Author Note
I tried to write the battle with the Traveller but frankly my attempts sucked and I'm kinda fed up with tournaments as I just wrote two chapters for that sort of thing in my Red-X story. So I decided to have a little time skip and write something that interested me. We all knew he was going to win anyway and I already told you what he'd get as a prize so you really haven't missed out on anything.
To make up for not getting that chapter I put together a two parter that should amuse you.
Tamer Gothic – Book 2 – Shadow Lord
Part 35
Pirates of the Shadow Islands.
Pirate Ship.
I was starting to think that even my luck ran out eventually, and that perhaps I'd been a little too successful. I'd beaten the Traveller in the final match of the Shadow Island Tournament and now I was The Shadow Lord of Tamers, a regional champion, and I'd gotten three million SLC in prize money, some real cool equipment, and even a shiny new badge.
That had been yesterday. Now I was a prisoner of some pirates. The cruise ship, that went by the name of St Anne, which had been taking the Tamers from the Crimson League home, had come under attack. Two pirate vessels, one a converted oil tanker and the other a supped up cargo ship of some sort, had sneaked up on the St Anne during the dead of night and the pirates had boarded the ship before anyone had even known they were there.
The battle to defend the cruise ship had been a hectic affair to say the least. At one point I'd seen Jayden about to be gutted by some cat type with very sharp claws and for some reason rathe than let him die, I'd shot the pokegirl trying to kill him. I'd been real lucky then at least as the enchanted bullet had entered the upright female feline through her eye, and the magically charged bullet had killed her instantly.
Not that it had made much of a difference in the end. I'd gotten separated from my Harem and since Raven was in storage, as she had badly needed rest after defeating the Traveller's powerful pokegirl, I'd had no way to escape. Callisto could have teleported me away, but she had somehow been disabled.
I'd gotten zapped with a cattle prod of all things while trying to get to Misty and Ace, who at the time were in the process of being dragged off by two large rock type pokegirls.
That had led to me being thrown in this cell. I had been stripped down to my boxers, and gagged before being thrown in here so I was totally helpless. What was worse was that these pirates were Limbec meaning that they were going to make me a eunuch sometime soon as that was they did to their male captives.
I was trapped with no way out, there was nothing I could but sit here and wait to met my horrible fate. At least I could met like a man and try not to cry for my mother.
"Master" whispered a voice.
I looked up to see Kira, who seemed as if didn't anything to worry about, standing outside my cell while jingling some keys.
"Let's get you out of there" she then said.
Somehow she had not only gotten free but she had also obtained the key to my cell, and a seconds later she was taking the gag out of my mouth. Which was great because it allowed me to talk to her.
"How did you find me?" I asked "And how did you get the keys".
I heard her softly snort as she undid the ropes that kept my hands bound.
"Oh Master. That was the easy part" she remarked as she took a pouch off her belt "Getting your stuff back, now that was hard".
As it turned out the expanded pouch was mine, and it contained everything I owned, or at least the stuff that I carried with me. Well nearly everything the only things missing were my weapons, which I guessed were now in the possession of some of the pirates as they were powerful items.
Still I wasn't too worried about that as my gun had been out of ammo anyway and I was no match for a warrior pokegirl in a fight so having a sword wouldn't haven been that much help. Not that this had stopped me from trying to sword fight when we'd been boarded.
Once I was dressed we headed out of my cell and Kira led the way intending to show me where the rest of my Harem had been imprisoned by the pirates.
"Hey, who are you?" asked a dog type pokegirl in a cell as we passed by "Wait, you're a guy!"
Judging by the smell this poor poke had been in her cell for a while, long before the St Anne had been captured, and I could also tell that she was getting close to going Feral as she was practically drooling at the sight of me.
Even with my psychic power to charm and attract pokegirls I couldn't get one so interested me so quickly so I knew she that was very desperate for a Taming. Normally I'd want to help such a poor poke, but sadly that simply wasn't an option right now.
"Be quiet," Kira hissed at the 'girl. "If you want to be rescued, then keep your mouth shut".
That proved to be the wrong thing to have said as it only drew the attention of the other captives to the fact that we were free.
"Help us, please," someone else moaned.
That was when I saw other figures in the cells start to shifting as they began to stir. The pokegirl prisoners were bound with chains to keep them immobile and to prevent them from using their powers to escape.
Before I could even try to save any of them Kira was dragging me away, and as we left the cells behind I could hear a lot of people shouting out for me to save them.
"Don't worry about them" my sort of stepdaughter assured me "We can come back when we've freed the others".
If we could get to Callisto, and set her lose she'd serve as one hell of a distraction. Then we could start to save other people and pokes. With enough bodies we could over power the pirates and take the ship, or at least that was what I was hoping.
"I don't think the guards won't come to find out what all that noise was about" Kira was now tell me as we sneaked around the ship "They all got really drunk".
Which explained why there were liquor bottles scattered around and why none of the crew were in sight. That was handy as otherwise we never would have made it to the next set of cells that contained Callisto, Kara and Daphne.
Branwyn was still in her pokeball which was secure on my belt, since Damsels were in no way fighters I intended for her to stay secure in her ball. As for Navi, my fairy pokegirl, she had been lose during the big fight but I had no idea where she was now as flow away.
As it turned out she hadn't really run away at all, and had in fact been the one to free Kira, who been in a cage up on deck. Navi was even now working to free Kara, but hadn't enjoyed much success since my other sexy elf had been chained to the wall as well as locked up.
"Here's the plan," I told my 'girls once they were free "Kara, Daphne I want you two to sweep the upper deck on this ship, including any cabins. Disable or kill everyone you find unless they are locked up and if they are then free them".
I then turned to Callisto.
"You go and do what you do best" I said to her "Just don't blow up the ship or kill any of the prisoners. We will need their help to get this ship back to civilization".
I knew that Kara would avoid killing if possible, but she looked mad enough to knock some pokes out with her wooden staff, which she summoned from where ever it stayed when not in use. Daphne on the other hand was a dark type and while that didn't mean she was evil like my Dark Lady, she was more willing to kill. As for Callisto, she might end up harming some innocents, but I held her back then there was no chance of us being able to take this ship.
"Master, we will not fail you" my Nightmare promised.
Kara on the other hand was no so eager.
"But Master what do we do if we run into humans who are part of crew?"
I didn't think the Limbac pirates had any humans on their side, but I wasn't going to rule it out and they might have slaves of some sort who weren't pokes. Kara was a gentle soul and wouldn't want to harm humans.
"Disable them as quickly as you can" I ordered "If they've been brainwashed then they might try to fight us".
Then I realised that I had not given Navi anything to do.
"Navi I want you to go hide somewhere and if the pirates capture us again you can try to free us... again".
Now it was time to explain what Kira and I would be doing as my 'girls deserved to know everything I was planning.
"As for me I'll be taking Kira down to the engine room" I informed the rest of the harem "We need shut the engines down or we might end up at their base before we can take the ship".
This pirate ship was more modern that then one I'd seized in that cove and therefore it had an engine, and such things could be powered down.
"Now go" I commanded.
It amazed me then now calm and collected I was about this whole thing. I'd given in before Kira had saved me, that was truem but now I felt reallt good again. I was sure that we could save the day as I was the Shadow Lord of Tamers and the Chosen One, a load of drunken pirates weren't going to stop me.
I regretted thinking that when Kira and I got closer to the engine room. A group of drunken pirates saw us and opened fire with their automatic weapons. My Dark Elf and I managed to avoid getting shot and then the pirates, who were mostly cat types, charged at us while making a lot of noise.
Which was a really foolish thing for them to do really as Kira was stone cold sober and deadly with her daggers. The pirate pokes got stabbed and I even shot at a few of them when I managed to get my hands on one of their guns. The weapon was an AK-47, at least in appearances, and it was easy enough to use.
Once Kira had finished killing the last of this group of pirates I heard a big explosion and some screams of pain vibrated through the ship. I knew then that Callisto was off doing what she enjoyed doing the most, which was to cause suffering and death.
The next pirates we met were half naked and were armed only with swords. They must have been Taming each other before the mayhem started and while I should have found the sight amusing it wasn't because I emptied the clip into one of them while Kira shot the other in the neck with her new enchanted crossbow.
I hated killed but I steeled myself and then turned a corner intending to get on with my part of the plan when I bumped into Thomas. I almost shot him too, but thankfully my Dark Elf was able to stop me.
"How did you get free?" I asked.
I felt a lot less pleased with myself now that I knew I wasn't the only one to have made an escape, and knowing Thomas I did I just knew that he'd not required the aid of a sneaky pokegirl to do it.
"The pirates were having a really good time" he started to explain once we hsd ducked into a cabin "A fucking Infernal type took a liking to me and dragged me out of my cell for some fun".
Tom's curse made him rather unappealing to human women, but for some reason it made him seem very sexy to Dark and Infernal types. It worked much like my Psychic Charm Blood Gift, only it was more limited, and given that Thomas was a Hunter he would have found a way to over power a drunken pokegirl using trickery.
"I was just going to disable the engines" I told my best friend.
Actually I was just going to try to turn them off or at least find a way to mess with them as I didn't actually know how to disable them and even I had wanted to destroy them I didn't have the explosives required for that sort of thing, or the expertise to use them.
"I was going to try to sneak onto the bridge and send out a distress signal" Tom told me as he took this chance to reload the shotgun he had gotten from somewhere "Failing that I was hoping to find my 'girls".
Open reflection I realised that calling for help was actually a better idea than trying to cripple the ship. The League Defence Force had an impressive navy and they might even have a proper battleship somewhere in the area.
"Where's Amy?" Tom then asked "She's suppose to be Legendary pokegirl, so how did they capture her?".
I realised then that I had totally forgotten about Amy. I'd been so focused on planning and acting that the unknown fate of my girlfriend hadn't even registered. That made me feel ashamed of myself, but I had to put such feelings aside so that I could focus.
"Maybe they didn't" I said "Illyria can teleport so she might have gone off somewhere".
Well actually she created portals, but that distinction really didn't matter right now. What did was that she wasn't here if she had been on the St Anne when it had come under attack as if she had been would have at least prevented me from being captured.
"Let's go to the bridge" I decided.
There was no time to debate so Thomas followed me and I followed Kira since she seemed to have some idea of where she was going.
When we arrived at what I guessed to be the main cargo bay we discovered where Amy had gotten too. I didn't know how the pirates had managed to capture her, perhaps they hadn't but she certainly wasn't a prisoner now
Illyria, I could tell it was her even thought she had changed her looks again, was currently surrounded by a group of pokegirls that weere led by a pair of Amachamps and they were trying to use their melee weapons to hack the Kamislut into tiny pieces.
They failed as soon as Illyria used her time powers. She scattering her attackers like leaves before the storm. If I hadn't seen her do it before I wouldn't have been to do anything other than stand their and watch.
The remaining pirates took one look at their doom made flesh and their morale broke, they knocked each other down as they ran. However none of them even made it to the door as Illyria simply killed with whatever she could get her skilled hands on.
Which turned out to most be cleaning instraments. It made for a really big mess that she could have cleaned up with the very tools she used to make the mess in the first place if she'd wanted to.
"Gothic!" Illyria called out upon seeing me "I am glad you are here. Soon the captain of this ship will be ready to negotiate a surrender on behalf on her crew, and when they do you must take command of this ship".
That all made perfect sense to me as people would accept the fact that a regional champion had been able to capture this ship far more easily than the idea that some super powerful pokegirl had. Illyria could alter everyone's memories to help enforce the idea too.
"You want them to surrender?" Thomas asked either Illyria or myself.
How he was able to keep it together right now was a mystery to me. Sure he'd met Illyria before now but he'd never seen her action until now. Yet somehow he was able to cope with seeing what was basically a sort of goddess slaughter a room full of pokegirls.
"I can take the rest in a direct assault" Illyria stated "However if we can not get them to surrender, the pirates will kill at least some of their prisoners before they die".
Again this made sense to me as the Limbac pirates were known for being a ruthless bunch.
"And you care about that?" I asked.
Caring about the fate of others was not normal of Illyria so if she was concerned about it now then it was a sign she was changing.
"Of course not" she answered "But if we do not save the captives then you will be upset and will not be willing to Tame me for some time".
She was right about that. I wouldn't be in the mood for sex for a good long while if a load of innocent people got slaughtered when I could have done something about it. Plus on a more practical note we'd get a much bigger reward if we took some of the pirates alive and the people we saved would be very grateful towards me for keeping them alive. That would definitely help me become a Harem-Master which could also be part of Illyria's reasoning.
"Should I pretend to care?" Illyria then inquired.
She shouldn't really be pretending to care, but if I couldn't get her to consider other beings as worthwhile then she could at least act as if they did matter.
"I would appreciate it if you did" I told her.
And perhaps in time she would actually care, but I was going to hold on my breath on that.
"If and when the pirates agree to parley, you are to keep your mouth shut, no matter what I say" I said very firmly to Illyria "If the parley fails then I will decide if what we do next".
Which was reasonable in my view as I didn't think the Kamislut was suited for high stakes negotiations, and if the pirates took hostages she'd likely kill at least a few of them while trying to get at the pirates.
I on the other hand had Psychic Charm which made it hard for pokegirls to resist me for me very long. Plus we were planning to form Team Gothic once we got back to civilization so it made sense for me to start acting like a leader. Now was a good a time as any I figured.
"Very well" agreed Illyria "We must seize the bridge as soon as possible"
That seemed like a good idea to me.
"Led the way" Thomas said to the Kamislut.
Since she was bullet proof and super strong it also made sense for us to stay behind her.