Cordite was walking with a limp but had a large smile on her face as they rejoined the group, Xander wearing a matching grin and looking no worse for wear.
"You look a lot happier than normal," Willow noted.
"Dork Boy must have had a Wildblood, blood gift," Cordite said, "I didn't have to hold back at all, not that I ever do."
"That wakes me up so much better than that stupid alarm," Xander said cheerfully as he accepted a food bar and a glass of milk from Pokegirl Amy, while Human Amy giggled for some reason.
"How could he have latent blood gifts when he has zero pokegirl ancestry?" Willow asked herself, bringing out her pokedex to refresh her memory.
"Primal possession or swim team," Xander offered. "Depends if it works on magic or science."
"It's both," Willow said as she quickly scanned through a number of files, "and I really should have taken that into account earlier."
"I have no idea what any of that means," Harmony said unconcerned and gave Cordite a high five. "Nice work, that smile on his face looks like it would take plastic surgery to remove."
"Does this place have a shower?" Amy asked. "Cause my dad is going to be here soon."
"You can use the decon shower station," Willow said absently as she put away her pokedex. "The water is cold, but it'll do for the moment."
Amy turned to her pokegirl self. "We also need some normal looking clothes."
"But they're so boring," Pokegirl Amy said with a pout.
"Really?" Amy asked. "I liked the Harry Potter Hogwarts' uniforms."
"Ohh!" Pokegirl Amy said, eyes lighting up. "Those did sound very cool."
"Normal doesn't have to be boring, we just have to pick things that have a good mythos behind them," Amy told her.
"Let's go shower and then we can get started," Pokegirl Amy said excitedly, grabbing her other self's hand and all but dragging her out of the executive break room.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Xander asked Willow cheerfully.
"Still making plans. We need local currency to purchase this property and buy all the materials needed to make this a proper home," Willow replied. "To that end I've modified two pokeballs, one of which needs to be placed at least three miles off shore and will filter and teleport precious metals from the ocean to the second ball which will receive them. None of us are water types so we're going to have to rent a boat."
Xander grinned. "I just so happen to be a water type, I can swim that far without a problem."
"Swim team incident," Willow said with a nod. "We really need to do a proper scan of you so we know your blood gifts."
"How does he have blood gifts without pokegirl ancestry anyway?" Beth asked with a frown. "I thought it was a requirement."
"Pokegirls spread the DNA sequences we refer to as blood gifts, but they received them from the pokevirus, taking them from magical, infernal, or celestial sources," Willow lectured, "and if there's one thing we know about the human race it's that it'll fuck anything it can get its hands on, so blood gifts, though rare, can exist completely outside the creation of pokegirls. The Heroic Medal takes advantage of that fact to activate any latent blood gifts the user has to ensure the Pokegirl Tamer is as capable as possible."
"I can see where getting dosed with whatever the coach was doping us with could cover that, but how does that work with a primal possession?" Xander asked.
"A powerful enough spiritual possession will alter the victim's body to make it a better host for the possessing spirit," Willow replied. "There's competing theories over whether it's atavistic gene sequences being activated or if the spirit is causing new ones to manifest, but it's never been proven either way."
Xander nodded. "Makes sense."
"I really wish I'd been clear headed enough to prepare for jumping worlds," Willow said with a sigh as she returned to planning their next move.
"I thought you had," Cordite said, frowning thoughtfully. "You were going on about ordering all sorts of shit and the cost of insurance."
Willow nodded. "Yeah, but ordering stuff that wouldn't arrive until after you jumped worlds doesn't exactly do much for us now."
"Meh, we're all here, the rest are simply things," Cordite waved it off.
"Xander was enough of a packrat that we have more supplies than a pokegirl store," Beth added.
Willow nodded. "Yeah, but I used our position on the Hellmouth, killing of a Widow, and a shit ton of credits to order equipment you normally need to be a registered pokecenter to have."
"Would have been great to have them, but we don't, so concentrate on what we do have," Cordite ordered.
Willow tapped her chin thoughtfully. "None of us is a tech type, but we have enough skills and brainpower in the harem to get it done!"
"She means she has enough brainpower," Cordite said. "She is sickeningly modest. Well, enough of that I need booze and some TV time, everyone out!"
Willow quickly fed a large bag of alfalfa into the hopper of the modified Mr. Coffee, sticking a jar under the spout as everyone left.
"Not going to argue?" Cordite asked Xander.
"Deny one of my girls her private time?" he asked rhetorically. "We can do our thing down in one of the main break rooms and use the whiteboards. You relax and recharge your social batteries and tonight we can go out and practice breaking the Geneva Convention on some vampires."
The two kissed and Harmony squealed. "You two are just too cute together!"
Xander chuckled. "You coming?" he asked Harmony.
"No, I'm going to get drunk and gossip about which of the celebrities we're watching is the biggest slut," the blonde replied.
"It's Hasselhoff," Cordite said firmly, "it's always Hasselhoff."
"Meh, second biggest then," Harmony said, joining Cordite on the couch as she flipped on the TV.
Xander just grinned as he followed the rest of his harem downstairs to one of the employee break rooms, a larger and much better lit room reminiscent of a highschool cafeteria.
Willow was already scribbling away on one of the white boards while Marcie and Beth located some cleaning supplies so they could clear out the dust.
"Toss me a rag," Xander said, "or some Windex and paper towels."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Anya entered the Warlock's den, raising an eyebrow at how pretentious it was. The dark drapery and hidden runes to enhance the feel of the Hellmouth were so fifteenth century. "Greetings Warlock Rack," she said with a stiff smile that didn't reach her eyes, "I have a spell I need cast and I've been told you're the one person in this cursed village that might have the strength and precision to cast it."
"Depends on the spell and if you can meet my fee," he said with an evil grin.
Anya simply raised an eyebrow. He was a middling handsome man, mid twenties, shoulder length brown hair, but not really remarkable. She supposed he got into the magic business as a way to meet girls, weak little man that he was. "I'm going by Anya at the moment but I'm better known as Anyanka: Patron Saint of Scorned Women and Justice Demon under Lord D'Hoffryn."
Rack's slimy little smile vanished.
"What I'm offering is simple, you do this for me and I'll grant immunity from any woman who summons me and wishes you harm," she said smugly.
Rack looked astonished, like he'd just bitten into a donut and chipped a tooth only to find out it was a large diamond. "What's the spell?" he asked eagerly.
"Temporal fold," she replied.
Rack winced," Tricky," he said with a sigh. "It'll likely take several attempts with a couple of days break in between before I can accomplish a spell requiring the amount of finesse that does."
Anya considered that for a moment. "That's fair," she decided, "you're only a weak male after all."
Rack considered taking offense at that but realized while he may be a weak male by her standards that didn't mean he had to be a stupid one as well. "Yes ma'am, and thank you for understanding. Let me see the spell so I can start figuring out what I need to work on to cast it correctly."
Anya smiled, pleased to have found someone who understood their place in life, beneath her, and pulled a large scroll out of her purse. "This is as much as I could simplify it."
Rack accepted the scroll and spread it out on the table in front of him. "Oh... wow."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Time to check on the children," Giles said.
Janna snapped her fingers, casting a glamour that made them appear appropriate for daytime Sunnydale. "I still have to thank the girls for delivering me to you."
Giles nodded. "They've earned a rather large boon from me as well. Have you decided if you're going to contact your family or not? They'd probably be helpful in establishing a new identity. Come to think of it, you should probably alter your appearance a bit, as your death here is well known and I don't know how we'd explain you being alive once more."
Janna hugged him, sending her love and acceptance through their bond, the pain of her local self's death still gnawing away at him. "I'll send word today, an alternate universe version of someone showing up is rare, but not unknown among the tribe."
"Really?" Giles asked, surprised.
"The world is a very strange place... and the tribe here may not have dealt with alternates before, now that I think about it. Oh well, I'll simply call and see," she said with a shrug, not really concerned as she had her bondmate and the rest was just details. "In the meantime I'll just claim to be Jenny's cousin Janna from overseas."
"That should suffice," Giles agreed, pushing away the desire to pull her back into the bedroom and spend the rest of the day in bed.
"What is Xander like?" Janna asked. "Can he handle having a harem? I know he was raised quite differently here than he would have been back on my world."
"He's adapting to having a harem much better than his friends are to him having one," Giles said bluntly, "and truthfully I think he raised himself both here and in your world."
"Yes, but our schools trained young men to be tamers and... he has a Mini-top in his harem," Janna said worriedly.
"Yes, Cordite," Giles agreed. "We've met and apparently they get along quite well despite what the entry on her says."
"That's surprising," Janna said, "but then she did face off against a Widow for him, though it's hard to imagine an untrained young man being strong enough for her even with a Hero Medal."
Giles smiled. "Alexander is quite an unusual young man, he regularly fights vampires and demons beside the Slayer," he told her. "He doesn't lack for strength, though I do wish he had more common sense. But that's a quality all Californian teens seem to share."
Janna grinned. "And you had more at their age?"
"Gods no," Giles said, "they are far and away much better and saner people than I was as a young adult, but that's setting the bar rather low."
Janna giggled.
"We have just enough time to pick up donuts and coffee before meeting with the others at the library," Giles said.
"A group our size meeting up at a school library may attract attention," Janna pointed out.
"We're just meeting up with Faith, Wesley, Buffy, Willow, and Oz," Giles replied. "As they show up we're going to direct them to the CRD facility."
Janna nodded. "That makes much more sense."
The two arrived at the library to find Wesley already present with a pained look on his face as he listened to Cordelia complain about Xander.
"Oh thank god," Wesley muttered to himself, too quietly for Cordelia to catch, as he turned to the two new arrivals. "Mr. Giles," he greeted him, hoping he had something for him to do.
"Miss Calendar?!" Cordelia exclaimed in shock, reaching up to make sure she was still wearing the cheap silver plated cross Xander had given her when she'd started following the group on patrol, eyes darting to make sure it was still day.
"Identical cousin," Janna offered.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "That only happens in bad soap operas. Who are you really?"
Janna smiled. "Janna Kalderash, analogue to the one Angelus killed. I arrived with the others."
"Oh," Cordelia said, relaxing, "good to see you above ground and walking around in the daylight."
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose while Janna just laughed, amused at how much Cordelia had in common with Cordite despite not being a pokegirl.
"Surprised you aren't a catgirl too," Cordelia said.
Janna snapped her fingers, dropping the glamour covering her and her Tamer. "I'm a Mistoffeles, known as the conjuring cat pokegirl. I'm a magic and psychic type."
"And the bunny girl outfit?" Cordelia asked dryly.
Janna shrugged. "It's very comfortable and since I'm going to be using glamours anyway I might as well dress as I like."
"Huh, that's a good point," Cordelia said thoughtfully.
"Mr. Giles?" Wesley asked cautiously as he looked over his fellow Watcher who looked a decade younger if not more.
"The pokegirl Willow used the Heroic Medal my analogue was awarded for helping defend the hospital on me," Giles replied. "It's apparently a combination of magic and science on a level we don't possess."
"My word," Wesley said, "I... I'm speechless."
"I know the feeling," Giles said with a smile. "Gather your things and head over to the CRD plant, we're meeting there rather than here, since our current numbers make us a bit conspicuous."
"That's probably a wise decision," Wesley agreed. "Where exactly is the CRD plant?"
"I'll drive you," Cordelia volunteered.
"I'll wait for Buffy and the others," Giles told the younger Watcher.
"Thank you, I'll see you there," Wesley said, packing up his journals and notepads before following Cordelia out, the screech of car tires marking their departure a minute later.
The pair settled down for donuts and coffee waiting for the others to arrive while discussing the difference in their two worlds.
"A catgirl?" Faith asked in surprise as she entered the library before taking in Giles. "What, and I can't emphasize this enough, the fuck?"
Giles rolled his eyes as Janna giggled. "A magical makeover," he offered. "We're waiting for Buffy and the others before heading over to the CRD Facility. Donut?" he offered.
"Never say no to a glazed donut," Faith said with a smirk looking over Giles.
Giles sighed heavily which Janna found even more amusing.
"We're here... Where is everyone?" Buffy asked as she entered just ahead of Willow and Oz.
"CRD Facility," Giles replied. "Our numbers have grown a bit too large to continue meeting here without drawing attention."
"Our numbers..." Willow's voice trailed off for a second as she did a quick headcount. "Yeah, we added a half dozen people, almost doubling our numbers."
"A bit less if we just count people," Oz said.
Buffy paused for a second before figuring out what he meant. "Yeah, we seem to have picked up some duplicate cards."
"I would've gone with action figures," Oz offered.
"If we get three of a kind do we win a prize?" Faith joked.
Buffy laughed and Willow giggled.
Oz just shrugged. "Three of a kind beats a full house."
"But not a royal flush," Willow said absently.
"You have a thoughtful look on your face," Janna noted.
"Three witches are more powerful than they should be, the three fold law," Willow said, "but what if the three are all the same person?"
Janna blinked and considered that. "I can honestly say that's never come up before, but while interesting in a theoretical way I doubt we'll have to deal with it."
Willow nodded. "Just a numbers thing, both being prime numbers, three and one."
"It is a fascinating hypothetical," Giles agreed, "however we should get moving, everyone else has already gone ahead."
"You sent Cordelia to where Cordite is," Buffy said slowly.
"Yes, is that a problem?" Giles asked.
"Either a huge one or not at all," Janna replied.
"Like a house on fire," Oz said.
"Yes, it's either a metaphor for them getting along beautifully or we're going to need to call the fire department," Janna agreed.
"Nah," Faith waved it off, "they got some great healing shit. Cordite sliced me open and Willow healed me with a simple spritz."
"Grab the donuts, it may help distract them," Giles said, moving quickly towards the exit.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows
TN: Hasselhoff? Not Heffner? You'd think building the Playboy Mansion would win by default in that particular contest...
AN: Heffner isn't a regular on Baywatch
TN2: "A bit less if we just count people," Oz said.
Phew! Glad the next sentence cleared it up cause the next bit made me think Oz was being uncharacteristically racist... species-ist?... against the Pokegirls.