Chapter 6: Mauville city

Terry awoke when first rays of the new day entered the pokecenter's room as it filled with the smells of brewing coffee. Sitting up he found that Emy had already woke up and was sitting next to the coffee pot blowing on a paper cup in her hands with a second and third next to her still steaming.

"Good morning," she greeted Terry with a smile as bright as the morning. Holding out a cup to him she asks, "Do you want some coffee, I just brewed it." She handed him a dish containing creamer and sugar.

"Thank you." He accepted the dish, "What time did you wake up?" he said stifling a yawn and sitting down next to her.

"About thirty minutes ago, when do you think we should get ready to leave?"

"We'll leave after Luna wakes up." Grabbing a small pastry from their food stores he asked, "You're not going to eat?"

"No, I usually get enough nutrients from the sun." He simply nodded; finishing the pastry he stood up and walked over to the bed to wake up Luna.

"Luna. It's time to wake up." He tapped her foot a couple times, after getting no reaction he moved up to her shoulder. "Hey… Luna. It's time to get up." She dug her face deeper into the pillow at his prodding, mumbling something into it. "Come on, we need to get going." He said leaning in.

"Too bright." She complained into her pillow turning away from the sunlight. "Let me sleep another eight hours."

"But that would make it sunset." She muttered exactly into her pillow. "I'm afraid we can't do that." She groaned into her pillow after hearing that, Terry considered his options for a moment. "Would you like to rest in your ball until the sunsets again and then I can take you out again?" she only nodded her head to let him know that she agreed with his proposal. Returning her to the pokeball, he and Emy packed up their supplies and checked out at the front desk. Outside they encountered Ron just before before leaving town and heading towards Mauville.

"Hey Terry, Emy, you guys are heading out already?" He said with only Terra in tow.

"Yeah we wanted an early start." Terry answered.

"Hey about what we talked about yesterday, I wanted you to know that I was serious about it. I think you'll really appreciate it, because I have found some evolution stones in that tunnel before. So just think about it okay, brother?"

"Really? Evolution stones?" Terry said showing his surprise. "Okay I'll think about it." After saying their goodbyes Terry and Emy left for Mauville.

Along the well-worn path from Verdanturf to Mauville Terry and Emy walked along in relative peace, as the trees became less dense and the path opened up into the plains before them. With Terry was lost to his thoughts they traveled along the ten hour journey in comfortable silence as Emy was lost in her enjoyment of the sights around them, and was only brought back from her daydream when Terry spoke up suddenly.

"Hey Emy I was thinking…"

"More like brooding." She said filling in the pause, and smiling in his direction.

"Okay brooding over," he said with a short laugh, before putting on a serious expression before continuing, "What do you think about becoming my alpha?" She stopped in her tracks at his sudden proposal with a look of surprise plastered on her face. "Since I now have more than one Pokegirl I have to start thinking about it now."

"That's a big responsibility," taking her time to answer. "Are you sure you want me to be your alpha?" When he nodded at her she broke out into a bright happy smile and jumped into his arms. "Yes." After that she would not let go of his hand as they walked along the path.

As they traveled along the path they came up on a wide one story building sitting in front of a large fenced in meadow, with many different Pokegirl breeds running, or just relaxing around on the grass. On the front of the building was a sign that read Grandma's Daycare. On the porch sitting in one of the two rocking chairs was an old man snoring away in a deep sleep. Clothed in baggy ranch clothes he had a blanket over him to keep out the chill of evening air and a wide brimmed hat pulled over his eyes.

"What is this place?" Emy asked Terry while looking up at the simple styled building. Coming closer to inspect the sign, "It seems that it's a daycare for Pokegirls as far as I can tell."

*Snort* "Eh! Who's there?" The old man sat upright startling Terry and Emy. "Eh, is it midnight already?" he kept looking left and right with his hat still over his eyes until Emy walked over and lifted up his hat for him. Revealing a his pinched hawk like face. A dusting of gray hairs coated his chin; he wore his age well giving him a kindly grandfather appearance. "A chikotit? I don't remember anyone leaving us a chikotit."

"That's because she's with me." Terry informed the old man as he rubbed his chin staring intensely at Emy trying to remember her. Looking over at Terry the old man's face lit up into a wide salesman smile.

"Oh a new customer, no wonder I didn't recognize you." Struggling up out of the chair he only batted away Terry and Emy with a weathered and work worn hand when they offered him a hand. "What are your names?"

"I'm Terry and this is Emy, but we're not-"

"Yes yes, I know I know. Come inside, it's too cold to talk business out here." He opened the door and ushered the two inside almost pushing a resistant Terry in after Emy. Inside the building had a welcoming and homey aura to it, immediately off to the right was a large dining table with a bouquet of flowers sitting in a vase in the center, past the table was an open doorway leading into a playroom the sounds of little children and Pokekits playing could be heard from it. In front of them was what appeared to be a reception desk with a computer sitting on the coulter, behind the unmanned desk was a door that appeared to lead out to the meadow.

"Edna! We got a customer!" The old man called out as he shut the door behind them. Coming from the playroom wearing a flour coated apron and wiping her hands on a dish towel was a wizened old woman, her back bowed from her age. Her warm elderly face wrinkled well suggesting that she had aged gracefully from her former beauty.

"Welcome. Come in and sit down." She said offering them a chair at the table. "Harold can you go get them some tea and biscuits and carrots for her." After the old man had disappeared into the playroom Edna spoke up again. "So what can I do for you dear?"

"Well, um we're not actually customers." Emy explained for them.

"Oh in that case let me apologize for Harold, he gets a little carried away when comes to the Daycare." Harold returned with a plate full of sweet biscuits and baby carrots in one hand and a tea set in the other showing remarkable dexterity as he set it down in front of them. "So what were you two doing before Harold pulled you in, if you don't mind me being nosey." She placed cups and saucers down in front of them while Harold served them the black tea with biscuits for Terry and the carrots for Emy.

"Thank you for the tea. We were heading to Mauville from Verdanturf." Terry answered them while Emy snacked on the carrots. "So what is it that you do here? Is this place a ranch or something?" His question brought a proud smile to Harold's face.

"Not exactly," he answered for Edna, "we're actually a daycare for tamers who find themselves with an unexpected Pokekit and who don't want to give up traveling yet. We also offer our services to the townspeople of Mauville, many parents leave their children so they can learn about Pokegirls in a preschool like setting, but we mostly have Pokekits here. We will hold onto them until they reach taming age or until their tamers come back ready to settle down. In most cases the tamer comes back ready to raise them on their own, but if the Pokekit reaches taming age before their tamer comes back we contact them and let them know." He only stopped to take a drink, his love for his work clear in his voice.

"Are you two the only ones working here?"

"No dear, there are too many little ones here to take care of for just the two of us. We have some part time workers here." Edna said as she refilled their tea, "All of the people employed here are familiar with the Kujaku Ranch techniques."

"Kujaku Ranch?" Emy asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"There are a series of ranches that belong to the Kujaku family in Jhoto, they're famous for their breeding programs that have produced many beautiful Pokegirls, and for their fair treatment of Pokegirls. Harold and I studied at their ranches for some time before leaving and starting our own daycare center some years back."

"Thank you for the tea and food, but we need to head out before it gets too late." Terry announced standing up and grabbing his pack. "Do you know how far it is to Mauville?"

"Another two hours if you walk, but the sun will set in about half an hour. Would you like to stay here and then leave in the morning?"

"No, but thank you for the offer, I plan to walk through the dark since my other girl has strong night vision."

"May we meet her, dear?" Edna asked.

"Alright," he said complying with the old lady's request, taking out Luna's pokeball, and releasing her. When Luna appeared she stretched and yawned as if she just woke up. "Good after noon Luna. These two are Harold and Edna the owners of the daycare we're in right now." Terry said to explain where they were for Luna's sake. Harold and Edna exchanged greetings with Luna before inviting her to have a seat.

"Oh, dear it looks like some of your roots have been broken. Wait here I have something for you, I'll go get it." with that Edna shuffled as quickly as her ageing body would take her. Returning shortly she came back with a small vial filled with a greenish opaque liquid, and handed it to Luna.

"Thank you, I was worrying about that." Terry said to Harold as Edna explained how to apply it and how soon it would speed up the healing processes for her roots. "How much is it?" Terry asked taking out his wallet.

"No need to pay, just think of it as an old lady's generosity." Harold said motioning Terry to put away his money.

"Thank you again, for the hospitality but we must be leaving now." Terry turned and said a final farewell to Edna and Harold before collecting Emy and Luna, and leaving the daycare. They traveled along the path with Luna in the lead and Terry using his flashlight along the way they spoke to Luna about making Emy the alpha, to which Luna readily agreed to saying that she would support Emy in any way she could. They reached Mauville about two hours later; with only three hours until midnight they immediately entered the pokecenter and rented a room for the night.

Returning from the bathroom after applying the tonic Edna gave her she found Terry still awake with Emy leaning against him asleep.

"What are you doing awake, Terry?" She asked sitting down on his other side.

"We thought that it was unfair for you to be awake only while we're asleep so Emy and I thought about spending the night awake with you, but you can see how that worked out." He whispered not wanting to wake up Emy. "She loses all of her energy as soon as the sun sets, you know." Gently picking Emy up Terry placed her in the bed before sitting back down next to Luna. Within the hour even Terry was starting to nod off, and at Luna's urging did he finally go to sleep next to the sleeping Emy who turned and latched onto him as soon as she felt his warmth from within her dream. Smiling to herself Luna felt happy about what they tried to do; she kissed them both goodnight before heading to bed herself. In the morning Terry found Emy already awake with a cup of coffee waiting for him.

"Good morning, master." She said in a cheery voice handing him the coffee with the cream and sugar.

"Morning Emy." he said still groggy from having just woke up accepting the cup with a muddled thank you.

"Are we going to challenge the gym today?" He only nodded as an answer to her question.

"We'll leave after breakfast." Terry stood up and walked over to Luna, "Luna we're going to head out soon. Would you like to rest in the pokeball like yesterday?" At his question she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed.

"No," she shook her head rustling her petals causing a sweet scent to fill the room. "I think I will try to stay awake this time." She got out of bed and headed off to get changed, and merely said no thank you when Terry asked if she wanted some water. Half an hour later they were outside taking in the view of Mauville city.

The bustling city of Mauville was famous for three things, the gym specializing in electric types, Rydel's Cycles, and the most famous of the three the casino simply called The Game Corner. The gym leader was a man named Wattson, whom Terry knew through Norman. Norman and Wattson were both political allies and close friends, usually backing each other politically when it came to pro-Pokegirl rights issues. Although he never spoke to him personally Terry would be able to recognize Wattson on sight. Rydel's Cycles was the city's most famous bike shop producing the highest quality bikes league wide. The newest bike models were on display in front of the shop with more inside. Its owner, Rydel, could be found inside working on his latest model. Mauville's greatest draw bringing in tourists year round, The Game Corner sported a flashy style full of flashing lights and an employee out front to draw people in. the signs out front promising people a good time and the chance to win big.

Heading down the street with Emy and Luna following close behind him through the sparse morning crowd, ahead of them Terry spotted a familiar figure heading towards him from the street opposite of the gym. The portly old man whistled a merry tune while approaching from the other side sported a large white beard covering half of his face, instead of trying to hide his receding hairline with a comb over he instead styled his completely white hair into a point reminiscent of a lightning bolt in the back. He wore a light brown sweater over his dark yellow button down shirt, above cargo pants in a matching shade of yellow. Noticing Terry the man gave him a cheerful wave an hurried his steps to catch up to Terry.

"Terry! How are you doing lad!" he said clapping Terry on the back roughly, clearly showing that time had not dulled his strength nor energy. A huge friendly smile stretched across his face.

"Good morning Leader Wattson." Terry returned Wattson's infectious smile.

"Come on I told you to drop the 'leader', just call me Wattson. So are these two your Pokegirls?" He asked looking over at Emy and Luna. Offering them a hand shake he introduced himself as a friend of Terry's family. "Come inside and we'll catch up." Wattson ushered them into the gym.

The reception area of the gym featured Wattson's emblem behind the reception desk. The Emblem contained a motif of a jolly looking maggiton holding out a mug in a toast. The words Laughter is The Essence of Life scrolled under the motif. The desk was manned by a bored looking ingénue. Past the desk was the training hall. The hall contained a large amount of arcing tesla coils organized to form a maze designed to test challengers before they reach the leader stage. The rest of the hall featured training equipment and sparring rings, most of which was occupied by the gym regulars already. The Leader's stage had the league's emblem set up behind where Wattson would stand during a challenge.

"Welcome back master Wattson." When the four of them entered the gym they were greeted by a woman dipping down into a perfect formal curtsy picking up the hem of her short black and frilled dress trimmed with white lace and cut in a design that emphasized her generous curves. Over her dress she wore a spotless white apron and sitting on her head of glossy black hair was an equally spotless headdress. Straitening herself in an unnatural mechanical motion her perfectly sculpted face was set into a polite smile. She regarded Terry, Emy and Luna with an unreadable expression. Overall there was something off and inhuman about her; upon closer inspection Terry noticed her nearly white irises had lines radiating out from her pupils similar to the shutter on a camera lens. Stunned at the sudden appearance of this doll like person in a maid uniform the three of them didn't snap out of it until Wattson spoke up.

"Thank you Nene, you remember Terry, Norman's son right you haven't seen him for a long time, and these two are his pokegirls Emy and Luna." Wattson said introducing the still stunned grass types. "So today you're a maid? It looks good on you." When he complimented her she broke out into a happy smile and let out an excited "really?!" stopping herself from hugging Wattson she coughed into her fist she tried to get back into character.

Moving out of the reception area they by passed the training hall and entered the leader's office past the leader's stage. Wattson offered the three of them a seat at the couch in the corner, a low table in front of it, and a chair that Wattson sat in. The opposite wall of the office had a floor to ceiling tall bookshelf filled with books on Pokegirl care and research, and with various trinkets that Wattson had collected over his long fifty-eight year long life. At the end opposite of the door sat Wattson's desk which was neatly organized with a stack of papers in the to do box.

"Would you like some tea for your guests, master Wattson?" when he said yes she left to bring back a tea set.

"When did you get a maid?" Terry asked.

"Who? Nene? No she's not a maid, she's my mechdoll. You probably don't remember her since she evolved from her maggieton stage. She's only dressed like that because she likes to dress up in various costumes, last week she was a nurse." Nene returned with the tea set, carefully serving the tea to all of them. They all thanked her as she stepped back still in her maid character. "So Terry I heard from Norman that you are starting you quest to become a harem master. Did you come here to challenge me?"

"Yes I did but that is not my only goal I also hope to help out dad in making his dream come true."

"You're definitely a good son." He said smiling. The door to his office opened again and a short figure bounded in shouting out "Wattson" in childlike glee. Hanging off of Wattson's neck nearly throttling him as she giggled happily was a maggiemite that barely topped five feet tall. The electric Pokegirl had her signature red and blue hair, the two colors were split down the middle, done up into identical ponytails in the shape of a horseshoe magnet on either side. Her skin was a dull metallic gray, with red orbs and blue orbs set into her hands feet corresponding with the two colors in her hair. Four spheres floated around her, each was the size of a baseball with magnets set onto each side of the sphere with a blank eye like spot in between. The spheres jittered through the air with the same energy as their main body. She wore a sleeveless shirt that ended just above a pair cargo shorts. "A-Annie! Your… chocking me!" Wattson chocked out as he was being jerked around by his Pokegirl's considerable weight.

A loud clang like the sound of to heave machines hitting each other resounded out as a second Pokegirl rushed out from doorway and struck Annie on the head dislodging her from Wattson.

"Owww. You're so mean Aurora…" Annie said sulking and sniveling as she crouched down to the floor holding her head.

"You do realize that you could have strangled Commander Wattson let alone break his neck!" The new comer turned to her harem sister and began to scold her.

"It's okay she was just happy to see me, and she just got a little carried away." Wattson said stepping in to stop the lecture. "Terry, Emy, and Luna, these two are Annie a maggiemite, and Aurora a tesslass." Annie jumped up suddenly happy again greeting them energetically, while Aurora turned and gave them a simple good morning while dismissing her armor.

Aurora was a full head taller than Annie and about an inch taller than Wattson. Her skin was a more normal tone when compared to Annie, with a slight tan shading her. Her hair reached all the way down to waist, gradually changing from blond roots to black tips. Her armor was designed to be reminiscent of a modern combat uniform made completely from metal; with her armor dismissed the clothing she wore underneath was revealed. She wore a wore a red t shirt that clung tightly to her emphasizing her full C cup breasts, equally tight black runner's shorts that reached half way down her calf.

"Are they here to challenge us commander?" Aurora asked turning to Wattson.

"Yes, but before that we should take some time to talk and catch up." Turning to address Terry, "How is your father doing?"

"He's been well." Terry said accepting a refill of his cup from Nene. "I know that he has been busy with political discussions between him and Jeffery, the league official from the Petalburg region, so he has been a little stressed out recently."

"Yes he did say something about debating a new law on Pokegirl poaching. "Speaking of which, you're still as passionate about Pokegirl rights as you were when I first met you right?" When Terry answered yes a good natured grin spread across Wattson's face. "Good! You know Terry you remind me of your father a great deal, so I hope you can think of me as a friend just as your father does. So I want to give you a friendly gift." Wattson stood up and rummaged through his desk drawers pulling out a card and offering it to Terry. Terry took the card and looked it over; one side had a magnetic strip while the opposite side was decorated with only the letters VIP.

"What is this for?"

"It's for a special room in the casino. It's an exclusive club that caters to those who have an interest in Pokegirls." When he saw Terry start to hesitate he said, "Think of it as a favor for an old man, I'll never get a chance to use it. Just go to The Game Corner and show this to the big guy standing next to the door in the back of casino."

"Alright we'll try it out. Come on Emy and Luna." He said getting up motioning for his girls to come with him.

"Sorry Terry but it's a men only club, so just leave Emy and Luna here and have some fun, they'll meet you here when you come back." Hearing that Terry felt uncomfortable about leaving Emy and Luna behind to have fun by himself, but he did not want to insult Wattson by saying no.

After Terry left a dark and serious look passed over Wattson's face before he turned to Emy and Luna. "How would you two like to go out with us and buy something?"

Terry took in the sights of the casino as he entered it. The inside immediately opened up into large room sectioned off by game types. The overhead lights were low to create a relaxed atmosphere while drawing the eye to the flashing lights of the games at the same time. The casino was always busy no matter what time of day. At the back wall was a counter set into the wall where players can go to exchange cash for chips to play or to exchange their winnings for money or promotional items. To the right of the cashier was a large bouncer type standing next to a closed door slowly looking back and forth across the casino.

That must be the "big guy" Terry thought as he approached the man. Showing him the card the bouncer nodded at Terry and pointed at a card reader on the lock of the door. Terry slid the card through and walked in.

Inside, the lounge like room gave off a high class aura. A bar was set up in the far corner with a stoic looking bartender currently serving up a drink to an important looking customer. The opposite wall featured a large plane glass window that reached from the ceiling to half way down to the floor, at the moment it was curtained off. In the center there were four luxurious leather chairs, and a two seat couch in the middle in middle of the chairs; all of them faced the glass in a half moon shape each with a small occasional table in between each on the right for placing a drink on while someone was sitting there. Behind the chairs and couch were cabaret tables without any seating reserved for quiet conversation. There were very few people in the lounge, a total of five including the bartender, the important man at the bar, one well-dressed man and a more casual man standing at the cabaret tables were deep in conversation, and a final man wearing a suit was sitting in one of the leather chairs sipping from an old fashioned tumbler.

When Terry entered all eyes turned towards him for a moment before they each turned back to what they were doing before he entered, except for the man sitting on the leather chair, who continued to appraise Terry. Standing up he walked over to speak with Terry.

"Welcome," He said offering Terry a firm handshake, "You must be a new member, my name is Harper."

"Thank you, I'm Terry." He said taking Harper's hand. Harper was a person who from his very posture to the look in his eye said he came from money and a better standing than Terry. He wore an impeccable ten thousand dollar suit; despite his taciturn outward appearance his voice carried a cold business man's charm.

"You're a Tamer, right?" He asked while guiding Terry over to the leather chairs, after they were both seated he signaled the bar tender to bring over a drink for Terry.

"Ah, yes how did you know?" Terry accepted the drink from bar tender with a polite thank you.

"Your apparel, the only people who come here are either rich high society types, or tamers such as yourself. Tell me you wouldn't have by chance brought your Pokegirls with you?" When Terry told he did not, Harper simply said, "That's a shame. Listen I would like-" he was interrupted by the man at the bar clearing his throat and standing up and introducing himself as the host for the evening.

"Gentlemen," he said causing all of them to turn towards him. "I would like to direct your attention to the stage, it is time for a match." As he said that the curtains behind the glass opened and revealed a large stage meant for Pokegirl battles. On the stage were two Pokegirls, a Dao and a golden elf, standing on opposite ends of the stage getting ready to fight. The Dao easily reached a full six feet tall; her well-toned body could easily be seen through the light unrestrictive clothing she wore. Her hair was cut to shoulder length and tied back in a loose tail. She held her blade in front of her in a two handed style. The golden Elf on the opposite end was only five foot six, with her own hair reaching down past her shoulders and glowed with a golden aura. She wore minimal clothes that showed off her bronze skin, along with her impressive curves. At the sound of a buzzer the two of them immediately charged forward into the fight.

"Is this an exhibition match?" Terry asked Harper. To which the high class man simply responded with a vague "something like that." The bar tender approached them with a small bowl in his hand.

"Please place your bets." Bets? I don't think it's legal to bet on Pokegirl matches. Terry thought to himself as Harper placed some money on the Dao. With both looking at him Terry placed some money on the Dao also. The match ended a minute later with the golden elf as the winner.

"It would seem that the winner of the bet was Mr. Price has won the bets." The host announced as the bartender gave the money to the casually dressed man in the back he continued, "It is now the auction portion of the match." What? Terry had a confused look on his face.

End of chapter 6

See you next week. Please let me know what was good and what was not.