WARNING
THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS CONTENT INAPPROPRIATE FOR READERS UNDER THE AGE OF 18
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Nicholas kept his breathing even.
Scattered around the lounge were the others he'd chosen to bring to this battle. Elaine, the Blaziken lounging across two different couches without any clothes on. Just her harness. Centering herself as 'his' pokegirl, and chasing all other thoughts from her mind. It was her favorite pre-battle ritual. Elizabeth, the Nidoqueen deliberately polishing every square inch of her armor even though it was already sitting at a dull sheen. Her own way of focusing her thoughts. In a corner Marin was making a deafening racket as she played with a foosball table and sent ball after ball rocketing into the goal. She was the only one of the six in a different outfit to her usual today. The excess belts and leather of her preferred uniform had been abandoned in favor of a sleek minimalist getup that made the Sharpedo, too, seem to be there only for battle.
On the other side of the room were the Alphas. Lili, even if she was not an Alpha of a harem, was still the newly promoted Alpha of his Weyr and no pokegirl denied that she wasn't just as important as any of the others. In fact, by finally acknowledging her claim, Nicholas had actually managed to break the stalemate the Alphas and Betas sometimes fell into by turning their number from even to odd. He wouldn't have to act as the harem's tiebreaker anymore.
The three were preparing for the match in their own ways, but they were also talking amongst themselves. While he was the tamer, and therefore would be the final 'Alpha' within the arena, they still had to decide their own order of succession. Just in case the battle format brought two of the three, or more, onto the field at the same time.
Nicholas watched the pokegirls converse as he picked out each of their battle rituals. Lili was easy. The Tyranitar had gotten naked and was performing a full workout to keep her surging adrenaline in check while she talked. Bea was similarly working her mind by manipulating her constructs – fists floated about her head, a translucent chessboard played itself, and a few lines of energy kept rolling over her skin as they massaged the Metagross. Dahlia was the hardest to pick out, but she was also working herself to stay calm. Only for the Venusaur it was her vines, moving about the room and idly shifting objects to and fro. With how they stretched throughout the entire space Nicholas knew that it was taking all of Dahlia's focus to keep each individual manipulator moving independently.
He was doing his best to keep his thoughts from the battle currently taking place in the arena. Cynthia and Alder. A few earnest words with Zisela and Sohn had ensured that the Sinnoh harem would be watching that battle closely and absorbing any information they could on Cynthia's pokegirls. He had no doubt she would defeat the Unovan former Champion, so them going to face her later in the week was a true blessing. It gave them an advantage Cynthia would lack.
…They would face her later if he won today. Nicholas carefully pushed his thoughts down and closed his eyes to recenter. They would. This wasn't Mt. Silver. Not the same pokegirls, and not the same him.
He would not settle for a simple stalemate this time.
The hours passed by. Marin moved on from foosball, to air hockey, to table tennis. The Alphas drifted apart to focus on themselves. Nicholas drifted through his thoughts.
It was much later in the day when he heard a knock at the door and turned to see one of the staff poking her head into the lounge. "Champion Nicholas, sir?" the pokegirl asked. "You are free to move to the tunnel whenever you wish. Your match will begin in fifteen minutes."
"Thank you." Nicholas watched the girl bob her head and slip back outside. His heartrate had spiked already and he took a minute to force it back down before getting to his feet. "Girls. Five minutes."
Marin stowed the ping pong supplies, Elaine twisted off her perch and began getting dressed, Elizabeth carefully donned her armor, Lili vanished into the lockers where Nicholas heard a shower quickly turn on and off before the Tyranitar returned and similarly got back into her clothes. Dahlia snaked her vines back around her flower and Bea stretched, holding it for a few seconds before her constructs all vanished simultaneously and she walked over to him without her feet touching the ground.
"Three." Nicholas waited for the others to join him and Bea before turning to push through the doors. They moved into the preparation tunnel and Nicholas listened as the announcer outlined to the crowd his and Ash's accomplishments. "I wonder what kind of battle they'll be having us do."
"Does it matter, Master?" Elizabeth growled.
Nicholas smiled slightly. "It might. But it also might not." His smile faded. "The first day saw a regular unlimited battle and a tweak, a tag-team battle. I wish I knew what kind of battle they had Cynthia do. It would probably give a hint as to ours."
"You could always ask, Master," Kalmiya said in his ear with an amused laugh.
"True. I could."
The minutes ticked on. Then. Finally. Nicholas heard the announcer begin the introductions.
His ears heard the sounds as they stepped into the open but his mind discarded them instantly as unimportant. It was processing the arena. The battlefield held three distinct sections running from end to end – a thick forest of trees on one edge, transitioning into the bank of a river that split the arena in half, then on the other side the sand gave way to rocky gravel below steep cliffs covered in snow.
His eyes lingered on the cliffs. That part of the battlefield almost looked like where he had first met Ash. The peak of Mt. Silver.
He glanced out to see Ash approaching his own side and began scanning the pokegirls. Jean was a guarantee, and he fully expected to see the Venusaur, Tara, and the Espeon, Cassandra, so it was the other three he focused on. Those had been the unknowns, and he did see Willow, so Elaine would have to deal with the heavyweight Snorlax.
As Ash's harem spread out Kiyora and Spencer were nowhere to be seen. It was the Lapras, who he'd anticipated, and the Arcanine, though she was not in the same outfit as she had been for the opening ceremony. No. Blaine's had leaned into her regal, 'legendary' status and worn a sideless dress with detached sleeves and leggings to complement her thick orange fur. This one had come to the opening ceremony in a similarly fancy robe. Now the robe was gone. All she wore were baggy martial artist pants secured by a thick black length of cloth. Revealing that black tattooed patterns spread across her much more lightly furred torso, including her large breasts, and down her arms to vanish again under a pair of thin red fingerless gloves.
His mind immediately began spinning in a new direction. He'd known Arcanine as special attackers, or at least that's what Blaine's had been. He hadn't faced another Arcanine since. This one was clearly a physical fighter and that meant he was already forced to reevaluate the battle plan.
A small piece of his mind made the observation that since the Blastoise and Charizard weren't here, Ash had come with just his own starter pokegirl. The two he had found to spite Gary and Vira were not spiting them now. That thought bled into Nicholas' main line of thought and his lips thinned. Ash was here to take him seriously. Dead seriously. He had certainly healed from the wild beast atop Mt. Silver.
"Our format for the match!" Nicholas tuned into the shouting announcer. "As you witnessed this morning, ladies and gentlemen, when you add more pokegirls to the arena the results can get a little wild! A little hectic! It takes a truly powerful tamer to keep up with a battle that's moving twice as fast! So, ladies and gentlemen, what kind of a tamer would it take to find victory in a battle that's going even faster than that?" Lights began flashing to illuminate each section of the battlefield. "A TRIPLE BATTLE! The rules are simple. The arena, as can be seen, is vaguely divided into three defined 'lanes'. The first, the forest. The next, the river. The third, the mountains." As the announcer spoke the lights spotlighted each sector. "Our competitors will assign one of their six pokegirls to each lane. Due to the distance between each lane, pokegirls should only target the opposing pokegirls within their own lane or adjacent ones – meaning a pokegirl fighting in the forest should not be looking to send an attack at her opponent in the mountains!" The announcer grew a conspiratorial tone. "Unless, of course, she might be able to project such an attack over great distances, or with high precision… From a higher vantage point, perhaps? Hm? Though I do not see any Flying-types in our competitors' chosen harems today – ah well!"
"Yeah, if I brought one she would have been taken from the sky by Jean, and if Ash brought Kiyora, Lili would have done the same to her," Nicholas growled under his breath.
"Switching will be handled as normal! If a pokegirl is switched out, her replacement must enter the vacated lane! If a pokegirl in a side lane wishes to rotate to the center lane, she may, BUT! SHE must be the one to initiate the motion! The center lane may not be empty at any time and if, during a swap, any pokegirl would make an attack while her harem sister is in the same lane as she is… that is a foul! So make switches carefully! You'll leave your pokegirls open to attack if you do! This battle will go until one side can go no more!"
Nicholas scowled. "This is bad. Marin, you can't come in until we deal with Jean. If I know Ash he'll send her right into the center lane so she can electrocute the entire battlefield. I'd want Elizabeth there to face her, but that would leave her open to all three of Ash's pokegirls and you are too valuable to risk like that," he said towards the watching Nidoqueen. "I'm not sure who else but you'll be starting on the mountain lane. There's no way Ash sticks Jean in the forest where she doesn't have a clear line of sight. Your only job is to bury that Pikachu."
Elizabeth grinned. "Gladly, Master."
"I want…" Nicholas trailed off. "Fuck I can't send you in either, Elaine. One thunderbolt from Jean and you'd be crippled. Dahlia. It seems obvious but you'll start us off in the forest. With any luck that will give you a good boost." He stared across the arena at Ash. The other man was similarly giving quick orders to his harem as the announcer began moving towards the starting countdown. "I… I have to assume whoever I send into the center lane is going to get hit hard. Lili. Bea." He gritted his teeth. The announcer was beginning to count. "It has to be… LILI! Take that river sand and choke the air with it! Drop visibility, and if for some reason the Lapras is across from you do NOT do that and just be ready for Bea to take your place!"
Lili's eyes narrowed and she nodded. The announcer was punctuating each number with a roar now. "IN THREE! TWO! ONE!"
Nicholas triggered the recalls of Bea, Elaine, and Marin while the three he'd commanded sprinted into the arena. Across from him… His heart sank.
Jean had snuggled up under Ash's arm as the man recalled Tara and Cassandra. Entering the arena were Willow, the Snorlax leaping for the mountains where she was most comfortable, the Arcanine, running for the woods, and… the Lapras. Directly across from Lili. Exactly what he'd been hoping wouldn't happen.
His eyes flicked to the Arcanine. Flames had erupted from her body and she roared, smashing her way through the trees and leaving a raging inferno in her wake. Not good. Ash was opening the sightline for Jean first. "Elizabeth I need you to hit that Lapras. Now! Try to paralyze her with a thunderbolt. She's the biggest threat and she's in the middle so hit her hard. Lili get back here – That Lapras is going to move to summon her mists and Bea needs to get in her face."
Dahlia had been forgotten with how much talking Nicholas had to do in these first few crucial seconds and as Lili looked out across the battlefield, her eyes narrowed. "No," she growled. "Dahlia with me. Protect your forest!"
"Lili-!" Nicholas cut himself off. He always told them to think for themselves. Lili had a plan. "Elizabeth cover for them. Hit the Lapras so she can't hit your sisters!"
As Lili sprinted down the bank she watched the Lapras slip into the water and ice begin to crystallize above her. Her Weyrleader had told them about this pokegirl. If she was going to spend her first move creating field effects that meant she herself was no threat. Retreat would only let their opponents have free reign of the battlefield. Their battlefield.
Lili slammed to a halt, skidding through the loose river sand as she turned to focus on where fire continued to erupt from the trees the Arcanine was plowing through. Dahlia could easily heal the forest, as long as the desecrator was taken care of.
Ash was yelling something as Lili prepared but his Arcanine was too far into her mission. Dahlia pulled herself past some trees, her vines curling forwards before she froze. She'd misjudged the distance. The Arcanine was only a dozen feet away. When the rampaging canid saw the Venusaur in the trees in front of her her eyes brightened, sharp fangs slipping free of her lips as she let out an excited snarl.
Lili roared, straining as she brought her arm forwards and long spears of rock launched from the ground around her towards the charging Arcanine. Her eyes widened when she saw Dahlia stumbling backwards. How had the Venusaur gotten there so fast? Shit! She was too slow!
Dahlia screamed when the Arcanine's flaming body smashed into her. Plumes of flame seared straight through her, the Arcanine's energy penetrating the Venusaur's flesh and ripping out the other side with incredible damage. Dahlia felt her consciousness slipping as she slumped over the Arcanine's fist. This was it for her? Already?
The Arcanine was growling happily as she focused on the collapsing Venusaur and so the jagged spears of stone that slammed into her, powdering her bones and causing the girl's mouth to pop open in a silent scream, came completely unopposed. She slammed into a tree, head cracking against the trunk before one of the spears Lili had thrown skewered her through the stomach and came to a halt pinning her to the burning forest she had sought to destroy. The Arcanine was trembling as she snapped the spear in half, falling from it with blood soaking the ground as her hand fumbled with a pouch on her belt. Before she could do anything more than open it she was falling, slamming to the dirt while a few yellow berries spilled across the arena floor.
On the other side of the arena Elizabeth was planted. Focusing purely on the Lapras below her she summoned crackling electricity from the air, condensing it between her palms before firing the power at her opponent with a snarl.
The Lapras seized when the attack hit her but she took the bolt perfectly well. Additionally, as mist spread from her to begin covering Ash's side of the battlefield, the skittering electricity seemed to be having even less of an effect and the Lapras turned her attention to where Lili was trying to scramble away from the river. She moved towards the Tyranitar without any issue whatsoever.
Elizabeth turned her head and cursed before a fist blew her off her feet. She skidded through the snow, lips turning up in a sneer as Willow shook her hand out and lowered her stance to initiate another charge. "My Master told me to bury your Alpha this time," Elizabeth snarled, meeting Willow's charge and slamming her head into the Snorlax's skull. The two pokegirls sneered at one another. "Here to stop me?"
"Always. Spiky thing," Willow taunted back in her gravelly voice.
Nicholas was recalling Dahlia as Ash did the same for his Arcanine. With the Lapras coming for Lili now there was only one real option. "Bea! Take the outside lane, assist Lili!"
The Metagross materialized as across from her Jean slipped out from beneath Ash's arm and sprinted into the flaming carnage. Without the trees to block her view of Lili the Pikachu began to spark, scampering forwards and releasing a targeted thunderbolt with a keening scream.
Lili howled as the current pumped through her. Her entire body jerked and smoked from Jean's lightning, the attack amplified even further by the Pikachu's necklace. With an angry howl Bea charged, hesitating before zeroing in on the target she'd been assigned. The Lapras was rising from the river and as Bea flew past the spasming Tyranitar she saw the river rising too.
Suddenly the air was water. Bea sputtered as she was blasted by the wall of liquid the Lapras sent blasting across the entire battlefield. From the river's central location her attack threatened even the two all the way on the mountain and Willow laughed when the water washed over her to send Elizabeth spinning out hard. The Nidoqueen slammed into an outcropping with a pained cry and had to struggle to get back to her feet before Willow could charge again. She could barely do it. But she wasn't going down without taking a chunk of the Snorlax with her! Willow stumbled when Elizabeth stomped her foot into the rock, growing pillars of stone that punched the Snorlax away in an attempt to let the Nidoqueen catch her breath. She laughed. Laughed, and smashed straight through Elizabeth's attempt to bear down on the flagging Nidoqueen.
Lili was completely obliterated by the wave, throwing the Tyranitar off her feet and tumbling into the river itself where she dropped to the bottom and began to fade in and out of consciousness. The double team. She'd… She'd taken out the Arcanine, at least.
Bea's wordless howl rent the air and the Lapras screamed when the glowing Metagross cut through her wave to sink a barrage of blows into her body. The Lapras tumbled, skidding across the river and popping back up to prepare another blast when she felt the water vibrating.
Lili's fingers found the bottom of the river. There was a voice in her ear. It was so very familiar.
Lili. I order you to break the earth.
Lili's fingers dug into the loose river gravel. No… the voice was not only in her ear, as it had been before. Now it snarled through her mind as well.
"LILI!" Nicholas roared, in the present, in her past, his presence and aura swelling inside her. "YOU ARE MY GREAT MOUNTAIN! BREAK! IT! ALL!"
The Tyranitar's eyes snapped open. Her feet slammed into the riverbed and she surged back to the surface, breaching and clawing her way back onto dry land with a roar she had not been allowed to unleash for a long, long time. Not since she had stood with him on that snowy peak. Stood against these same pokegirls. She had almost forgotten the truth of this feeling. The fury inside of her. The fury, of the dragon to whom her Weyrleader had entrusted his Weyr.
Ash cursed when the Tyranitar surged out of the river and began shouting urgently but Lili was not going to let anyone escape. Blinded by her pain from Jean and the Lapras' devastating attacks, she saw only red. She didn't need to see. Not to break the earth.
High in the stands Zisela let out an excited hiss as the Tyranitar slammed her entire body against the ground and unleashed an earthquake so powerful that it ripped not only through the arena but also, as the safety barrier could only dampen it, caused tremors throughout the entire stadium.
Nobody was spared. Nobody was ever spared when Lili followed Nicholas' orders. Not even her own harem sisters. Elizabeth, struggling to face Willow before the Snorlax could close in, felt the ground drop from underneath her and a moment later was sailing through the air, consciousness fading from the aftershock. Bea tried to levitate but the shockwave ripped through her before she could get off the ground and she fell, howling in pain as she was tossed back and forth. The Lapras was somewhat dampened in the river but even she felt the effects as cracks tore open the soft riverbed and she was sucked into the sudden vortexes to smash against the jagged formations left behind. Willow endured the tremors well, as she did everything, but Jean. Despite this earthquake targeting such a vast area, despite the amount of earth Lili had to affect… The Pikachu felt Lili's wrath.
Jean was thrown with a tortured scream to bash against the shaking ground, trying to scamper back upright before the ground fell from beneath her and she plummeted, still screaming, into a sudden ravine. The walls slammed back together to crush the Pikachu's body before an explosion of dirt and stone threw her back out of the gaping hole and sent her tumbling to lay, unmoving, at Ash's feet.
The announcer was going wild as Lili finally collapsed, chest heaving. Jean was down. Elizabeth was down. The arena was shattered. Broken. Cracks split everything, radiating from where the Tyranitar lay, with the river beginning to swell as whatever pressurized reservoir had been feeding it belowground was cracked open. She had utterly broken the earth. Just as she had been ordered.
Nicholas recalled Elizabeth's falling body and glanced down the center lane. Lili couldn't take any more hits. She needed to come out. With Jean gone… But he couldn't send out Elaine to be dropped by another wave from the Lapras. She needed to be taken care of, and as the girl broke the surface covered in bruises and loosed an angry yell he saw the mist she had formed beginning to thicken.
Shit.
…Lili's insistence at the start of the battle, what could only have been minutes ago, came to him and his eyes widened. Of course. The Lapras wasn't a threat if she wasn't going to attack!
Elaine appeared at the cliff base and looked up. Fire blossomed as she leapt, digging in with her fingers and kicking her way up the rocky ledges until she burst onto the top and skidded to a halt. Willow was waiting, and the Snorlax sneered when she saw the Blaziken. "Another to fall?"
Elaine's eyes narrowed. She didn't bother responding with words. Only a wordless scream as the Blaziken sprinted forwards and began sending blazing kicks for her opponent.
Across the arena Ash had released Tara and pointed the Venusaur at Lili's prostrate form. Nicholas wasn't going to let her finish Lili off. He recalled the Tyranitar as roots erupted from the ground where Lili had been a moment earlier and, with her target gone, Tara turned to the recovering Metagross nearby. Bea howled when the Venusaur's attack exploded from the earth and began to constrict around her but she still had enough strength left to break the hold and close the gap between the two pokegirls. Behind her, Nicholas released Marin as the Lapras continued to form her mist. By now Ash's side of the battlefield was completely blocked by a shimmering mirage that, as Bea got close and went to punch through, seemed to catch and slow her movements. She was forced to throw her constructs at Tara and while she managed a strong hit it was nowhere near the devastating blow she might have made without the Lapras' interference.
Nicholas had released the Sharpedo into the river. "Finish off that Lapras," he urged. "She wouldn't be focusing so hard on setting up her barriers if she wasn't about to fall!"
Marin sank below the waterline with a wicked grin. "How weak."
Tara saw the swell rapidly approaching and shouted a warning that made the Lapras hunker down and focus even harder on manipulating her mist. The Venusaur turned to see Bea aiming to make another hit and raised an arm, hesitating, then whirling and throwing both arms out as a maelstrom of petals broke from her flower.
She was too slow. Marin burst from the river in her aquatic form and slammed into the Lapras' barriers, head first. Her hands slapped at the strangely solid air but her teeth ripped and tore their way in, a psychic glow bleeding from Marin's eyes. "DON'T MAKE ME DO IT ALL, ALPHA!" Marin screamed as she shoved her way into the Lapras' defenses and then, suddenly, the air itself shattered.
The Lapras fell back with a terrified scream when Marin's momentum abruptly returned to normal and the Sharpedo fell on her, teeth flashing as she ripped at the bulky Water-type's flesh. With an angry scream Tara sent her petal storm towards the embroiled pair, the powerful Grass-type attack ripping into both Marin and the Lapras' bodies and staining the river red. She was turning, bringing a small portion of the attack to bear on Bea, when her vision turned pink as a construct crushed her nose. With a gurgle Tara fell, Bea following her just moments later as even the durable Metagross couldn't handle all of the abuse she had withstood throughout the battle.
Nicholas felt dread creeping in as he went to recall Bea and Marin. All he had left… All that was left was Lili. And she could barely stand. Her, and…
He swiveled when he heard the explosion. Willow was… falling! The Snorlax was plummeting from the mountains as Elaine sprinted to the edge of the cliff, flames spewing from her limbs, to scream her victory to the stadium. As soon as she'd had her chance she had done what she had been chosen to do, and she had done it well. That's right! Ash was down to just one pokegirl, and with Elaine still standing-!
Lili rematerialized and started to stumble when she heard Nicholas speak. "Do not fall, my dragon," he hissed. "Lead this battle harem to victory. Now!"
Ash released Cassandra, recalling his fallen pokegirls to leave the Espeon standing all alone in the center of his side of the field. Elaine gazed down from atop the cliff. Lili focused on the evolved Eevee from Nicholas' side. Two against one – but either of the two could fall from the first blow.
Cassandra whirled when Elaine loosed an angry scream. The scream also threw Lili into motion and she roared, calling on her shadows as she stampeded for the panicking Espeon. Elaine had thrown herself from the cliff. Sprinting for her target. If Cassandra turned to stop Lili, Elaine would hit her. The Blaziken was almost upon her already. If she stopped Elaine, Lili would reach her. The grasping shadows promised defeat. The flames that were engulfing the blitzing Blaziken did the same. There was no choice. No choice at all.
Elaine slammed to a stop as Cassandra desperately threw out her hands towards both. Her psychic power easily crumpled the Fighting-type Blaziken, but Lili didn't even recognize that it had washed over her. All she knew, was that as her fist sank into Cassandra's stomach, and the Espeon doubled over unable to even scream, the Tyranitar's dark power engulfing her in shadow… All she knew, was that her Weyrleader was roaring with her.
"Is that… IT IS! CASSANDRA GOES DOWN!" The announcer was screaming over the sound of the erupting crowd. "THAT'S IT FOLKS! CHAMPION ASH IS OUT OF POKEGIRLS! ONLY CHAMPION NICHOLAS HAS ANY LEFT STANDING! THIS BATTLE! IS OVER!"
Nicholas fumbled with Elaine's pokeball and recalled the twitching Blaziken before leaping forwards, his fists pumping as he ran to where Lili stood. Ash was recalling Cassandra when Lili turned to meet her roaring tamer and he slammed into her excitedly. He'd expected her to meet his excited charge so when the Tyranitar abruptly stumbled and fell to the ground with him on top of her he was confused. "Lili?"
"Sorry… Weyrleader," Lili panted. Nicholas pulled back with his eyes widening when he saw the heavy damage all across her body. "You just… surprised me."
Nicholas quickly got off of her and found her pokeball. "I'm sorry. You were barely standing in the first place. Rest." As the Tyranitar vanished he looked up to see Ash slowly walking towards him.
Nicholas got to his feet as the other man came to a halt a short distance away. Neither spoke. Nicholas holding Lili's pokeball, Ash with his hands hooked into his pockets. Then finally the other man looked down and cracked a smile. "So. This is what it feels like to be defeated."
"Is it everything you asked for?"
Ash glanced back up. "Is it still something you desire, Nicholas?"
Nicholas slowly turned to look out into the stadium. After a few seconds he looked back. "I don't think so."
"Good." Ash's body relaxed. "That's good. I think… some part of me still did. It held me back today." He paused. "No… No, that's not right. That's jealousy speaking. I lost, Nicholas. I lost to you. The circumstances of the battle are unimportant. I lost. I tried, my pokegirls tried, we tried everything we could to win. We still lost." He let out his breath. "Ten years ago. When you found me on that mountain. I don't… know, why I listened to you. You didn't beat me then either. But something, some humanity I still retained, maybe, it… it witnessed you. It pushed me to follow you." Ash's smile returned and stretched wide. "It did so because it recognized something I had not yet been able to overcome." Nicholas smiled back when Ash took a few more steps to close the gap and threw out his hand. "World Champion, eh? You better do it. I don't want that piece of my soul to ever stop pushing me further."
Nicholas clasped Ash's hand tightly. "Strive," he whispered, almost a hiss. "Fight to overcome me, Ash. Above all else, that is what makes us most human." Nicholas' grip tightened. "My place at the top will be boring without excellent friends like you."
Ash sneered as his own fingers tightened back. "Don't worry, Nicholas. This won't be our final battle." His eyes burned, not with any special power, not with any higher presence, but solely with the strength of a human. Enough to rival any other. "No matter how high you go, I'll always be there. Testing you. Me and my harem, wherever you may go." The two released each other simultaneously and Ash stepped back with a small smirk. "I will never stop my pursuit until you have felt what I feel now."
Nicholas barely nodded. "I would ask for nothing less."
Ash glanced around as workers began moving in to clean up after their battle. "I believe this means you'll be facing her next." He flicked back to Nicholas. "Call me insane if you must. But I think that even our battle, with all of the strength and fury of our pokegirls, was not all you are capable of." He continued when Nicholas remained silent. "She's more powerful than I am. Yet, you think you can stand up to her." Ash stepped away. "I'll figure it out one day. You. Cynthia. Diantha. Steven. You four stand at the top of the tournament, because the rest of us never really had a chance." He smiled one last time before turning to walk away. "Thank you. For giving me an even battle. I wouldn't be enjoying this first true defeat otherwise."
Nicholas watched him go. Ash… Ash was not excluded from the group he had just named. He was more than capable of the power he knew Nicholas and the others shared. In the next round… Tetsu's words returned to him, finally allowed to echo after the battle against Ash had run its course. In the next round, would he and Cynthia reveal to the world what truly could be? The final evolution of the bonds between humanity and pokegirls?
He didn't know. But he did know, as he turned to return to the lounge with the cheers of the crowd behind him, that whatever their battle would bring… whatever it may be, he would welcome it.
.
.
Quiet giggling came from the humans' hotel room that night. They were curled up together, foreheads resting against each other, as they talked.
"…day after tomorrow, right?" Sabrina murmured. "You did it. You're going to get your opportunity."
Nicholas nodded slightly. "Yeah. Thursday."
"What's happening tomorrow?"
"I'll probably see who I can find. Relax," Nicholas explained. "A lot of our friends are here for the tournament."
"You'll have to say hi to them for me."
Nicholas laughed softly. "What, can't just skip on filming?"
"Mmm, probably not," Sabrina giggled. "It's so much fun though."
"How much longer do you think you'll be busy with it?"
"Another month or two?" Sabrina said. "Probably won't feel like that since in a couple of weeks I think we're moving location. So there will be some time before we start shooting at the new spot."
"A nice little vacation, huh?" Nicholas smiled and kissed her. "We'll need to do something special to celebrate."
"I might just want to do nothing," Sabrina said with a happy sigh. "Well, not nothing, nothing. Just be. Maybe show you around Unova a bit."
"Oh that sounds fun," Nicholas chuckled. "Sure. You decide. In a couple of weeks I'll be back to doing nothing but supporting you."
"You won't have run off to start challenging gyms?"
Nicholas let his expression soften. "Baby, I'm not stepping foot in a Unovan gym until you shove me through the door of one."
Sabrina smiled and let out a happy giggle when he kissed her nose. "Depending on how that audition goes over the weekend I might just do that to give me something to alleviate my boredom once filming wraps."
"Eh?"
"Well, you said that there really aren't any other offers, right?" Sabrina asked. "Before I got the call from Mr. Harbor I was always trying to find something, anything to do. I'm a bit lucky, I don't have to take all the throwaway commercial jobs or the sex films because I have my savings from when I worked as Saffron's Gym Leader, but I still want to keep working. I really, really hope I can make a good impression with this role." She quieted. "If I do… I know you've said I made the big time, but I really haven't yet. I've just been given a big opportunity. If I can make it work, then I might make it big."
"So why shove me into a gym once filming wraps?"
"Because I'm a greedy woman," Sabrina snickered. "Work for me right now would be all those dumb commercials or maybe a daytime show or something. I'd much rather bother you while you try and raise another new harem."
"Until this Harbor production releases, and if everything goes well, people start to notice you," Nicholas summarized. "I got you. That certainly is a bit greedy."
"Can you blame me?"
Nicholas chuckled and rolled over in an attempt to begin fondling her. "Why would I blame my beautiful girl for anything?"
Sabrina squealed and Nicholas was surprised to feel her fending him off before the woman squirmed out of bed and popped to her feet with a grin. "Oi. Horndog."
"What?" Nicholas whined. "You can't blame me, can you?"
Sabrina burst out laughing at the look on his face and waggled a finger at him. "Yes. I can. At least right now. I wanted to be with you but I can't let you sucker me into sex tonight, at least not yet." When Nicholas pouted she wagged her finger harder. "My harem hasn't had any time with me in almost two weeks! You can wait for a few hours. Right?"
"Well if you were going to spend the night with your harem why didn't you sayyy so?" Nicholas moaned. "I was getting all worked up for nothing?"
"Better believe it, big boy," Sabrina snickered. "Consider this your punishment for calling me greedy."
"B-But… You did that?" Nicholas said piteously.
Sabrina just laughed and blew him a kiss before scampering for the door and vanishing from sight.
After a few minutes Nicholas flopped back with a groan. Ever since filming had started Sabrina had been much more… Domineering? Was that the right word? She'd always been a strong-willed woman, but the last few weeks had seen her competing with him in many more aspects, including in bed. Was it the character she was playing?
He felt his dick twitch and grinned at the ceiling. Didn't matter. Fuck she was hot.
A solid half hour passed before Nicholas heard a knock at the door. He rolled over, having been lost in thought about all of the faces, new and old, that had been at the PWT, and raised his voice. "Hello? Come in." The door pushed open to admit Morgana and Nicholas sat up when he saw the Gardevoir. "Oh, Morgana. Good evening. Did you notice Sabrina leave?"
Morgana nodded slightly. "I did, Master. But I am not here to take her place. None could, of course."
Nicholas smiled. "Of course. If you were looking to slip in for a quickie, though-"
"No, Master," Morgana interrupted. "Just taking advantage of the opportunity." Nicholas raised an eyebrow that prompted Mogana to step to the side and gesture at someone behind her. "You will not get a better chance, love."
Nicholas' eyebrow raised another notch when Quinn poked her head around the Gardevoir's dress. "Quinn?"
The Gallade swallowed nervously. "H-H-" she coughed, clearing her throat and taking a breath. "H-Hello, Nicholas."
"What are you hiding behind Morgana for?"
"I could ask the same question," Morgana said softly. When Quinn didn't budge Morgana reached down to nudge Quinn's back. "You promised me, Quinn."
Quinn's eyes squeezed shut and she took a quick deep breath. "I did. I did." She opened her eyes again and stepped into the open. "Nicholas, I…"
Nicholas stared. Quinn was… in her old wait uniform? He hadn't even realized that she'd kept it. Let alone that she would ever choose to put it on again.
"…I wanted… no, I needed to tell you." Quinn drew herself up. "For so long… I have been wrong."
Morgana squeezed Quinn's shoulder comfortingly as Nicholas pushed himself further upright. "Wrong? Wrong how?"
Quinn flinched. "I… told you, I think. When we first met." She looked down at herself. "When I was… wearing this. How this… was all anyone ever saw me as."
Nicholas nodded slightly. "If I'm remembering correctly, you talked to me about how the only compliments you'd ever get were on your body. Your breasts, specifically. How those compliments were just thinly veiled objectifications of you."
Quinn laughed quietly. "I rejected them. And… back then, as I did, I grew to hate, not the ones jeering at me, but the target of their words. 'If my body wasn't like this, they wouldn't be saying these things,' I thought. I hated myself. Myself, Nicholas. Do you have any idea how… how much I was hurting?"
Nicholas pushed the blankets away and slipped out of bed. "I wish I could say I did. I would have tried so much harder to help you."
"You did so much anyways," Quinn whispered. "You… gave me confidence. To begin changing the way I thought. To become something more than all I believed myself could be. But I still… hated. I hated what I thought made me weak. I had come to hate not just my body, but the mind piloting it." She began to laugh, the sound growing hysterical as tears swelled in Quinn's eyes and Morgana bent down to wrap her arms around the shaking Gallade. "You… showed me. Many things. I came to accept what I was. But I still hated it."
Nicholas had taken a few steps towards her but stopped now. After a moment he got on his knees and bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Quinn. I… I had no idea you were in so much pain. I only listened to your words without looking beyond them. I only… I only did what the ones who had hurt you so badly did. I only looked at what was on the surface. I didn't care to look any further." He cracked a rueful smile. "I only cared enough to look at your breasts."
Morgana reached out to pat Nicholas on the shoulder while Quinn made a strangled noise. "You are not to blame, Master," she said kindly. "Neither is Quinn. You were distracted, and she had no reason to allow anything beyond the defenses she had constructed around her true feelings. You saw only what Quinn allowed you to see. Everybody did… Until she met me."
Quinn made a choking laugh. "You cheat."
"I do indeed," Morgana murmured as she placed a gentle kiss in Quinn's hair. "If you'd like me to, love, I will explain the rest. You don't need to speak."
Quinn struggled silently for a few seconds before curling up and nodding as she buried her face in Morgana's dress. "P-Please."
"As the years went on, Quinn came to build a picture of what she believed she would have to be to stop being… herself," Morgana explained softly. "She was afraid of herself. Herself was what the others objectified. So she came to think that she knew what she wanted to be, instead of being her." Morgana gently comforted Quinn when the Gallade made a tortured noise. "But even that was too much, Master, you see? She was afraid, and fear was not something that not-Quinn would ever be. So even that fear was buried away. Rationalized and turned into something else. To become the Quinn Quinn thought she wanted to be, she could have no fear, no doubt. No weakness. She could never fail. That was the only way she would no longer be the Quinn the jeering people saw."
Nicholas remained silent. Morgana was describing an incredibly toxic mindset that he'd never even considered Quinn might hold. He knew she wanted to be strong. He knew she hated the body she had, because it was soft and not like what she imagined a Gallade should be. Had she… Had she striven to become a Gallade for all the wrong reasons?
"But Quinn, the real Quinn, is allowed to fail," Morgana said gently. "She is an incredible and strong pokegirl. She knows she is. And because she is, there is no shame in showing those she trusts her weakness, because she is not alone – she does not need to be alone. She does not need to be alone. Recognizing that she is not perfect, asking for help, being vulnerable, crying for affirmation and love… these are all incredibly brave and strong traits and that is the true Quinn. That is my mate." She looked down with a smile. "Regardless of the body she inhabits, even if it is as beautiful as the pokegirl inside."
Nicholas knew there was only thing he could do and he looked up while spreading his arms to invite Quinn in. "I see no weakness in you, Quinn," he said quietly. "The only thing I am seeing is your strength. All of those ugly words – those who saw you as nothing but a toy, an object, a trophy. I think… if I'm understanding tonight correctly, you stand before me fully on display, embracing those words, because you are so powerful that they are but words now. You feared them then because you knew they held some level of truth. It allowed them to chain you. But now, the ones who voiced them can no longer control you with them. You do not fear their truth. The Quinn they describe is not ugly, she is beautiful – she is you, and you are so much more."
Morgana gave him an approving smile as Quinn stilled. After a few seconds she turned her head, blinking her eye open to see him kneeling there waiting for her. In a flash she'd whirled, stumbling slightly before flinging herself into his arms with a wild sob.
Morgana settled back as Nicholas comforted the sobbing Gallade. "She'd been getting more and more distressed over the tournament. Distressed, I think, because she didn't know how to approach you about what she's learned." Morgana smiled when Quinn nodded. "She's been so excited. It's all she talks about. I hope now she can focus. And that you can be for her in public what I have been for her in private."
Nicholas immediately nodded. "Without hesitation."
"Good," Morgana whispered. "That's good." The three lapsed into silence for a bit before Morgana grew a mischievous smile. "Hey. Quinn."
Quinn raised her head. "Morgana?"
"Would you say you got the idea to dress up for me, or for Master?"
Quinn's eyes grew panicked. "Ah…"
"Surely, it was for me," Morgana purred, flowing forwards to place herself into the mix and scooping Quinn into her arms to light protests from Nicholas. "I think you went and got that new fit so I could better enjoy the gift you are to me. So Master can just watch me enjoy my gift." Her smile widened when she rolled Quinn onto the mattress and immediately felt the hands pulling at her back as Nicholas slipped up next to her.
"I seem to remember that she came here… for me," Nicholas growled playfully.
"You think I'm going to share my gift with you?" Morgana growled. "Tell Master, Quinn. You are for me."
"No, tell your mate, Quinn," Nicholas growled back. "You want me."
"I, I, I," Quinn stammered, suddenly all of her grief and worry blowing away as she watched the two most important people in her life fight over her, leaving behind what she had originally felt as she had steeled herself to come find Morgana all those days ago. A dull ache. A tingling through every extremity. A deep, horrible longing in her groin and her chest. She didn't care which it was. "I WANT YOU BOTH!"
Nicholas and Morgana glanced at each other, matching their satisfied smiles, before turning in unison, Nicholas heading for Quinn's groin while Morgana moved to her chest. "That's good," they both purred as Quinn felt herself engulfed in their bodies. "Because we want you."
"Isn't she wonderful?" Morgana asked as Nicholas penetrated the Gallade and she screamed in pleasure.
"The best," Nicholas agreed when Morgana pushed Quinn's breasts together and began to knead them to an elated sob from her mate.
"This outfit is truly wonderful," Morgana observed as Nicholas continued to thrust in and out of Quinn's pussy. "It is everything my mate should be." She leaned in to stop Quinn's pleasured screams by capturing her mouth with her own. "Beautiful," she began, engulfing Quinn in a kiss with every word, "sexual, powerful, strong."
"Incredible," Nicholas continued, matching his deepest thrusts with his speech, "brave, perfect, strong."
"I called her strong," Morgana pouted. "We can't both find her something, Master. That's just impossible."
"Oh, you're right, you're right," Nicholas replied with a grin. "Let me try again. Wonderful, beautiful, ugh- unrelenting!" He cleared his throat. "Sorry, accidentally came in the middle of that sentence there. You don't mind that I did it inside, do you Quinn?"
"Nuh-uh-uh-uh-uh-"
Morgana glared at him. "Well I mind that you reused my beautiful! Quinn is MY beautiful mate! My illustrious, selfless, perfect…"
They continued for hours, each intentionally reusing some compliment the other had already said, repeating them over and over so that Quinn had no choice but accept them. Just as she had no choice but accept the physical affection from both until her body and mind couldn't take any more and she went limp.
A few minutes passed before either of the others noticed, but once they did, Nicholas pulled out, leaving behind a sodden, sticky mess filling Quinn's vagina, and Morgana let her lay naturally onto the mattress, Quinn's skin red and flushed across every single square inch that the Gardevoir had managed to reach. They shuffled together to gaze at her unconscious form.
"Look at her," Morgana whispered happily. "That's my mate."
Nicholas smiled. His fingers were teasing the Gardevoir but neither of them were really intending on continuing. This had all been for Quinn. "She's truly an incredible pokegirl. Thank you for helping her. For being who she needed when I could not."
Morgana nodded slightly. "She'll be a good mother, I know it."
Nicholas chuckled. Morgana was barely listening to him, engrossed in her own thoughts as a pokegirl. That was fine. He was thinking too. Of the battles he and Quinn would be facing together, now more than ever before. One… very soon.
He turned slightly to address Morgana. "Sabrina should be returning soon. I would love to stay with Quinn all night, but…"
Morgana laughed softly and swept the unconscious Gallade into her arms. "You know, she promised me that she'd come to you. Yet, I had to bring her here tonight." She smirked. "I'm sure you'll get your wish, Master. One day."
Nicholas waved her off with a groan. "Get out of my head."
"It's quite the outfit. But one that only would work as well as it does on my mate, I think," Morgana teased. "Did you notice that she forgot her…?"
"…the panties or groin piece, yes, I did," Nicholas growled. "She didn't forget."
Morgana's teasing look softened. "You know that."
Nicholas looked at her with a solemn expression. "I know it because I remember a young, scared Ralts who also could not bear being what she was. The difference between you two was that you denied what you were. Quinn never denied what she was. She just tried to abandon it. In that, you two are so very similar, and that tore you both apart until you each accepted who you are." He reached out to stroke Quinn's sleeping form. "Just as you came to accept yourself, Quinn has stopped trying to abandon who she is. So, yes. I know that she did not forget to wear the groin covering part of that uniform. I know because by doing so, she was offering her surrender. She was saying that she was going to stop fighting the truth. That she was everything she knew herself to be, and it doesn't matter."
Morgana nodded slightly with a smile tugging at her lips. "You really do know us, Master."
Nicholas was gazing at Quinn's slumbering face. "I… think I might be able to understand your mate now as well as I know you, Morgana."
Tears beaded in Morgana's eyes as she quickly turned to leave. "That… That would make me very happy, Master."
.
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Celebrity Profile Overview
Ash Ketchum – Tamer
In recent history, very few tamers from Indigo have had their names spread throughout the World League. Ash Ketchum is one of them. A true Champion of the Indigo League, Ash Ketchum has conquered every Gym Leader in each region of the league as well as claimed the title of Champion. Though he was rumored to have vanished some years ago, he has reemerged to make his mark on the world stage.
Jean – Pikachu
Jean is a very strange pokegirl – a Pikachu, the unevolved form of Raichu, despite her many years of experience and powerful tamer. Some rumors say Jean refuses to evolve, which no pokegirl has ever been known to do. Regardless of the reason, one thing is clear: Jean stands as Ash Ketchum's Alpha, and her power matches her position, despite her unevolved state. Her lightning rivals even the most powerful Electric-types throughout the World League.