Nicholas gazed out at the crashing waves, watching a vessel cut its way towards the mainland.
She'd be here any moment now. What would she say?
"You know that was the boat to Canalave. Don't you?"
Nicholas didn't turn from the ocean. It was getting late in the seasons now, the chill of winter making itself known across Sinnoh. Even including here off the coast of Iron Island. Where he'd come after forfeiting to the woman leaned beside him. Her own eyes watching those same waves he was, as the biting wind whipped the bay into white foam and sent grey clouds scuttling across the sky. A scene that described the two humans perfectly.
"The boat wasn't my ride."
"Hm. I thought it might have been, what with your harem's restlessness." Cynthia replied. "When they saw me at the port I thought we were about to have our battle then and there."
Nicholas laughed softly. "They're angry. Can you blame them?"
"Their tamer never even gave them a chance."
Nicholas turned for the first time in what had to have been an hour now to smirk at the grinning woman. "Really? We're back to this?"
"I thoroughly enjoyed this meeting you called," Cynthia replied with a quiet chuckle. "I've known of this island for a while, but never thought much of it. You can find fossils anywhere you dig deep enough, after all. But that man? The owner?" Now she turned as well. "Before I met you, I had no idea that a human could wield aura like a pokegirl does. Like Jacquelyne does. Thank you for introducing me to Riley."
"He didn't mention it while we were all talking, but he's said it to me," Nicholas said. "The kind of manipulation he can demonstrate, what I've started to learn, is incredibly rare. You probably will never be able to imitate it."
Cynthia gazed at him for a bit before nodding. "Your bloodline grants you the strength of the ancients. Mine grants me but a hint of creation. To truly wield creation is not an ability I should ever expect to learn."
"Sounds about right to me."
"Mm. But for you, it's as natural as anything else." Cynthia looked back over the bay. "I still haven't forgotten. Who, what I stood beside on that mountain."
"She spoke to me."
Cynthia didn't even hesitate. "The creator?"
Nicholas let out his breath and followed Cynthia's lead, returning them to their original positions. "Yeah. I'm not what you think I am. I'm as human as you are."
"Maybe you are, but that doesn't change what I felt," Cynthia replied quietly. "You are a human who has no right being as strong as he is."
"I am a human who remembers what we used to be," Nicholas barely whispered.
Cynthia blinked and turned to look at him quizzically. "What was that?"
Nicholas took a deep breath. He felt her approaching. He had to choose, right here, whether the woman standing beside him was someone he wanted to know his secret. She already knew so much. Was powerful in her own right. His peer, and in some ways, his rival.
No… he didn't have to choose here. He'd made his choice months ago. There was no way Cynthia didn't suspect, not after what he'd revealed to her about Rayquaza. Not after what he had hinted to her at the Sinnoh League. Not after what she had already witnessed at the Spear Pillar.
"I said 'I am a human who remembers what we used to be,'" Nicholas repeated clearly. He turned, fully facing Cynthia, as a dark shadow flashed past the ocean surface. Cynthia raised her eyes as a figure rose behind him, gazing at Kali with a detached curiosity while Nicholas spoke. "I remember when all humans were as powerful as the pokegirls around us. I remember when pokegirls answered to nobody. I remember… creation." He looked up and raised his hand to Kali and she took it, smiling as she stroked his fingers. "I intend to return us to that time. To break our species from the dependencies forced onto us by our creator. Humans, and pokegirls, two pieces of a broken whole." He lowered his eyes back to Cynthia. "Cynthia. Meet the daughter of the progenitor pokegirl. This is Kali, daughter of Mew."
Cynthia was smiling. "Do we have time for a quick battle, Kali?"
Kali's eyes glowed as a similarly joyful smile blossomed on her own face. "Do we, Master Nicholas?"
"Oh?" Nicholas glanced back up. "I haven't felt you get like this since we met Ash." He cracked a tiny grin. "Reconsidering whether joining me was the right choice, Kali?"
Kali immediately broke eye contact with Cynthia and grabbed his hand with both of hers while gazing down at him. "The only one who ever cared about finding the strongest Master was the weapon that bastard created. No." She glanced back up as her lips twisted in a smirk. "There's no need for me to reconsider my Master. I have one who has freed me. Who has made me whole." Her eyes shone with barely-constrained power. "And one who has made so many wonderful friends."
Cynthia laughed out loud at that. "I have never heard of this pokegirl but I can tell she's who you mentioned before." Her grin firmed. "You're right, Kali. You have a wonderful Master. He's a true rival." She watched Kali move one of her hands to Nicholas' other side and take firm hold of the man. "I'll be waiting for you, Nicholas. When you return, I want our battle. I want to experience it." Her eyes narrowed as Nicholas returned his attention to her. "So yes. We're back to this. Because neither of us will ever be content existing alongside the other. Not until one of us bows."
"I look forward to our next talk, Cynthia."
Cynthia stared at the empty air Nicholas and Kali had just been occupying for a few minutes before her lips curled back. Laughter echoing across the rocky shores of Canalave Bay.
.
.
Nicholas felt the change in temperature as the wind went dead. He glanced around and smiled when he saw the green of Kanto. "Thanks for the lift, Kali." He craned his neck up when she didn't respond. "How was your trip?"
Kali was shaking. He could feel her excitement threatening to burst free before Kali's eyes slid shut and she let out her breath in one long hiss. "I didn't get to battle her."
"I promise you will. I meant it when I compared her to Ash. Just like him I have no intention of falling out of touch."
Kali's eyes opened again and she smiled. "Good."
"So how was it?"
Kali's breath caught. "It… I spoke to her."
"Was that all?" Nicholas asked softly.
Kali's eyes were shimmering, but not with her power this time. Tears dripped onto her cheeks. "N… No. I saw her. I… touched her."
"I hope I don't have to give you permission, but Kali… please. Visit your mother whenever you wish."
Kali bowed her head, her tears falling into Nicholas' hair. After about a minute she spoke in a whisper. "I will."
Nicholas reached up and gave her a comforting squeeze before turning to where the damaged house stood. "Well. I'm back." He gazed across the grassy field for a few contemplative moments. "Without a new title. The first time." He cracked a grin and activated the pokeballs on his belt. "RIGHT! We've got work to do, ladies."
He barely had a moment to process the expressions turned towards him when Zisela was in his face, grabbing him bodily and riding him to the ground. Nicholas gasped as her body crushed him under its weight and Zisela slowly leaned down, her sharp teeth glistening in the afternoon light. "No. You have work to do. Weyrleader."
"I know that jab Cynthia made wasn't true," Nicholas growled, wheezing when he felt Zisela's knee shift to press into his stomach. "None of you… are stupid enough to think… we could have, ugh, stood a chance."
"No. I don't care that you forfeited in front of her. I don't care that you walked away." Zisela leaned closer. "Because, my Wyrm," Nicholas' eyes narrowed and he began to growl as Zisela's body perched further and further over him, "that kind of failure… belongs to you… alone."
After many long seconds the growl petered out. Zisela stared into his eyes, still challenging, but there was no threat in her expression. "You're right," he murmured. "We failed because of my choices, my actions, not yours. When the four of you left this place a few months ago it was because you had no place here. Unlike the others, none of you had faced a full league challenge. Now you each have." He smiled slightly. "We will return for her. One day."
"One day," Zisela growled in agreement. "One day, when we can match her strength." Her eyes had moved to where Miruko stood. "But she will be growing stronger. Just like we will. So we will have to grow faster."
Miruko nodded. None of the individuals standing there held any confusion over who Zisela had switched to speaking about. "You will. Champion Cynthia will not sit idly by, as if she had been doing that in the first place. To face her will require us all to be as strong as the ones here."
Zisela slowly leaned back so that her eyes could lift to where Kali watched her. "The ones like her."
Kali smiled.
"One day." Zisela got off of Nicholas and let him stand. "Just as one day my Wyrm will rediscover how to be a Dragon."
Nicholas laughed and bared his teeth at her. "We will find that day together as before, my Alpha."
Zisela's eyes lit up as she grinned. "We will."
"Come on then!" Nicholas turned to where he could see a small crowd beginning to gather. "Let's announce your return to the rest of your harem sisters."
As the group advanced a figure burst from the crowd and began charging towards them. "ALPHA!"
Nicholas frowned as he took in the charging pokegirl. Cathy? The figure certainly resembled the Miltank, but…
As she got closer Nicholas was able to verify that it was definitely Cathy who was approaching. But she was… different. Did Miltank evolve? He didn't think they did. Yet the pokegirl that skidded to a halt in front of them was undoubtedly different from the one they'd left behind a few months ago.
Cathy let her momentum carry her last few steps as she came to a halt in front of Nicholas, though her eyes were locked on the towering figure beside him. "Alpha."
Zisela cocked her head slightly. "Cathy. I hope you're not going to apologize for your actions when we left."
Cathy shook her head as Nicholas sidled around her in an attempt to figure out what about the Miltank was throwing him off. "No. No, Alpha. I would never insult you like that." She drew herself up. "I should have been there with you."
Zisela sighed. "News travels fast, does it? Is that why they're all waiting for us? Here to judge the failures?"
Cathy's lips drew back as her hands flashed out and grabbed Zisela's. "No, Alpha. But even if they were it wouldn't matter."
Zisela frowned at the Miltank. "Of course it wouldn't matter to you. You found your place here, with your herd."
"That's what I was trying to tell you." Zisela blinked when Cathy's grip on her hands tightened down, the Miltank's face twisted in a fervent expression. "You are my herd, Alpha. The part of it that needed me most, and I selfishly put my own wants before what you needed. No, I will not apologize for fighting you then. But can you forgive me? For failing?"
Zisela's confused look slowly faded as she tested the fingers gripping her. "Hm… You've grown stronger, Cathy." Her fangs popped into view as she began to grin. "My Weyrleader spoke of those here who needed you, Cathy. How, then, did you fail? Are you saying we were weaker than the ones who needed you here?"
Cathy's entire body began to tense, just as Zisela was, the two pokegirls bristling at each other with manic grins across their lips. "When you left, Alpha? You were."
Nicholas heard scattered cheers and claps from the others when Zisela bellowed and slammed her forehead into Cathy's, their horns locking together as Cathy bugled a retort and shoved back. That's what was different. Cathy's body no longer held any hint of softness. It was a rippling mass of pure muscle, even her chest as small as he'd ever seen it before. She was still a Miltank, right? She had to be. How had she changed? If he didn't know any better he would have assumed she was a Tauros.
"…Kalmiya?" Nicholas asked as he watched Cathy and Zisela slam to the ground, the pokegirls locked together as they quite literally butted heads. "What's been going on while we were back in Sinnoh?"
"What makes you think I have any idea, Master?" Kalmiya asked amusedly. When Nicholas growled under his breath she laughed. "Well, Master, you remember when I explained the differences between the Miltank and Tauros breed when you first met Cathy?"
"Yeah, I remember. You told me they're basically the same breed."
"And you should know well that pokegirls can change drastically if they evolve."
"Yes, but that's irrelevant because Miltank don't evolve. And they certainly don't evolve into Tauros," Nicholas retorted. "Why mention it?" His eyes narrowed. "Oh, I get it. You're teasing me for not considering a similar possibility."
"I'm sure I would never do that to you, Master," Kalmiya replied as innocently as a grinning cat.
"Well without an evolution this kind of large change should be impossible in so short a time," Nicholas retorted. "Sure, pokegirls can change without evolving. I have a few dozen prime examples standing right over there."
"That is true. Unless a pokegirl could overcome the one, single thing holding her back…"
Nicholas wracked his brain. "You said… the difference between a Tauros and a Miltank was as small as an activated gene. That would be less difference than a male and female human." His brow furrowed as he thought furiously. He was not going to give Kalmiya the satisfaction here. "Wait… Humans are different based on genes too. Hormones. They can even change their own bodies if the conditions are right."
"If a species that is not designed to change itself can do it, why can't a pokegirl?" Kalmiya asked with a giggle.
"How?" Nicholas breathed. His eyes darted to Quinn. The Gallade was standing close enough that she probably could hear the entire conversation and her eyes were wide as they watched Cathy and Zisela wrestle.
"Just as a human does, but Cathy didn't need any help to do it for herself," Kalmiya replied happily. "She is still a Miltank. She can't just become a different breed, not unless she evolved. But as you can clearly see, her milk no longer defines her."
"Quinn." The Gallade jerked when Nicholas called and he smiled when she whirled to him. "When you first joined me, we talked about Cathy, didn't we? How I let her be who she is." He nodded at the pair still fighting across the lawn. "Seems whether or not I let her be is irrelevant anymore. She just is." He glanced back at her. Quinn had eyes only for the Miltank again. "Interesting, isn't it?"
"It… is."
Nicholas snickered to himself and turned to where the rest of the crowd stood. That was an incredible turn of events. More than just in regards to his own scientific curiosity – depending on how much of Cathy's process could be replicated he had no doubt Quinn would be working feverishly to gain her own ideal body.
He hoped it could be, even if only on a lesser scale considering Cathy's biological advantage. Even though Quinn had come to accept her form gaining one she desired would only serve to further empower her. Just as it had Cathy. Just as it had Sammy.
Just as it did for any pokegirl, he mused, his eyes settling on where Morgana towered over the others. She had controlled her own evolutions. Something he hadn't considered possible either.
There was still so much to learn, for humans and pokegirls alike.
Nearby Zisela had finally gained enough leverage to slam Cathy into the dirt and hold her there, blood trickling from the minor wounds across both pokegirls' bodies. They were still grinning even as Zisela grabbed Cathy by the neck and pressed down, hard. "Do I forgive you?" she rasped. "Not so simply, Cathy. My harem demands your presence once more."
Cathy couldn't speak with Zisela's claws crushing her throat but her eyes answered for her. They were bright and happy as she blinked her assent.
Zisela released her and staggered back, sitting down hard while Cathy began taking tortured breaths. They both remained on the ground for a few minutes before Zisela stirred, rising to her knees, then her feet, and stepping over to offer her hand to the Miltank. Cathy let her pull her to her feet and after another moment both pokegirls embraced.
"I've missed you," Zisela barely whispered.
Cathy squeezed her for just a moment. "I've missed you too, Alpha."
Nicholas turned when he felt Zisela approaching him, Cathy walking over to where the rest of the Sinnoh pokegirls stood. Quinn almost immediately captured her attention and began babbling. "Looked like you two had fun."
Zisela blinked as she gazed at the watching crowd. "Fun. It wasn't like that, Weyrleader."
"Well, I won't pry, but Cathy seemed happy."
Zisela smiled. "She learned many of the same lessons we did, Weyrleader. She learned them here from the others you have taught, just as you taught us." She turned to look at him. "Cathy said something. They all know, don't they? We are no Champion's harem."
Nicholas pondered the crowd. Watching. Waiting. "They do seem to be holding back. I wonder…"
"She said something more." Zisela was still watching him. "She said it didn't matter that we were not."
Now Nicholas turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "She did?"
"She did. She approached me as one of them, my Weyrleader. She has rejoined us now but in that first moment she was one of these pokegirls." She turned now to the crowd. "They are waiting for us to join them."
Nicholas stepped aside when Zisela raised her voice and gave a barking order. The others quickly moved up beside her, Sohn, Sammy, Cathy, Quinn, even Miruko stepping up to stand with them. The six stared out at the waiting crowd until Zisela took her first step. Then, they all moved together. As they got closer the cheers that had come for Cathy began again, the six picking up their pace until they were running forwards and the crowd broke, pokegirls streaming forwards as dozens of excited voices filled the air.
"Kalmiya?" Nicholas asked with a smile.
"I made sure it was all recorded, as I always do," Kalmiya replied as she materialized in front of him wearing a smile of her own. "After I… had to rest, the camera work was left to the pokedex, but it did enough on its own. Those four left to prove themselves." She turned to look at the full harem. Zisela and the others had vanished into the crowd. "They did that and more. As you can see, their sisters agree."
Nicholas chuckled and struck out for the facilities. "They will be a Champion's harem one day. Cynthia is waiting for us to return."
Within the crowd the six had been separated. Miruko found herself in a calm hollow, though the reason for her peace was not quite what she might have hoped. Marin, Elizabeth, and Nessa had ringed her, the three's bodies forming immovable barriers to the chaos. Marin spoke first, the Sharpedo standing slightly behind the Lopunny. "So you return."
Miruko kept her eyes forward. Relaxed, as she gazed at Elizabeth in front of her. "Is the offer still open?"
Marin's lips drew back in a savage grin while Elizabeth's eyes narrowed and Nessa's stance changed to be more combat ready. "Anytime, sister."
Sammy had nobody who seemed solely interested in her until Cassidy appeared in her face, causing Sammy to squeak and try to slip back from the Alakazam. "Ah-"
"What else can you do?"
Sammy blinked at the earnest pokegirl. "Ah… What?"
"The way you shape your body, change it on a whim – the way you embody so many utterly different aspects." Cassidy was completely in Sammy's personal space but the Rotom couldn't escape. Not when she'd become the subject of Cassidy's interest. The Alakazam's entire body was glowing with her excitement. "It's nothing like Sasha. You must show me more! It's incredible!" Sammy began to panic when Cassidy all but pressed against her, the Alakazam's eyes bright. "I MUST know more!"
Cathy was roaring as she celebrated with the entire crowd, while Quinn had found Midna – though her eyes darted often to both the Miltank and Morgana, even if she quickly averted her gaze whenever the Gardevoir came into view.
Sohn meanwhile had locked arms with Elaine and cheering pokegirls gathered around the two as they wrestled, both Fire-types' flames burning bright until Sohn slipped away and Elaine shrieked when she realized Sohn had slipped her hands under her clothes during the seemingly innocent greeting in order to rearrange her harness and truss her up-
"LIKE A CHICKEN!" Sohn whooped, cartwheeling over the heads of the now laughing crowd while an incensed Elaine squirmed and strained impotently against her bonds.
There was another crowd, though. A smaller one. Even Hana was there as Zisela faced the other dragons of his Weyr.
"Welcome-" Kary started to say before Lili growled and cut her off.
"Welcome," she interjected. "To-"
Kary cut right back in. "MY-"
Zisela's lips drew back and both other pokegirls froze when she spoke. "I need no welcome to his Weyr."
Aria released a tittering laugh as the other two rounded on Zisela with new eyes. "Such crass behavior unbefitting of a Queen."
Victoria drifted to Kary's side. "Are you not joining us?"
Zisela smirked. Glanced at the others – Hana, a bored look on her face. Vika and Aster each firmly separating themselves from the bristling dragons jockeying for status, and yet both with their own expressions as they watched her. "Join you? Of course I am to join you all. We will be his Weyr."
Kary's eyes were narrowing, angry growls slipping from her mouth, but Lili's expression was growing amused. "You think you can challenge me, Zisela?"
"I'm sure she could easily-" Kary started to sneer before Zisela cut her off with a shake of her head.
"Challenge?" Zisela's eyes glinted when she locked gazes with Lili. "I believe you all horribly misunderstand. I am our Weyrleader's Alpha." Her tail sliced through the air with a wicked snap. "None of you are a challenge."
Aria rolled her eyes and twirled away as the three began to get in each other's faces. "Barbaric."
Aster shot the Altaria a side-eye. "You once joined them, didn't you?"
"Such things are beneath me."
Aster smirked but turned away herself, eyes searching for Zinnia. "Mmhm. Of course they are."
Bea cocked her head from her position within the crowd. The feeling in the air… it was nothing like when she, Morgana, and Elaine had come to this harem. She rose above the crowd, turning to see the three dragons jockeying, Zisela holding her ground even as Victoria joined in to support her mate, and smiled. It was as she had said all those months ago, when they had first been introduced. Even then this new harem of her Master's had been worthy to stand with them all.
She felt eyes on her and glanced down to see Dahlia watching her. With a chuckle Bea dropped back into the crowd, pushing through to stand in front of the Venusaur. "Want to take bets on how long it'll take?"
Dahlia cracked a grin. "With you it took a few weeks."
"I think this time will be longer." Bea jerked her head towards where Sohn was flipping away from a couple of angry pokegirls, the latest victims of her pranks, with the crowd now doing its best to distance itself from the cackling Infernape as she spread her idea of celebration. "I hate to admit it, but you got off easy with Gary. Hell even I got off easy with just my mother."
"It's true that these new sisters have a tough battle yet to come," Dahlia agreed. "We will see how long it takes for them to face it."
"Two months?"
Dahlia's eyes danced with humor. "A year."
"What are we betting on?" Dahlia shifted when Miyuki stopped beside her. "Something to do with the new girls?"
"How long it will take them to return for their crowns."
Miyuki chuckled. "Ah." She turned, unable to see through the crowd but still managing to stare in Nicholas' direction. "Honestly? I think that depends on him." She turned back. "That woman, Cynthia – she's just like him, after all. She won't be waiting. She'll be honing her own harem just as these new girls will be training alongside us." Her lips turned up in a smirk. "Therefore, it will come down to what he does."
Dahlia shrugged. "So? What's your bet?"
"Come now, Dahlia!" Miyuki laughed. "I just said it depends on him – and you should know that I never gamble in regards to my god."
Dahlia and Bea both groaned at the laughing Glaceon. "Fine. Fine!" Dahlia threw up her hands. "Then I guess we wait and see."
"Don't worry." Miyuki's eyes glowed softly as they unfocused. "I have a strong feeling we won't have to wait long."
.
.
They only had to wait for a single day to pass before Miyuki's cryptic prophecy came to be. It wasn't him and the Sinnoh girls going off to find Cynthia, though – it was something much more valuable to the entire harem. He began to approach each of them. Individually, at times and in places where there would be no others to distract them. An energy began to build throughout the some thirty pokegirls that comprised his harem – even the ones who were eternal. That which they had first experienced months prior, before the incident that had condemned the mansion. What the Sinnoh pokegirls and Kalmiya had already come to know.
Nicholas gazed out over the darkened forest below. It had been an incredible first full day back. The chaotic day after his return had been spent primarily as they always were whenever he left the harem for an extended period of time, with everyone doing their best to be around him, but this day, the last twenty-four hours… He had not only been able to find moments of peace, but he had felt as if there was no difference between him and the pokegirls around him. For one day he had been their Tamer, their human; the next, he was one of them. There had been days like that before. But now he had a feeling that they would no longer just be the exceptions to the rule.
He mentally catalogued the handful of pokegirls he'd spent this first day with. Cassidy, and the hours of scientific discussion. Elaine, as she had relaxed and been strong even before him as he was now. Perhaps even more so because if it. And the quiet chat he'd had with Galina, telling her of Sird's death, with the Marowak radiating her own kind of peace at the news.
He had one more he wished to meet before retiring for the night. Unfortunately it would be nearly impossible at this hour to find her alone. But she could find him.
The air was calm as Nicholas sat on the roof of the mansion. As the stars and moon shone down to bathe the world in a dull light. He waited. She'd heard him. When he'd reached his aura across the unwavering connection between them and called.
There. Light glinted off a metallic shadow as it zipped from point to point around the building before Nicholas felt Ryuko's attention turn to the roof and her wings spread, glittering facets scattering the moonlight across her body while she buzzed towards him and Nicholas caught her as she flew directly into his arms. They both remained silent for a few moments, Ryuko pressing her forehead to his, gazing deep into his eyes while she stowed her wings, before her eyelids slid shut and she released a shuddering sigh.
"It never gets easier," she whispered. "I should be by your side, Master. Always."
"You are not the only one who wishes for that, Ryuko," Nicholas whispered back. "One day you will have your wish. I promise you that. One day you and the others will have what you want, but now, the rest have spoken."
Ryuko's eyes opened again. "I will wait for that day."
"As you will." They remained like that for a few minutes before Nicholas pulled back. "Tell me. Have you noticed anything different about your armor lately?"
Ryuko grinned and followed him as he pulled back to swallow him in a deep kiss. "Your gifts… you think I would not notice, Master?" she breathed, lips forcefully pushing against his. "We have all celebrated the new strength our god has brought us-"
She was cut off when Nicholas' hand appeared between their faces and he pushed her away with eyes narrowed. "What did you just call me?"
Ryuko quickly tried to explain. "It- It's just, um-" she squeaked when he shoved her down onto the tiles and she had to whip her arm out, blades sprouting from her skin to catch her before she could slide down the roof. "W-Wait! Master! It's not serious!"
"Are you trying to say you call me that as a joke?" Nicholas growled.
"It- I-" Ryuko swallowed heavily. "It's not… a joke, Master, that is the wrong word, but… You stand among the eternal ones, do you not?" Her eyes pleaded with him. "How else are we meant to glorify what you are?"
"Facetious." Nicholas slid down to where Ryuko had come to a stop and offered his hand for her to take and pull her to her feet again. "That's the word you want. You're being facetious when you say I'm your god."
"…I hope that word is correct, Master." Ryuko averted her eyes in shame when he pulled her in front of him. "I swear, we worship you as you are. As you demand to be."
Ryuko remained tense until she felt a finger trace her lips and heard Nicholas chuckle softly. Her eyes flicked back to him to see a quiet amusement in his. "You know why I was angry, Ryuko."
Ryuko stared into his eyes for a few moments before leaning in, relaxing when he let her and wrapped his arms around her body. "You were angry, Master… because if I hadn't been being… facetious… I would have broken my vows."
"That's right," Nicholas murmured into her hair. "I should have known better. It is not a weak Scizor who stands as my First Blade, after all."
Ryuko shivered as a thrill burned through her body. "No… No, Master. No weakling could ever serve you."
"Will you show me what my gifts have wrought?"
Ryuko shivered again at his question. "Always, Master."
"I was thinking maybe tomorrow. In the daylight," Nicholas replied. He lifted his eyes from Ryuko and back out over the forest. "Unless, of course… there is something that you can help me experience tonight. Without light for my eyes to see."
Ryuko slowly lifted her head, hissing in pleasure when she felt the arms wrapped around her shift slightly and pressure crept towards her ass. "Master."
"Worship your god, Ryuko."
Ryuko's wings shot out, the Scizor throwing them both from the roof before wheeling through the air and shooting in through the sleeping quarters door ten times faster than she had exited it.
.
.
Ashley dove, her grasping fingers just barely blasting past Nicholas as the laughing man threw himself down a hill to avoid her before popping back to his feet and changing direction as the Pidgeot turned on a dime to make another pass. Her own peals of laughter filled the air as she came back around, wings folding to grant her as much speed as possible until she finally slammed directly into Nicholas like a feathery thunderbolt. He was thrown down the slope, quickly finding Ashley's folded wings and wrapping his arms around them before their tumbling bodies could force one out of position. The two came to rest at the bottom of the hill, Ashley pulling herself free and spreading her wings with another laugh when she didn't feel any damage. "Was that aura, Master?"
"Asking your prey questions, now?" Nicholas teased. "Not ten minutes ago you were threatening to eat me for lunch."
Ashley pumped her wings to shoot back into the sky but stopped before she got too far and slowly flapped to hover back in range, though she remained in the air. "I'm just… feeling so excited, Master. Like my mind can't sit still." She flicked her wings to zip a few loops around him before dropping back to the ground and pressing against his body, her wings curling forwards to cover them in a feathery dome. "You're doing this to me, Master. Telling me to let it out."
Nicholas smiled and kissed her nose. "To answer your questions, yes. I just used my aura to shield your wings. And yes. The reason you can't control your energy is because of me. Because I am focusing on my beautiful bird." Ashley's eyes slid shut as she released a noise somewhere between a coo and an orgasmic moan. "Because as I have always told you, I prefer my Ashley when she is herself."
Ashley's eyes snapped open and she grinned cheekily as her wings pulled him tighter to her body. "Then, Master," she cooed, "I think it's time to play with my food."
Nicholas was reaching for her snatch when he stiffened. "Hold on a second. Ashley?" He tried to turn but Ashley's wings were completely wrapped around him. "Ashley, there's someone here."
Instantly Ashley had released him and swept backwards, ten feet into the air before the wind from her sudden motion had even blasted past him. Nicholas covered his eyes as dust and bits of leaves peppered his face and when the wind died, he lowered his hands to see… Kumu.
Ashley was staring down at the avatar as Kumu smiled at Nicholas. "I truly apologize for interrupting you, Nicholas, but you have an annoying ability to wear down your pokegirls. The Pidgeot will want to be conscious for what I bring."
"Who the hell are you?" Ashley asked.
"This is…" Nicholas trailed off. How was he supposed to introduce Kumu to Ashley? Had she ever shown herself to anyone beyond her daughters except him, and at the top of Mt. Coronet, Cynthia? As far as he knew she hadn't. "Well, maybe it's better for Kumu to introduce herself."
"I am a friend of your Master," Kumu said as she looked up to where Ashley hovered. "Much as those others are his friends."
"Those others…?" Ashley blinked. "Oh."
Nicholas frowned. He hadn't expected her to be honest. "And you're introducing yourself to Ashley because…?"
Kumu returned her attention to him. "Is she ready for it?"
"Ready for what?" Ashley asked.
Nicholas held a slight frown as he contemplated Kumu. "Ready for…?"
"When last we spoke, I promised you a gift." Kumu glanced up at the hovering Pidgeot. "Is she ready for it."
"Master, what is she talking about?"
Nicholas' confusion had faded. "Many of them are. It would be easier for me to list the ones who aren't."
"I trust you are not overestimating them?" Kumu kept her eyes on Ashley. "Like you did for the ones who suffered from your lack of experience."
Nicholas winced. After a few moments he shook his head. "I learned from what I did to Bea. From how I… nearly killed Her daughters."
"I know you did," Kumu replied softly. "Very well." She looked back down to him. "Though you have awakened a control that is beyond even this the same can not be said of the pokegirls around you. They still need their tools. Without them, you will only ever be able to give what they understand." She extended her hand to him, a small box having appeared from thin air. "Take this. As the first apology."
Nicholas slowly took the box from Kumu's hand. "The first?"
"I… can not explain why. But I feel… an urge to do more." Kumu slowly lowered her hand, eyes locked on the box Nicholas now held. "It is an urge to interfere. Something I would never do. It is no fun if I-"
Nicholas watched Kumu shudder and his eyes were drawn to her hair. The multicolored crown of light that Arceus had worn, which had imprinted itself on Kumu's form, seemed to be harder to discern. "Arceus would not interfere. She wishes to watch her creation, not control it." He cocked his head slightly. "But you are Kumu. You are not Arceus, even if I hear Her voice echoing past your lips."
Eventually Kumu's eyes focused back on him. "I… I. I." She raised a hand to gaze at it in wonder. "I am… Kumu."
Nicholas remained silent. Kumu hadn't been like this back in Sinnoh, nor had she been struggling the first time they'd come back to Indigo, a few days after her creation. It had to have been because of this gift of hers. The apology. She had interfered for his gain. Did that mean she was losing the Creator's influence? By taking actions in defiance of Arceus' tenants, as if she was a pokegirl? His pokegirl? It would certainly explain why it appeared that the divinity, the mark of light, was fading.
"Master, what is all this?" Ashley muttered. She had drifted down behind him, close enough to talk, still far enough in the air to hold some distance from Kumu. "Who is this… pokegirl?"
"Pokegirl." Nicholas gazed at Kumu. "Not… yet, but she is closer to one than before, I think." He glanced back at Ashley. "Don't worry about her. I'll introduce you properly if that ever comes to pass."
Ashley pouted. "You're avoiding my question, Master."
"Not really. I just hadn't got around to it." Nicholas lifted the box and was about to open it when he heard Kumu speak.
"I am not Her." He looked back to see her staring at him. "I am Kumu. I am me." She took a step towards him and for the first time he saw a spark of something more than Arceus' echo flicker in her eyes. "I wish to interfere."
Nicholas was expecting her to vanish like she always had so when Kumu instead very clearly teleported he was thrown off.
A second later he felt Ashley jabbing him in the back. "Master."
Nicholas turned to her. "Do you remember her?"
Ashley's brow slanted. "That odd girl? How could I forget in two seconds?"
"Never mind." Nicholas returned his attention to the box he was still holding. "You wanted to know what she was rambling about."
"YES!" Ashley hissed.
"Do you remember our conversation after you evolved?"
Ashley's frowned for just a moment before her cheeks flushed ever so slightly pink. "I… I think I do."
"Not the one directly after."
"I know."
Nicholas smiled slightly. The blush was beginning to grow more apparent even through the dark stripes that slashed out from the corners of Ashley's eyes and down her cheeks. He adored that part of her appearance as a Pidgeot. Back then he had focused on the major changes, how she had gained another pair of limbs in her arms and wings separating, the way her body shape had changed, her streaks of blazing red hair. But it was the small things that defined his pokegirls. He had come to appreciate that, and over the years he had grown better at capturing those small details whenever he had a chance. Zisela's scale patterns and the way they perpetually provided a predatory illusion to her expression. The minute differences in Ryuko's metal day to day, revealing her innermost mood. What he had told Dahlia before returning to Sinnoh with Miruko was not a lie, but it was not the whole truth, either. Yes, he cheated. He could feel each of their souls, he could feel Ashley's wistful fulfillment as she relived the memory of their conversation all those years ago, when he had first discussed with her their bond. But that feeling did not tell him as Ashley's talons curled into the dirt. It did not tell him as her eyes, always semi-hooded by her skin coloration, slid half shut in bliss. It did not tell him that her lips unconsciously turned up in a smile. His eyes told him that. His eyes and his deep understanding of this pokegirl. An understanding as deep as what he held with but a select few among his harem.
His wandering thoughts could name them but the others were not important in this moment. For the last few days he had been enjoying taking things slow, living alongside his harem. Kumu's gift and promise of more to come meant that would change. His conversation with Ashley now grew a different weight. "I was different, then," Nicholas whispered, reaching up to cup Ashley's cheek. "It took me years to begin to learn. To begin to understand. How there is something far more I can give you than just my presence."
"…The ones from Hoenn."
Nicholas smiled at her when Ashley breathed out. "That's right. But I still did not understand then. It has taken me until now to truly learn." He opened the box to see a golden circlet with an unmistakable stone mounted to it. "This is your mega stone, Ashley."
Ashley slowly looked down. The stone was a creamy orange, bursts of red and blonde piercing the uniformity. "Master, it…"
"It calls to you, right?" Nicholas withdrew the circlet and frowned slightly. There was a clasp built into the band on the opposite side of the mega stone. Not a circlet then? "Put it on."
Ashley lifted the golden band and gazed at the stone. After a few minutes of this she smiled. "The others chose where they wear theirs, didn't they, Master?"
Nicholas tsked. "They did. We can get that reset in something you prefer."
"No," Ashley murmured. With a soft click she undid the clasp, a flexible length unfolding from the main band and doubling its diameter. "It's exactly what I could want."
Nicholas watched her slide the band up her arm and nodded when she squeezed it back closed once it had reached her upper arm. It was true. The gold armband fit her perfectly, not shifting as she moved, but not seeming to dig into her skin, either.
"I know… that you don't care about philosophy. You don't care for all the pomp and the words and all that. From the beginning, Ashley, you've only ever cared about being with me." Nicholas had lifted his hand to her arm and was slowly stroking the face of the stone. "I adore that about you, Ashley. Truly. There are others like you, of course – Galina, Dahlia, Hana. Just to name a few. I can relax around you all. I don't have to… to be anything more than just that simple human I was all those years ago. I can't begin to explain how freeing that is." He had stopped rubbing the stone and now his hand captured the armband under his palm. "But… I am not that human any longer. I have learned new things. Gained new abilities. Now… I no longer am satisfied with the way this world operates." He looked from his hand to Ashley's face, gazing calmly into her eyes. "In ages past, pokegirls were far more. Humans stood beside them." His fingers tightened on her arm as the stone in her armband began to glow. "Eventually I will remind the world, but for now," Ashley's eyes had unfocused, her mouth opening in a screaming cry, "I must begin with my harem – and I choose to start with the ones like you."
The figure that burst free of the mega evolution was three times her original size, though only a small portion of that growth was her body. The rest were her wings. Gargantuan structures that spread tens of feet while secondary wings spread below them. Nicholas waited for Ashley's eyes to refocus back on him and smiled when he saw her exuberance refined into something far, far greater.
One moment, the two were standing at the bottom of the hill; the next, they were gone. But a speck in the sky as a maelstrom of wind tore at the dirt and a sonic blast cracked across the forest, turning heads for miles around.
.
.
"CALL ME!"
Sabrina laughed and raised her hand without turning around from where she was prancing happily towards Diana. "I'll try, but I know you! You're going to be too busy to think about me!"
"That's not-!" Nicholas growled, a smile on his face when Sabrina whirled at the last second to blow him a kiss before Diana could teleport them both away. But teleport she had. Off again on another trip she refused to tell him the details of.
A few months had passed since he had stood before Cynthia at the Sinnoh League. In that time Kumu had become almost another member of the harem, if a highly irregular one. She had returned twice, bringing a new 'gift' with her each time, though she still dodged any attempt by him for a taming. Even still, she had not seemed to bring her power against any of his pokegirls in that time – Ashley still knew her. Zisela, the latest recipient of a gift, had met her. Others had witnessed the oddly human entity moving among them and all accepted her presence.
Even the normally overprotective Ryuko did not take offense to the strange visitor, though that likely was due in some part to the sparkling sky-blue gemstone that now rested at her navel. She'd only revealed it to the others some time after Kumu had given her the setting – a day when she had decided to go casual, without any armor. The t-shirt she'd worn to show her midriff had revealed it all. The intricate reds and greys within the gemstone. The brilliant red of her metal making up the piercing she had created to hold the stone. Every other day had had the stone hidden beneath her armor, and Ryuko seemed to like pretending it wasn't even there. Just another part of her even when her armor disappeared to put the mega stone brazenly on full display.
He turned from the teleport pad to see Zisela watching him, her new ring glimmering on her finger. That's right, it was another training day for them. Miruko was working feverishly to keep the bar rising for the other Sinnoh pokegirls. They were waiting for him.
As he stepped forwards, joining Zisela to walk to where her harem would be waiting, he had to smile. Yes, Sabrina was keeping her goings a secret from him. But he also didn't mind. He'd held enough secrets from his fiancé. She was more than entitled to a few of her own.
Her analysis was correct as well. Even though he would absolutely stand by for her calls, as he yearned for them every time she went on a trip, the pokegirls here would undoubtedly distract him. They had been growing longer recently, her trips. Not just a few days, as it had begun, but now a full week. Each one bringing her back even happier than before.
Nicholas tried to focus when the waiting harem came into view. He trusted her to share her happiness soon enough. For today, he had one focus. Well, six focuses. The six pokegirls who would one day face Champion Cynthia.
Face her, he was sure, and win.
.
.
POKEDEX UPDATED
Tamer: Nicholas Topolski
Badges:
Mine Badge
Forest Badge
Coal Badge
Relic Badge
Cobble Badge
Fen Badge
Beacon Badge
Icicle Badge
Harem:
Zisela, Garchomp (Alpha) – Level 63
Sohn, Infernape – Level 61
Sammy, Rotom – Level 61
Cathy, Miltank – Level 62
Quinn, Gallade – Level 62
Miruko, Lopunny – Level 68
Non-Com Harem:
Kalmiya, Porygon-Z – Level 30
END BOOK 4
