging from vines through a rainforest and kept up his level of performance the whole way through? Markus was actually thrilled. The Crystal Skull, in this version, turned out to be a magical focus of Celestial origin, rather than goddamned aliens.
While Xiao had gotten quite a bit of practice on Pythia, the Witch was easy to please. Xiao almost never got through writing out the alphabet with her tongue before the Witch started spasming. Grace appeared to be enjoying herself, and taking her sweet time if the hands running through Xiao's hair were anything to go by…
The night was interesting, to say the least, and when both Xiao and Grace had finished, Markus recalled both of them, changed the sheets on the bed, and went to sleep, gratefully putting a pair of earbuds into his ears so he would sleep undisturbed by nightly noises. Normally, if he did that, he'd sleep through any kind of alarm… it was beyond annoying when he'd discovered that fact, because even if the music stopped while he was asleep, he'd just outright sleep through any alarms.
In this world? He fell asleep listening to Mozart, and happily slept until the sun was setting once again. He needed that sleep. And the shower that came after it. The shower was nice, cool (it was edging into the hotter weather, it seemed) and refreshing. With a clean body, a nice long sleep, and a lot less stress in his immediate past or future, Markus was able to finally relax a bit when he got back to his room at the Pokecenter.
It was nearly 11PM when he heard a knock on his door. Salohiel had been with him, out of her 'Ball, for the last three hours as she ran him through some basic breathing exercises. Both sets of eyes went right to the door and Salohiel stood from her seated position, ready for action but relaxed. When Markus went to look through the peephole, he saw a young man wearing weather-beaten clothes, short brown shaggy hair, and cat-like eyes standing outside in the distorted view of the peephole.
Feeling slightly paranoid… he'd written scenes like this before, damn it… he called through the door. "Doordash?" He asked. "I ordered that Pad Thai an hour ago!" The plan was to make Max identify himself without outright asking 'who is it.' Mainly because if they agreed to being from Doordash, it'd be obvious they were lying. He'd only ordered his food 10 minutes ago. It'd take at least another 30 to get there….
"No? This is Max. I asked the Nurse at the front desk for your room number, dude." The other man said through the door.
It was the work of minutes to get the other man his Pokegirl, exchange it for an empty Pokeball and a notation on his map app to find where the group of Vampira had been spotted.
"You DO know that Feral Vampira tend to gather around Feral Vampires, right?" Max asked while Markus was looking at the noted location. It looked to be somewhere between Sapphron City and Lavenderriere Town.
"I not only know this thing," Markus started, grinning at the other Tamer. "I'm counting on it. I've always thought Vampires were cool, so long as they don't sparkle in the goddamned sunlight." He couldn't help the dig at the Twilight novels, even if they'd blessedly never been written in this world. Or made into movies with acting so wooden and stiff the actors could have been replaced with scarecrows and voiceovers and it might have been made better.
The less said about 50 Shades of Grey, which only came about because of Twilight, the better.
"Just remember, dude." Max said, sighing. "Vampires are dangerous. If you get bitten? Get your ass to a Hospital as soon as possible unless you fancy becoming a Vampire yourself." The younger man looked decidedly uncomfortable at the thought of being turned into a Pokegirl.
"I know, I know. Still. Worth a look, see if there IS one there, or if it was just a random pack of Vampira. Either way? I still win. Vampira are cute, too." Markus grinned again, wider. This totally had lots of opportunities to fail horribly, but the best plans usually did, right? Or was it 'bad ideas make for great stories?'
Yeah. That one.
"Well, I'm gonna go bring Angela back to the land of the sane." Max said, wanting to get away from the old-timer with a slightly insane glint in his eye.
"Huh?" Markus looked up from the map. "Oh. Yeah. Thanks for the intel, thanks for the Pokeball, and enjoy the Firemaiden. She's a cute one. I'd suggest you get a collar for her, in case some shit like this happens again." He gestured to the tasteful collar around Salohiel's neck.
"Got it." Max said before hurrying out of the room. Max thought Markus was nice, but slightly unhinged. Or just outright insane. Either way, bad for his continued health to be around without an exchange to be made.
When he was gone, Markus's face relaxed to his neutral 'default' expression. Vague interest in the map, sure. He had plans. But it wasn't quite aas manic as he'd played it up to be.
"Did you want to scare him, master?" Salohiel asked, sitting down next to her Tamer on the bed and resing her hands in her lap.
"Kind of. It's a character to play. I want to keep people off-guard. I get that my previous personality was kind of mild and unambitious, so I figure if I act differently with different people, it will help confuse them so that I can rebuild my image from the resulting morass of mental images people have of me." He shrugged. Markus knew the theory behind manipulating people, and had done it on multiple occasions, sometimes without even meaning to do so, but he was actually rather proud of his ability to do so when he actually gave enough of a fuck to try.
"Still… it's a bit odd." Salohiel noted. "I'm also curious why you suddenly want a Vampire." A note of jealousy was in her voice, not that Markus really cottoned on to that. She didn't like Vampires. Didn't see why so many people did. Vampires fed on blood, and only blood, couldn't be Tamed during the daytime hours, and generally came off as self-important little shits. They seemed to try and come off as 'dignified' or 'elegant' but usually just came off as self-centered and pompous.
This coming from an Archangel!
Markus shrugged. "I like vampires. I loved the mythology around them before certain literature turned them into some teenaged fantasy of what romance might look like, if the guy involved was a creepy stalker with an almost vegan attitude towards normal members of his own species who eat what they can as opposed to a strict diet of 'safe' foods. Dracula, to me, was an inspired horror figure, when portrayed properly. And I love horror."
Salohiel sighed, not liking the answer but she'd heard much worse reasons for going after a dangerous Pokegirl. "Just so long as you realize I'm more likely to kill her than knock her out if she tries to bite any of us." She said. "I don't think any of us fancy dealing with the infection, or our Tamer turning into a blood-sucking Pokegirl."
Markus nodded. "I understand. If it comes down to it? I'd rather be *safe* than end up a Pokegirl. Big risk, big reward, but no sense in being stupid about it. Measured risk is the important thing to remember."
Salohiel smiled in agreement, already planning how she might 'accidentally' hit something vital on the Vampire. If there even WAS a Vampire. Could have just been a pack of feral Vampira. Not impossible. It was just far more likely to wind up leading to a Vampire. She wouldn't go against orders, to be sure, but she wasn't looking forward to having a Vampire involved in the Harem. They were notoriously difficult to deal with, they were usually egotistical, and she didn't fancy having to defend her position as Alpha constantly. Feral Vampires were always worse than Tamed examples, but easier to deal with since most of their ability to think would be gone.
Markus saw Salohiel withdraw into her own thoughts and sat back to do the breathing exercises again. He'd head out the next night to see if there was anything to the lead. He'd have to stop by a Mart and buy himself some Pokeballs, some Potions for spares, some antidotes, wide-angle antibiotics… the usual things. Just to keep his supplies up.
Ultimately, the guaranteed prize to this expedition would be a Vampira. Not a bad breed. Dark/Flying type with a good selection of Enhancements and a necessary role for his group, since having a dedicated night Guard would definitely help him out with sleeping schedules out in the wilderness.
With a list drawn up, containing a list of supplies he'd need for his 'expedition' mainly consisting of recommended equipment he was missing as suggested by both Taming For Dummies and online forums for Tamers, Markus set about buying his stuff. He dropped most of his Harem off for a Cleaning and Healing Cycle, keeping Salohiel with him just to be sure, before he left the Pokecenter in the morning.
2 weeks worth of dehydrated food for 4 people? 4000slc. It mainly consisted of pasta and canned foods which stacked in his Mini-pack. A few packets of meat and vegetables to add in and a few MREs for emergencies. Portable hand-crank charger? 5000 slc. Cheap? Maybe, but it got the job done, and the next best one he saw for sale involved a lot of miscellaneous crap like solar panels. A bottle of vitamin supplements? 300slc each, one designed for flying types, one designed for Fighting types, and 2 standard 'Human or Very Near Human' bottles.
For the Night-time hunting he was looking to do? He bought a pair of Darkvision Goggles. They cost him 15000slc alone, but he'd made all of that and more just with the Pokegirls he'd caught on his way to VerMuffEatin'. Still, painful to spend that much on a piece of specialized equipment. Light-amplification was apparently still expensive… he didn't even want to think about the pair that had infrared. That bitch cost 50000 for a single pair of goggles.
When he returned to the Pokecenter in the afternoon, he dropped Salohiel off for her own Cleaning and Healing cycles, and picked up Xiao, Pythia, and Grace before heading to his room to take a nap. For the rest of the afternoon.
When he awoke, the sun had gone down. Checking the clock in the room he saw that it was 10:17PM. With Salohiel picked up, he let Grace out of her 'Ball.
"Hey there." He said, looking at the Arachnid-based Pokegirl. She'd gotten some new clothing, too. Basic stuff, really. A T-Shirt, a skirt, a pair of shoes.. Nothing spectacular.
"Hello, Master." She said, stretching a bit to get used to movement again. Cleaning Cycles… They felt like someone had rubbed her skin raw, she noted. "Are we Taming? Fighting? Or Travelling?" She asked. Those seemed like the three most likely probabilities based on her knowledge of what Tamers do.
"Travelling." Markus said, beginning to walk. "We're going hunting. Night-hunting, specifically, but our goal is a few days away from here. So, I figured this would be a perfect time to get used to each other…." he saw the smirk on her face in the street-lights. "Not like that, Perv." He chuckled. "I mean in the sense of working with each other. Plenty of Ferals between here and there, and not all of which I want to capture. Some aren't worth it, some are just too common… I've got a buttload of Pokeballs stored up, but I don't wanna use 'em up willy nilly. Then we'll make for Lavenderriere Town. Always one of my favorite locations in the games, Lavender Town." He could easily remember the Pokemon Tower with the graveyard, the simple music, the fun NPCs and their various insane word-bubbles…
"I thought you called it 'Lavenderrier Town?'" Grace asked. "Why did you say 'Lavender Town?'"
"It's something from my old life." He shrugged. "Don't worry too much about it, just yet. I'll tell you the whole story later." He still didn't quite trust her… Pythia? He bought her legally fair and square. Same with Xiao even if the Slicer had turned out to be a sexpot. Salohiel was the first being he'd come into contact with in this new life… So he was inclined to trust her. Not only that, but she was a Celestial. For all his love of Infernals? Celestials definitely seemed much more likely not to rip him a new asshole.
"I understand, Master." Grace said, following along as Markus walked to the edge of VerMuffEatin' City. The Gatehouse was once again staffed by humorless soldiers. It seemed that at night they were more open with having weapons, and had rifles strapped to their bodies with what Markus could only assume were Elemental Rounds loaded.
"Your passport says you wanted to try the Gym." The man checking him out said. "But no records of you going in."
"Yeah, got a tip that there might be a pack of Vampira somewhere near Lavenderrier Town. Figured I'd see if I can't find 'em. And if there's a Vampire there, I can confirm it to the League if I can't catch her." Markus explained. He really didn't want the 'proper authorities' to get involved in this hunt, but if he lied they'd probably never let him back in.
"Understood." The man said. "If you do find out there's a Vampire there? Give us a call. If you can capture her, then it'll notify us when you register her at a Pokecenter. If you can't? Notify the League if you don't die. Good luck, and don't get bitten." He finished, letting Markus pass through and out into the semi-stable Route 8.
The soldiers behind him watched before they broke their 'unfeeling' facade and went back inside their shack to pick up the card game they'd been playing previously.
"Think he'll find it?" one asked.
"If he does? More's the pity, Vampires are hell to take care of. If he doesn't? Who gives a fuck. You gonna bid or not?" the other answered.
One smegging week, and Markus was already missing the road. With the roads available? He was able to make pretty good time. Once he left them however, he had to rely on Salohiel and Pythia telling him where the hell he was. He kept Grace out of her ball most of the time, letting her hunt the Ferals and small game in the massively forested area that used to be the United States of America… or at least a part of it.
She used paralyzing venom on the Ferals before cocooning them up in webbing, attacking from ambush more often than not before dragging the limp Pokegirls back to camp so Markus would put them in Pokeballs for later sale. On game, she caught, killed with a sharp blow to the head, and then brought back to camp where Xiao would be called out to skin and clean the meat for cooking. Rabbits. Lots and lots of rabbits. A few birds here and there, which Markus usually turned into soup by boiling the bones in filtered water from a stream they were following and then adding a few vegetables in along with the bird meat. He had to wait until they had at least 5 of the little bastards before he could make a decent soup out of them… And even then? Sometimes he just said 'fuck it' and roasted them over a fire, which usually turned out much better.
Still, Grace was re-learning her old tricks, and every night she'd join in conversation between Markus and whichever of her Harem-sisters he'd had on the schedule. Salohiel was always good for a talk, but she didn't seem to like Grace being involved in 'Taming time.' Pythia was almost painfully shy, and loved to talk about stars and such, which flew right over Grace's head. Xiao, on the other hand?
Xiao was talkative, and seemed to take a 'seefood diet' approach when it came to Taming. Namely, she loved Taming, be it with Grace, Pythia, or Markus. She loved to lick, suck, be licked or sucked, and seemed endlessly fascinated with having fingers or dicks inside her, usually both if she could get it.
Xiao, for her part, loved the new addition. She definitely enjoyed the time when Markus had finished Taming her and she asked Grace to tie her up in a tree for some kinkier 'just us Pokegirls' Taming. The silk felt heavenly as she hung from that branch, with Grace shoving her face between her legs… The positioning was awkward, sure, but that just added a bit of spice to the whole situation! And the new girl could last a lot longer than Pythia. There was only so often you could reduce a girl to a puddle of orgasmic goo before the knowledge that 3 minutes of foreplay could do the same just made the whole thing seem less like it was your skill and more just the other girl being very very easy to please…
Still. It had been a week with Grace as the Pokegirl most commonly out of her 'ball. Markus and Grace had been rather awkwardly (on his part) trying to get to know one another. Grace didn't see how it was so awkward. She didn't even know herself, so it was more just her getting to know him.
Tonight's attempt at 'getting to know you' involved a rousing game of…
"Would you rather… Get a manicure, or see a movie?" Markus asked.
"Movie." Grace responded, easily. "My nails are fine enough, but I've seen in the movies how women would get their nails 'cared for.' it looks painful."
"My thoughts exactly, on that front." Markus said, nodding. "Your turn."
Grace pondered before speaking. "Would you rather… Have an endless supply of your 'curry' but never get to Tame again, or have a powerful Harem, respect, and status but never eat Curry again?" she asked. Hers was more involved, but she'd heard him bemoan the lack of 'curry' and his soliloquy to the 'food which proves god loves us and wants us to be happy' in his kit and pre-prepared meals.
"Owch. hardball right off?" Markus asked, wincing at the question. "Hmmm." he pondered. The rules didn't let him say 'fucking neither' so he had to choose. If she'd asked him this back in his old world? Endless curry, but no sex ever or sexytimes with power and status but no Curry? He'd have told everyone to fuck off and leave him alone with his endless supply of Curry. But now?
"...Shit." he sighed. "I guess I'd have to give up the Curry. Sex is just too goddamn good to give up, now that I've had good sex… I'd miss Curry, but giving up Taming Salohiel, Pythia, Xiao and you? Fuck no. Giving up Xiao's ass alone is a crime against nature." he explained, at least partially for his own benefit. "My turn."
He pondered for a few minutes as he poked at the fire, deciding to go a bit harder on her than the opening softball questions he'd had planned. "Would you rather… be a Joulogumo, or be an Angel?" he asked. Thinking of these on the fly was hard, damn it!
"I'd rather be a Joulogumo." she said after a moment's thought. "Something about being winged, and without most of my legs or the ability to grow those legs when I wanted to, sits wrong with me." she finished. "Would you rather… Kill the Vampira pack we're hunting, but gain the Vampire, or kill the vampire in exchange for a dozen Vampira?" she asked.
"Wow. You're fuckin' good at this." he chuckled nervously. "I think I'd rather not kill anyone involved in that. Ferals are just… Doing what they do, and Taming them gives them a human mindset to work with. The Vampire we might run into might have been tame, once, and simply lost herself, buried beneath her feral instincts. Meanwhile the Vampira might be the same. Purely monetarily, the Vampira would be worth more by numbers, and I wouldn't want to sell the Vampire, but reducing life to monetary value is something I really dislike…"
"And yet you 'bought' Xiao and Pythia." grace noted. No condemnation in her voice, simply her stating facts as she saw them. Markus winced.
"Yeah. And it took me a few days to come to terms with that fact." he sighed. "It's a balance in this world, holding into the morals I need to keep being ME, but adapting to survive in the changed situation." he explained.
"Why are your morals different from others?" she asked.
"Because… Well, fuck it. I'm tired of dancing about the whole thing. I'm not originally from here. This body? Totally native. But my mind? My memories? No. I wrote stories in this world. I was just some shmuck who wound up like one of his characters, finding himself in the world I'd written, helped to build and refine… And now I get to see it all up-close and personal. I helped write revisions for Pokegirl species like the Sharptits. I wrote in whole new breeds when I wanted, like the Wraith, the Pardoner and the Polterkissed. I actually wrote in the Slot League. When I first joined the community? All that was really said about the place was the name, Tyroon or Slot League, and the fact that the Vegeta Valley was there with Sayjin Pokegirls." he took a breath and continued, powering through the sheer awkward of this moment.
"I wrote about Megami, I wrote about Zombabe outbreaks in my own personal alternate universe, with me as the main character hilariously enough because I wanted to do a bit of wish-fulfillment and bitch about the idiocy of the zombie-movie genre… I wrote in the 'canon' universe with a few short stories here and there. Nothing big on that front, because I kept getting derailed due to me either losing interest in the writing or because I thought my writing sucked gigantic hairy donkey balls. Fought against certain revisions, fought to not accept the Silver Islands League or… Whatever the hell it's called that used to be the Hawaiian Islands." he shook his head at the memory. "Then? I left the community. Over a few disagreements and personality clashes." he sighed.
"Eight smegging years later? I came back because I had an idea for a story, and figured it'd be better to have input than not. And then, about a month and a half ago? I woke up here. Went to sleep one night after my dead-end job working security and woke up in bed with Salohiel. Nearly puked I was so fucking scared. Thought I'd gotten so damned drunk I'd forgotten getting to Las Vegas, hooking up, and having sex, and lord only knows what other drugs would have been involved for that kind of memory loss. I was scared out of my mind that I'd wind up at the Greybar Hotel, a colloquial term for prison, that I hid in the damned bathroom for a while before finally my stomach calmed down. Figured I'd have to face the music, might as well do it with my feet facing forward, ya know?" he slumped slightly.
"So…. you believe you were… What? A God of this world?" Grace asked.
"No, nothing so menial." Markus chuckled. "I was an Author." he stressed the last word with more meaning. "I wrote about Gods. I designed new species, wrote them into the history of the world… And now I've been written into the history of the world. Ironic, no?"
"Poetic justice, I think." Grace said. "You approved of the nature of this world? The use of Pokegirls in battles, the massive deaths in our history?" She asked.
"No, no, no. I had nothing to do with that stuff. Most everything was already set up by the time I even heard of the community. I just took over the Slot League, did my own thing, and added to what was already here. It was a porn-fantasy we wrote about because the writing was fun. It was a way to unwind, live vicariously through our characters, explore concepts we wanted to flesh out about the world… It's why Slot is a Mageocracy. I wanted it to be one, because I figured it'd make sense for one government out there to be filled with magic Users, since before Sukebe Magic wasn't known to exist. Eventually a cabal of mages would get it into their heads to take over a country and run it because magic, by their definition, required knowledge, and knowledge led eventually to wisdom, and as such mages were obviously the 'most fit to run a government.' So I wrote about the Slot League's Rebellion against a corrupt government, the installation of the Mageocracy… I left a LOT open for others to add or improve as they saw fit, unlike with the Indigo league, which was written by a guy called 'RedPriest' and he based the whole thing off another guy, MetroAnime, who started this whole shindig with his original story involving 'Ranma 'One-half'' and Pokemon, a video game that'd come out about collecting creatures, battling them… Sound familiar yet? Yeah. hence, 'Pokegirls.' PokeMON, Pocket Monsters. Came out of Japan…" he sighed.
"Well, good to know our world is a porn-fantasy for a bunch of people in another world." Grace snarked. "Based on a sexualized video game." she finished, chuckling. It was kind of… Surreal. She was almost convinced her Tamer was playing a joke, but the look in his eyes showed no signs of him lying, or even stretching the truth. "So. You wrote our world."
"Yep. I always loved your breed." he sighed, leaning back and laying on the ground, his legs on the log, like he was sitting but sideways. "I loved spiders in my life. Always thought 'Spider girls' were kind of sexy. Partially because of the danger involved. I loved Infernal breeds like the Mazouku, Youma, Demoness… Even the Dark Lady. Loved 'em all, because I was young, stupid, and loved that 'edgy' crap. When I came back I'd been having a serious hard-on for angelic imagery, though, so I switched my adoration to Celestial Pokegirls, especially Angels… I had an Archangel revision in the works, actually." he laughed. "It's kind of hilarious how things wound up."
Grace didn't know if she blushed or not. Her emotions were all over the place. Her Tamer was either insane or telling the truth and was part of a group responsible for wars, deaths, plagues on human and Pokegirl alike, including Pokegirl's need for taming… "So… Why do we need taming? Why did Sukebe do it?" she asked.
"Jim Sukotto was a madman, but he was basically our whipping-boy when it came to explaining things." Markus shrugged, his shoulders messing up the layer of dirt and plant debris on the ground. "We had a lot of debates on the nature of taming, but most of it came down to 'we like porn. Shut up and just enjoy the porn.' I always thought he did it as a control mechanism, but that could swing the way of making no sense. It could also have just been Sukebe's perversion, wanting what any man wants. A woman who'd worship him, love him, and who'd let him get laid whenever he wanted. Hell, for all Iknow? It was a mistake in how he made the first batch of Pokegirls and he just didn't survive long enough to fix it. The War of Revenge wasn't a pleasant bit of history, even if we glossed over it in the stories, only putting it in timeline compilations and such."
Grace had to laugh. The Authors of their world just liked to watch porn. How horrifyingly apropos. "So, now that you're here, seeing your creation in all it's beauty and horror, you're trying to keep what little morals you had?" she asked.
"Pretty much." he looked over at her and grinned, winking. "I wasn't a good man to begin with. Emotional balance problems, brain chemical imbalances galore. My brain broke down serotonin too fast, which caused massive mood swings, usually levelling out to a state of apathy with spikes of happiness and energy to lows of rage and suicidal or homicidal thoughts. Now that I don't have to contend with all of that? I find that this whole world is… Beautiful, but terrible, just like our creations. Beautiful and terrible."
With that the conversation trailed off. He hadn't even told Salohiel the full story of this thing. He'd only made mention of writing stories in this world, not the full implications… Then again he was nearly afraid that Salohiel either thought he was in shock at the time or that she'd figured it all out anyway. Either option was scary in their own ways.
Still, when Grace came over and laid down next to him on the ground, he was more than slightly pleased. At least she didn't hate him! She might think he's crazy, or she might think he was some kind of cruel nigh-chthonic being. Still, she didn't tense up when he held her hand, so… Win?
That night passed with only three small Ferals wandering into camp. A Bunnygirl, a Titmouse, and a Kitsune. When Markus awoke and saw the three of them webbed up and paralyzed? He was seriously beginning to wonder if perhaps he should actually consider keeping one of the many Kitsune he was catching. Never let it be said he was immune to the 'fox-girl' fetish... Maybe he'd try to get one from a Ranch or something. He still wasn't totally comfortable with 'she's got fur' as a descriptive used for someone he'd regularly have sex with.
The irony of him gleefully having sex with a girl who could turn into a half-spider creature out of most people's nightmares, but not with a animorphic species with a bit of 'excess hair' was not lost on him.
The days and nights passed relatively quietly once he got to the area marked on his map. He still had about a week's worth of food, the stream nearby was plentiful for his canteen, and his camping site was scenic on its own. It was situated in a small clearing about 50ft away from a steep hill hidden by thick forest growth. In the daytime it was practically a breathing thing, the air clean and the the ground a shade of Green Markus, a native of Minnesota, was only used to seeing in spring. At night it was a few dancing lights and distant singing voices away from being an enchanted fairy forest.
The first night, Markus had Grace setting up Triplines all over their area, in the trees and on the ground, leading them back to a central point in the camp. It was a trick he'd learned after she told him she could do it… he'd always wondered just what the fuck 'Tripline' had meant in the Arachnae entry. Now he knew. Pythia set up an Alarm ward around the camp, and Xiao had set herself up with a nice lean-to next to Markus's tent. Salohiel meanwhile had taken to the skies and began scouting. During the daytime? It was unlikely they'd run into anything, but she wanted to have a decent idea of where things were in this area in case they needed to withdraw to a more defensible position.
As the flew, She mentally divided the surveyed area into a series of grid coordinates, each one marked by some defensive structure. A particularly tall and sturdy tree here, a large rock they could climb there, a choke-point made by small water-carved walls of rock over there. She took a few pot-shots at other flying pokegirls when she needed to. Like the Rack who nearly attacked her. And the sheer number of Pidgys about made her want to scream, considering they would fly at the slightest whisper of something nearby. They'd fly, get in her way, and cause all kinds of hell for her to avoid them. After one got just a little too close and forced her to recover mid-flight, she just KNEW she'd have to clean out her wings. Brown feathers really mussed up her look, and she had no doubt at least a few had gotten mingled in with her nice, clean white feathers…
Heaven help the poor girl if Salohiel found herself missing any of her own feathers. She'd hunt down the little bint and rip out her flight her feathers for things like Feather Shuriken? That's different. Losing them to a collision with a Pokegirl having the average intelligence of an actual bird? Less dignified.
It was only when the immediate area was scouted out thoroughly and the larger area scouted from an aerial perspective that Markus allowed himself to actually relax. He'd pulled Pythia into his lap and had her explain the basics of Magic once again, beginning with the mental exercises needed to discover or develop one's own ability to gather mana from the air. It apparently involved imagining a flame, and breathing on it to feed it 'oxygen' in the form of Mana.
Pythia, just going through how she was taught the theory as being a pure Magic Type she'd been able to do this since she was born out in the wild, released small sparks of Mana into her Tamer in order for him to know the feeling of Mana, and potentially jumpstart the process. It was part physical, part mental and all metaphysical. Most people coming into it without any natural talent needed the jumpstart. Like priming a well.
Markus's mental 'flame' was… unimpressive, when he studied it. He felt the jolts of energy, tingling and not unpleasant, as they entered him. He felt the stuttering of that small flame as he tried to 'breath' the flame onto it… This whole exercise was like trying to make smoke patterns out of thought. Not just thinking of the patterns, but actually taking one's thoughts and physically turning them into smoke patterns… having Pythia on his lap both helped and hindered, so it was a net balance. On the one hand? She was channeling small bits of Mana into him, letting him get the feel for them in concentrated form rather than the much more dispersed form in the air or in the earth.
On the other hand? She was on his goddamned lap. He was leaning his chin on her shoulder. And she was using that shampoo he'd bought for them with the floral scent he liked. Lavender, mostly… Distracting. Still, he kept on it. If he could do this, get the feel of it without Pythia being there to 'prime the pump,' then he might, eventually, be capable of casting spells. This was something he'd wanted with all of his heart and soul for years before he'd even considered writing for Pokegirls. Dungeons & Dragons always saw him playing a Wizard.
Meanwhile, Xiao was working with Salohiel… oddly? Salohiel seemed to be inordinately good at fighting with her body, not counting her wings. She didn't seem to have the 'form' for it like Xiao did which Markus chalked up to her not being a Fighting Type, but she seemed to have a deep and abiding knowledge of fighting techniques. With a summoned sword of her own, Salohiel and Xiao sparred, clashing every few seconds as Xiao tried to get through the much more experienced Pokegirl's defense. The few times she'd managed to potentially get a strike in? Salohiel's wings materialized and blocked the blow with a 'shield' steel-like feathers.
"You're getting better." Salohiel noted. "I actually have to try a little, now." The smirk on her face showed only the slightest hint of joking condescension.
"Yeah, and maybe one day you'll explain why you're so damned good at this. Or maybe I'll just evolve and beat you that way." Xiao countered.
"I've fought Ronin before…" Salohiel began, but was cut off by Xiao, growling.
"I won't be a goddamned 'Ronin!'" She shouted, swinging her Guan Dao just a bit heavier. "Goddamned ethnocentric species names! Goddamned Sukebe Madman Japanophile! I'm Han Chinese, damn it! My mother was Han Chinese, my father was Han Chinese, and *I* am Han Chinese! Not fucking Japanese, not a fucking 'Ronin!'"
Pythia sighed from her position in Markus's lap. "Here she goes. Knew this was coming, just couldn't figure out *when.*" she said. "Han Chinese is the old ethnicities of the mainland Edo League."
Xiao growled again. "And that? That's not my fault! Stupid Japanese love from the whole damned world, stupid 'Edo' League! Why couldn't it have been the 'Three Kingdoms League' or something, huh? China, Korea and Japanese. Three Kingdoms, and a good C. Chinese reference for the part of the league that makes up most of the actual landmass!" She swung her Guan Dao once again, following with a sweep of her legs, which Salohiel both blocked and jumped over respectively. "When I evolve? I'm calling myself a Youxia, damn it!" She finished.
Markus nodded. "Historically, there are similar themes between 'Wandering Hero' and a 'Masterless Samurai' in literature… Well, without one being a disgraced former Samurai. Plenty of masterless Samurai who never had a master, though… Still, youxia were celebrated, rather than reviled. They followed a code much more individualistic than Bushido. Much more focused on personal skill and virtue than on virtue through service to a Lord." He explained. "I did my final research paper on ancient China's martial legends, so I can understand the annoyance. Never understood why Ronin came before Samurai in the Slicer evolutionary line… You needed, in most cases, to be a samurai first before you could become a Ronin, and becoming a Samurai after being Ronin almost never happened."
"Master has an interest in Chinese legends?" Xiao asked, stopping the spar and looking over at him.
"Oh, yes. Definitely. I was majoring in Asian Languages and Literature. Only reason I didn't get my Bachelor's Degree was because I couldn't finish the Chinese Language course. Got stuck at Intermediate, because the teaching style didn't mesh well with my learning style."
"And no interest in japanese?" She asked, seeming hopeful.
"Oh, hell yes. I used to be a total Japanophile. Only reason I got into Chinese is because the school I was at during the that time didn't offer intermediate Japanese. Still, it was a good switch. I like Wuxia movies far more than I enjoyed most anime.. Mainly because after a while I began genuinely hating most anime. I only got into it again when Isekai became a popular genre."
Xiao gave him a deadpan look, though his eyes were closed. "How very Ironic, master." She said, her voice a monotone.
"Don't pout, Xiao. I found more interest in Chinese than I did in Japanese. I learned all I could. The spread of Buddhism through China, ancient religions and practices, I even took a chinese calligraphy course. Both semesters of it. Loved the hell out of that class. Seriously, need to get back into it. If I ever see a Chinese Ar-tits who focuses on Calligraphy? I'll cream my pants. I'd love to have someone to practice with."
Xiao made a note to try and call her mother… If she was going to work with her current Master, she'd try to share at least some interests. And her mother had always said that Calligraphy and Swordplay were linked… but then? Her mother refused to take any kind of name and used a straight-sword, so Xiao 'I love my Guan Dao' herself had taken that with a grain of salt. Proof positive that Parthenogenesis didn't mean they were exactly alike.
It stayed calm for the first few days at that campsite. Until the full moon…
/end_