Pokegirl Origins - Unova Chapter 17 - Applied Science, a pokémon fanfic

WARNING

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS CONTENT INAPPROPRIATE FOR READERS UNDER THE AGE OF 18

Nicholas caught himself as the doors swung shut behind him.

He could still hear Dahlia's laughter coming from outside, as well as the voices of his other pokegirls as they joked and teased the Venusaur. But none of them made to follow him. Not even Cathy. They had all recognized that this was something he needed to do on his own.

He straightened and surveyed the quiet lobby. As the day had worn on more and more of the pokegirl assistants had retired from the experiment room to do whatever else they had planned for their days. A meal, relaxation, whatever it may have been, but the end result had left the room nearly empty by the time the group had walked out. Had Adalinda been left behind? He couldn't remember. His eyes hadn't bothered to look for her.

With a sigh Nicholas struck out on the path he remembered taking before. He'd check there first. Maybe the Snivy was still focused on her experiments.

As he neared where the main room sat he saw two figures moving across the hall while they chatted between themselves. A spring-like tail, and… a long, sinuously twisting green body. He was making to open his mouth and hail the pokegirls when he paused. He could actually feel it this time. When he looked at the Snivy in the distance his thoughts simply wrote her off as being unimportant. A passer-by. No more.

He closed his mouth again when the two vanished around a corner. Maybe that had been Adalinda, maybe it hadn't. He did remember her being with one of the Tepig in the experiment room. But the opportunity had already passed. He wasn't going to start shouting through the halls.

It was a good thing he hadn't, as when he finally reached the room and peeked inside he could see four pokegirls, each at their own tables. Two Tepig, an Oshawott… and Adalinda.

How he recognized her he at first wasn't sure. But when he opened the door and stepped inside, one of the Tepig and the Oshawott looking up to check the new arrival, he thought he had an idea. He'd approached this pokegirl, Dahlia said. He'd taken notice, for whatever reason, at about the same distance as he was standing now. It must have been from the Snivy's body language. The way she hunched over her notes, the scratching from the rapid movement of her pencil across the page, it all combined to paint a clear picture of this pokegirl's focus. He would certainly have taken interest in that.

Adalinda didn't make any indication that she knew he was there, not even when Nicholas grabbed a chair and dragged it over to the other side of her table. Remembering how he had been quickly forgotten by this Snivy before he just took the seat and waited, using the time to watch her work. His mind still tried to get him to move on, pointing out how he was being ignored – again – and dismissing the pokegirl in front of him as being not worth his time. He ignored those thoughts. Dahlia had said that something in this girl had caught his attention. He believed her. Now that he was focusing he wanted to see if he could figure out what it was.

Adalinda didn't pause in her flow for nearly ten minutes. Occasional stops, yes, as she pondered the next word to put to page but the pencil didn't lower until she finally lifted her head with a tired groan. Only to blink in surprise when she saw the man sitting across from her. "Oh… Hello?"

Nicholas inclined his head. "Hello again."

"I thought you had left with the Professor," Adalinda said. "How long have you been sitting there?"

"As long as I needed to," Nicholas replied. "I think the last time I tried to approach you I interrupted something. That was rude of me. I didn't want to do it again."

"Well, I definitely appreciate that," Adalinda said as she looked back down at her notes. "I would have killed you if you'd lost me that train of thought."

Nicholas smiled slightly. This pokegirl was completely at ease in front of him. No hint of deference whatsoever. Dahlia had been completely correct. Adalinda wasn't ignoring him – she was just treating him as nothing more than another individual who happened to be in her space.

"Did you find a hypothesis, then?" Nicholas asked as Adalinda rubbed some stray marks from the page. "I apologize, but you'll have to remind me a little of what you said earlier."

Adalinda looked back up with a smile. "What changed?"

Nicholas raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"

"What changed between then and now," Adalinda said with a light laugh. "Or, maybe what I should be asking is why me? I know that earlier you were just getting an idea for all the pokegirls here so I didn't really feel a need to say more than hello. Yet, here you are. You came back."

Nicholas chuckled. "Well, you're absolutely correct. I was using today to get an idea for the pokegirls I might be choosing between at some point. Honestly, mostly general aesthetics. Getting familiar with each of your breeds, average temperaments, that sort of thing."

"Gathering initial data," Adalinda summarized.

"Precisely."

"So, what changed?" Adalinda asked again. "You came back here. For me."

"Well, while I was reviewing the data one of my Alphas pointed out a flaw in my analysis," Nicholas replied. "Apparently, I had been categorizing our rather short conversation in the wrong way. Additionally, I had dismissed some data points because of a prior bias."

Adalinda rested her chin on her hand and gave him a teasing look. "All this talk. I guess you know how to make a girl interested."

Nicholas chuckled. "Well, I figured from what I've seen of you that you'd appreciate big words."

"I do," Adalinda replied. "A lot of the others here don't. They just hang around while they wait for the opportunity to try again with the starter program. But I love it here. All my curiosity isn't just buzzing around in my head, I'm able to actually run tests, figure things out." She glanced down. "Like this. I mentioned how I was testing my saliva, do you remember that much?"

"Vaguely."

"Well, I'm trying to figure out how my body works," Adalinda explained. "There aren't really detailed studies on individual pokegirl breeds. All the human researchers are working along general lines, and pokegirl researchers only ever really focus on themselves, or in a specific other breed that interests them. Usually, that other breed is one they're inherently biased towards for one reason or another." She glanced up with a grin. "I once read a very comprehensive study on the Seviper breed, which I was interested in because Seviper are pretty similar in biology to me. The author of that study was a pokegirl. Specifically, a Zangoose." Her grin widened. "The study was so comprehensive and so meticulous on a Seviper's habits, temperaments, and bodily functions because that Zangoose had been using it as an opportunity to completely analyze the pokegirl breed that you human researchers have identified as her natural rival!"

Nicholas burst out laughing. "That's incredible! But it was properly peer reviewed? Was the study factual?"

"Completely!" Adalinda exclaimed. "It was still an excellent piece of scientific research; I just couldn't believe that Zangoose managed to drum up funding for what was essentially her research into her enemy."

"Man, that really is a hilarious story," Nicholas chuckled.

"Right?!" Adalinda exclaimed. "Anyways, like I was saying there aren't many detailed studies of individual pokegirl breeds out there. So, if I want to read one about Snivy, I'd have to make it myself." She winked when Nicholas' eyebrows shot up. "Oh, I'm not trying to publish or anything. I'd have to do it through the Professor anyways. But I've been studying myself, because I know that even if I never got the chance to publish what I learn it will still be an amazing boon when I get started as a tamer's first pokegirl."

Nicholas leaned in slightly with a mischievous smile. "The value you are creating for yourself will be wasted on most beginning tamers, you know."

"Oh, at this point I know I'm not going to pair up with just 'any' beginning tamer," Adalinda crooned back. "I rotated through that level of the starter program two years ago. I know that whatever tamer I get matched with now will be one who will appreciate me."

A little bit of rightful pride, Nicholas thought to himself as his eyes narrowed slightly. Another reason I would have been drawn to her before.

"…Well," he said, leaning back again to leave Adalinda staring after him, "if that happens to be me, I guarantee it will."

The slightest shadow passed over Adalinda's face. "You didn't come back here because it will be?"

"So…" Nicholas trailed off. "Look. Adalinda." He leaned back in, close, very close but just outside of the range where he might be mistaken as going for a kiss. "I really like you." He smiled when her eyes dilated. Now that was interesting to see. Could any of his other pokegirls do that on command? It didn't matter. "That's why I came back in. Because for some reason, I'd let myself be fooled into thinking otherwise. But I do. And now I've confirmed that by meeting you for real." He leaned back again. "The problem, is that while I would love to make a snap decision here, that wouldn't be fair to anyone. After all, if I'd made a snap decision just a few minutes ago I'd be trying to find one of those Oshawott I talked to. If I'd made a snap decision at chasing the first pokegirl I met in this lab who tickled my fancy, I'd be taking Talia off Bianca's hands. But because I didn't make those snap decisions, you've been allowed to become one of my few candidates." When Adalinda blinked and settled back he nodded at her. "I would like to give this decision all of the time and careful consideration it deserves. Because that's the only way it's fair for all of you."

"I suppose I can't argue with any of that," Adalinda murmured. "Have you had this kind of conversation with any of the other… 'candidates'?"

Nicholas shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "I'll probably be back, maybe not this week, but definitely by the Monday after to see if I can."

"And you'll make your decision then?"

Nicholas raised an eyebrow at her. "I'll make it once I'm sure in it."

"Be honest with me." Adalinda's eyes burned as they captured his. "If we had met out there. If you were not being forced to be fair." Her lips cracked apart and Nicholas could see a thin forked tongue flicking between her teeth. "What would your 'snap' decision have been then?"

Nicholas gazed back at her. "I'll quote one of my Alphas, I think," he said quietly. "I want you. Your own feelings be damned."

That made Adalinda's entire body draw back, her eyes shifting wildly as an excited hiss whistled from her mouth. Then she blinked and quickly composed herself. "I… see."

"So," Nicholas barely whispered, "please let me do what is fair."

Adalinda looked like she was vibrating and Nicholas could hear as her serpentine tail coiled and uncoiled across the floor in her excitement. "Okay."

He rose. "I'll uh… talk to you later, Adalinda." He gave her one last smile before turning and hurrying from the room to leave the excited Snivy to be descended on by the other pokegirls as they clamored for details.

"And now, it is with great pleasure to introduce our guest speaker today – Nicholas Topolski!"

Nicholas smiled and waved at the crowd of students as he walked out onto the auditorium stage. The large open floor between him and where they sat was empty today instead of being used for extra seating. For a very important reason. "Thank you, Aspertia Tamer's School! And thank you to all of the students I see in the assembly today. I know you probably have much better ways to be spending your afternoon than listening to your professors talk." He grinned as a polite chuckle rose from the crowd. "I mean, that's what I was thinking back when I was studying, so I can't blame you. But I think you won't regret coming to listen today. As you know, I am Nicholas Topolski. Many of you would have seen me in action at the PWT in your Driftveil Stadium last year. A bit over a decade ago I was just like you – a young man who thought he knew everything about pokegirls. I was an ace at the sims. I could rattle off type advantages in my sleep. But then, I was given the opportunity to put my knowledge into practice. To apply what I'd learned. From what I understand, each and every one of you will have that same chance when you graduate. That, I want to stress, is an opportunity none of you should squander." He gazed out into the crowd. "The classes and experience you will obtain here at the Aspertia Tamer's School are preparing you for your future endeavors as pokegirl tamers. And I am sure many of you, one day, hope to find yourself standing… right here." Nicholas pointed at his feet before chuckling again. "Well, maybe not right here, giving a speech. To be honest, those are pretty boring." Some actual laughter this time. "No, I mean here. In my shoes. One of the elite tamers of the World League." He smiled again. "No matter what path you choose to take, no matter what choices you make on your way to your goals, I would ask that you remember your lessons here. And to show just how important even the most basic of them are, I would like to introduce a few of my companions today." He raised an arm to display a pokeball. "A few of my pokegirls."

Even though he was holding the pokeball above his head he didn't activate it. Instead, cheers rose when a sheet of ice raced across the auditorium floor and Miyuki blitzed in, shavings of ice spraying from where her feet slid. Across from her Bea lunged into view, a roar escaping her lips as she slammed her fists into the ice Miyuki had created. Cracks instantly fragmented the sheet and Miyuki dove for safety, getting up as Bea similarly was forced to react when the shattered ice leapt off the ground in a wave towards her, Zisela stalking in with her claws glowing as the seismic energy raced for the Metagross. Bea leapt into the air, levitating over the wave of displaced ice before behind her a mass of green surged across the walls. Shards sprayed out, pattering against the barriers that rose between this demonstration floor and the whooping students, when Dahlia's vines speared straight through the broken ice towards Zisela. The Garchomp was falling back, summoning her own defense, when Nicholas' voice rang out over the scene. "HOLD!"

Immediately the four moved together as a grinning Nicholas addressed the crowd. "Please give a round of applause for my Alphas, ladies and gentlemen! Dahlia! Miyuki! Bea! Zisela!" He gestured around at the battlefield. "And a bigger round of applause for the performance, I think! Some of you may already be realizing what was just displayed here today. If not, allow me to explain." He gestured at Dahlia. "Dahlia is a Venusaur. She, is a Grass/Poison-type pokegirl." He moved on to Miyuki. "Miyuki is an Ice-type. Bea, a Steel/Psychic-type. And finally, Zisela is a Dragon/Ground-type." He smiled when he heard a few shouts. "Correct! Each of them have favorable and unfavorable type matchups between each other. That is what their entrances showed! And that, is what we will be placing on display for you now." He grinned out into the crowd. "Even at the very top!" he cried, throwing out his arms as the pokegirls began charging techniques, "the lessons you learn here will be put to the test! So here's one for you!" He laughed as Dahlia and Bea leapt to one side of the hall, Miyuki and Zisela heading for the other before all four turned to bristle at each other. "WHO WILL WIN?"

None of them had, of course.

Nicholas was laughing and congratulating the four out of sight of where the auditorium was slowly emptying of chattering students. "That was so well done," he praised. "Absolutely perfect, ladies. I think we knocked that demonstration out of the park."

"You most certainly did." Nicholas turned to see a neatly kept man in a white shirt and tie approaching with a smile. "Let me be the first to thank you for your presentation, Mister Topolski. It was superbly done."

Nicholas was still grinning when he reached over to shake the other man's hand. "It was absolutely my pleasure. I think my girls had a blast, too." He glanced around at the others. "Right?" When he got a bunch of grins and nods back he turned back to the other man. "They don't get much opportunity to spar on their own, you see. Even holding themselves back this much. Pokegirls, you know? If the rest of my harem saw their Alphas going at it who knows what they might think."

"A very sensible conclusion," the man praised. "You are certainly the kind of tamer we hope all of our students one day become." He released Nicholas' hand and reached up to adjust his tie. "I don't believe I've introduced myself. I am Cheren."

Nicholas' smile grew. "Oh! Bianca has mentioned you. You're the new gym leader here, correct?"

Cheren chuckled. "That's correct. Brand new. Only been in the position about a year now, though I've been teaching for a few years longer than that."

"I think she also said it was your idea to tie the badge challenge with the students' graduation exam?" Nicholas asked. "I thought it was a brilliant idea, personally. I hope I didn't misrepresent what you're doing in my little speech."

"No, not at all," Cheren replied. "You hit it right on the head. My hope is that a real, practical test where our students can apply what they've learned will be much more useful to them than regurgitating those type charts you spoke about. Knowledge like that is quite valuable, but… well." He smiled slightly. "In my gym, it is far less."

Nicholas' smile had faded into one that wasn't much more than Cheren's little one. "No. From what I hear, you're a Normal-type specialist, aren't you? The starter program usually gives beginning tamers a Water, Fire, or Grass-type. There's no type advantage or disadvantage to be had there."

"Precisely," Cheren replied. "It's all about technique with Normal-type pokegirls." He raised an eyebrow. "I hear you yourself will soon be walking through my doors?"

"Thanks to my fiancé, yes," Nicholas replied. "I'm still somewhat undecided on how I feel about it, but there has to be a reason I keep traveling the World League, hasn't there?"

Cheren let out a quiet snort. "What could that reason be, I wonder." His grin returned as he gestured back towards the door he'd entered by. "Well. No time like the present, eh mister 'World Champion'?"

"Oh… I can't," Nicholas apologized. When Cheren raised an eyebrow he explained. "I haven't had the chance to pick up a Unovan pokegirl yet. While I'd love to give you a good battle with the six girls I brought here from my full harem, that's unfortunately very much against the rules."

"Ah, I just wasn't aware that you hadn't found someone already," Cheren replied. "My mistake. But you will be coming by before you leave, won't you? I've only had one full rotation of graduates to test so far and I think it will be very nice to have another kind of battle on the tapes to show in my lectures."

Nicholas grinned and reached out to snag Cheren's hand again in a quick pump. "You better believe it," he taunted playfully. "I'll be walking out with your badge, too."

Cheren caught his fingers when Nicholas tried to let go and he saw light glint off Cheren's contacts when the man lowered his head slightly with a confident smirk. "We'll see about that." Then he was releasing his grip and turning for the door. "Until then, Mister Topolski!"

"Until then," Nicholas murmured as Cheren walked outside. After a few moments he turned to the pokegirls. "I know you all just had to focus on that performance. But do you think we might be able to spend a lot of time talking tonight…?"

"Just talking?" Dahlia asked dejectedly, though she was still grinning like a maniac. They all were. "To be honest, Master, I'm still not sure why that Adalinda isn't here yet."

"That's what I want to talk about," Nicholas groaned. "Please?"

"Not much to talk about, Weyrleader!" Zisela laughed and gave him a smack on the back. "But if you insist!"

"Oh for crying out loud," Nicholas moaned as the four began laughing. "Come on, be serious, won't you? I need to make a proper decision here before I go back after the weekend."

"No, what you need to do is stop making excuses," Dahlia retorted, though she was still smiling to take the bite from her words. "I was watching you for nearly the entire time we were meeting all those pokegirls. Not a single one got the same reaction as that Snivy, Adalinda, did. Sure, sure. You liked a good number. But none to her extent."

Nicholas sighed. She was absolutely correct. As usual. Now that he had realized how he'd been avoiding Grass-type pokegirls it was like his mental barriers had fallen away. Adalinda was nearly all he could even think about at this point, not even that Oshawott, Talia's happy-go-lucky attitude able to overcome her. Hell, at this point he was second guessing HER appeal because of Sohn! It was such a giant mess. He truly wanted to give all of the pokegirls he'd met in that lab fair consideration but barring some kind of massive event there really was only ever going to be one he landed on.

He did this a lot as well, didn't he. Once he got a pokegirl into his head she didn't leave. It had been that way for Karen, too. Now it was Adalinda. Had he been like that for all of the pokegirls in the harem? He thought back through the years. Not all of them, but… the ones who hadn't been like this had usually been pokegirls he'd found wild or feral. So there had never been inhibitions to worry about. He just captured them, tamed them, and invited them to join the harem. He snorted. If he'd found Adalinda like that, well… he'd told her already what would have happened.

"So why avoid it now?"

Dahlia cocked her head curiously at the whisper. "Sorry, what was that Master?"

Nicholas blinked. "Sorry, just muttering to myself," he said normally. "Maybe I won't have time to be talking to you all tonight."

Dahlia's eyes lit up as the others looked between each other excitedly. "You don't think so?"

"I think I should head back to that lab a little early."

"YEEEAAAHHHH!" Nicholas yelped when he was borne out of the room by a wave of pokegirls. "LET'S GO! LET'S GO!"

"WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU ALL THIS EXCITED OVER THIS?" Nicholas cried. "HELP!"

"NEW! SISTER! NEW! SISTER!" Dahlia began chanting, the others joining in as they burst out of the building and stampeded for the lab.

"BEA! I THOUGHT YOU TOLD ME ONCE THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO SEE ME BUILDING A NEW HAREM IN UNOVA!" Nicholas tried to reason. "STOP THIS!"

"I said I wouldn't let you make a new harem WITHOUT us, Master!" Bea hooted. "I'm all for more harem sisters! The more the merrier!"

"MAYBE THIS IS WHY I'VE NEVER BROUGHT ANY OF YOU ALONG BEFORE!" Nicholas screamed right before the four went crashing through the laboratory doors.

"Where's she at, you think?" Dahlia jabbered excitedly as they finally let Nicholas go and he stumbled away. "It's kind of late. Oh! Bea?"

"Oh, I'm not the best at this kind of thing. I'll go get Cass!" the Metagross exclaimed before she vanished with a pop.

"I think you you're all just still high off that exhibition!" Nicholas cried accusingly. "High off that and wild because there aren't any of your harems here to see you acting like this!"

"Oh-ho, Nicholas," Miyuki leered, "you should know better than that. Not even Zisela is the kind of girl to care what others think of her."

"Especially not me," Zisela chortled. "Do as I say, not as I do, right Weyrleader?"

Nicholas was shaking his head tiredly. "Oh-ho, no. I know why you're in on this," he said as he wagged his finger at her. "You're all hopped up on hormones after laying your egg. That's what it is. You're using this as an opportunity to get back at me for forcing you to leave it to Lili for a few days!"

"Do you have any idea what went through my head when you told me the plan for this trip, my dragon?" Zisela asked, all traces of joviality gone in an instant. "Half of me was prepared to cut you open for even suggesting I do something like this."

"Well, then I'm glad the other half is able to be rational, even if she's being a massive pain in my ass right now," Nicholas replied nervously.

Miyuki giggled. "Goes to show you one thing, Nicholas," she said happily. "You got a broodmother off her egg. She must really respect you to do that."

Nicholas gave Zisela a careful smile that she grudgingly returned. "I… I guess so."

Bea teleported back in with Cassidy to see a much different scene than the one she'd left and she looked around in confusion. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing, nothing," Nicholas laughed quickly. "Cass! Hey. Can you help locate that Snivy? Adalinda?"

Cassidy's antennae twitched and she glanced in Zisela's direction before looking back at him. "Master is being naughty, hm?" she asked with a grin. "The faster I do this, perhaps the faster this little outing ends?"

"Yes!" Nicholas exclaimed. "Please!"

Cassidy laughed. "The Snivy Adalinda. Let's see." Her head cocked. "You'll never guess."

Nicholas immediately turned for the main experiment room and broke into a dead sprint.

"Oh. He guessed." Cassidy giggled. "This is fun," she said to the others. "It's so much different watching things from the outside than it was experiencing them. Especially since he found me after I'd accidentally let myself start going feral."

"It actually kind of is," Miyuki confessed. "When Nicholas found me, I was basically the same way. Dahlia? Zisela?"

Zisela just gave a sullen snarl as her response but Dahlia shook her head. "I haven't experienced it from the outside, but this is just how he met me," she said softly. "Almost exactly. It's no wonder why he was so hesitant to admit his attraction for this Adalinda." Her eyes gazed down the hall. "I wonder what else in Unova will be the same as our journey together."

Nicholas shoved through the experiment room's doors. It was still midafternoon this time, so while it wasn't as full as when he'd been meeting all of the pokegirls there was still a sizable number inside working. Adalinda was at a new table this time and he took a deep breath before letting it all out and striding purposefully towards her. As he did the other pokegirls let off their activities one by one, all eyes turning to the man making his way towards the muttering Snivy.

"But that makes no sense," he heard Adalinda saying when he got close. "Come on, idiot. Think. THINK."

Nicholas pulled to a halt nearby and watched her in confusion. Adalinda was muttering almost feverishly as she pored over her notes. This was the first he'd seen the Snivy as anything other than composed, even when he'd surprised her before the best rise he got was when he'd told her bluntly how much he wanted her as his partner. And that was just a natural pokegirl reaction, as far as he was concerned. "Adalinda?"

Adalinda's head snapped up when she heard his voice. "Uh- Oh. Why are you here? I thought you said you'd be back next week!"

Nicholas blinked. "My… Alphas convinced me otherwise," he said slowly. "Is that… okay?"

"You already talked to the others?" Adalinda stammered. "Oh, I thought I had more time…"

Nicholas blinked again. "Actually…" he said, easing his way over towards her, "…my girls convinced me that I'd already given things thought enough."

Adalinda dropped her head into her hands. "Crap."

"Crap?" Nicholas asked in bemusement. "Is something wrong? One of your experiments not turn out the way you expected?"

Adalinda let her hands fall. "No," she sighed. "It's not that. It's my conclusions." She looked back up to face him. "I wanted to have one before this happened."

"Before I made my decision."

"You'd already made it the other night, hadn't you?" Adalinda whispered. "Why else… Why else would you have said what you did, at the end?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I had," Nicholas replied.

"I wanted to have one before you asked me to be your pokegirl," Adalinda said sadly. "I wanted to be able to look at you and go, 'Of course. And here's why you made the right choice'. I wanted… Damn it, it doesn't matter."

Nicholas perched on the table next to her. "I think it matters to me," he said kindly. "I already think I made the right choice, but what else were you hoping to say?"

Adalinda gazed at him. "The Professor told us you're a researcher."

"I am, at least when I'm not a tamer," Nicholas replied. "I really enjoyed talking with you about the journals you've read. And I remember you said you would like to write something of your own."

Adalinda went red. "I… I didn't say that," she stammered out.

"I think you did," Nicholas said with a small smile. "It's what you really said. Sure, your words made it sound like you were investigating yourself as a boon for a future combat tamer, but I heard you mention getting published. You wouldn't have said that if it wasn't something you wanted."

Adalinda's body slumped back as she stared across the table to where he was sitting. "I don't know if I want to leave this behind," she whispered. "The study. The science. I love it."

A smile slowly grew across Nicholas' lips. "So that's it."

"I…" Adalinda trailed off helplessly. "I wanted… to be able to look at you, and to say… I figured it out." Her eyes were starting to glisten with tears. "So that, when you came, I wouldn't just be some pokegirl from the starter program anymore." She let out a wail and threw her arms over her face. "I WANTED TO BE GOOD ENOUGH TO BE MORE TO YOU THAN THAT!"

Adalinda was hiccupping as she fought her sobs and didn't hear Nicholas moving until she felt hands taking hers. "Wuh-?" She jerked her arms apart to see Nicholas standing in front of her. Smiling. He was smiling. "Wuh-wuh-?"

"I can not tell you how thankful I am that I was able to meet you, Adalinda," Nicholas said softly. "Even though you couldn't figure your theory out on your own. I look forward to what the two of us will discover." His smile grew when Adalinda's eyes grew wide. "Together."

Cheers filled the room when Nicholas bent down to take the Snivy in a sensual kiss.

POKEDEX UPDATED

Tamer: Nicholas Topolski

Badges:

Harem:

Adalinda, Snivy – Level 10

Non-Com Harem:

Kalmiya, Porygon-Z – Level 35
Cathy, Miltank – Level 72

"Oh my goodness look at her face!" Dahlia squealed as everyone pushed into the small suite the school had provided for them. "Mistress, isn't that how humans celebrate after marriage?"

"I will have both of you know this is just because Adalinda is slightly slower on stairs," Nicholas retorted, the Snivy curled in his arms glowing bright red as she covered her face with her hands. "It's also not the first time I've done this for one of my pokegirls. Or they've done it for me, technically," he amended, even though Sabrina was just laughing along with the others. "I tried to do it to you too once, remember?"

"For us it means something completely different," Sabrina agreed. "But it's still unbelievably adorable when it's for your new pokegirl."

"Hey, wait, the stairs were a few minutes back," Miyuki piped up. "Nicholas, you've been carrying her the whole time."

The group laughed when Adalinda let out a mortified squeal and Nicholas swept off towards one of the bedrooms. "The peanut gallery on this new badge challenge is horrendous!" he exclaimed haughtily. "I do say bringing it along was a terrible mistake."

"A MISTAKE YOU CAN'T GET RID OF!" Bea whooped before turning to the others and beginning to gossip excitedly when Nicholas slammed the bedroom door shut.

Adalinda felt Nicholas release her and she gasped at the sudden fall but he'd let her go just inches above the bed so her landing was very gentle. "I'm sorry about them, really," he said, moving about the room and cleaning it up. "I really don't know what's gotten into them. These are supposed to be my Alphas, and here they are bullying a poor young pokegirl!"

"Er- I-" Adalinda stammered. "Um… I kind of… enjoyed it, in a way."

Nicholas stopped and turned to her. Adalinda's face was still bright red. "What? How could you have enjoyed that? You sounded mortified!"

"Well I mean I, I am but-!" Adalinda made flapping motions with her hands. "It was just like how we all messed around at the lab," she finally managed to get out before ducking down again to hide her burning face. "I felt… It felt normal."

Nicholas let off what he was doing to sit on the bed next to her and reach over to stroke her hair. "It felt familiar," he said with a smile. "That's what you mean? Instead of feeling anxious at leaving you felt right at home."

Adalinda was rapidly nodding her head. "Yeah," she croaked out. "Yeah, that's exactly it."

"Well then that makes me very happy," Nicholas replied softly. "There's a very honest pokegirl hiding underneath your calm exterior, isn't there, Adalinda?" When the Snivy let out another embarrassed noise he chuckled and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "What else is hiding, I wonder?"

Adalinda shivered when the hand on her head began sliding down her back. She'd left the lab coat behind, but the clothing she'd had on underneath was hers and now Nicholas' fingers were slipping into the open sides of her top. "Master…"

Nicholas stopped. "Is that what you want to call me?"

Adalinda blinked. "Huh?"

"I mean, you heard Miyuki, the Glaceon," Nicholas replied. "She calls me Nicholas. By name. Do you prefer calling me Master?"

"Um…"

"You called Bianca Professor," Nicholas mused. "I don't have any sort of doctorate. I was going to go back to school for that. So you can't call me that." He hummed thoughtfully. "Master, Sir, or Nicholas, I guess. That's all you got to choose from." He looked back to her. "Unless you've got something special. Some of the others do."

Adalinda's tail shuffled nervously. "But if you did become Professor, then I'd have to call you that."

"Have to?"

"If… If I'm going to be your assistant, right?" Adalinda blurted out.

Nicholas grinned and Adalinda closed her eyes when he caught her in a kiss. "For some reason," he teased when he broke away, "I get the feeling that you'd rather do something different."

"If I'm just your assistant…"

"Who's to say that's all you'd be?" Nicholas interrupted. "Oh no, miss 'I want to publish'. No simple assistant of mine would be good enough for that." He grinned and reached to squeeze her hand. "Only my research partner would be."

Adalinda's eyes snapped open. "You… You really mean that?" she gasped.

"Absolutely," Nicholas replied. "But for right now, I'm no professor. I'm barely even a researcher. I'm a tamer. And you are the first pokegirl in my Unovan harem." He smiled. "So. What am I?"

Adalinda stared at him with joy behind her fresh tears. "You… You're my Master Nicholas," she whispered. "Can I… Can I say that?" She squirmed a bit. "Maybe even… Nicholas for short?"

"Ha. You could call me Nick and I wouldn't mind," Nicholas replied with a grin.

"Really?"

"Of course," Nicholas replied. "I keep offering that to my pokegirls but nobody's really taken me up on it yet."

"Nick…" Adalinda tried. "Hey, Nick." She purpled. "Oh it feels so weird. Are you sure it's okay?"

"I'm sure."

Adalinda squirmed some more. "Well then you can call me Ada," she suddenly blurted out. "That's only fair, right? If I can call you Nick?"

"Do you prefer Ada?" Nicholas asked.

"I don't… It's not whether I prefer it," Adalinda said nervously. "It's more… It's a lot more casual, right? Like Nick. So… If I hear someone call me that, then… I'd know it's someone close to me."

Nicholas laughed and pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace. "I'm honored," he whispered to her. "Thank you, Ada."

Adalinda let out a small gasp when she heard him say that. "I… No, thank you, N-Nick."

"You don't have to use Nick if you don't like it," Nicholas chuckled. "I, on the other hand, absolutely love Ada." He paused just long enough for Adalinda to start getting a bit flustered over his words before he leaned in next to her and whispered the rest. "Both the Snivy and her name."

Adalinda gasped when he let go of his hug and she crashed back onto the mattress. Nicholas was pulling off his clothes as the Snivy stared up at him with wide eyes. "You do?"

Nicholas finished getting his shirt off and was squirming out of his pants when he responded. "I do," he said. "Even if I didn't love who you are, you're still a stunning pokegirl."

Adalinda turned aside bashfully. "Stunning," she mumbled.

Nicholas smiled. She was. With Adalinda on her back like this he had a great view of her body, though he hadn't gotten her disrobed yet. Adalinda was somewhere… he estimated at least eight feet long from her head to the tip of her cloverleaf tail. Longer than he was tall, sure, but because of her body shape when she was slithering along she was a good foot or more shorter than him. The extra length was taken up by the coils she needed to use to move around. He reached down to trail some fingers up from the tip of her tail. It was the best place for him to feel the green scales that spread from it, as with her on her back most of them were hidden, besides the ones covering her arms. Instead, her front and the bottom of her tail, the part that touched the ground, was just soft, pale skin. A bit leathery across her tail, as it had to be to be what the Snivy moved on, but as his fingers drifted past the skirt Adalinda wore and reached what would be her waist if she'd had legs the skin was as soft as could be.

Adalinda squeezed her eyes shut when he reached the strip of exposed skin between her skirt and the bottom of her top, which was laying just below her belly button. "I… I haven't had a real tamer yet," she blurted out as Nicholas teased the hem of her top to tickle her navel. "You're sure you… you want a pokegirl with an odd body like me?"

Nicholas chuckled quietly. "Pokegirls and their insecurities," he said in amusement. "You're not even my first serpentine pokegirl. Relax, Ada. Because, even if I haven't had a chance to really explain it yet." He looked up to see that she'd peeked back towards him. "Your body is more beautiful to me than if you'd had legs." He shrugged. "Unless that was your natural form… Ah, screw it. Words aren't enough. I'll just explain directly."

"What do you mean by-?" Adalinda started to ask before Nicholas leapt on top of her, his hands slamming down to either side of her head and her words vanishing in the face of what she saw staring down at her.

"I apologize if I'm mistaken," Nicholas growled, his eyes shifting as he summoned his draconic power. "But I'm pretty sure some part of me recognizes you, Adalinda."

Adalinda was completely caught in his eyes and now Nicholas took in her face, the wide, brown eyes below him and the head of short turquoise hair splayed across the mattress. There were other structures up here, too. A pair of yellowish… fins? Could he call them fins? Some kind of arching structures rose past her shoulders and curled at the tips, the only real definition to Adalinda's body. The rest of it was smooth, either scales or skin, though she did have a pair of small leathery pointed ears hiding in among her hair.

He blinked. The yellowish 'things' were moving. The tips curling more before uncurling in a flash and as Nicholas realized what he was seeing the vines swelled and shot up to wrap around his body. Of course. Adalinda was a Grass-type. How had he not recognized her vines?

He was slammed to her chest with a grunt when the Snivy's vines yanked him in and as he impacted he could hear her hissing again. Just like she had that first night. "Oh. Master," she hissed happily. "I don't understand, but… I recognize you too."

"You don't understand, huh," Nicholas grunted as he forced himself back up onto his hands, even despite Adalinda's powerful pull. "That's fine. It'll just be another thing we discover together." Adalinda gasped when he shot one hand from the bed to plunge beneath her top. "Let's get these things off of you so I can see my stunning new pokegirl in all her glory."

With the promise of more on the table Adalinda's vines immediately released and Nicholas felt them slip past his hand, sliding under her top and lifting it over her head without the Snivy moving her arms. Because of the open sided design, and how the catches at the 'waist' had popped open easily. With a flick it was sent flying through the air and only now did Adalinda move her arms, lifting them above her head as she stared up at Nicholas with a sultry smile while her vines unhooked her bra and lifted it tantalizingly from her chest. "All her glory?" she asked coquettishly.

Nicholas let his hands accept the invitation and moved them to her chest, rubbing Adalinda's nipples as she let out breathy moans and her vines wormed down to work on removing the clothing there. She wasn't the biggest pokegirl in that department, but she was hardly the smallest, either. Sera was probably flatter than Adalinda was, Nicholas mused, as he worked the flesh under his hands and the Snivy cried out in pleasure. Which suggested, as she was currently just a first stage pokegirl and not a flying one like Sera or Ashley, that she'd be growing heavily in that department.

He hadn't noticed Adalinda's vines pulling the covering from her groin but he definitely noticed when they started working into his own boxers. He looked down and let her tug his underwear away, gazing at the slit that had been revealed at the Snivy's groin. When Adalinda noticed where he was looking she squirmed, her tail bunching up a bit around his leg. "Um…"

Nicholas glanced back up and gave her a smile. "All her glory." He moved one hand from her chest to begin teasing her, working his thumb under the hood of her clit and smiling wider when he felt her heartbeat pulsing against him. "Your first real taming, you said?" he asked. When Adalinda nodded he winked. "Then I'm going to stop teasing you." He pulled back from her groin and raised his hands. "I want you to do what feels right, Ada. With your tail, with your vines. Whatever you want." He lifted his hips to shake his growing erection in her direction. "Wherever you want this."

He felt the length of her tail wrapped around his ankle tighten down. "I…" Adalinda squeezed her eyes shut once more. "I think… I'd rather have my new Master really sh-show me how much he likes a body like mine."

"Why do you think I was asking about your tail?" Nicholas teased, causing Adalinda's eyes to pop back open as he shrugged. "Oh well." He positioned himself before letting his body fall against hers, landing and catching her arms where they stretched above her head. "Maybe this will change your mind."

Adalinda had unleashed a piercing scream right in his face because, as he'd fallen, he'd made sure his dick would slide straight into her pussy. The abrupt deep penetration had been completely unexpected and he felt Adalinda spasming beneath him, her tail sliding over and over itself as her entire lower body thrashed in pleasure. He managed to pull back and make just two more thrusts before she finally accepted his offer and he was pinned to her front by a tail that wrapped around and around his thighs.

"Now that's what I'm used to from a pokegirl like you," he growled happily, stroking her arms while Adalinda's head snapped back and she let out breathy screams of pleasure. "Welcome to the harem, Ada."

Nicholas let out a contented sigh. "What if we redefined your assumptions?"

Adalinda trailed her fingers along his jawline, her green scales sparkling in the midmorning sun. "My assumptions?"

"Sure." Nicholas tilted his head slightly when her fingertips pressed into his cheek. "You really like playing with my face, don't you."

"It's different," Adalinda murmured.

"Really? First I've heard you say that," Nicholas mused. "Let's add that to the list. It's Monday, this is when you said you wanted to have some kind of conclusion to your saliva testing."

"Is it Monday already?" Adalina whispered. "Where did the weekend go?"

Nicholas glanced down and smiled at where the Snivy lay across his lap. Since taming her a few days prior the two had taken most of their time to get to know one another, with Nicholas' other pokegirls joining in when they could. He'd recognized Sabrina sitting on the outside of the churning pokegirl dynamic but the one time he'd tried to spend time with her instead of Adalinda she'd just pushed him back towards the Snivy. 'This is exactly what I wanted to watch in action,' she had told him. 'Be you, honey.'

"I think it went somewhere while we were talking away," he replied with a chuckle. "Yes. It's Monday. Saliva."

Adalinda's tongue flicked between her lips. Unlike the Dragonite line, or the Gyarados line, Adalinda's breed was far less of a 'dragon' and far more a 'serpent', a fusion between a dragon and a snake. She had the same forked tongue as Vika but unlike the Dragonair she still used it like a snake might, sampling the air on occasion as a sort of instinct when her mind was on other things. "Saliva," she murmured, her fingers still moving along his face. "Redefining my assumptions. What do you mean by that?"

"Well, in order to know I'd like to know what they are?"

"After running many, many tests to check the properties of my saliva I have been testing it against various substances in order to classify it as an acid or a base," Adalinda replied. "Original PH tests on my saliva were inconclusive, as almost every time I got a true neutral result. But that couldn't be right, because no matter what I tested it against the resulting solution also came to true neutral."

"What were the other properties you tested?" Nicholas asked.

"I tested for organic structures first and foremost," Adalinda replied. "Testing to see if I might be venomous. All tests returned negative, though some substances were affected, and that would later lead me to testing PH."

"Anything else?"

"I only had test kits at the Professor's lab," Adalinda replied. "No real machinery. So… my other tests were a little more… subtle." She giggled. "The girls would have fight nights sometimes. I participated in as many as I could. But nothing conclusive came of those tests."

"No, I expect they wouldn't in such a chaotic environment," Nicholas mused. "I wonder. You might have been onto something with PH. You said every single substance you tested against returned a solution at true neutral?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder if your saliva is a neutralizing agent," Nicholas hypothesized. "As in, a universal substance that reacts with EVERYTHING and breaks it down. Kind of like how we call H2O a universal solvent."

"But water isn't a true universal solvent," Adalinda countered. "It's just able to dissolve many different molecules because of the structure."

"Yeah, but you're a pokegirl," Nicholas said. "I mean just focusing on you alone, how do you grow your vines? Hm? It's just an expression of your energy in physical form, so why can't your saliva be acting similarly and changing to match whatever it contacts?"

Adalina frowned slightly. "That… would suggest it's tied to an inherent technique."

"It would indeed," Nicholas replied. "What were your results from those fight nights?"

"It wasn't much with my saliva," Adalinda confessed. "They just gave me more questions. Most of the time I'd end a tussle feeling stronger than when I went in, when everyone else got worn down as the fights went on. I don't mean actual fatigue," she amended before Nicholas could say anything, "I mean my… abilities. How hard I could hit and how well I could take hits."

"Now that is quite interesting," Nicholas murmured. "I'm adding it to the list."

Adalinda giggled. "How long is the list?"

"It's getting pretty long now," Nicholas laughed. "I'd like to cross one thing off of it though. Or at least move it to a new list. A list of hypotheses." He smiled. "I would like to put forth that your saliva is directly linked to an inherent pokegirl technique, and because of this, it is a universal neutralizer."

"That would absolutely redefine my assumptions," Adalinda replied happily. "I like it." Her fingers curled as they stroked his chin. "Thank you."

Nicholas chuckled and bent down to give her a quick peck on the lips. "There. Now it's Monday, you've got your hypothesis, and," he said, moving the hand not cushioning Adalinda's head to playfully tease her stomach where her top had pulled away to reveal her bare skin, "you have your tamer."

Adalinda squirmed. "That tickles!"

"I would certainly hope it does," Nicholas laughed as Adalinda let off her exploration of his face to grab at the tormenting hand. "Right! Next list item."

"What's number two?"

"I mean, it's about your scales and what you are, but I have a feeling that item may take a while to solve, so I was going to skip a bit," Nicholas replied. When Adalinda gave him a questioning look he shrugged. "I've explained how I am a dragon human."

"You have," the Snivy said quietly.

"Well. I recognize you as a dragon, Ada," Nicholas explained, gazing down into her eyes. "Your scales are jagged, too, not smooth like I've known other snake pokegirls to be. Trust me." The hand she was fighting to keep from tickling her navel slipped from her grasp to grab her side, straddling the line between where the skin of her front transitioned to the scales of her back. "I've made a very thorough investigation."

Adalinda felt electricity race through her when his fingernail pressed right into the seam. "O-O-Okay," she stammered.

"But you don't quite understand what that means," Nicholas said softly, releasing her and taking one of her hands instead. "I think that's because you're still a first stage pokegirl. You are just a hint of what will come." He smiled. "So. Item number two, I think, will be understood as you evolve."

"N-Number three?"

"Number three is open ended. Let's do number four." Nicholas brought her hand back to his cheek. "Why do you say my face is different?"

"Um… Well, it's different from mine."

"Different from yours?" Nicholas asked. Adalinda lifted her head when he moved the hand that had been supporting it and simultaneously stroking her hair to touch her cheek. "I mean, sure, you're a pokegirl, so your skull isn't identical to mine, but I'm feeling all the normal things here."

"Not there." Adalinda's other hand moved to his and brought his probing fingers to a spot behind where her ears would have been if they'd been on the side of her head and much farther behind where he'd assumed her sliding joint would be. "Mine's back here. See?"

Nicholas blinked. It absolutely was. That meant Adalinda's 'corner' of her mouth was nearly… well, her skull was slightly smaller, right now, but if she'd been the same size as him then her jaw would reach nearly two inches deeper into her skull. "That's… huh. Why is that?"

"I think it's because you can't do this."

Nicholas could only stare as Adalinda opened her mouth and tilted her head back, her lips sliding back past her teeth as she just kept going. Wider, and wider, until her cheeks finally stopped stretching and she was staring up at him with a nearly 180-degree angle to her jaw.

"Shit," he managed. "Well that's… fucking terrifying."

Adalinda's jaw snapped shut so fast he involuntarily jerked his hand back even though it hadn't been anywhere near her teeth. "Terrifying?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm sorry, that is not the right word here," Nicholas quickly amended. "That makes it sound like I'm scared of you. And my monkey brain is, a little," he chuckled nervously, "but that was just my instinctive reaction to seeing a pokegirl do something that you are absolutely correct. A human cannot."

"What's your hypothesis for that one?" Adalinda asked curiously. "It's not super useful in a fight. Takes too long for me to open my mouth wide enough to get a good bite."

"I would be willing to bet other snake pokegirls can do that too," Nicholas replied. "If it doesn't work for you then it's a vestigial adaptation. As your breed split from the others to become its own divergent evolution, it specialized in other things but retained the ability to open your jaw like that."

"So, a Seviper, for example," Adalinda said. "Oh, I wish I had fully read that study. It probably talked all about this."

"A Seviper would be a perfect example," Nicholas agreed. "When you just closed your jaw it closed REAL fast. I bet a Seviper can both open and close her jaws that fast, and the muscles of her face are much stronger than yours so the bite force it exerts is greater."

"Hypothesis!" Adalinda squealed before bursting out in a giggling fit. "That one should be easy to confirm or deny."

"Yep. But that's why I'm different from you," Nicholas said with a laugh. "Humans evolved to use tools, not necessarily our bodies like pokegirls do. So my mouth is mostly just useful for eating food."

"This is so fun! What's next on the list?" Adalinda asked excitedly.

"Oh, next is something I'm very interested in," Nicholas chuckled. "When you talked about your pokegirl fight nights and said that you would grow stronger as they wore on. That, Ada, is something I as a tamer am VERY interested in." He grinned and got to his feet, lifting Adalinda as he did so that as he rose she was deposited upright. "It ties into list item number three, too."

"Oh yeah, three?" Adalinda asked. "You never said what that was."

Nicholas smiled. "Three was my curiosity over your abilities as a pokegirl," he said. "Because, Ada. It's Monday. The school is in session." He was grinning ear to ear as he turned to point at the building standing nearby. "And you, well, you're a pokegirl who was supposed to go through a little test with your new tamer before they could graduate." He turned back to her. "I've been told challenging Cheren at his gym is the graduation test. I think it's time we gave it a shot."

"Wait, already?!" Adalinda exclaimed when he gave her a slight tug in the gym's direction. "But, it's been… It's been like three days!"

"And two years, I think you said?" Nicholas teased. He heard Cathy getting up from where she'd been resting on the other side of the tree from them. "You said that you've been studying yourself to be more valuable to your future tamer." His eyes glinted. "I want to see how valuable you think you are."

At the challenge Adalinda's hesitance vanished and she slithered forwards to be right next to him. "Then I'll show you."

"Attagirl," Nicholas growled. "Let's do this."

They entered the gym to find… an auditorium. Nicholas looked around with a hint of confusion. He remembered Bianca saying that the building had been the main auditorium for the school before Cheren became a gym leader, but… this looked just like the one he and his Alphas had given their speech and demonstration in the week before. Bigger, sure, but the same layout.

"I have notified Mistress Sabrina and she is on her way while complaining quite loudly about you trying to do this without her," Nicholas heard Kalmiya say amusedly. "I'm sure you were just so focused on your new pokegirl, right Master?"

"I've never done a badge challenge with anyone following me around," Nicholas confessed guiltily. "I forgot about her. Um, but don't tell Sabrina that!"

He heard Kalmiya laughing hard before she muted the feed.

"Oh dear," he muttered. "Okay. Ada." He turned and squatted down to be on the Snivy's eye level. "You're ready for this, right? I'm not making a mistake by having your first true battle be a gym challenge?"

He'd witnessed how Adalinda's pupils could dilate on her command but this time he saw something different change in the Snivy's eyes from his question. "You've put your faith in me. Master," Adalinda replied smoothly. "Now it's my responsibility to prove that it wasn't misplaced."

Nicholas nodded slightly. "I'm just telling you that it's better to recognize your own ability than it is to overestimate and make a fool of yourself."

Adalinda's lips twitched into a sort of smile as her mouth opened to display her teeth. "I do not estimate my ability. When it comes to battle, my only interest is in facts."

Nicholas was reluctantly impressed at the Snivy's confidence. This was a lot closer to how he'd seen her mid-experiment in Bianca's lab. A bit of a duality to this pokegirl, perhaps? Business and pleasure? A smile of his own tugged at his cheeks. Because the previous couple of days had shown a very excitable side to the Snivy that now gazed at him as calmly as any veteran pokegirl in his harem.

No, why was he expecting anything less of her? Adalinda wasn't Sohn, she wasn't Nessa. She was… Dahlia. An experienced pokegirl. Theoretical experience, nothing concrete, perhaps, but it was real all the same. His smile had slipped away now. It was no wonder why his subconscious had tried to turn away from her. He understood completely. This Snivy was as similar to his first pokegirl as he could reasonably imagine.

"…Ada," he said after a few moments. "I need to tell you something. To be very clear so that you can understand." He slowly got back to his feet. "You… are joining my harem with a very heavy expectation to live up to." He stared at her. "There will be times I may be unfair to you. Times, when I expect things that you have no chance of reasonably achieving." He closed his eyes with a quiet sigh. "I will not let you rest. Because another of my pokegirls has set such an incredible bar for you to meet."

"Is that supposed to scare me?"

Nicholas opened his eyes. Adalinda was staring back at him with the echo of something monstrous burning in her gaze. Something she herself didn't yet understand. He could clearly see the dragon within this pokegirl, the dragon that would one day emerge. "Does it?"

Adalinda chuckled, her lips drawing back as her mouth opened just a little bit too wide to display each and every one of her teeth. For now, only two small fangs hid among them. Nicholas knew that would change. "No. It only excites me."