Ch 12 Interrogation and Tamers*
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You woke up to the feeling of breasts on your thighs and a mouth on your... Oh, oh yeah, you could definitely get used to this sort of wake-up call. You luxuriated in the feeling for as long as you could, reaching down to the eager pink bed of hair and stroking it. "Good girl," you said, your words making her redouble her efforts.

It didn't take her much to push you over the edge.

Dia kept slowly languishing, a mischievous look in her eyes as she didn't quite really stop. You could only arch an eyebrow as her ministrations were ever so slowly encouraging you back to attention. Glancing at the clock, you realised she'd woken you early, and you could guess why.

You gave her every minute of your attention until a quiet beeping sound next to your bed told you she needed to get to work. "Best clean up, sir," she said with a dazzling smile as you nudged her naked figure into the shower.

Her cleaning efforts were thorough.

Cleaned, you went to dress, yet the naked nurse insisted on helping you, her hands touching you all over, as if in a mix of close examination and adoration. A part of you was well aware she was putting extra effort into showing her appreciation, and it made you feel wild. You ended up with her against the wall, her legs wrapped around your waist, and doing an encore.

You'd never felt this energetic before, and a part of you attributed it to her attitude- she desired you openly in a way no one had really done before. You thought back to your previous relationships and experiences, and they didn't quite compare.

To say nothing that Dia was... It was odd when you made that comparison; you could fuck her unconscious, and the moment she woke up she'd be up for as many rounds as you could give her. It somehow reminded you of Monica, as if she was just one big sex-magnet and you were a lump of iron. "Good luck with the test, sir." She kissed your chin, the first time she did so without waiting for your approval or instruction.

Maybe she didn't count it as a kiss unless it was on the lips.

You took the chance to kiss her fully, making her squirm and blush. "What should I expect?"

"Just a lot of questions you won't know how to answer, and others that you should," she said cheerfully. "And then an interview with a psychic, just standard things."

"Psychic?" You had to pause- the word rang some alarms. "As in... a mind reader?"

"You do not have anything like that where you come from, sir?"

"No."

"Hm... I could understand why it might feel uncomfortable," she grimaced. "I'd say they're as afraid of you as you are of them, but it would be a lie." Dia shuddered. "They often enjoy making others nervous or uncomfortable."

"Well, no need to meet the psychic, already there." You scratched the back of your head. "Like... would she just take one look at me and know my every thought or something?"

"I doubt it, sir, even strong psychics cannot freely look past surface thoughts without having to struggle their way in," Dia commented. "No psychic has the power to read the memories of a person without them realising it... Well, except the Snugglebunny, but that's an exception."

"Snugglebunny?"

"Erm... best not dwell on it too much, sir." She moved to rush you to the door. "No Snugglebunnies in our small community to worry about. Besides, sir is a good person, I'm sure they'll pass you through without much issue." She leaned in, hugging you from behind. "Sir is a great Master."

It gave you a bit of a shudder.

"Thanks," you muttered, opening the door. And yet, as you were about to turn to leave, her hand lingered on your chest, and you could feel her smile waver slightly. "Yes?"

"It's been very fun, sir," she replied with a heavy sigh. "Would it be too much to ask if tonight after the..." She blushed furiously now. "...the date... that you spend the night at my place?"

"Where is this coming from?" You couldn't avoid asking.

"Sir, today is the last day as a patient, and I have faith you will pass the test and be eligible to become a tamer. Once you've made your decision, I doubt you will be staying in New Bark, and... I belong to the hospital."

Oh.

OH.

You looked at her and felt an odd tightness in your chest. You paused, thinking. Property, right, pokegirls were property.

Wait.

"Is it possible to buy you from the hospital?"

After a moment of hesitation, she nodded slowly. "You would need to convince Doctor Hale to allow the transaction, but even then, you... would you have me?"

"Only if you'd want me to. Having a healer seems like a smart choice for anything that might involve risks, no?"

Her face lit up yet the sweetness degraded into hesitation again. "I-I I think I would just... would sir have enough?"

Both of you knew the answer to that- you were broke, not enough even for a chocolate bar much less a nurse. Unless the economy was really fucked up and chocolate was rarer than... Ok, maybe not something you'd want to find out and feel depressed over. "No," you said with a weary sigh, scratching your head. "But something to keep in mind, asking for a loan might be possible... I'll have to check. It's not like I'd be in a rush to hit the road or anything."

She nodded and sighed wistfully, shaking her head, before  smiling as if there had never been anything wrong to begin with. "You should go sir, wouldn't want to be late to the examination."

"I'll be seeing you tonight regardless," you replied, certain that at least that much was true. You kissed her forehead... Huh, this was the first time you'd done that.

Dia gushed, redder than you remember her seeing, before covering her face and rushing out. You stepped right after her, realising she'd actually sprinted and vanished from sight entirely.

That made you chuckle a little.

You looked around before finding your way towards the entrance. There you found a man wearing a police uniform and Mr. Gabriel talking to one another. Next to both of them and clutching at Mr. Gabriel's arm, you saw a mouse pokegirl, and though it took you a very long second to recognise her, you quickly realized it was Tessa.

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Except she didn't have so much as a scratch on her, not even a scar. Her ears were whole, her body looked nourished, she was... You marvelled at the fact she looked to be in pristine condition. The meter-forty tall thing was looking far calmer than when back in the woods, and healthier.

The healing capabilities were truly miraculous.

The police officer noticed you.

"Oh, good day sir," the man in uniform greeted. In the corner of your eye, you could see two women wearing uniforms standing at the sides of the entrance door- pokegirls no doubt. The man kept talking. "I am officer Pablo, I'm here to escort you and Mr Gabriel to the precinct for the test and interview."

"And the others?"

"They went on ahead," Mr. Gabriel spoke up.

"Yes," officer Pablo nodded. "Would you need anything before heading out? We can wait for you here."

"I'm good, let's go," you nodded- better get this done with. "Morning Mr. Gabriel," you added as you glanced at the old man. "How are things with Katherine?"

"Thorny," he replied, seeming to deflate from the usual sternness. Tessa reached to pull his hand and kissed it softly, looking into his eyes with those big blue ones. The gesture brought a smile to the man's leathery hard expression. "But she's her own woman and she has to make her own choices."

"I guess that's life," you shrugged a little, then gestured at Tessa. "How is she? She seems practically new." At your gesture, she'd shrunk away, using the man as a cover.

"I'm as surprised as you are," Mr. Gabriel replied, caressing the girl's blond hair and drawing a happy chirp from her. "They put her into a ball, and ten hours later out she came without so much as a scar."

"How come they let you keep her?" You asked, curious.

"Temporary Pet Owner license... or something like that. She's considered a harmless breed." He took out a little card from his pocket that had his picture on it.

Looking at the card, you noted the two women started walking at either side of your group. You couldn't tell what they were or what they could do, but you realised the back of your mind was paying keen attention to their every move. "How does that work?" You tried to keep the conversation focused.

"I can answer that," Pablo piped up with a friendly smile. "Under extreme situations, the League can grant special licenses so as to avoid those people later on getting into trouble due to some technicality like having used a pokegirl that saved dozens of lives even though they didn't have the permits to own her."

A very very very very long pause followed the silence of Pablo having said what he had. Wait, what? You probably needed to rewind and re-hear it all more slowly. You wished you had your phone with you to record this. Wait. Where WERE the rest of your possessions? Sure, you hadn't missed them much, but they must've ended up somewhere, right? Maybe there was a drawer in your room you hadn't checked...

"And would there happen to be a temporary equivalent for something like tamer grade? Such as if, say, you'd happen to have tamed a Purrsian while not being a tamer so as to save everyone's life?" You asked the very definitely not specifically important question. Mr. Gabriel glanced at you with a smirk as he seemed to have deduced why you were asking.

"Oh, definitely," Pablo nodded amicably. "It's a bit more complicated though since it would be necessary to undergo a stricter interrogation process regarding the details of the event. Under lie-detection spells too."

"I... see..." You muttered, rubbing your chin. "And is it retroactive?"

"It would have to be, since I doubt they'd do the interrogation before the emergency happens," the officer chuckled.

And quite suddenly you realized that Major Huge's biggest tool to convince you to join the hunters had not been Monica herself but instead hiding a tiny little tidbit of information from you. You felt like growling, God damn it.

You wondered why he'd do this, taking a very long moment to try and find what his angle had been. Maybe... from his perspective, a pokegirl more or a pokegirl less wouldn't be worth that much to negotiate over. So 'giving her away as a favor' for you would be quite the bargain if in exchange he got to recruit someone he found to have some worth or at least potential for it.

You grinned ever so innocently.

"I take it you plan on getting her back?" Gabriel asked.

"Yup," you replied calmly.

Gabriel looked at you for a very long second, and then shook his head. "I hope you know what you're getting into." Pablo looked at him, and then at you. "He's the crazy bastard that tamed the feral Purrsian your partners were whispering about."

The officer looked shocked, though the two women didn't seem to outwardly react. Pablo gave you a long appraising look. "I thought you'd be younger." Gabriel laughed at that, and you ignored the sting, instead just shrugging.

"So... a breeder?" You glanced at the old man.

"As far as I've been told, it's farming... with pokegirls," he replied with a weary sigh. "I don't really know what other option would do my bones any good, I'll probably find a ranch somewhere and lend a hand and be content with that."

"What of... getting back?" You asked.

"I'm too old to be running around looking for something that may not be there," Gabriel replied calmly. "If someone else finds the way, I will gladly take it, if not, then I'll just find something to be glad about over here."

A wise approach to things, you figured, or a lazy one. Or both. "So you and Tessa..." You teased, to which he glanced at you.

"Problem?"

"I just never took you for the type."

"I never took you for the type to do the things you did either. But here we are," he replied.

"Fair."

"Damn straight."

His words were found to be rather humorous apparently,  Pablo chucking a little as he led the way into the precinct. With only a minor hello to the receptionist, Pablo and the two women guided you through the building and into a small green room in which you found Tomas, seated and waiting. "You will be called one at a time. Mr. Gabriel, you will be expected to recall your pokegirl before starting the test," the officer instructed. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to knock on the door, my girls will be there to help." He left.

A pause, you glanced at the door. Sure, 'help'. You could only feel like sighing inside.

"Hello," Tomas greeted, looking slightly sullen as his head practically hung from his shoulders. "The others already went inside."

"Everything alright?" You asked the young man, and he shook his head slowly. "Want to talk about it?"

He shook it again. Gabriel looked at him for a long moment. "It's Katherine?"

Tomas nodded.

"Still don't want to talk about it?"

Another shake of the head.

You sighed, scratching your head and sitting down, wondering what else you could talk about. "Find anything worth mentioning?"

Tomas remained quiet for a very long moment, and then spoke with a weary sigh. "This is Earth."

"What?" Both you and Gabriel asked.

"It's..." A sigh, sullen, clearly this was not the priority of things he wanted to think of. "This world... it's not pokemon, it's Earth," the young man spoke sullenly. "Their history matches ours until around the 90's, then Sukebe showed up, and... it's been three hundred years since."

This made Mr. Gabriel frown slightly. "Three hundred years?"

A careful nod. "The Leagues, they are what had once been our countries," Tomas continued unprompted. "Sukebe did a war on the world, he lost in the end, but governments fell, a plague annihilated almost everyone, and the leagues are what came out of that." A little hesitation as he squirmed. "And what Sukebe himself brought... this... there's so much that doesn't follow pokemon at all, just one look at the dex, and most breeds aren't related at all, it's as if..."

You frowned. "As if?"

"As if this Sukebe went into the pokemon world and only copied certain things. Like the pokedex, the healing machines, the pokeball, even some of the... legendaries."

You and Gabriel glance at each other not sure how to take this information. "Legendaries?"

"Pokegirls like none other." His tone had a ghastly fear underneath. "They're so powerful they erased entire countries from the map. Venezuela? It's a giant crater now. Australia looks like it was a piece of glass that got smashed up. Most of Europe is gone, and America as a whole is just... pieces."

"Wait, where are we then?" Gabriel frowned.

"Somewhere in the American midwest... what's left of it." A dejected sigh and a shake of the head. "Everything's so fucked up."

"And we're in a world where humanity has had to endure this kind of thing for three hundred years," you spoke; somewhere in your voice there's awe as well as horror.

"That explains a lot," Mr. Gabriel nodded.

An uncomfortable silence followed, and you took the time to think over this new information, tying it with the other things you'd learnt. 90's Earth and then Sukebe... You could almost laugh at the thought of it, Bill Clinton having to handle an army of pokegirls? The idea was... It almost made you laugh out loud.

The door opened and Tomas called over.

"So what were you thinking about?" Mr. Gabriel looked at you, or rather, at the almost smile.

"Just... how fucked up everything went because of some madman," you said. "Three hundred years ago."

"Well, last I checked there were no cat-eared murder machines and world-ending plagues in the 90's, so I'll consider we got off lightly," he said, his hand gently laying on Tessa's shoulder.

You quietly nodded and kept to yourself.

Eventually, Mr. Gabriel was called over. "C'mon Tessa, into the ball you go," Mr. Gabriel spoke, drawing out a pokeball from his pocket, and recalling the mouse once she'd kissed his cheek.

"She's cute."

"Don't make it weird," he replied, to which you could only shrug.

"Be seeing you." And he was gone, and you were alone. A long minute passed, then another, and then one more.

You were staring at the light green roof of the room and wondering how long it'd take before it was your turn when the door opened. "Mr. Richard?"

"That'd be me." You stood up, following the woman that had called out your name as she led you into another room.

The smell of cigarette smoke was clear the moment you stepped through the door. "Please take a seat, sir," the owner of the voice called out from her spot next to the window.

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You moved towards the only other chair and sat down, trying to wonder whether this was the psychic pokegirl Dia had mentioned. You couldn't readily see anything too out of the ordinary... Well, except her chest.

Was that a trend amongst pokegirls? You had to figure the Sukebe guy who'd made them had certain proclivities...

"I am now officially starting the recording of this meeting. My name is Irene, owned by officer Clementine, serial number: 21351-D." She looked your way, and you felt the faintest sense of something happening in your mind, but you couldn't tell what it was since it vanished quicker than you could focus on it. "Current time is 10:04, and interviewee is a one outlander ID: 43F named Richard A."

A long drag from her cigarette. "Legally, I am required to tell you that I am an Alaka-wham, a highly proficient psychic pokegirl and that it is required of me to read your thoughts throughout this meeting. Do you agree to these terms?"

You hesitated for a second.

"No, you can't really disagree, more like voice disagreement, then I'd have to talk to my superior who'd come here with a lawyer and things would get complicated. The likely outcome being that things would eventually end up with this exact scenario except there wouldn't be a question over whether you agree or not," she spoke taking a drag out of her smoke. "So, do you agree to the psychic interrogation?"

"Yes," you speak out.

'Don't think of her massive tits and how soft they probably feel.' You focused on not thinking that, though you did until you didn't.

The woman didn't react, nor did you feel anything odd. "First, please state your name, year of birth, place of birth, and nationality before coming into the Johto League."

Your answer was succinct and honest, keeping to the minimal details necessary to cover for her request.

"Very well." She didn't nod as she instead shifted her attention to read something, a book? You couldn't read the title from the angle. "Under the consideration that you have only had exposure to pokegirls for less than a month, please elaborate your thoughts regarding who and what they are, and how they should be treated."

You almost gawked- wasn't that a bit too heavy a question to start things off? You began considering the option, but the pokegirl spoke up before you could say anything. "The interviewee considers pokegirls as people, ones that are highly dangerous but equally capable. He considers that though they are fun to dominate in the bedroom, outside of it is a realm they should have greater independence to make their own decisions. With a caveat that ferals are no better than animals at the very least until tamed."

You gawked, blinking.

"Note, interviewee considers the privacy of thought enough of a priority to feel irritation at having his thoughts explained out loud for the sake of the record." With a gesture of her hand, a pen jumped to the air and began writing down something on the notepad that was next to her. "Next question." She turned the page of the book she read, without physically touching it, her eyes not even looking at you. "Given the option to choose between saving your life or saving Monica's, the feral Purrsian you'd tamed after reaching this world, which would you choose?"

You began to open your mouth, but she interrupted. "The interviewee would attempt to save himself three out of four times." She turned the page. "Next question: If selling Tessa, a Titmouse the interviewee doesn't own, was a viable way to keep everyone fed for another day or two, would you?"

Again you opened your mouth, but she talked before you could even say a word. "Interviewee clearly sees the titmouse as a possession, and strongly feels discomfort over stealing that which belongs to someone he values. He also considers that a titmouse should be worth more than two days of food for a small group of humans."

There was a cocksure smirk of amusement as she said this. "Next question: If you had the ability to turn either Tomas or Katherine into a pokegirl at the click of a button, to then have the potential to force yourself onto them, bond, all in order to save everyone's life, would you use this button? Who would you turn if you didn't have an alternative to use it?"

Wait, what? Turn people into pokegirls? "Wh-?"

"Interviewee shows very high emotional distress over the question." She spoke barely an instant before you could even voice the question. "Aversion over the matter, in order of negative response, being first the forceful turning into a pokegirl, second rape, and third gender reassignment. In the off chance of having absolutely no way to avoid making the choice, he would choose Katherine."

Anger started rising inside you as she continued what you could only describe as an increasingly sadistic interrogation.

"Interviewee also questions the sanity of the interviewer and those who designed this test," she added without missing a beat, her disregard of you absolute as she kept her eyes on her book. "Next question: if you were starving to death and had no food sources, would you rather cannibalize Monica or Dia, the female nurse that works in the New Bark Pokecenter whom you've been fucking all night?"

You didn’t even try to open your mouth; you were glaring at her as your knuckles whitened against the armrest. "Interviewee would rather strangle me than answer the question. However, he would kill the Purrsian, as he feels deep down that she is an existential threat to his continued survival. There are clear signs of trauma and as the New Bark psychic counsellor it is my recommendation he does not take her as a starter pokegirl and she instead be put through a level 5 and sold to-"

"ENOUGH!" Your hands slammed the desk with a bang. You were standing, breathing heavily, glaring, feeling your blood practically boiling.

The pokegirl took a long drag of her cigarette, raising her eyes from her book for the first time since she'd addressed you upon entering the room, her expression bored. "Subject has a powerful aversion to engaging in physical violence purely out of light instigation and without survival instincts being threatened. Physical capabilities match those of a human without blood-gifts, mental acuity degrades with heightened emotion. Interviewee matches profile of a pure human."

A pause, her eyes meeting you with that unwavering unflappable calm detachment.

"It is advised you sit down so we may continue."

Grinding your teeth, you took a long moment before you began to sit down, taking a good deep breath to calm down. She kept her eyes on you ten long silent seconds before she turned to her book, raising her voice once more. "Under the ideal circumstances that you could keep both Monica and Dia, would you consider settling down as a teacher?"

The question caught you off guard, you blinked, taking a moment as you frown. You half expected her to start telling what you were thinking out loud but she didn't, merely turning the page of her book as she appeared to be waiting for you. After a minute, you talk. "Maybe, I don't know, I just want to see what else this world has to offer."

Irene nodded. "Interviewee sees teaching as a means to an end more than a passion or an objective to be achieved or strived for." That was all she opted to add in, waiting until she turned the page to ask the next question. "Would you kill for money?"

With a frown, your lips thinned. "Depends on what I'm killing," you spoke honestly before properly considering it and shrugging.

"Interviewee shows aversion of death but comprehension and acceptance of it as a necessary result to certain circumstances. It is worth noting interviewee shows certain signs of sociopathy that might have emerged out of psychological trauma," she added her little piece of commentary. "Would you do something you'd consider morally correct even if fully aware that thousands of innocents would die because of it?"

"It wouldn't be that morally correct, then?" You muttered with dejection, crossing your arms.

"Subject shows a willingness to attempt peaceful solutions and approaches to the problem if given the chance rather than lean towards slaughter," she said calmly. "Last question, tits or ass."

Your head felt slight whiplash at the question, but the answer rang loudly within your head before you could try to even hide it.

TITS

You try to mentally add some context to the answer purely out of embarrassment, but it was too late as she gave you a cocksure smirk. Her massive larger-than-cantaloupes breasts bounced and squeezed themselves without outside prompting from her hands or arms, as if invisible forces were playing with them, truly a sight to behold.

After a second you scoffed at her, frowning still.

"Congratulations Mr. Rick, you are an official Johto citizen... once you sign some papers," she said. "I will waive the required mandatory test for a tamer position since you only really need to know in what hole babies come out of and which one has teeth to be considered smart enough to be a tamer."

Hesitation. "...thanks?"

"Though you will be a tamer once everything's signed, you will still need to get a physical in the pokecenter as well as have some samples taken," she added in a droll tone. "You will be handed your pokedex and explained the details regarding getting a starter then. Whether you choose to become a Hunter or not, this step would still be necessary."

"But I'm..."

"Not applying to be a tamer, psychic, remember?" She tapped her temple. "But being a tamer is still the minimum requirement to taking any other position, and one you'll want to get regardless." She finished the sentence for you. "Regarding the retroactive temporary emergency tamer license, you would need to request the interrogation under lie-detection magic from the chief directly, you will be able to find him taking a right turn once you leave this room." A series of papers were pulled from various drawers, they floated down, setting on the table. "Any questions?"

"Did you enjoy this?" You couldn’t help asking.

And then you saw her shoot you her first smile since meeting her. "Pureblooded humans are refreshing to read since everyone else has developed some minimum level of psychic resistance over generations of pokegirl blood being added in. It's like not having to swipe at cobwebs whenever entering a room."

"I... see." You couldn't say you were too happy about that. A slight sigh. "Just... how does being a psychic...?"

She cocked an eyebrow, and made a wave with her hand, and then you... you understood. Your mind and hers were... they were one, for a split second, only an instant, and yet... yet you saw yourself as she saw you. It was... it was like trying to describe a colour that hadn't existed for you except during that brief glimpse. Your mind, it was chaos, layers upon layers of streaming light, thoughts, ideas, memories, everything mingling with everything else in bigger and smaller and greater ways and... Then there was you, you were just a single tiny lightbulb.

Bright, warm, with a thousand tiny colours that grew and shifted the closer one looked. But still, only one lightbulb compared to the sea of stars within and around her mind.

"Huh, never had anyone react that way." Her word made you blink away the fireworks, taking a moment to readjust to being yourself. "Yes, like that, that would be the answer you were looking for."

​An odd sense of gratefulness passed through you; though also overwhelming awe at the fact that her every second of existence had her in contact with many more minds than just your own, processing them all, every single one, at the same time. "I... thank you," you spoke honestly,  slightly surprised at that feeling. "I guess I'll... head over to the chief's office once I'm done reading these."

"Take your time," she said, pressing a button on a device you hadn't seen her carrying- some sort of phone? "Good luck with the chief."

"Shouldn't you... uh... be here in case I have doubts about this?"

"You won't have any you'd need me to answer," she spoke with confidence, standing up, and with a trail of floating items behind her, she left.

You made sure to take a very very long time to very very carefully read every line in the documents. You had to agree with her assessment that you didn't feel like asking her any questions.

The documents were contracts stating things you'd expect out of something made for someone becoming a citizen to a new country. Oaths to follow the law, acknowledgements of the Johto league and those working for it as representatives, and a bunch of legalese that said the same things except with four pages of text. There were no papers regarding the position as a tamer, but by the looks of it, you'd likely get to take a look at those at the pokecenter.

Once you'd checked and re-checked everything, and made sure that there weren't things that were too fishy (there was that one line of "in service of the League", but by the looks of it it seemed more of a patriotic angle than anything else); with the papers in hand, you followed Irene's instruction and sought out the "chief".

It was easier than you thought.

Finding him was easier than you'd thought, as one of the doors you saw had exactly such a name inscribed on it. You knocked.

"Come in."

You did.

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"So you're the infamous Rick," the man spoke from behind his desk. You noted there were two others in the room. Huge and Irene.

"Is this the part where you say 'we've been waiting for you'?" You spoke blandly, opting to ignore Major Huge for now.

"That would be too cliché." There was a hint of humour in his eyes as he spoke. "This is Major Huge from the Hunter's lodge, I believe you've met him already."

"Indeed I have," you replied, only now acknowledging him, noting that he'd not introduced Irene. "I do wonder why you're here now of all times, Major."

"I just came to give some papers to the chief of police, and it just so happened you were taking your examination so I opted to stay and chat," he replied with a neutral smile.

"So, Rick, I take it you came here to ask for the retroactive temporary tamer license as Irene informed me?" Chief cut off before anyone else could say anything.

"Indeed. I hope it isn't too much trouble," you stated neutrally, the only thing you gave Huge being a meaningfully raised eyebrow.

"It wouldn't, but it also would," the chief replied cryptically. "You see, the Major here came with a written recommendation for you to become a Hunter, claiming that your level of competence is above that of your average tamer. Irene corroborated that your mind-set alone would make you a great asset to the League given the proper training."

A long pause followed as he kept his eyes on you. You frowned slightly. "My taking Monica back would be the complication, wouldn't it?"

"Indeed," he nodded. "By Irene's estimates, were you to take Monica and become a hunter, even with a Rapha such as Dia, you would most likely be dead within the month."

Opening your mouth, you closed it, then considered. "I take it that the hunter position is harder than I originally anticipated?"

"It is, very much so. After all, it is usually reserved for Tamers who have proven themselves for at least a year or two," Major Huge said plainly. "And the problem with your Purrsian being the strongest member of your team is that she is poorly trained and poorly educated, she is feral born and doesn't know... well... much of anything, a complete lack of experience on protocol or working as a team and a lot of power."

"So... what? How did you expect me to become a hunter in the first place?" You countered.

"This." He took out a pokeball and placed it on the table. "She is an experienced Battle Angel who lost her tamer recently, and though I am certain that doesn't mean much to you, to give you a frame of reference, she could hold her own against four Monica's at the same time."

You weren't quite sure what he meant, but trusted his estimate to be accurate at least. Which was impressive. "So you want me to exchange Monica for this one?" You asked, making a gesture towards the pokeball.

"I would like to stress that this is entirely your choice," The chief stated.

"And what of the part you said that if I became a hunter you could pull some strings?" You asked dryly.

"Circumstances changed, she wasn't on the list of options then, nor had we the advice of New Bark's best psychic prescribing you to not take your purrsian as a starter were you to take the Hunter job." The major shrugged. "A misstep on my part, for that I apologize."

"If I may," Irene spoke with a tone of deference and respect, but still with that cold edge. "The decision is quite simple, Mr. Rick. Become a Hunter and take the battle angel but leave Monica behind. Or request the retroactive temporary license, take Monica, but don't become a Hunter."

"What if I want to be a Breeder?"

The chief barked a laugh. "Feel free to apply once you have your Tamer license completed, same would go for the other positions such as watcher."

"And I have to make the decision now?"

"I'd rather you've made your choice before leaving, but I understand if you feel there might be some questions on your part," the chief replied. "Feel free to ask."

You had to wonder- Irene could read your mind, could she also speak to the Chief's thoughts directly? Give him real-time information about your state of mind? "What if I want to come back for my Purrsian at a later date?" You asked. "If my understanding is correct, your caveat is that my life expectancy would be shortened were Monica my starter. So would it be possible for her to remain in stasis until I came back for her?"

"That's..." The chief and major looked at one another.

But it was Irene who spoke up. "Mister Rick, this offer you are receiving is already well outside the standard protocol. Hunters are required to be tamers that have proven themselves capable for over a year. While you have had none. Not to mention that Tamers are seldom allowed to have a starter that is of Rare rarity rating."

You frowned but understood her point, as what you were asking was basically to be given everything. For these people who thought of pokegirls as... "Mister Rick," Irene interrupted your thoughts. "For the League, a pokegirl is a tool, and that is because the League has to handle thousands of pokegirls each day, and very rarely do any of the inexperienced and untrained ones show any trait that isn't present in nearly all others of the breed. Both in personality as well as capabilities."

Yes, you understood her point, and reminded yourself this world had seen three hundred years worth of pokegirls and ferals and slavery. You had not. "Would I receive aid to purchase Dia from the pokecenter if I take either option?"

"I would make a personal loan with no interests for you to pay back at your leisure if you take the Hunter position," Huge stated.

"It would still be possible were you to opt to become a tamer, but it would be harder," Irene added. "You wouldn't have the Hunter's backing to convince the head of staff of the pokecenter, and you would need to sell several common-tier ferals as well as add in the starting funds you'd receive from the League to be able to reach the typical sale price of a Rapha like Dia t."

A sigh followed her words; it seemed things wouldn't be easy for you. "Just what advantages could I have as a hunter that I wouldn't as a tamer?" You asked scratching your head.

The chief was the one to speak up. "You would have access to information Tamers wouldn't usually get, or that they would receive with a delay, as well as contacts," he stated. "As a government official, you wouldn't be required to pay for the usage of public facilities such as-"

"Excuse my interruption, sir," Irene spoke, glancing at you. "I believe what you would find most useful is that Hunters are forbidden to participate in salvage battles while tamers aren't."

"Salvage battles." You frown, deadpan.

"If a tamer challenges another for a salvage battle, unless there are special circumstances at hand, the challenge cannot be refused," Irene explained. "Both challengers decide on the bet, usually a pokegirl, and the loser has to pay up."

The reaction that came out from inside you was quickly quelled and calmed down, the outrage reduce, you’d been explained this one already. But you found a new level of loathing at the idea. These people didn't make the rules, and they were also trying to clear out your doubts about this decision.

"Well, that's that," Irene spoke up, dusting off her lap. "Gentlemen, you owe my tamer dinner."

Then she was no longer there, and you had to blink for a second. She'd just... She’d vanished. What.

"Tamer it is, then," the chief nodded, Huge looked disappointed.

You felt like you needed to apologize. These people held important positions, had likely pulled favours, and... It could get complicated if you didn't try to at least explain. "I seem unreasonable, I just grew attached to-"

"Your cat, yes." Major Huge stood up. "I wish you the best, Rick, I truly do, that way maybe we will meet again." He offered a hand to shake, his grip firm and stern, and he left without further fanfare.

"You will have to excuse Major Huge, he's seen many prospect tamers lose their spark to the grinder that is the circuit."

You felt slightly worried about his words. "Is it that bad?"

"Odds are none of those you will begin with save perhaps the non-combatant will still be at your side by the end of the year," the chief shrugged. "Contrary to common belief, the starters are usually lost rather than stick around throughout the tamer's career, it's just one of those 'survivor bias' things going on."

"So... things aren't looking up."

"No, they are not. And Huge had tried to save you from that grinder... in his own way." Chief extended a hand to take up the papers you'd signed. "I don't really expect anything to go askew, so by tomorrow morning everything should be in order and in the right hands so to speak. I suggest you go take that check-up and get briefed on what responsibilities and rules you will be expected to follow." A pause as he checked that your signature was indeed on all the papers. "Unless you have something else you'd like to say?"

"Do you have anyone you'd recommend to give some tips?" You asked awkwardly.

Chief placed his hands on the table for a moment, and then let out a very long sigh, reaching into his belt and pulling out a pokeball. With a flash of red light, a pokegirl materialized.

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"Mary, dear, could you kindly guide mister Rick towards the pokecenter?" the chief spoke. "He's going to get checked for his tamer's license."

"Oh, a tamer at such an age?" The woman spoke softly, looking at you with concern and sympathy in her eyes.

"He's an outlander," the chief explained.

There was a shared nod between them, a message you were not privy to. "Very well, Master." She bowed her head and motioned for you to follow. "I take it you know nothing, correct?"

"It would be best to consider it that way, ma'am, and thank you."

"Oh, you're such a sweetie." She waved at you as she covered her smile with her hand. "Ah, to be young again, I remember when I was a starter girl, all fresh and full of energy."

"Was it the chief?" You wondered.

"Oh dear, no, I had thirty-one tamers before I landed on the chief's firm lap," she laughed softly. "I was quite fortunate, not many girls manage to land a stable Master." She looked at you kindly. "I take it you have many questions?"

"How... do you avoid the salvage battles?"

Understanding flashed across her face as she nodded. "It is a law that many oppose, but it has yet to be properly uprooted. Sadly, you can't really avoid salvage, it will happen sooner or later." She nodded slightly, waving at the officers as she moved to leave the precinct. "You can trick the inexperienced tamers into thinking a girl is not worth their attention, or you could willingly sacrifice an undesired member of your team. Your best bet is to make sure that your team is in top shape for the fight regardless. It's best to insist it happen at a certain time and date such as the morning after a long hunt rather than right away." A wary sigh followed. "But in the end, it is almost assured it will happen, and you must ready your heart for it."

Nodding, your mind kept throwing questions your way. "How does it work, exactly?"

"One tamer challenges another, and tells them what they want. The one challenged determines the kind of battle that will take place and what would be a fair equivalent prize; once agreed, they battle." A momentary pause. "The pokedexes record the whole conversation, and if an agreement isn't achieved then the recording will be reviewed and either a third party will deem a fair price, or it will be determined someone was sabotaging the negotiations and as such will be declared as the loser."

"That's harsh."

"That's how it is," she shrugged. "Fortunately salvage isn't the only form of battling, there're combat and sex battles where the only thing waged is money, and variants of both."

"What about food? Money?" You muttered. "Housing? Equipment?"

"You will receive about... 30 thousand Standard League Credits to purchase your starter and the basic equipment. After that, you can earn money through quests, battles, or gyms."

"And I'll have to buy my own food."

"Or hunt and scavenge it," she nodded, her tail waving lazily behind her. You noticed many of the girls who looked your way while on the street would give both of you a very wide berth. "Lodging in the pokecenter is free the first two nights whenever you reach a new city or town, after that you will be required to pay as well."

You held your inner grumbling in exchange for the next question. "What about training? Or making easy money?"

"Oh dear," she covered her mouth. "As a starting tamer, you are required to challenge a gym at least once a month and you cannot challenge the same one twice in a row, you also have a requirement to have sold at least fifteen ferals in that same span of time."

"So the system is meant to promote travelling... and keeping the roads clean of ferals."

"It is a very important job," she nodded. "Outside of training in the wilds, the best alternative for a starter tamer like you would be challenging tamers to standard fights."

"What if I applied to being something like a Watcher?" You asked.

"Then you'd be tasked with heading somewhere isolated and... watching. The naming was not very imaginative." She smiled ruefully. "Your harem wouldn't be allowed to be more than 3... or was it 4? No, 3 girls. And your only career path would be to carry on these observation missions until you've learnt enough to aim to become a researcher."

"Harem size?"

"Tamers have a standard of 6 plus a non-combatant, but those numbers can be extended with special licenses," she said. "Ones you can only apply to after a certain amount of time spent as a tamer, the first one being after six months."

"Of course," you begrudgingly acknowledged. "What if I just... tame some feral and don't catch her?"

A wariness to her expression. "If you got caught, the pokegirl would be taken from you and you would have to pay a very heavy fine."

"Wait, how would they know if a pokegirl belongs to me in the first place?"

"The pokeballs." She smiled impishly. "They register the information with the pokedex, and the Pokedex updates the League databases whenever it connects with the system. Since you can only access your money through usage of your pokedex, then..."

"Oh." A long-winded sigh. "What about purchasing medical or other supplies?"

"Standard stores have a green roof." She pointed at the building in question. Her steps stopped as both of you reached the front of the 'pokecenter'. "Anything else I could clear up for you?"

"Any tips on taming ferals?" You wondered. "Not just the... sex, the... everything else."

"I understand your question, dear sir," she spoke softly, nodding. "Feral born girls usually see sex as sex and everything not sex as not sex. More often than not they will accept anything in a taming so long as they enjoy it, or feel that they should be enjoying it. But this does not mean she will apply it outside of taming."

"Oh," you muttered. That certainly explained some things.

"Usually it's best to use sex or treats to convince them to do things, until they become accustomed to obeying. Buying an English T2 would also hasten the process of her learning the language, but they're very rare and very expensive." She paused, then sighed wistfully. "If worse comes to worst, you could also put her through a level 4. It wouldn't erase her mind nor any memories, just leave her dazed for a day or so. It would definitely teach her obedience if perhaps in a slightly more forceful way."

"I see..."

"You must always be wary with ferals," she stressed. "Even the ones that seem used to taming and sex, the risk of being accidentally harmed in the heat of passion is very real. Many tamers lose their lives every year because they don't take the proper precautions. What to a pokegirl might be just a twitch, to a human it could very well mean a broken spine."

That made you grimace. "Yeah, I... know."

The woman nodded solemnly.

"Lastly, there's this nurse I wanted to..." A moment of silence.

"Trained and experienced nurses are much more expensive than just buying ones from a ranch, and well worth the tag," she said. "Though it will always come down to whoever owns her at what price she'd want to sell her to you." A wink followed. "If you do manage to get her, make sure to label her as a non-combatant, that way she won't be able to get taken through salvage battle." With a pause and a bow, she turned to leave. "I wish you best of luck."

You watched her walk away, hearing her hum a little tune. You wondered as you looked on, and sighed, turning to face the pokecenter entrance. Entering the building, you headed to greet the receptionist. "I'm here for my mandatory checkup to become a Tamer?"

It, fortunately, wasn't the black-haired one you'd seen scowling at you yesterday; this one was a brunette. The look she gave you was one of incredulity, and you could sort of understand why considering the average tamer began at their late teens and you were... almost twice that. It took her a moment for her to work through the shock before she checked the system. And then checked three times more to make sure.

A little nod, she guided you through the process.

Half an hour later and a little bit of missing blood, you had been taken to sit down on the bed in your room and you were now holding the "Pokedex", a red phone with a touchscreen and (at least according to the user manual) a battery charge that was well within the 80-year span "longer, if kept properly". Next to it was a "Taming for Dummys" booklet, the first half of which was 'how not to die while fucking...', followed by a list of pokegirl breeds and precautions. You'd also been given five empty pokeballs, and a bank account with 30,000 SLC to your name.

The brunette had told you that they had no readily available starters on hand- not that you wanted one what with Monica... And that as such you got the money instead. You were lacking gear, and Monica was meant to be given to you by tomorrow morning after passing a brief lie-detected interrogation back at the precinct.

A heavy sigh followed as you tried to decide what to do now that you had most of the day ahead of you and a promised date with Dia come night-time. Laying on the bed, you took a long minute to try and work yourself into doing something that wasn't just staying there and waiting for the hours to tick by.

So much had happened so quickly. It felt like just yesterday that you were teaching at a high-school, the forest and everything in it almost a strange dream... You shook your head.

First things first, the pokedex. You opened it up and began to fiddle with it for a bit before finding your user profile. It showed a very long string of numbers and letters as your "DNA: ID", an image of your fingerprint, your picture, name, and age. And a lot of empty boxes such as "Alpha Pokegirl" or "Last Gym Battle".

Moving around the settings, you discovered that you could block others from reading your personal information... Well, you could block most things except for three key pieces of data: your name, the number of pokegirls assigned to you, and their breeds. But everything else you could hide from prying eyes so you set it up that way.

Still, the dex warned you that your account would be visible to any league official who scanned you. There didn't seem to be anything you could do about it though, so you move on with your fiddling.

You noticed the dex was telling you you had five unused pokeballs, and realized it had somehow detected and assigned them as yours. Curious, you wondered what the method to determine that was. The dex also appeared to have other functions such as scanning pokegirls to tell you their breed and if they were owned by anyone. There was also access to an encyclopedia-like database at any time to read up on pokegirl breeds.

There was a lot of information about individual breeds there, and you took a moment to check "Purrsian" out of curiosity.

"PURRSIAN, the Frisky Feline Pokegirl"

You had to laugh at that, yeah, it seemed like Monica fit the breed's title to a T.

Putting that aside for now, you kept looking around. There appeared to also be a sort of email function to it, and, as the nice lady had mentioned, it also held your bank account in it. There were other functions to it, but they seemed less important for now so you moved on to the book "Taming for dummies".

What you gathered from the first half of the book was that you definitely needed some restraints (medium at least, priced at 5,000 SLC), to always have spare pokeballs, and that you should definitely be open to raping a wholly unwilling pokegirl a couple of times or at least put her through a level 4 so as to ensure they didn't pose an immediate risk to your person or those around you.

Doubly so if it was a willful kind of feral.

Fun.

The latter half of the book gave some general tips on things such as type-advantages between pokegirls, ways you could gift your pokegirl with various activities to promote obedience (most of which were variants of cuddling or eating), and how it was VERY illegal to teach any non "smart-breed" pokegirl anything besides how to read and write. And generally, what was left of it made you feel bad for these girls who were being toyed with to the point all tamers were expected to have such a book suggesting things such as "tell her you will make her the alpha if she behaves better" as a standard way of manipulation.

It also went out of its way to detail several money saving strategies, such as keeping the pokegirl inside her ball for as long as possible, as while within the ball their bodies remained in stasis, so they wouldn't become hungry that way. It was the kind of thing that made you almost toss the thing into the bin.

Alas, it still seemed to have a nugget or two hidden between its pages.

An example was its emphasis that harem dynamics would become very important once you had more than one pokegirl. They tried to sell it as pokegirls having powerful tendencies to desire status, especially status above those of their harem sisters. But it really didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

If the 'alpha' spent most of the time outside her pokeball, and everyone else spent most of their time inside their pokeball, no wonder they'd be desperately vying to try and gain a status that let them just freely exist outside the pokeball throughout most of the day.

All of this made you sigh and shake your head in dejection.

You'd said you'd adapt to this world, but it still felt like bullshit.

The last tidbit that caught your attention was the description of the taming cycles. 5 levels in total.

  • Level 1 was always on within all standard pokeballs, and was a tiny little nudge towards obedience.
  • Level 2 was a light punishment... or reward, if the girl was submissive- it just reinforced level 1, no side-effects.
  • Level 3 stunned the pokegirl for a handful of hours, and was suggested for a feral's first taming; their minds were left "open to learn".
  • Level 4 was... It stunned them for a couple of days, and all but the staunchest of pokegirls couldn’t resist as it imprinted into them the need to obey their Master. The thing was powerful enough it could even shift their sexual orientation.

And then... 

You looked at the last one, the level 5.

Impossible to resist, no survivors, mind-wipe. All memory and personality erased, in its place a blank slate that understood English and would obey anything and everything, only gaining a semblance of a personality after months of being practically catatonic whenever not following an order.

It made you shudder.

Fun.

You could see the booklet for what it was, propaganda. It needed to sell the tools with which human tamers could and would dominate and keep pokegirls as property. You didn't feel like a champion of justice- you weren't Alice- but it still felt sickening to realise you could see the cold logic behind these taming cycles.

After all, the only thing you needed to do was imagine Monica suddenly opting to rampage in the middle of a city because something startled her. How many humans would she be able to kill before she was brought down? What if it wasn't a feral without a clue but a pokegirl fully intent on bringing as many humans down as she could before an end was put to her? Considering the Pokedex barely described Monica's breed as "mid-tier", you could only shudder at the thought.

It made perfect sense.

Pokegirls were genetically engineered bioweapons.

In an almost visceral way, you could imagine how humanity moved towards where you were now. The war, the plague, survival, then ferals? Otherworlders? Desperate times necessitated desperate means.

You pushed those thoughts away.

You decide to look for Doctor Hale and start bargaining for Dia. You made up your mind, that you weren't going to leave New Bark without her. Irene was right, and if you depended only on Monica, you'd die sooner than later. Monica didn't know about society, or humanity. Dia was the best option.

It didn't take you long to find Doctor Hale.

"Fifty thousand." She didn't even look up at you the moment you'd found her walking down the corridor. She was currently reading something that seemed very technical.

"I appreciate you being forthright at least," you replied.

"I appreciate you aren't a manipulative sleazeball," she replied, noting something down on the paper before looking up at you. "She has four years worth of experience in this rinky-dink place, she's had to assist operations with the worst types of tools we had on hand, and she's the best part of my day, any day. I appreciated that you were giving her some attention that went past just sticking your cock into her, but I don't like the thought that I will have to train someone else when she leaves." A heavy sigh. "But I respect that you're making an honest attempt and weren't just all talk. So fifty thousand."

"I only have thirty."

"I know, and I wouldn't give her to you if you claimed everything you had on hand right now was fifty."

"Because then I'd be a stupid tamer who bought a pokegirl and didn't have any of the gear essential for everything else," you nodded.

"Bingo."

"Loans?"

"We're needing loans, not open for giving them," she replied, placing her hand on her hip.

"I could offer a chunk of my liver," you said with a snicker.

"Don't really need it." She had an amused grin.

"Sperm and blood from someone with no pokegirl ancestry?" You jokingly put forth.

The amused look died then and there, and her lips thinned. "The sort of place you'd be getting into where they'd buy such a thing wouldn't be a safe one."

A heartbeat, hesitation. "Tell me more," you dared to say.

Frowning, she sighed, nodding. "There are people who are... very enthusiastic about the idea of having progeny that doesn't have pokegirl blood in them." She stopped for a second, becoming tense. "Powerful people who'd make you disappear and milk you dry for the remainder of your life so they could sell the 'service' to others with the same interests."

"...not someone to mess with," you muttered.

"Not at all." She shook her head. "And they wouldn't hesitate to off everyone who knew you existed just to save themselves the hassle of anyone looking for you."

"..." You remained quiet, considering the implications.

"I don't think I like the sound of that," you said, aware that maybe one day you would be tempted to make such a deal- but that day wasn't today.

"Then that is all I have to offer." Despite her words, she nodded. "Better off if you didn't take that route anyway."

"So what now?"

The doctor shrugged. "Catch ferals, salvage girls from other tamers, do some quests, or don't do it and leave Dia here with a sweet memory of what could have been and not the bitter ones of what would be." She shook her head. "Up to you, really."

"I still want her," you speak honestly, trying to consider some angle to use. "But maybe it's best if she stays, maybe when I've saved enough I come back to-"

"Don't." The Doctor looked at you sternly. "If you're half the tamer she believes you to be, you will have found a decent enough healer by the time you've saved up enough to come back and buy her. Only two outcomes come out of that. Either you've grown so fond of the 'other' healer you won't get rid of her, and thus Dia becomes second fiddle in a position that only needs one. Or you do get rid of the 'other', in which case I would have to question your morals considering you'd have known them for far longer than Dia."

"What-"

"So what I'm saying, Rick, is that you don't tell that girl you will come back for her," the doctor stated flatly. "She would be holding that candle for you for God only knows how long before filling that hole with bitterness. And if a good partner showed up she'd likely turn them down out of the illusion you sold her. And I would be there to watch her crumble a little bit every day." Her glare was serious. "Don't you dare tell her 'maybe one day'." She crossed her arms firmly. "If you come back you come back, and if she's here then she's here. But don't fill that girl with empty hopes and dreams."

"What if I get the money before leaving?"

"Then you got the money before leaving, buy her, and there'd be nothing further to discuss," she spoke flatly. "Just remember that you probably have about four nights left before the pokecenter starts charging you a premium for your stay. A price I can assure you is not cheap."

"I won't give her false hopes, but I won't give up," you replied.

"Then make sure she doesn't hear a word," the doctor stated. "Break her heart when you leave, because if you die or you end up finding 'something better', then it's better you don't leave her tortured waiting for something that won't come."

You nodded in agreement. "Thank you," you say, giving your honest opinion before turning around to let her carry on with her work.

As you did, your head started to churn through options regarding what to do between now and your date tonight. You still had maybe eight hours or so, so plenty of time for anything. But what? Besides food, of course. You checked your pocket and confirmed you still had three vouchers left.

Time to gather everyone.

It was time to start thinking up ways to earn some money.

 


I'll be honest, the whole "Salvage" thing I'd added it to the quest as a way to put a fire under the player's seats, get them to move and all that. Not a great world-building decision, but one meant to keep things churning.

Spoilers: It's something that only becomes relevant for a very brief moment in time and that's basically it.

I promise there's going to be fewer info-dumps, most everything has been chewed through.

Also, yay extra long chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

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