Chapter 18: A poisonous affair

The surrounding crowds and building melted into indistinguishable blurs and blobs as Terry raced through the streets. He searched the passing scenery for a building matching the one in the photo he carried in his hand. Stopping for a moment Terry looked down at the crumpled note he held in a crushing grip, he once again read the letter.

Terry, they took Lei. You may not remember me but I'm on your side. I managed to follow them back to what appears to be their base of operation. It's the warehouse in the photo below. Wait for me outside I'll go get the rest of your harem wait for us outside we'll do this together. DO NOT go by yourself. I think they might be Team Rocket, maybe worse.

Rosa. After the name was a small, hand drawn fox character.

His mind went blank again after reading the first line; all he could understand was that Lei was missing and that she was likely held at this warehouse. In his rush Terry crashed through the crowds as he made his way to the docks going off of the few clues he could glean from the photo. Thanks to his mad pace he made it to the docks in record time. Standing on an over look he leaned against a light post trying to desperately catch his breath having already reached the limits of his stamina long ago. Terry visually searched the docks from his vantage point as his vision swam making him feel like he was about to pass out. Spotting the warehouse he felt life surge back into his exhausted limbs and rushed to the building. Stopping in his tracks Terry spotted someone waiting outside of the entrance. Leaning against the wall was a Dao, standing at an even six feet tall her hair, which had been tied back into a loose tail, had a light green hue to it. She wore a light unrestrictive coat to protect herself from the mild winter weather. Attached to her hip was a polished stone blade.

"Welcome sir, we have been expecting you." She said simply as Terry walked close enough. Opening the door she simply said, "Follow me, master is waiting."

Leading him into the warehouse the passed through an oversized storage room meant for processing products, extending from the walls were large shelves filled with boxes of unknown contents. Terry could only imagine what those products were as he felt anger and disgust bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. Terry looked around and found that he and the Pokegirl in front of him were the only ones in the warehouse. Looking closer at her he noticed that she did not wear a collar, meaning that she was here willingly. How can she stand to be here? Isn't this place just like that auction hose?

"Hey…" He began but stopped when he realized that he didn't even know what to call her. The Dao stopped and turned towards him giving him her full attention. "What is your name?"

"I have no name." She stated matter-of-factly, "Master calls me 'Dao' or 'you', but you may refer to me as you wish."

"Well… Dao…" Terry hesitated to refer to her simply by her breed's name, "it's obvious what kind of place this so, why are you here?"

"Because it is required of me to be here." The tone of her voice made it sound as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "If that is all we should be going, master does not like to be kept waiting."

She led him up a pair of stairs to a set of double doors. Knocking on the door she called out to the person on the other side, "Master I have brought our guest as instructed."

Receiving permission she opened the doors and ushered Terry through them before shutting the doors behind him. Her hand lingered on the door handle as she showed a strange expression, giving a weak sigh she muttered to herself. "I should hurry up and attend to our other guests."

The sound of a congratulatory ding filled the prize room of the trick house as the door slid open letting Emy and the others pass through.

"Where is Terry?" Emy wondered out loud as she looked around the room finding it to be empty of both prize and the tamer.

"Did he take the prize and bolt?" Soot asked still a little angry about the shock she received from earlier.

"No nothing like that." A new voice said behind them. Turning around they were greeted with the sight of a kitsune leading Karis. Continuing the kitsune said, "It seems that some unsavory people have set Lei as a target, and have kidnapped her."

"What?!" Emi exclaimed. Becoming suspicious she asked. "Who are you?"

"It seems that her name is Rosa and she owes Terry a debt of gratitude." Karis explained, filling Emi and the others in on what she had already heard from Rosa herself. "Apparently he saved her from these people back in Mauville."

"Come on we don't have a moment to lose." Rosa said as she started to head towards the exit.

"Soot can you stay here and tell May what happened when she gets here?" Emi asked stopping Soot on her way out. Agreeing rather easily Soot let herself get left behind and waited for May and the others.

"Here it is." Rosa announced sometime later as the group rushed through the streets quickly arriving at the front of the warehouse.

Walking past the double doors Terry was greeted with the sight of what could easily be an executive's office. In front of the large view window in the back was an impressive sized desk filled with neatly ordered stacks of papers and writing utensils. Off to the side was a bookshelf filled with various records and registries. A final feature to the office was the table set to the left of the double doors. Seated at the side closest to the door was Lei.

"Lei!" Terry called out in surprise when he noticed her and rushed over to her. Surprised she let go of the hem of her blouse, it had become wrinkled from how hard she was gripping it. Reaching her side Terry gave her a once over confirming that she was unharmed, the normal type was scared and nervous but otherwise she was fine.

*Ahem* "Good evening Terry." A cold authoritative voice said from the other side of the table. Turning his attention to the owner of the voice Terry faced the familiar face.

"You're… you're that Harper guy, right?" Terry asked recognizing the other man from the illegal auction house he helped shut down in Mauville.

"Not quite correct, my real name is Wilhelm. I'm not so stupid that I would use my real name in a place like that." Wilhelm said in a slightly patronizing tone, and added on the side, "Especially since they kept records of everyone that visited, mostly for blackmail purposes."

"But that is not the topic I wish to discuss at the moment. Please have a seat; your plate is getting cold." Terry only then noticed that there was a plate of luxuries food belonging to a high class restaurant in front of each of the chairs. When Terry sat down Wilhelm resumed eating while the plates on the other side remained untouched. Seeing as how Terry was not going to touch his food Wilhelm commented with a smirk, "It's not poisoned."

"I'm not hungry." Terry stared directly at the other man trying to gauge his intentions, while staying as close to Lei as possible.

"I must offer my most sincere apologies, for this inconvenience." Wilhelm said after wiping his mouth on a serviette, figuring that Terry was not going to say anything. "It would seem that my employees had caused you a bit of trouble."

"What?"

"It seems that two of my employees had, in their zealous work ethic, had taken your Eva from you, even though I had already rescinded the acquisition order. You see the client had canceled his order. So you should be compensated appropriately." Reaching into his suit jacket he pulled out a stack of money, he added while counting the money, "I believe that an Eva goes for about 50,000 scl in today's market so about twenty should cover this inconvenience."

When he set the money down in front of Terry, the tamer just looked at it as if Wilhelm had set down a pile of dog shit on the table. Seeing his reaction Wilhelm responded with, "Now don't be rude, and take the money."

Terry hesitantly reached out to the large sum of money, treating it as if it would bite him. When Terry put it into his pack Wilhelm said, "Thank you."

"Now onto the main reason I wanted to talk to you." Wilhelm continued carrying on the one sided conversation by himself. "I have a business proposal for you to consider."

"What?!" Terry couldn't contain his surprise at the direction of the conversation.

"I know it's a bit out of left field and all, I even surprised myself with this, especially considering my first impression of you." Picking a grape off of his plate he inspected the purple fruit, "You had such a nice smile on your face, the picture of a 'good guy.' When I first saw you I felt a strong desire to crush that smile." He squashed the grape in his hand creating a pulpy mess. "But then I reminded myself that I'm not a violent person, well I at least try not to be so violent anymore."

Terry snuck the knife in front of him into his lap when Wilhelm looked away to wipe the food off of his hand. Gripping the impromptu weapon hard in his hand Terry moved closer to Lei, thinking He's just a regular person if need be I can fight him off long enough for Lei to escape, even if he has a blood gift or two.

"So controlling my urges, I invited you over for a discussion hoping to get a Pokegirl off of you for cheap, but to my disappointment you had left them behind. All I managed to get that day was a useless Dao who can barely fight, I also happened to find out that the place was raided soon after I left; overall it was not a profitable day." His tone of voice made it sound as if they were talking about how bothersome bad weather can be. "I may be upset over all of that, but that is not the main point of this discussion. That would be what I found out later after doing some research into the guy who shut down my favorite auction house. I found out that the very same guy who did that was none other than Norman's own son."

Terry grew tense at the mention of his father. What does that have to do with anything?

"Then a rather humorous idea came to me. Wouldn't it be a great joke if the Norman's own son came to work for me? It would be a comedy on par with the classics, if I do say so myself." A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, "But judging from your expression you don't think so. Well that doesn't matter right now, I'm a very patient person and you'll eventually see things my way."

"Go ahead and leave, but don't forget to think long and hard about what I told you." He waved his hand signaling the end of the conversation. With that Terry quickly got up and left the room keeping Lei within arm's reach. "I look forward to your answer."

Finding the warehouse unguarded Emy and the rest of the Pokegirls entered the warehouse. Stepping inside they found themselves greeted by the same room Terry had been in mere minutes before. Walking out into a clear, open area the group took in their surroundings each Pokegirl independently searching the room for clues to the whereabouts of the missing tamer and Pokegirl. A few moments into their search the echoing sound of footsteps in metal stairs filled the room drawing everyone's attention. Coming down the stairs was Dao having just returned from escorting Terry, her face showed a resolute expression.

"Are you the one who took Lei?" Emy asked as she faced the new comer. Hostility coiled off of her in an almost tangible cloud.

"No." Her voice was calm and even. The rock type took up a protective stance at the foot of the stairs. "I do not know who took her. It was not necessary for me to know."

"You aren't wearing a control collar. Why are here? Why would you help people like that?" Something in the other Pokegirl's previous reply to her angered Emy.

"Your tamer asked the same question." The Dao did not give any indication that she was going to say any more on the subject. Her mouth was set into an unmovable line.

"Is Terry up there?" Emy's question was met with only silence. Taking the silence as confirmation she started to walk towards the stairs, but as soon as she took a step the rock type moved in her way. "Please move."

"No."

"Move Damn it!" Emy swung a vine out at the Dao planning to catch and toss her out of the way. As the vine closed in on her the Dao's sword flashed out from its sheath and intercepted Emy's vine. The plant type gave a short shout of pain as the severed length regrew. I might be able to do this. The Dao thought as a small spark of confidence grew inside her chest. Rage flared in Emy's eyes; gritting her teeth she swung her full arsenal of vines at the other Pokegirl. Overwhelmed the Dao swung her blade at as many vines as possible, while she managed to fend off a couple strikes a vine shot out from an opening and wrapped around her sword arm. Twisting her arm Emy forcefully wrenched the sword out of her grasp, as her remaining vines coiled around the rock type in a crushing grip. The vines bound themselves around her chest restricting her breathing, as other vines twisted and tangled around her limbs taking away her freedom of movement. Emy shouted a command at the Dao, "Give up! You've been outmatched."

"I… can't…" The Dao managed to squeeze out her voice struggling to even breathe in the face of their sheer level difference. Her head became light and she could feel that she was on the edge of passing out. Feeling her vision swim she called together as much focus as she could and reached out with her geokinesis to the previously prepared minerals around her. Obsidian shot from the ground and crates around her freeing the Dao from her crushing prison.

"Gaah! Fine then!" Emy shouted and raised her hand towards her opponent, the leaves on her wrists detached and swirled around her. The rock type looked up just as the storm of leaves shot out at her; moving quickly she rolled out of the way however she wasn't quick enough. As the leaves passed they shredded her left arm when she dove at her discarded sword, causing her to pull the injured limb in close hugging it to her chest in order to protect it from further damage. She was down on one knee gritting her teeth trying to stay conscious despite the overwhelming pain, feeling dread at the thought of her possibly failing the duty her master gave her. She could barely hear Emy's shout through her fading conscious, "Give up already or you might die."

She unsteadily stood up on her weakening legs and gave Emy a determined look as her only answer. The grass type frowned when she saw the look on her opponent, "have it your way."

Raising her arm again Emy summoned up another cloud of leaves around her hand and swung it forward releasing the storm of leaves at her enemy once again. She called out to the earth around her again bringing out the obsidian blades once again, but Emy's attack proved to be the stronger of the two. The razor leaves shattered the fragile defense and more than half of the leaves made it past. Wielding her sword in a one handed style she struck out at as many of the incoming leaves as possible, but despite her best effort to track each incoming threat she wasn't able to sense the vinewhip as it shot out from a blind spot created by the leaves. Her vision danced and shook when the vine cracked against the side of her head causing the rock type to fall to her knees before dropping fully to the ground with her mind fading slowly to black. Her mind retreated into the memory of when she arrived.

After her match the Dao found herself standing in an examination room facing two men; evaluating them as they evaluated her. Wearing a shock collar she dared not move and only waited. The taller more refined man she would later come to know as Master, while his companion was filthy little man whose stench burned in her nose. Listening closely she tried to determine the fate they had in mind for her.

"Is she the new purchase, boss?" The dirty man asked, his beady eyes lingered on her chest making the Dao shift uncomfortably. Wilhelm didn't say anything as he continued to look at her with an unreadable expression. "How come you bought her, we didn't have an order for one. Did you have something else in mind for her, like security?"

"No she's too weak for that. Her match against the golden elf was painfully one sided."

"What?! Then why didn't you buy the golden elf? I think there was a client who wanted one." Wilhelm turned a harsh glare at the other man causing him to shrink back and offer a hasty apology. "S-sorry boss."

"I didn't have any purpose in mind. I simply bought her out of… nostalgia or something." He turned away from his cowering subordinate with the frown still plastered on his face.

Knowing better than to ask for more of an explanation; he instead asked, "So what can we do with her?"

"I don't know." Wilhelm shot the other man an irritated glare, "How about you use your imagination for once and think of something on your own."

"A-alright boss." The dirty man flinched as Wilhelm dismissed his question with an angry rebuff. "Well if you don't have any plans for her then can I have her? I've been wanting a new plaything for a while."

A disgusting look came over him as his eyes roamed over her body again. Taking his boss's silence as approval, the other man reached out to take a hold of her. Feeling her skin crawl at the thought of the filthy man touching her she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.

*Crack* The loud sound of flesh and bone colliding was shortly followed by the thump of a heavy body being slammed against the wall. Opening her eyes in surprise the Dao found the other man slumped against the wall holding his swelling, bruised cheek. Surprise showed on all of their faces even Wilhelm's for a brief second.

"Boss?" The dirty man asked an implicit question from his place on the ground as he looked up at the man who suddenly struck him.

"On second thought I'll take care of her personally." He lightly rubbed his red knuckles as he turned away from them both and departed. "Bring her to my office after you process her."

Later, she stood in front of a set of double doors with the dirty man by her side. Rubbing his jaw as he moved it feeling it pop, he muttered, "Shit I hope the boss didn't crack my jaw."

While keeping his distance from her the man shot her a final dark look before opening the doors and ushering the Dao through. Inside she found Wilhelm seated at his desk appraising her new look, in the processing they had given her a new set of clothing to replace the battle damaged ones.

"Come here." He commanded motioning for her to stand in front of his desk, his eyes trained on her face gaging her expressions. Getting up he walked over to her, his gazed rested on the collar around her neck, "You don't need this."

He calmly reached out and released the collar from around her neck and discarded it off to the side forgotten on his desk. He ignored the fact that she had tensed up when reached out to her. His face was once again an unreadable mask as he reached into his pocket and placed an object in her hand. Looking down she found a pokeball in her hand.

"I am in need of a personal assistant and I want you to fill that role." Wilhelm said answering her silent question. "Do you accept?"

When she nodded he gave her a cold smile, "Thank you."

"Even though I won, this whole ordeal leaves a bitter taste in my mouth." Emy muttered under her breath looking down at her unconscious opponent. "Come on everyone we need to get going."

As Emy turned towards the stairs she stopped and looked up in surprise when she saw Terry heading down towards them with the missing Lei in tow.

"Master!" Emy ran over to her tamer and worriedly looked him over for injuries before giving Lei a once over too. She pulled Lei in close to her and gave Terry a relieved smile. "I'm so happy that you two are alright."

"Well done Terry." Rosa congratulated him as Luna fussed over him again not satisfied with his claims to being alright. "I'm a little miffed that you charged in without us, but it all worked out in the end."

"Sorry about that. Hey you're…" Terry thought for a second, "You're Rosa, from Mauville, right?"

"I'm surprised you remember that." She raised her eyebrows expressing her genuine surprise at his impressive recall ability. "We only met for a brief time, and it was in the middle of all that confusion."

"I try to make it a point to remember all of the people I meet. You never know when you'll meet them again." Terry smiled at her, Looking behind her Terry spotted Karis watching him with a strange frown adorning her features. Walking up to her and began to apologize, "Hey Karis, I'm-"

He was cut off by her suddenly pulling him into a tight hug. It was then that he realized that the strange expression was actually how she expressed her worry. He could feel something wet on his cheek. Just as he was about to close his own arms around her to return the hug she pulled away quickly.

"Ahahaha," She laughed awkwardly while turning around to face away from the rest of them. Speaking rather quickly she added from over her shoulder, "That was just your reward for bringing Lei back safely. Too bad you didn't wait for us; you might have gotten something better."

"We should leave now." Emy said as she ushered them towards the exit.

Hanging behind Karis watched the rest from her usual place at the back of the group, thankful that they had their backs turned. Worry once again scrunched her eyebrows together as she muttered under her breath. "Am I getting too attached already?"

End of Chapter 18

Author's note

From now on I'll be adding a note at the end letting everyone know who is with which tamer as they appear in the chapter. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always let me know what you liked and what you didn't.

Numbershooter

I am soon going to be going to college so I will hopefully won't get to busy with school work.

Terry:

Emy

Luna

Calisto

Karis

Lei

Rosa

May:

Soot