You can find more of this on by Subscribe/Star (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted past Ch. 130 there. You can find the same on my new (via Discord per their ToS), under /WildErotica. The DISCORD is at h-t_t-p_s-:_/-/_discord-._g-g_/-N9yDASt6Cw (taking out hyphens and underscores, 'cause FFnet). If you prefer direct links, go to my Discord and follow the 'links in general' section to find the ones you want. All of my fics are well ahead of what I post here, often 10-30 chapters ahead.

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Enjoy!

Chap. 95: A House of (Ill) Repute

"What'd you catch, Elle?" Alex asked as he strode out into the surf toward the girls. Elle was turning a bit pink despite the sunscreen, but he couldn't be all that surprised: she and Robin had now been at the beach for almost a day and a half non-stop.

Robin, on the other hand, seemed to have just made herself very tan, as if she'd already spent a good several months laying on the beach and sunning herself. It's a good look for her, Alex decided, makes her look more full-Nipponese with that tone, and an outdoors-loving one at that. Even if Nippon is just as scant on natural places as Pacific is.

"Just a Tentacool," she replied with a grin, patting the new red and white ball that hung from her belt, "Nothing major. He's got a cool Prowess Move, though. It's called Tingle Touch."

"Oh? What's it do?"

The two young women shared a look before the blonde replied, "Well, you know how Tentacool and Tentacruel are like, really painful because of the toxins in their tentacle things?"

"Yeah…"

"This one's not. At least, when it doesn't want to be. Instead, it secrets a different chemical that makes a girl- or a guy, I guess- feel good when it touches their skin. Softer membranes, you know, like a pussy, absorb it even faster so it works quickly."

Alex blinked a few times, then asked quietly, "You caught yourself a tentacle monster… presumably to fuck."

"Well, I didn't catch him for that, but I'm glad that's his ability, and yes," Elle giggled, "Robin was excited too, that's what we were cheering about earlier. Not that I caught one, we caught about a dozen of them, but this ability seems pretty rare. Most of the rest of their abilities just boosted their defenses, or made their poison better, and stuff like that. It's the only Prowess ability any of them had."

"Perv," he chuckled, shaking his head.

"You get to watch," Robin giggled, "so you don't have any moral high ground there. Unless tentacles aren't your thing. But you caught the Remoraid, so… I don't think that's true."

Alex's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean? It's like a Remora. A little fish that shoots beams from its mouth, nothing special."

"It's little now," Robin told him with a grin, "but when he Evolves, Shooter will turn into an Octillery. You know… with eight tentacles?"

He gulped. "Uh… I didn't know that. I… I just caught it 'cause it was the first Water Pokémon I had a chance to catch."

That made Robin roll her eyes, "And if we were doing some silly challenge run, then I'd say run with it. Remoraid's alright, and Octillery is pretty good offensively, but… there's better out there. Look, use Shooter whenever you need a backup Water-type. At least turn him into Octillery so we can have a good time, and update our Pokédexes a bit. But if you want power, train up that Totodile you caught. Those things are beasts."

"Er… Alright. I… I mean, I do like the aesthetic of a big stompy lizard. I know Spike's gonna be one of those, but two wouldn't hurt, right?"

"Think of those side by side," Elle laughed, "One weak against the other, sure, but the beat down they could put on people together… wow. A big-ass Tyranitar and… what's it called? Feralcroc or something?"

"Feraligatr, I think," Robin shook her head, "But yeah, that's what I'm saying. Use Shooter for what he's named for: A gun or artillery. But anything close up, like you prefer, that Totodile's going to be stronger."

Alex frowned, thinking of his cute little fish-Pokémon, and tried to imagine it as a less-cute (or at least cute in a very different way) many-tentacled creature instead… and tried to imagine how such a creature would be able to use the same moves Shooter currently did. He shook his head, "I believe you, but I just can't see it. Maybe once he evolves and I can see it in action. But I don't plan on taking Water-types to the Water Gym anyway. Maybe a couple of them against the Ice Gym."

"That's probably smart," Robin agreed, "Water isn't great against Ice, but it does resist it. Just remember Water is Ice's most common secondary, so it might turn into a long slog of attrition if you do that."

"Right… I think I'm going to stick with my tried-and-true," Elle shrugged, "for both Gyms. But Alex is probably better off not getting into a long fight with Snøgrav."

"I'm not sure I'm going to take him on at all," Robin shrugged, "but I probably will go up against the Water. I need to get a Badge soon, and I don't want you guys to have to backtrack to Pewter. Who knows exactly how long it'll take to get one somewhere else. Besides, Ariana said we have a few weeks to train up if we need to. May's well put that to use, even if it's running out. You know we've been in the Cerulean area for almost a week and a half?"

"Longer," Alex shook his head, "Took us a day outside of Mt. Moon, too. It's been a week and a half since that incident in the park with the Grunts, Kinta, and Megumi."

Robin frowned, "Didn't think of that, but you're right. Still, we should start heading back tomorrow if not this afternoon. It'll probably take two days to get back, and then we'll need a few days to take on each Gym."

Elle nodded, "Let's go today, then. Not that I'm not having fun, but after a whole day and another half, I think I've had my fill of the beach for now. It's way better than any Virtua-Beach I've ever heard of in Pacific, that's for sure, but I'm starting to get sand rubbing in all kinds of terrible places."

"Same," Robin giggled, "Can't wait for a bath. Alright, let's head back to camp and start heading back to Cerulean, then. And maybe find a stream to bathe in on the way."

"I'd suggest the river," Alex shrugged, "but it's too far down the canyon to reach. Maybe once we get back to the Nugget Bridge area, that stream by the Rocket camp wasn't too bad."

It took an hour for the three of them and their Pokémon to hike back up to their camp. Alex and the girls were more than happy to get away from the stench of slowly decaying Tentacool as well, so that by the time they did get back their stomachs were turning from hunger rather than revulsion.

It turned out that Poison-Types, rarely pleasant to the olfactory senses anyway, smelled particularly foul when baking in the sun on the beach.

After a quick lunch, however, the three of them broke camp quickly. Alex made a point to leave a note for Misty stuck to one of the trees, but he had a feeling the girl was either already gone herself, possibly ahead of them, or that she wouldn't return now that she had gotten what he wanted.

What she wanted might have been him, his dick, or it might have been the promise of support. Alex couldn't be sure, and wasn't certain he even wanted to know.

Thinking about that morning, fate would have it, seemed to bring it up in the minds of his companions, too. Because as they hiked northward along the slowly-rising plateau toward the manor on the cliff-top across the canyon and the road back to Cerulean before that, Elle glanced over at Robin, then turned to walk backward for a moment before asking, "Misty's pussy as good as you imagined?"

Alex stumbled, his foot catching on a rock he hadn't seen. Or so he claimed, anyway, as his knee hit the ground with a solid thud, "Fuck… ow."

"You alright?" Robin asked, a hand already down to help him rise.

After a moment's hesitation, Alex remembered the rosette was far sturdier than Elle, and stronger than she looked, too. He took the hand and a moment later was catching his balance. His knee twinged, and was a bit scuffed, but he couldn't see it bleeding. "I think so… damn it, Elle, why'd you ask that? And no. I didn't get into it."

"Please," the blonde rolled her eyes and turned, though she kept watching him over her shoulder, "We saw you fucking, plain as day. I'm not mad, you know that, right? I'm glad. Misty's a hot piece of ass."

Alex snorted, shaking his head, "It's still super weird you want me to sleep with everybody I can but are mostly content with just me yourself."

Robin grinned, "Is it? Yours and the Pokémon are the only dicks I want, but I want all the pussy I can get, too. And if Elle is as open as I think she is, she wants that, too. Call it living vicariously. It was hot, though, watching you, even if we were too busy to really enjoy it."

"Yes, well, I still can't tell you what her pussy's like," Alex muttered. He could feel himself turning a bit pink from the topic, even though he knew the girls weren't lying about their excitement at this point. "I didn't feel it except at the outside, and that was smooth and wet. She either doesn't grow hair, or she's waxed."

"You know, I've noticed that," Elle muttered, and without breaking her stride, unsnapped her shorts, pulled down the zipper, and then her panties. "I still have some hair there, but it's a lot less than it should be after this long. I shaved before the beta started, and that was weeks ago now, months even. But even in the real world- or our world, I guess- I'm still pretty sparse. Here I've got even less. I wonder if their version of humans just doesn't grow as much pubic hair?"

"I don't have any," Robin shrugged, "I don't grow any. Something about being a Combinant. I don't even have the little fine hairs you guys do, though I don't think you've ever noticed."

"I haven't," Alex shrugged, "That's weird though, isn't it? It's probably what gives your skin that kind of weird texture."

"Probably," Robin shrugged, "but it's not weird to me, I'm used to it. It wouldn't surprise me to know that many people here don't, though. You'd be hard-pressed to find a human without at least ten percent of their DNA matching a Pokémon's. They used to be the same thing, after all, almost like Humans here are a type of Pokémon that just doesn't evolve, and has different stats and move growth. Or something. That might be why they're a little hardier, too, in addition to having less body hair. The Pokémon don't tend to have pubes, because if they did it'd get in the way- the fur many have is already enough."

"And that spread to people over the years?" Elle asked.

"Or started there, I don't know. I know that humans and Pokémon can interbreed, though. It's not just us part-Ditto. It's not that common, but it does happen. It's said both Jynx and Mr. Mime, for example, came from a Human-Pokémon mating. The whole 'humantype' egg group probably came from humans. That's GF's working theory, anyway."

"Weird… but hot, I guess," Elle giggled, then glanced over her shoulder again, "So what were you doing, then, if you didn't delve those depths? Frotting?"

Alex snorted, "You aren't gonna drop this, are you?"

Her eyebrow raised.

He sighed, "Fine… you are a perv, though. No, I'd have been fine with frotting. Or the BJ she started with, she's damned good at that. But no… she wanted some revenge sex, but I convinced her otherwise. I wanted her, duh, I'm not gonna lie and say I didn't, but I didn't want her to record it to get a bit of revenge on her asshole of a boyfriend. Who's apparently sleeping with her sisters."

"Hm."

"Anyway, so- so since she couldn't use her pussy for that for a different reason, we- we did anal. It was her first, even though she lied about it at first. Mine, too, actually."

Robin smiled, and stopped walking while he caught up, then clapped him on the back, hard, "Proud of you, stud! Our turns next, right?"

Elle could only gape for a moment before she whipped up her watch-mounted Pokégear, and aimed it at him while pulling up his party statistics screen. "Holy shit… you did. You had to have! Your Prowess was already a bunch ahead of ours, but that slut's at forty-nine, I'm at sixty-six, and you're at fucking one-sixteen already! That went up like, thirty points almost!"

"Yours went up a bit too, yesterday, all of ours did. That's some of it," Alex reminded her. "The, uh, threesome- our second- and round robin blowjobs. I actually expected a bit more, with Misty spying on us, but it didn't give us any points for that."

"Might've given them to her, since we didn't know until the end," Elle muttered, frowning at the screen as she started walking forward again, apparently unconcerned with her feet being steady on the ground while she scrolled down the list of stats. "Yeah, there's nothing in the log about being watched or exhibitionism. Either that day, or us watching you and Misty. It must not consider it exhibitionism if we're part of the same Party."

"Hmm," Robin shrugged, pulling up her own, "But yes… the log clearly shows Alex getting a blowjob and having his first anal sex with a new partner. It doesn't count the BJ since Yggdrassil only registers the highest-point act in a group of them, but still, it's logged."

"You guys are obsessed," Alex chuckled.

"Okay, well, maybe," Elle agreed, and glanced back again, "So? Deets! Tell us everything, stud."

Alex sighed as they started approaching the northern edge of the woods. He could see more sky, and occasionally glimpses of the distant mansion, but he knew neither would drop it, so with a last pause more for dramatic effect than anything else, he relayed the whole sordid (and quite enjoyable, he was happy to admit) experience.

Adisa rolled her shoulder, which was sore but not quite as numb as the rest of her hand. That last Ice Beam had smashed through the shielding protecting her part of the battle arena again… but she'd won.

Her numb fingers clasped slowly around the snowflake-shaped crystal Badge again, her eyes locked on it as she soaked in the hot water. It was helping, at least to a point, but the tub in the PMC was just a little too small for her to really soak in properly.

She couldn't even take comfort in cuddling with her Pokémon. They had performed spectacularly, though Adisa was also certain she would not have been able to carry the day without the fortuitous rest. Snøgrav and his Pokémon were brutal and powerful, a dangerous combination. Geodude had been knocked cold, nearly killed. One arm had been completely severed, an injury that Adisa had been told would probably not be something they could fix. He had Evolved, though, into a Graveler, and sprouted two more, larger ones. He was lopsided now, though, and her toughest, hardiest Pokémon…

He'll probably never Battle again. At least not against anything dangerous. Poor guy… I might just have to retire him. I wonder what it's like to release a Pokémon back into the wild? Or should I send him- sell him- to a Breeder? He's pretty strong, even injured he should be able to produce good stock. The Nurse said something about that, anyway.

At least the others came through alright… mostly.

Machop had broken his left hand in three places, catching himself on a spike of ice after he'd been tossed into the air. But it had probably saved him from a worse injury, a possible fatal one, as there had been a whole pit of icy stalagmites below him. He, at least, would make a full recovery by the next day.

Vulpix had been hurt the least, the speedy little Fox Pokémon had outrun and outright dodged several point-targeted attacks, and the wider area ones that had been used against her, like Icy Wind, hadn't done much against her Fire-type's internal furnace.

Houndour had been her finisher, though. Snøgrav's last Pokémon had been a Swinub… and part-Ground. That had reduced his expected weakness to her finisher's Fire-typing to nothing special, and while the hound-like Pokémon was resistant to its Ice attacks as expected, its Ground ones had been… punishing.

It had come down, largely, to luck and a long-term plan of hers that was anything but the strategy she preferred. Incinerate had created poor visibility with the steam it had created, which hampered both Pokémon in the end. Hers, less so. Because that Swinub stank. Not just to her, but to Houndour, who was able to use his nose to lock onto the half-buried porcine creature and Bite him powerfully, ripping a huge chunk of flesh out of the thing and ending the fight at the last moment, when Houndour was limping, bloody, and even freezing to death, his own internal heat guttering due to prolonged contact with the frozen ground and earth the Swinub had buried him in three times with a Rock Slide.

But the badge was hers. It cut into Adisa's hand as she lay there in the tub, feeling slowly returning. The Nurse Joy had already applied a syringe full of general healing salves, what she'd called, "About the same as a Super Potion, but for a human anatomy."

It had helped, yes… She could move, now. But the sensation was slow to return, and with it came agony, pins and needles lancing through her from what the nurse had called a mild case of Frostbite. Not enough to use an Ice Heal, my ass, Adisa muttered, and pulled herself up from the tub, letting the cooling water cascade down her. She shivered at onc. "May's well pull out that vibrator, at least. Maybe that'll help warm me up, since my team isn't here to do the job. Damn it. Badge better be worth it… the one Pokémon that Evolved with it, I probably can't even use."

Alex knocked on the front door of the mansion nervously. He was surprised the gate had slid open to admit them without even pushing a button. The lawn had been immaculate, and the three of them had spotted a few Pokémon further off on the probably six-acre property, two grazing and one apparently trimming hedges with its scythe-like arms.

The building was huge, and he could tell from this closer distance that there was a twenty car garage to the left, which from their first sight had looked like part of the main house, with an enclosed walkway about ten feet long between them. The exterior's lower half, two floors he judged by the rows of wide, curtained windows, were dark red brick, while the upper two floors were deep brown wood, something Alex associated with old camping gear at national parks. The roof, red clay, was mostly covered in solar panels on the side facing them, and he supposed there were more on the other side. They might have batteries and a backup generator, but this far out from Cerulean there were no power poles or visible lines. Likely, the home was intended to be self-sufficient.

It certainly has the gardens for it, those plots are huge.

Not that he, being the son of a wealthy man, had any idea how much acreage it took to sustain a single person, but his guess was as good as the other's.

"I don't think they're gonna answer," he muttered, "I wouldn't, if I was some rich family out in the middle of nowhere. They don't have any reason to trust us."

"We need help, though," Elle grumbled, fighting the urge to scratch the red marks that had appeared on her chest in the last hour. "That damned Gloom of yours… I don't know what those spores were, but they itch so bad."

"I'm mostly just mad that we used all our Antidotes keeping safe from those Tentacool," Robin muttered. "I can't exactly blame Bliss her status-healing Move not working on poisons. But at least it's not, you know, killing us."

"Look, I already said I was sorry," Alex sighed, "I don't know why she did that, I just know-"

The door slid open… but there was no one there behind it.

The house was empty. Quiet.

"Er… H- Hello?" Elle called.

With a momentary crackle, an intercom inside the room itself sounded, "Sorry about all that, the house isn't haunted, I promise, heh… I'm just a little, um, indisposed at the moment, and I can't- well, it wouldn't be right to come greet you properly. I'm Bill, Bill Williamson."

"Er, I'm Alex Ward, and this is Elle Berkman and Robin DeVerl. We're- well I don't know if I'd call us friends, but we know Misty? Misty Waterflower? And she said you were her friend, so… we kind of need some help?"

"Oh? I saw the pox… some sort of Grass-type toxin, then? But come in, come in. Just don't, um… wander. No, it's best you stay right there, in that room. Nothing to see here, heh!"

Alex stepped in reluctantly. Hearing a normal male's voice on the other side of the intercom was a bit reassuring. At least it meant there wasn't likely a Ghost-type haunting, or something, going on. Elle's hand was a bit tight on his arm as it circled around his arm, but Robin kept her own hands free to fight if necessary. The door slid shut smoothly, rather than slam, and the intercom came to life again, "I apologize for all of this… most of the time the door only opens for invited guests, so it takes a moment to manually override it. And, of course, my own inability to join you at the moment. It's a bit embarrassing, but…"

"Must be in the tub," Robin giggled quietly.

"I can assure you, Miss DeVerl, I wish that were the case," the voice replied, not bothering to hide how sensitive the microphones in the room were. "I'm just… well, indisposed. Yes. I'll send one of my assistants with a trio of Antidotes momentarily. Um… make that nine, you looked like you got pretty well covered."

"I'm fine, actually," Alex shrugged, "My Gloom, Sappy, only sprayed those two with whatever it was. Even the other Pokémon didn't get hit, and we had a few out at the time."

"Oh, a Gloom? Hm, that narrows things down… not so usual around these parts, but I do have a general anti-itch spray that should help… more efficient than the Antidotes, anyway. Ah… there it is. That one, Jynx, yes, dear. Thank you. If you'll just take that to them and perhaps help them apply it…? Ah, yes, already gone."

In that brief pause when the man, presumably Bill Williamson, had finished one sentence, there had been a flash of blinding light. When Alex could see again, the dark purple-skinned, gold-haired Psychic-Ice type was standing before them, her three-fingered hands held out with a small spray-can held upon them. "Jynx."

He felt a gentle probing on his mind as the slitted, suddenly-round, then spiraling eyes probed his, but Alex blinked, and the sensation was gone. "Er, thanks. Should I just, um, spray them in here? I think I can get everything."

"Well, it'd be best if you could go into the kitchen, actually… the tile there is easier to clean of residue. But you must promise me you won't go into other rooms! It's down the hall on the right, and the third door on the left."

"We won't," Alex agreed at once, then started walking with a smile toward the Jynx, and a quick, "Thanks."

He didn't know how anyone, no matter how horny, could find those things attractive. They might be female enough in the body, but those faces were just weird, and not in a good way. She had helped, though, so he could hardly be unkind.

Elle and Robin kept close behind him, the Jynx, only as tall as the more petite Elle's elbows, waddled quickly behind them, no doubt keeping an eye out. Again, the mental presence ghosted across his as he glanced back at her, but he could not sense anything actually intrusive, and got no hint that she was threatening.

And if she was, well… she would probably win against his Starter, Psychic had a huge advantage over Poison, but the rest of his team would hold their own, he was sure.

A few minutes later, the barriers a Mr. Mime, who was wearing an apron and tall, cylindrical chef's hat (both immaculately white, as the Pokémon was not even touching the cooking implements it wielded with what looked to Alex like expert skill), faded and the still-clean kitchen was left spotless. A light sheen almost like spray-on sunscreen now coated all visible skin of both girls… and Robin groaned, "Our clothes, shit…"

"Oh, I was afraid of that," Bill said over the intercom in that room, too, "There's nothing for it, I suppose… I'm not about to leave you two young ladies to suffer for my own convenience. Very well… go out the door on your left, up the stairs to the second floor. There, take the hall on the right from the landing, and the second and third doors will have chambers you can both bathe in. I'll have my assistants launder your clothing while you bathe, they should be sunny-fresh by the time you get done."

"Oh, no," Elle protested, "That's too much! We couldn't impose-"

"Nonsense," Bill chuckled, sounding nervous still, as if whatever he was hiding was something truly terrible, though Alex still sensed no hint of danger… despite the strangeness of the situation. "I'm happy to help, and frankly, it'll give my assistants something to do. It's just me here today, after all, and they're only usually busy when I've guests over."

The Jynx behind them chirped, "Inx!"

"See? She agrees," Bill told them, "Now, if you please, ladies… don't worry, there's soaps in there that will take care of the rest of the itching, too. Use the… oh, what was it… Piquant Berry soaps. Should be available in both bathrooms, and if it's not, Jynx will be happy to pop in and give you some. And don't worry about the, uh, cameras… I've already deactivated them in those rooms."

"C- Cameras?" Elle asked, surprised. She, Robin, and Alex all glanced up to see a dozen in the kitchen, small, barely noticeable… but clearly there if you looked.

"Yes, of- of course," Bill chuckled nervously, "Can't be too careful with, um, security, out here on my own, you know… At any rate, I can assure you they are turned off. I'll even, ah… oh, to the Distortion Zone with it… Mr. Ward, you… you may come join me, and I'll be able to prove to you that I'm not watching, or recording."

Alex frowned.

"I don't care if you watch me," Robin shrugged, and pulled her t-shirt off her head right there in the kitchen, where a fine, glistening powder wafted into the air, which the Jynx whisked away with a frown of its tube-shaped mouth in her direction. "Er, sorry."

"I don't really care if you watch me either," Elle added, "but I'd rather not be recorded, you know?"

"Either way. Mr. Ward, you will find me on this floor, in the opposite wing. Back out to the hall, and walk down past the main corridor, turn right at the next hall, and I'm in the third door on the left again. Labeled 'security access B'. And if you get stopped by one of my assistants, well… just tell them you're going to see me, that should get your past them. If not, I'll be keeping an eye out. Do you need a repeat of the instructions, ladies?"

"No, I've got it," Elle shook her head.

"Well, then, no point in delaying. That itch is something I know all too well! As I said, the Piquant Berry soaps will take care of it right away, and Jynx will take your clothing to launder… should be done within thirty minutes."

"Thank you," Robin grinned, shimmying out of her remaining clothing to stand in the kitchen naked. If the Mr. Mime cared, Alex could see no sign of it. Perhaps he was used to people being naked in the room?

A few moments later, the girls were heading upstairs, Alex's eyes caught for a time on Elle's smooth, slender legs, and Robin's toned, perky ass on full display, but as the Jynx passed him he felt that strange pressure in his mind again, and the urge to just go already, Master is waiting.

He swallowed, nodded, and turned.

The instructions he was given were not hard to follow either, and while Alex was given a strange look by a four-armed Fighting-type with a champion's belt and too-tight underwear (and exposed breasts, she was quite definitely female, even the underwear showed camel-toe to an impressive degree), no one and nothing stopped him. He didn't even see any other Pokémon until he stood in front of the indicated door, which slid open as he raised his hand to knock again.

He did not expect what he saw inside.

A person… but not a human.

He was tall, thin of limb, with a round, almost egg-shaped body. Black-tipped, pointed ears rested on the man's head (he was clearly male, judging by the genitalia between his legs, though it wasn't erect), with pink fur and skin elsewhere, and white, round eyes. Mostly-human, at least, but with some definite bits of…

"C- Clefairy?"

The man sighed, and his voice immediately identified him as Bill, "Yes… you see my shame. Again. Let me answer your questions so we can get on task, shall we? I am Bill Williamson the third. My father was Will Williamson, and his father Bill, and so on, for a fair few generations now. My great-grandfather invented the modern Pokémon Storage system used all over the world. My grandfather, the modern Pokéball. My father helped Professor Oak develop the Pokédex. I… well, I built a cellular fusion and diffusion device. It works. Well, the first one does. Yes, I'm part Pokémon. No, I can't change back, and I've been like this for a few years. Yes, I've tried. Your pink-haired friend can't change back either… it's at the genetic level."

"I… see," Alex nodded, trying not to pay too much attention to the other somewhat worrisome aspect of the room: the wall of cameras. No, three walls, full of screens that displayed dozens of rooms in the house, the garage, the yard, and even a half-dozen less familiar locations, though those were a bit grainier.

"Yes, well… at any rate, yes, I am friends with Misty. Not Misty Waterflower… though she is an occasional guest at my home, along with her other daughters. Misty herself has always refused, and I don't blame her. Unfortunately, my private life and my public life do not often go hand in hand… and it's best they remain separate."

Alex gulped, as he looked in the direction indicated by the hand, toward part of the huge bank of screens. At least twelve rooms in the mansion seemed to be dedicated, at least at first glance, to sex. Wild, raucous sex if he had to guess, judging by what was going on in four clustered screens, with recordings being taken even on-screen, both Pokémon and humans holding cameras as they filmed each other doing all sorts of unspeakable things to each other, too.

"You see, by day I, like my family, am an inventor and researcher. And at night, well… you could call me a social influencer. I make connections between people, interested parties. Facilitate industry, research, and, of course, more… My little parties are not for everyone, of course. The elite of society, or those who deserve to be, receive invites. Some rare few attend. Those that do enjoy themselves immensely, and often come back. Those that don't, well.. I don't force my lifestyle on anyone. Ah, you see there, Miss Berkman and Miss DeVerl entering their bathrooms. Here, I'll shut down the cameras in those rooms."

Alex watched as the four split-screens, eight cameras in all, went dark.

"See? Nothing to worry about. My guests are all consensual, and I'm not of a mind to make an enemy out of any friends of my dearest friend, Misty. Especially not those with resources like yours at hand."

Alex frowned. "I'm… not sure what you mean."

"Ah… Game Freak, I think it's called? The company you work for in your world."

Then he gulped, "Uh… I suppose technically we do work for them… does everyone know we come from another dimension?"

Bill snorted, a very human-like sound that assured Alex he was, in fact, very much that despite his Pokémon-like appearance. "Hardly. A few dew. The higher-ups in Team Rocket, certainly- it was Ariana Cooper who informed me. Johann Snøgrav was told by his superior, Archer, and he informed Misty Waterflower- that's the mother. I'm sure she's told her daughters, too, since Misty already knew when I told her. But not too many others. The Gym Leaders all know. We've known for more than five years you were coming. Some are worried, some are not. Personally… well, as you can tell, I'm already part-Pokémon. What's a bit more human DNA thrown into the mix?"

"Er…"

"Exactly," Bill shrugged, that gesture looking odd with his very thin arms and shoulders on the rounded, almost almond-shaped body, "No big deal at all. To some of us. Your friend Miss DeVerl registers to my security system like a Pokémon, but she's clearly not. No Ditto could mimic that much humanity, so I'm going to assume she's like me. Misty trusts you. That, alone, would be enough for me to trust you. So I will. Mr. Carlisle, you know, Reagan, from the Sea Scale, mentioned you when he was here last week, actually. Seems you've impressed several people, Mr. Ward. Important people."

Alex frowned. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with-"

Bill only shrugged, grinning almost inhumanly wide with his strange, Clefairy-like face, "Think nothing of it. I might ride the line between the wealthy elite of society and those who spend too much time in the shadow, but… in this city, in this entire world, all too often those are the same people. Besides, I'm useful for them… and more useful for those working to keep them in check. Like, I suspect, you and your girlfriends are doing. Ariana Cooper was impressed too, by your resolve not to follow up on her offer, if nothing else. That speaks volumes to your bravery, and to your morals. However…"

The door slid open. Six Pokémon's shadows, including a hulking four-armed one, were suddenly cast on the floor between he and the comfortable chair where Bill sat. "I'm afraid that will have to be a conversation for another time. You and your friends are not leaving today… not until we've had a long and, I hope, fruitful chat. Rest assured, they aren't being harmed. Resist… and you might be."

Alex swallowed hard as those four meaty hands closed around his wrists and just above the elbows.

Bill's smile never broke as he was force-marched out of the room, surrounded by an entourage of Pokémon, unable to even reach his own belt. Unable to really move at all, except were he was directed by the brute holding him.

All too soon, he was pushed into a simply appointed room, nice enough on the surface, with a bed, a vanity, a toilet through a small doorway with a curtain… and bars on the windows that faced the north side of the house, marring what would otherwise be a spectacular view of the rocky coast of Northeast Kanto.

Then the door shut, and clicked, before a quiet hum filled the room. "Crap."