Tamer Gothic – Book 2 – Shadow Lord
The Finals - Part 1
Fortress. Shadow Island
Today was the last day of matches, by tonight someone would be facing the Traveller in a Pokegirl battle, and by tomorrow my friends and I would be heading to a nice resort for a hopefully relaxing time. However before I got to a chance to met the master of these islands in a pokegirl fight. I had to fight two more battles.
One of these matches was against Harry Porker, this world's counterpart to the famous Harry Potter, who was the Blue League's King of Tamers and he had already fought me a draw before now.
Later he had lost as part of a team battle, but that didn't meant that I would beat him now as we had both seen some of what the other could do and we wouldn't use the same pokegirls against each other again.
I stood in the Tamer's Box, which was slightly elevated just outside and above the pitch. Despite being a bit bunker like construction. It not only allowed a Tamer too view the battlefield more easily, but it also kept them safe from stray attacks should a pokegirl miss a with ranged move. That had never happened to me, but one day it could and then I'd be glad of these boxes.
From where I stood I could make out Porker. He wasn't close enough for me to see the expression on his face, but given the way he was standing I knew he was as determined to win as I was. Which wasn't surprising as Porker believed that he too was chosen to defeat the Dark King, even if I was strictly speaking the Chosen One this time around.
This was because Sexibi my patroness Legendary Pokegirl had gone back in time and the told the Hellguard, a group of Celestial pokegirls who tried to project people from Infernal pokegirls, a sort of prophecy. Really it had just been her giving the winged pokegirls knowledge of a possible future, but the Angelic pokegirls had taken it as gospel.
The Hellguard believed that the person fated to defeat the Dark King, and prevent War World IIII, would defeat two darknesses before becoming the Shadow Lord. I had defeated a Dark Lady, by helping to capture and tame her, and so had Porker. I had also defeated, with help, a Dark Queen, and so had Porker.
Which meant that whoever won this battle, and then beat the Traveller, assuming that could be done, was the one the prophecy spoke of despite the fact that Sexibi had seen me defeat the Dark King in the future. However this didn't guarantee that I was going to win this battle or beat the Traveller. As Yoda had once said: Always in motion the future is.
If this was so and Porker did defeat me, and the gained the title of 'Shadow Lord of Tamers, then it might mean that he would also stop evil Jayden from destroying the world. Then again it might not work out that way as Sexibi had never said that there was only one route to victory.
She intended to try to cheat, and given what was at stake I fully supported any scheme she had that would prevent the Dark King from being created. Having studied the the history of this version of Earth I understood that the because of what had happened during the Revenge War that this planet would not longer be able to support life should their be another major conflict.
As I heard the referee call out our names I ended my trail of though while I reached for a pokeball, and prepared to send one of my harem into battle. Unlike other tournament finals the number of pokegirls involved was being lessened each round. Normally a Tamer would have to use six pokegirls in a battle such as this, now I was only using three. That most likely meant that when I faced my next foe I would only be using two pokes.
If I won this round then I would facing either be Thomas or Jayden depending on who won their battle. Tom was a skilled Tamer, but he was also a dedicated Hunter, that meant he focused a lot more of his time and efforts on hunting threats to humanity than he did training his pokes. When he did train them it was as warriors not entertaining gladiators.
Jayden on the other hand was a Tamer who had trained his 'girls to win pokegirl battles not fights to the death, and he was good at it. I'd seen him in a few matches now so I knew how passionate and talented he was. Which was partly why he might be a such a great threat in the future.
As for me I was somewhere between Thomas and Nikita's brother. I was a hunter, but I rarely sought out trouble, mostly because I didn't need to, and I liked to focus on the more pleasant parts of being a Tamer and on getting pokegirls who could win me badges and trophies. Yet at the same time I did at least try to help people.
Also this battle being 3vs3 meant it was very important that I carefully chose my strongest 'girl right at the start, because Porker to do would do the same. In a fight with six pokegirls it sometimes some sense not to use the most powerful of your pokegirls right away as the first rounds might be more about feeling out your opponent's tactics.
However this time it wasn't as simple that. I had already seen Porker in battle, and I knew that he had some impressive pokes and he had seen many of mine. So what would decided this battle was if we could use 'girls the others hadn't seen in action or use 'girls the other had seen in action in ways that would surprise our foe.
As the ref counted down from ten, and the crowd counted with him I pressed the button on Raven's pokeball. I had a good feeling that Porker was not going to use Hermione, his Enchantress, and that he wasn't expecting to me to send out Raven, at least not this early in the fight. If I was write then I would gain an advantage right from the start.
"ONE!" the crowd shouted out "FIGHT".
I let my alpha lose and as I had somehow known Porker did not sent out his. Instead he had let lose Fleur, an attractive white feathered phoenix that was actually a fire type not a magic user but still she was enchanting to look upon and moved with grace. And she had one hell of a fiery temper of that I did not doubt.
Raven, however was not impressed and was already turning her rod into a full sized staff. The staff was a prize I'd claimed upon winning a semi-final match, and should I win this one I would get to claim another. However I couldn't think about that right now as Fluer the phonenix was taking to the air and I had to act.
"Form a shield!" I order Raven "and keep it up".
I was perhaps the luckiest man that had ever been allow to walk the surface of this Earth. My luck wasn't always obvious, even to me, and it wasn't the kind of good fortune that led to winning the lottery or being the one millionth customer in some store. But even when things looked bad they often benefited me in the long. Still even I had my bad days.
This was not one of the one. I had guessed right. The phoenix was raining fire down upon Raven, but she had planted her staff into the ground and she was using it to help channel the power she needed to keep herself safe. The fire attacks kept coming and it was so hot that I began to sweat. But still I could see Raven's purple shield holding up.
Porker's plan to have his bird type make an overwhelming attack right from the start had been a simple one, but none the less clever for all directness. My other pokes couldn't create shields and even Kira, who was very agile, wouldn't have been able to dodge all that fire. Only my alpha and my perhaps angel pokegirl could have endured the onslaught.
However there was a downside to such methods. The fiery flying pokegirl was looking a little tired, she'd used a lot power in her opening move and now she had no more fire. This meant it was Raven's turn to do some damage, and if all went well then this would be over soon as Fleur might not be up to doing some dodging.
"Raven hit her with a low powered Mystic Bolt" I commanded.
As the name of the attack suggested my alpha was now firing bolts of mystical energy at her enemy. It was a fast attack and a strong one if the caster fed enough energy into the move. But since the phoenix was flying then a full powered blast would be wasteful. A low powered would be enough to knock the bird type to the ground.
Well that would have been the case if Ray could have hit Fleur. The flying pokegirl might not have any gas left in the tank for attacking, and she didn't have much room to fly about, but still she was able to swoop and dive enough to avoid every bolt. Thankfully for us mere humans the arena was warded so the blasts that missed fizzled before hitting the audience.
What I wasn't so grateful for was the fact that my sexy magic girl was getting frustrated. This wasn't an uncommon reaction for a Sorceress as they were known for letting their feelings get the better of them. It was worse for Witches and Raven tried to control herself, but now and again her emotions took control.
"Raven!" I shouted "That won't work use the bubble thing we practised this morning".
My alpha was sexy, smart and very powerful, but she tended to use spells as books suggested they did and wasn't one for thinking outside the box. At least not when her temper was getting the best of her. However I too was clever and I didn't know enough about magic to know if something could be done or not with it.
This morning, which I had actually experienced for once since we'd all gotten up early to train, I had watched as Raven tried to expand her shield around a few people, as this would be handy in a team match and there was rumour going around the battle with the Traveller would be such a battle. Then I'd gotten the idea of her using her shield to push another pokegirl out of the arena.
It never would have worked against another magic type as they would be able to counter a growing shield and as the shield expanded it grew weaker meaning that any pokegirl with a strong elemental attack could shatter it. However Fleur had no fire left, her only hope of victory was to attack Raven physical. Which she couldn't do.
The shield, which now looked like half a circle covering most of the arena was slowly expanding, and limiting the room the bird type had to fly in. She couldn't leave the boundary of the area without forfeiting the match, and she couldn't pierce the shield with just her claws. This meant that if Raven could keep expanding the shield then she would win.
Porker recalled his poke, as we were allowed to use any one of the pokegirls on our belts we wanted. Only a disqualified poke or one unable to fight counted as a loss. But that didn't help him because as soon as he sent one of this elves out she got pushed out the arena. Raven had given the shield one last might push just as the switch took place.
Which meant I had won the first round, but Ray was knackered so I recalled her. This didn't change the score as she'd still be on her feet, but I knew she wouldn't be able to fight again so effectively I was now down to five girls. But on the plus side I only to win one more round in order to beat Harry Porker and go on to the last round of the finals.
I then sent out my Seraph and that turned out to be a mistake as she was now facing an Archangel, who was even more powerful and my celestial pokegirl's superior in the Hellguard organisation. Which resulted in my angelic poke refusing to fight. She knelt before the Archangel and then she remained there until I recalled her.
Despite how annoyed I was about it I sort of understood why my Seraph had just done that. Celestial pokegirls didn't fight each other unless they were trying to project someone from another Angel type who was under the impression the being had done something very wrong. But even that happened very rarely.
Still I was now thinking that it was time to let the Seraph go. We weren't bounding very well. I wasn't that found of her and she didn't seem that devoted to me when compared the others of my harem. Besides I had a Dark Lady in my harem too and should the two of them every met they'd try to kill each other.
Getting rid of Callisto simply wasn't an options. Aside from the fact that there was a hefty fine for releasing a captured Dark Lady into the wild there was also the fact that she was very dangerous. Callisto had no regard for the lives of others, she actually enjoyed causing needless death and destruction.
Besides it would be very foolish of me to even leave Callisto in storage for a long length of time. The last time I had done that Team Rocket had stolen her and if not for a combined attack by the Hunter's Guild and the Drow Warriors of my Coven in Menzobarranzan then, she would still be in their hands and Team Rocket would have used for her evil.
As I refocused on what was going on around me I saw that Porker too was surprised by what had just happened. The judge hadn't ruled this round as a draw which was what normally happened when two pokes refused to fight, and Porker could have kept his Archangel but he recalled the 'girl anyway, perhaps because he had some sense of fair play.
The score was tied and since this was best of out three that meant whoever won the next point would win it all. Everything came down to what poke I chose next. Babs was tempting, she'd evolved recently, and that meant she was more powerful than ever, but since I didn't know what she could do now so sending her out wasn't a smart move.
I made my choice as Porker did and two elves appeared ready. I'd sent out Kira rather than Kara as my Dark Elf was getting better at fight while her sister was becoming more a sex battler over time. Porker had sent out one of his twin elves and she carried two curved blades that put the ones Kira used to shame.
Now I knew that if Kira won his match I'd have to get her a prize that would make her even more lethal as pokegirls also suffered from equipment envy. There had been a crossbow on display that I felt was somehow right for my sort of stepdaughter in the same way that I'd known that staff was right for Raven and that had worked out well.
The two elves circled each other and I was just about to order Kira to use her runic chain, which had a lot more range than a knife, when Porker's Golden Elf suddenly charged. The two elves then danced as much as fought as their sharp daggers tried to cut skin and draw blood yet they were both so graceful that neither came to harm.
it was an amazing thing to watch, and that was all I could do as any order I gave would only serve as a distraction. Besides I wasn't too worried as I knew that Porker's elves were classmates of his which meant that she had been children when Harry had. That in turn meant this elf could only a fraction of Kira's experience.
This turned out to the case. Kira gained the upper hand in the deadly dance when she suddenly kicked her foe while seeming to be on the defensive. The unexpected assault caught the Golden Elf off guard as did the next few moves. Kira slashed her foe's arms and that caused the other pointy eared pokegirl to drop one of her knives.
From that point on my pokegirl controlled all the action. With one dagger she made Porker's elf move where she wanted her to move, and with the other dagger she struck at the Golden Elf. She didn't do any real damage, but the little cuts were distracting the lighter skinned elf further and that made it even harder to her to stay focused on the fight.
It was already over, and Porker knew it. His elf couldn't do anything over than try not to get cut up more, and even that was a struggle. So Porker did the only smart thing he could and subbed his Golden Elf before she could be taken out of the fight in a way that would lose Porker another point and then the whole match.
"Kira use your runic chain" I commanded.
As Porker sent out his alpha, but before the Enchantress could do anything my Dark Elf had her runic chain wrapped around Hermonie's neck. Which prevented the pokegirl from the Blue League from doing anything other than try to get the magical chain off her neck. However she wasn't strong enough to do that.
This move also prevented Porker from subbing again as the Kira had put herself between Porker as his pokegirl. My Dark Elf was the sneaky type so I was sure she had done this in purpose, and it meant that all Porker could do was either watch his favourite pokegirl get choked or forfeit the match to spare her some suffering.
He chose to forfeit and I let out a breathe I hadn't even realised that I'd been holding for a while now. I'd won the match and would be facing another foe in the afternoon and if I bet them I'd go on to met the Traveller this very evening. It was all happening so fast, but I knew had to hold it together as the future depended on me winning.