Chapter 11
Maxwell Silverman smiled as he entered the General's office, "Grandpa, how'd you know I was visiting?"
General William Silverman stood up and approached his grandson, "One of my men saw you and told me, they know my family well." He stooped to give his grandson a hug which the Aron-man returned. William nodded over his grandson's shoulder to the two guards at his door who nodded back and shut the door.
"Sorry I didn't have anything ready, if I'd known ahead of time I would have set up dinner," William let go of Maxwell and returned to sit behind his desk, motioning for his grandson to take a seat in front of it.
"A bit early for that, gramps," Maxwell laughed and took his seat, "How are things on the frontier."
"Troubled, I'm afraid," William sighed, "I've done my best to keep things stable though. But what brought you out this far?"
Maxwell crossed a leg and sat back, "The senator invited me when he told me that raider girl was parading around out here, since I knew her better than anyone. Hopefully she won't get herself into trouble and soon you can go home."
William watched his grandson critically as the Aron-man helped himself to bottle of water that he had set out on the table, "I already know what Senator DuVille is planning and what he asked them to do, bring him the armaments from Fort Daggerpoint instead of me." Maxwell spluttered as William drew the pistol he always carried at his side then set it on the table and slid it towards Maxwell, "grandson, are you committed to helping the senator?"
Maxwell pounded his own chest until he could speak again, "Yeah, we're gonna fix this place and get rich."
General Silverman sat back, "Then you'd best take that gun and shoot me now."
"What?!" Maxwell jumped to his feet, knocking his chair to the ground. "I can't do that! I…"
"If you're going to work with him it would be better that you stab me in the back now so the city isn't torn up by a civil conflict." General Silverman sat unflinchingly, "I've heard what you did to Melany, or 'Stink Girl' as you called her, you drove her to run away. Melany hasn't made the best decisions in her life but she's proven herself, without her we wouldn't have running water right now or maybe even a free city."
"But she was still a raider," the Aron-man stumbled over his words, "and Senator DuVille just said he'd have you taken care of…"
"He wants me removed and knows I won't give up command in the pass," General William Silverman stood up and walked around his desk, "You grew up in a mostly tamed land with little to worry about, even the raiders back there were being pushed out by the time you were born, sadly not fast enough to stop them from enslaving Melany. Things are different out here, we're at war with the Survivalists and now The Aether Enclave."
"The Aether Enclave?" Maxwell was stunned, "I thought they were just a story."
"They're real and they tried to kill everyone decades ago. It wasn't an undeclared war and after they lost their base in the middle of the ocean we thought they either all died or just retired and vanished into society." The Aggron-man stopped next to his Aron-man grandson, easily half-a-meter taller than him, "Maxwell this isn't a game, you need to grow up. I made mistakes just like you did after I mutated."
"You used to be human?" Maxwell asked.
The Aggron-man nodded, "Yes, though I was from a tribe rather than a Vault, though I don't remember my parents. I was teased a lot as a child, other kids called me 'hard head', so I fought back and became a bully to make them shut up. I was punished and talked to a lot before I calmed down and changed who I was, before I decided to join the NKR military academy. Now I need you to learn the same lessons I did."
Maxwell narrowed his eyes but gulped nervously, "What are you going to do to me?"
"Nothing," General Silverman turned away from him.
Maxwell just stared, "Nothing?"
William nodded, "Yes. You're not under my command so I can't force you to do anything. I'm very disappointed in what you've done with your life and I hope you learn something from being out here. All I will ask that you not associate with Senator DuVille anymore, he won't respect you or let you live your life how you want, if he lets you live at all. The only thing I ask is that you go tell Ranger Vargas at the gate and tell her I want to see her."
Maxwell didn't say anything but turned and left as his grandfather returned to sit at his desk.
A few minutes later, Ranger Kerry Vargas entered his office and saluted as the door shut behind her. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
General Silverman nodded, "I did. It seems we have some preparations to make for the future."
OoOoO
After explaining exactly how eggs were made to GR-0-WL on the walk over, Gertrude and Melany sat down to eat at Molly Murkrow's. The building used to be a hotel before the war but all the upper floors had been destroyed and the ceiling was gone save for the restroom and Molly's storeroom. The eponymous owner was a middle-aged Murkrow-woman who was pleasant enough but didn't take crap from anyone who started something in her restaurant store.
The meal was just canned food and water, neither Poke-woman wanting to splurge before they had a good night's rest.
Melany was the first to finish as she watched Gertrude poking at her half-finished food, "Not hungry?"
"Just weird to not be eating for two," Gertrude took another mouthful, "I already feel full now."
"Ahh," Melany nodded. Now that she had laid, Gertrude looked more trim around the waist. "Hey, Gertude, thanks for telling the general about DuVille."
"I couldn't let him get away with… any of that," Gertrude looked up from her food, "blackmailing you, trying to remove General Slverman, or working with the raiders, especially not with a child on the way."
Melany sat back, "How long till it hatches?"
Gertrude forced herself to finish her food, "Depends on the parents' species. With a Vulpix/Zigzagoon could be 7-10 months. I just hope we can resolve this by then."
Melany looked confused, "Wait, it varies between the species of Pokemon?"
Gertrude nodded, "The Followers did a lot of study on Poke-people hatch rates to help new parents understand why some eggs took so long to hatch: a Larvitar could take a many as twenty months but a Pichu could be as short as five."
Melany sat forwards, looking concerned, "You don't have to come with us, you can stay here and look after your egg."
Gertrude shook her head, "No! I can't just sit here and hope this all works out, especially not if I can do something to help! If the Raiders or especially Aether win then we're both dead anyway, if the raiders let them live then they'll be a slave. And Aether will smash it without a second thought!" Gertrude clutched herself and shivered, "I can't just sit by and wait and see if you succeed without me." She felt GR-0-WL rub her leg in comfort.
Melany reached across the table but couldn't quite reach Gertrude, "I understand, but we'll be gone for about a month. Can you just leave it that long?"
Gertrude looked up and smiled, "I have a friend in town I can ask to look after my egg till we get back, don't worry about it."
"I'll try," Melany took a drink to clear her dried throat.
The two poke-woman and GR-0-WL talked until sundown when they got up and headed for the Dubwool Shack for their arranged meeting.
They were walking down the street and were half-a-block away when a small explosion blew open the doors off the Dubwool Shack and a Houndour-man was flung face first into the street. Everyone nearby was stunned as he tried to stand and limped a few steps before a gunshot rang out and blew a hole in his head. He slumped to the ground, dead, as a woman exited the Shack, smoking pistol in hand.
Captain Jameson and three other soldiers surrounded the scene and everyone stopped to gape at the woman, the *human* woman who stood there. She wore reinforced leather armor, her dark brown hair was in long dreadlocks down past her shoulders, her left eye was brown and her right was glowing neon red!
"What's going on here! You! Hands up!" Captain Jameson and his soldiers had their assault rifles aimed at the woman
The woman raised her arms, gun still in hand, "Whatever you say, copper man." Her voice sounded naturally sultry but also bored
Jameson squinted at her for a moment, "Hold on... Shit, you're that human bounty hunter. You're lucky I know you have a damn license!"
The woman's expression didn't change, "Then why are you holding me up? You know who I am and who that was," she nodded to the dead body she had just made.
Jameson lowered his gun and signaled for his soldiers to do the same, "You know you can't carry that kind of ordinance in the middle of the city, your license doesn't let you blow up main street!"
The woman lowered her hands and holstered her gun, "What about that woman, she's packing more dangerous weapons than me," she pointed over her shoulder at Melany, who had drawn her plasma defender when the rest of the soldiers had taken aim.
Melany holstered her weapon, "We're working for General Silverman. Captain, is she the one we're supposed to talk to?"
Jameson groaned and nodded, "That she is... Listen, I have way too much on my plate to deal with this shit, make sure she doesn't try to pull anything."
Gertrude nodded, "We can." She stopped one of the soldiers from leaving for a moment, a Farfetch'd-man, "Jeremy, can you come by my house tomorrow. I have a favor to ask."
"Alright, Gertrude, see you tomorrow." Jeremy yawned, looked at the Zigzagoon-woman's trim belly, then left with Jameson.
"So, you're one of the wonder kids everyone's talking about," the human woman turned to face Melany as she approached, "You don't look as clean as the rest of the NKR troops here."
"You stand out more than anyone here," Melany folded her arms.
"Never seen a human before?" The woman smirked, "It helps me stand out in this world of hybrids, good for employers to remember and enemies to know who to fear."
GR-0-WL stood next to Melany and eyed the human suspiciously as Melany answered, "This is the closest I've been to a human since I was a kid, without them trying to kill me."
"Excuse me, but who was that?" Gertrude eyed the dead Houndour-man who still lay in the street.
The woman scoffed, "A wanted criminal who escaped justice once or twice before, so the law called in his number. Now his case is closed."
"So what's your name?" Melany unfolded her arms.
"Much as I'd love to keep talking in the middle of the night, I have a bounty to report so can we just finish this conversation?" the woman sounded annoyed.
"Please, we're here to meet someone and we just want to know if that's you," Gertrude put her hands together, trying her best to be persuasive.
The woman sighed, "Fine, my name is Annai Oran, bounty hunter. Since you're here to meet me, come buy me a drink inside and we'll talk some more. Don't take too long, I want to cash my bounty before I hit the sack." Annai turned and walked back into The Dubwool Shack.
Melany and Gertrude exchanged concerned looks then looked down at GR-0-WL, who just stared back up at them, before all three followed Annai inside.
Melany bought everyone a drink before they sat down, though Gertrude only took a soft drink, and watched Annai down half the bottle.
"Alright, so what did you want to talk about?" Annai set her bottle down.
Melany downed her bottle in one long gulp before she answered, "You're right about it being late so I'll cut to the chase 'Project Kanto went up in smoke, Project Alola is active, projects Kalos, Sinnoh and Paldea are 1000 miles away' Now can we have the pass key please?"
"It's right here," Annai produced what looked like a thick blue credit card from a pocket and placed it on the table for a moment. Melany tried to grab it but Annai snatched it back up, "but there's a price I want for it."
Melany had to resist the urge to growl until Gertrude put a calming hand on her arm and took over, "What's your price?"
"I'm coming with you," she pocketed the passkey, "I'm tracking a couple of Aether Enclave officers named Guzma and Plumeria, I lost track of them in this area and if there's any place they might be it's the fort."
"We'll have to talk to Captain Jameson about that," Gertrude yawned.
Melany yawned too, "We'll convince him in the morning, just be ready to leave the day after tomorrow."
"I will be, now excuse me I have a bounty to claim." Annai finished her drink then left to retrieve the body she'd left outside.
"If she's looking for someone from Aether," Gertrude shuddered.
"You can still stay with your egg," Melany left a tip on the table.
"No," Gertrude shook her head, "I need to make sure Trovitopolis stays safe."
Back at Gertrude's house they all gathered around the kitchen table, neither Gertrude nor Melany were at all perturbed that both Dee and Helios wore nothing but their underwear and Dee was topless, not wanting to squish her breasts with her now far-too-small bra.
"So that's the deal, either Annai comes with us or we don't get the passkey," Melany leaned forwards on the table, also having stripped down to her undergarments rather than keep wearing her combat armor.
"Any idea how she's still human?" Dee asked.
Gertrude shook her head, "It never came up. But if she's looking for the Aether Enclave she probably has a connection to them."
"I'll talk to Captain Jameson tomorrow, hopefully he's open to listening," Helios stretched, "For now I need sleep."
Dee smiled and stood up, "Yeah, better sleep on it." She followed Helios to bed and they lay down together, Dee with her back to Helios as his arms curled around her middle, but slowly slipped up to her breasts which made Dee smile in her sleep.
Melany just flopped down on the other bottom bunk with GR-0-WL on the floor next to her.
Gertrude checked the incubator then carefully pulled her egg out and into bed with her. "I'm going to have to go away for a few weeks now, so I want to remember you're still here," she whispered as she curled around her egg under the covers.