"Don't wuss out on us now," Cordite said, "it's only four more Pokegirls and you'll love them… repeatedly." She burst out drunkenly laughing at her own joke.
"Such a lightweight," Willow said smugly as she started up the machine.
"Is that the stuff?" Cordite asked, suddenly appearing next to the modified cappuccino machine.
"No, this is simply good old fashioned, 'strong enough to kill a human proof' alfalfa alcohol," Willow explained.
Cordite sniffed with tears in her eyes. "You're so good to me."
"Yes, I am," Willow agreed, accepting a hug.
"Even though I threaten to kill you all the time?" Cordite asked hopefully.
"What's a couple of death threats between friends," Willow said giving her a squeeze.
"And the times I've actually tried to kill you?"
"You never put your heart into them," Willow assured her.
"You're my best friend!" Cordite exclaimed giving her a big hug.
"And despite everything you're mine," Willow said, stroking one of her ears.
"Sometimes I wish I'd become a March Hare," Cordite admitted quietly.
"Then we'd all have died," Willow reminded her.
"Like Giles and his harem," Cordite said sadly. "And… Xander."
Xander found himself in the tight embrace of a drunken bunny girl.
"You aren't allowed to die again," she ordered him. "You hear me?!"
"I hear you," Xander promised.
"Ok, I'm going to sleep now," Cordite said and passed out standing up.
Xander carried the bunny girl over to the couch and laid her down. "Too much stress?"
"Yes and no," Willow said. "The stress of fighting a Widow and having you die was… I don't have the words." She wrapped herself around him, tails curling around his legs. "Cordite fought a Widow to a standstill for two full minutes to protect you… which is about a minute and fifty six seconds longer than anything short of a legendary has ever managed before."
Xander stroked her back and listened, taking a swig of alcohol with his free hand, feeling her pain through their link.
"Beth had told us in advance what would happen, but neither you nor Giles were willing to turn away when a god damned Widow evolved in the middle of the hospital," Willow said angrily.
"What would have happened if we had?" Xander asked.
"It was next to the nursery," Willow admitted not wanting to say it, "that's why the both of you ignored Beth's vision."
"If I had run… I wouldn't have lived very long," Xander said, "the choice wouldn't have been if I was going to live, it's if I was going to keep my soul intact. If I had let all those babies die my heart would have continued beating, but I wouldn't have been me anymore."
"You can't fight a Widow," Willow said.
"The fact that you girls are alive says I not only did, but that we won," Xander told her, "but if it makes you feel better, I promise I'll never fight another one."
Willow laughed. "That actually does make me feel better, thanks."
"Ok," Xander took another sip of the alcohol while she wiped her eyes, "I'm properly braced, let's meet the girls."
Willow gave him one last squeeze before releasing him and picking up the belt with the balls on it. She moved down to the third grey sphere and pulled it off the belt. "Amy, I choose you!" she called out as she pushed the button and tossed it into the air.
The ball paused in midair, there was a bright flash of light and a familiar looking girl appeared, the ball dropping to the carpet behind her.
"A blue I Dream of Jeannie outfit?" Xander asked curiously, nothing this Amy was a little shorter and curvier than the Amy he had grown up with.
Amy stared at him in shock, turning to look at Willow, a question in her eyes. At Willow's nod, Amy squealed and tackled him to the floor, raining down kisses on his face. "You're alive! Beth's vision was true!"
"I meant that was Xander, not that you could have a taming," Willow said as Amy's clothes started coming off followed by Xander's.
Ten minutes later
Xander place the sleeping Witch on one of the sofas. "Not much stamina?" he asked.
"Witches are very enthusiastic, but yeah," Willow agreed, "they also have less stamina than a human girl because of their increased sensitivity."
"The local Amy is a regular human witch… who is currently stuck in rat form," Xander said thoughtfully. "Do you know of a way to break transformation spells?"
"Spell breaking is one of the first things all Witches and Kitsune learn," Willow assured him.
"Great," Xander said with a big smile. "That will come in really handy on the Hellmouth, though be sure to never cast it on Angel."
"Angel?" Willow asked. "I don't think I've ever met her."
"Him," Xander said with a grin, glad he wasn't the only one who though it was a girly name. "Angelus, one of the Scourge of Europe… and doesn't that sound like an awesome band name. Anyway, Angelus was cursed by the Kalderdash tribe which ripped Angel's soul out of the afterlife and put it in charge, unless the spell is broken."
"And he's a friend?" Willow asked.
"Friend is a bit of a strong word… but yeah, he kinda falls into the category," Xander grudgingly admitted. "He helps out Buffy and fights vampires and demons so I kinda accept him."
"I'll make sure the girls know," Willow promised. "Ready to meet the next one?"
"I should probably wash up first," Xander said, before Willow snapped her fingers and he found himself clean once more, "or not. Ok, lay her on me."
Willow snickered at his phrasing and took another ball off the belt. "Marcie, I choose you!"
An orange and black tiger striped girl in a black bikini appeared and froze as she spotted Xander.
"You look good in stripes," Xander said, happy to see Marcie, someone he knew.
Marcie turned to Willow a hopeful look on her face. Willow nodded and was unsurprised when Marcie squealed and tackled Xander.
An hour later
Xander laid the sleeping Catgirl on a couch before returning to the wetbar where Willow had been busy making more alcohol, she snapped her fingers cleaning him once more, before he could ask. "Local Marcie turned invisible and went crazy. Nice to see this one had a happier fate."
"The human Marcie turned invisible and went crazy?" Willow asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Xander replied. "Turns out The Invisible Man was a true account. Get overlooked and ignored enough on a Hellmouth and you can end up invisible, which seriously screws with your head. Fortunately, the Watcher's Council has contacts with a government agency that watches out for that sort of thing so they took her into custody. Hopefully she's getting the therapy she needs."
"Wow, being a Pokegirl was actually better for her," Willow said surprised.
"The Hellmouth is a strange place," Xander said, shaking his head. "Who's next?"
"Next is Beth," Willow said grabbing another pokeball. Willow looked surprised as Xander took a swig off one of the jars of alcohol. "I did mention those things had an alcohol content that would kill a human, right?"
Xander paused, gave the jar a sniff, and then took another drink. "Maybe your humans are used to a lower proof?"
"Maybe," Willow said, taking a cautious sip of one. "It's working right, this is highly concentrated."
"The flavor is a bit strange, but Jack has more of a kick to it," Xander said.
"Just let me know if you start feeling nauseous," Willow said, "I'll use a neutralize poison on you."
"Will do," Xander promised.
"Ok," Willow said before holding up the pokeball. "Beth showed up out of the blue about a month ago. She appears to be a fighting-psychic type. The Pokedex can't get a read on her so she's either a new breed or a rare saboteur type."
"I hope she likes chairs, because we are all out of couches," Xander said.
"I doubt she'll jump you like the others," Willow said with a grin. "So far Beth hasn't needed taming, so she's definitely one of the low libido types. There are a few rare Pokegirls who only need sex once every several months, which is definitely something you'd want for infiltrators and spies."
"Good, she might even stay awake long enough to talk to and get to know," Xander said with a smile.
Willow giggled before throwing out the ball. "Beth, I choose you!"
Beth appeared in a flash of light, leaving Xander blinking in shock. "Buffy?!" Her clothes may have said Faith, being all shiny leather and black with a T-shirt, but he couldn't mistake who she was.
"What?" Beth asked nervously, clutching her spear to herself.
"Buffy, I go to school with you here, you're one of my best friends," he told her. "A mud mask and dreads isn't enough to make me not recognize who you are."
"She does look a little like Buffy," Willow said. "Except she's taller, more muscular, and has… half a cup size on her."
"My mom used to call me Buffy," Beth admitted, "until I went through a late threshold."
"How late?" Willow asked with a wince.
"I was fifteen," Beth admitted. "I went from pride and joy to a Pokegirl they wanted to get rid of and I'm so near human the only thing that gave me away was the sudden strength and psychic dreams." She leaned against her spear, head down.
Xander sighed and swept her up in a bridal carry.
"Um… I don't feel much like taming," Beth said nervously, knowing Pokegirls weren't allowed to refuse taming.
Xander sat in one of the plush leather seats and held her. "Buffy… I mean Beth, you aren't a Pokegirl."
"What?" Beth and Willow chorused.
"Giles could explain it better than me, but let me give you the highlights," Xander said. "You guys know about the supernatural, so this shouldn't shock you too much. Every generation a girl is picked to be a Slayer. It's not threshold, they simply wake up one morning with the strength and speed needed to fight demons. You also get a load of nightmares about all the Slayers before you and how they fought and died."
"But I get visions of the future!" Beth exclaimed.
"Dream sent by the Powers That Be to warn you of certain events," Xander told her, "Buffy has them and there are no Pokegirls here."
"No Pokegirls?!" Beth exclaimed wide eyed.
"Your dream was dead on," Willow said. "Xander and Giles insisted on fighting the Widow. Cordite delayed it, Xander balled her when she was injured and ordered me to retreat with the entire harem. Giles tossed me his alpha and told me to take care of her."
Beth shuddered and Xander hugged her. "Why do they give me dreams if they don't change anything?"
"Because they get you to where you need to be," Xander told her, "or at least that's my guess. Willow would never have been where she needed to be to get caught in her local self's spell without you telling her where to go."
"I wasn't telling you where to go, I was just telling you what I saw," Beth told Willow.
"You saw me and Cordite with Xander again after a Widow killed him," Willow said. "That was telling me where I needed to go."
"I'm confused," Beth said, "what happened? I told you my dream, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And what's this about there being no Pokegirls?"
"The glowing Arachnae you saw evolved into a Widow," Willow explained, making Beth shiver. "Cordite managed to hold it off with the help of Giles' Harem. Xander balled Cordite when she got too injured to fight. That was long enough for Giles to prepare whatever it was he needed. Xander ordered me to retreat and Giles threw his alpha to me. I don't know what they did, but they managed to kill the Widow."
"Two humans killed a Widow," Beth said in disbelief, "and Cordite held it off?"
"For two full minutes," Willow said proudly. "I won't lie, the fact that it had just evolved helped a whole lot, but that was still the single most impressive thing I've ever seen. After it was over, we collected the rewards on behalf of our tamers, claiming they were healing in private and it was still touch and go."
"They bought that?" Beth asked.
"Their bodies and that of most of the Widow melted because of the acid and there were no other surviving witnesses," Willow explained.
"OK, I can see that working," Beth said.
"Giles' alpha was not doing well, but accepted the fact that Giles had given her to Xander," Willow continued. "Cordite was so badly injured that it took three days before she was healed enough to be let out of her ball."
"I'm surprised she didn't kill you," Beth said, looking over Willow to make sure she wasn't missing any body parts.
"She tried," Willow admitted. "It's one of the reasons I let her out so soon and I still needed a hyper potion afterwards. She told me that we should have died by Xander's side and that nothing less was acceptable."
Beth turned to Xander. "You have the most loyal Mini-Top in existence."
Xander simply nodded, not knowing what to say.
"I told her about the end of your vision and she just laughed and told me it meant we were going to die and join Xander in the afterlife," Willow continued. "I told her I thought it meant we'd be caught in one of those weird portals that the Hellmouth sometimes made and end up in another world where Xander was still alive."
"And you were right," Beth said, patting one of Xander's arms.
"Half way," Willow said. "Cordite told me that the next time I let her out of her ball, Xander had better be there or she'd slit my throat."
"That is so sweet," Beth said.
"For her it really is," Willow agreed cheerfully. "I had to keep hidden and buy black market anti-feral drugs for weeks as I waited, but your vision was right, I stepped into the portal and came out here."
"A world with no Pokegirls?" Beth asked, still not sure about that.
"Not a one," Xander assured her. "Well except for my… harem. That still seems strange to say."
"And the… human me goes to school with you?" Beth asked, still not sure about that.
"You are a human you," Xander assured her. "Buffy has all the same powers you do and we don't have Pokegirls here, no one pissed off whoever that scientist guy was, none of that happened here."
"I… I'm human," Beth said in disbelief.
"One hundred percent," Xander assured her, "not that it matters, since we don't have any laws about Pokegirls you could live however you like and no one could say anything about it."
Beth smiled, but then the smile faded. "Um, you aren't going to kick me out of your harem… are you?"
"Do you want to be in my harem?" Xander asked surprised. "You could have a normal life here."
Beth burrowed into his chest. "I… I don't want to leave."
Xander kissed her forehead, or rather the mud covering it. "You can stay as long as you like."
"OK," Beth said, relieved. She'd found somewhere she could belong with Xander and his girls and she didn't want to give that up. Maybe that would change in the future, but for now she was home.
"I met the local you," Willow said, "I like you better. She bleaches her hair and doesn't eat right, also since the tech level is so low they don't have nanite treatments at all, so she's even shorter than you are."
"I'm not short, I'm fun sized," Beth said firmly.
"That you are," Xander said with a laugh.
"One Pokegirl left," Willow said.
"I've known every girl in my harem as a human," Xander said, "how much do you want to bet I'll know her too?"
"Actually, considering the last one is Giles' alpha and he moved here from England…" she teased.
"Giles is our librarian," Xander told her, "you met him last night."
"Really?" Willow asked. "I guess I didn't notice."
"Old guy, glasses," Xander hinted with a grin. "He's Buffy's Watcher."
"Is that anything like a Tamer?" Beth asked.
Xander shuddered. "No," he said firmly trying to put that image as far from his mind as possible. "The Watcher's Council finds girls who are destined to become Slayers and trains them. Since Buffy's parents got divorced, he's more like her father since Hank has fucked off to Spain."
"My parents got divorced here too?" Beth asked.
"You had to burn down the school gym to prevent vampires from eating everyone at the prom," Xander explained. "You tried to explain things to your parents and got committed. You weren't in there for very long, but your parents were already having problems, so they divorced and you and Joyce moved her. Joyce had her nose rubbed in the supernatural and is like the most supportive Slay-Mom ever."
"I may want to meet her," Beth said quietly.
"She'll love you," Xander promised, "she's like the den mother for all us little demon fighters."
"This world is so much better," Beth said with a small smile.
"Got that right," Willow agreed.
"But back to Giles," Xander said. "He's a Watcher which means he cares for Buffy, helps out with the demon slaying and looks up information in old dusty books to tell her how to kill the really difficult demons."
"Ours was younger, had a full head of hair, and no glasses," Willow said, "but I'm thinking that's because of the nanites."
"I wouldn't want to deprive his alpha of her bonded," Xander said. "Why don't we have him let her out?"
Willow smiled broadly. "I hadn't even thought of that."
Xander smiled, happy to have reduced the number of girls relying on him a little and hoping Giles would find happiness with her. Giles hadn't been the same since he'd lost Janna. "Did Giles get a Hero Medal as well?"
"He did," Willow agreed. "Latest generation of nanites. That will take care of the glasses and hair loss."
"I'll call him," Xander said.
Typing by: fyrewolf5
TN: Bad Beth, I'm with Xander that is a horrible thought to put into anyone's head, Watcher's and Tamer's are fortunately not the same thing.