"My Master would like a taming room with a separate shower," Diane spoke at the reception desk, glancing at the pokegirl as she looked up at the Rapha.

"They're all taken," came the bored response with a slow yawn.

You remained quiet as the pokegirl glanced at you and then back at Diane. Your Rapha took a moment to lean forwards. "My Master has some fresh feral meat and a carnivore pokegirl. I'd rather we minimize the mess."

And just like that, the receptionist grimaced, nodding as she took your pokedex from Diane's hands and typed away on her computer. Only a minute later you were walking down the corridor towards the room to drop off the gear. "That was easier than I thought."

"All pokecenters keep one of the good rooms marked as 'occupied' in case someone actually important shows up," Diane commented with a little hint of pride.

"Why not use this trick back in Cherry?"

"Because we didn't need to, the girls could get into trouble if the supervisors found out there wasn’t a decent enough reason to have put it to use." She shook her head. "The main difference between the normal taming room is that the shower isn't part of the room but a separate room on its own, and a couple of other amenities."

Nodding absently, you followed her down the corridor, trying not to pay too much attention to the pokegirls moving about. Much like how Diane had described, the room in question didn't seem all too different to the previous taming room you'd been in. Solid perfect walls, no windows, more sex and torture "toys" than you cared to count... There were two major differences. First of them being the presence of a second metal door.

"Bathroom is meant to be able to be entirely submerged without swamping the rest of the room. There's a couple of emergency drainage options but..." She paused as she watched you approach the waist-high metal box that was next to the bed. "Ah, that's the pokepack."

"The what now?" You asked, looking at the box.

"It's just a... ah," Diane giggled, approaching the box. "It's a pokepack in a box so it can't be stolen. Pokepack is a special storage device. We'll use it with the... meat so Monica doesn't need to carry it around. Could you please release her, Master?"

"...sure." You touched Monica's device, and the feline was out in an instant, looking around as she held the white bundle of cloth against her chest tightly.

"Rick," she said, turning her chest slightly away from you, protecting her bundle from your gaze.

"Monica?" Diane gestured at herself. "Here," she motioned, and you noticed she was holding onto some sort of very short metal rod that was connected to the box with a cable. As soon as Monica had stepped close enough, Diane had tapped the bundle with the rod.

You blinked in surprise when the bundle turned into a light bluish light and vanished.

Monica's arms clenched against her chest, now devoid of the bundle. Eyes widening, she looked around, at the floor around her, above, then at Diane, then at you, then around herself and into her arms. Her pout turned into a frown as she looked at Diane. "Food," she growled.

Diane nodded. "Soon."

That was when Monica's hand snapped against the nurse's throat and tightened. "Now," she growled at the wide-eyed Diane.

"Monica!" You shot to your feet, Pokeball drawn and ready to recall her with a squeeze of your hand.

Her ears flattened, eyes meeting yours. "Food," she said with a mewl.

"Monica, stop," you said, breathing sharply. "Now."

Your hand tightened on the Pokeball, your brows furrowed.

A scoff left Monica's lips.

With a growled mewl, she let go of Diane, the nurse coughing and holding her throat. Monica didn't step back, however, looking down at her. "Food," she repeated. "Food Monica."

"Monica, no," you said, stepping closer to her, finding her sharp eyes trained on yours like lasers. "Diane no hurt Monica, apologize."

"Monica food, no Diane food," she replied, arms crossed. "Monica hunt, Monica bite, Monica food."

"No." You shook your head. "Monica kill no order," you replied, hiding the grimace as you tried to parse the idea through the limited vocabulary the feline was learning. "Monica bad, I ordered Diane to take Monica food."

"Take?" She blinked.

You whirled, placing an empty Pokeball on Diane's hand. "Take." You then snatched it off of her hands with a fast gesture, following by offering it to her. "Give." You watched as the nurse reached out and grabbed it.

"Take bad," the feline grumbled.

"Monica hurt Diane, Monica bad," you replied. "Apologize."

A deeper pout, the feline crossed her arms, grumbling. "Take bad."

"I ordered Diane take."

"Rick bad." She tapped her foot.

"You killed. No order kill. Monica kill. Diane no hurt Monica," you answered in turn, pressing her on to the back foot.

A loud scoffing sound; she turned away, becoming quiet for a very long second. You waited her out, seeing as she tried to peek at your expression and realizing you'd not relented. After another moment, she grumbled once more, her shoulders slumped. "Monica sorry," she sighed.

You felt a wave of relief run through you. You nodded. "Diane, bring out the bundle?"

The nurse let out a long quivering sigh. "Yes Master." She fiddled with something at the top of the metal box, and in a dim flash of blue, the bundle popped into existence right in front of the rod.

Monica had stepped towards it, but stopped as soon as she saw your scowl. "Monica food," she said with a whine. "Rick no eat Monica food. Succ no eat Monica food. Diane no eat Monica food."

"And Raven?" You quirked a brow.

She grimaced. "Monica give Raven Monica food," she said this while putting her hands very close together. "Monica eat Monica food." She added while holding a lot more apart.

Inhaling, you glanced at the nurse. "Store it up please."

As soon as it was gone the feline let out a yowl, stomping her foot. "Monica eat Monica food now!" She whined, crossing her arms dejectedly and stomping again.

"Later," you said.

She frowned at you. "Later?"

"Monica good? Monica eat Monica food," you declared. "Monica bad? Monica eat chow."

"Chow bleh." She stuck her tongue out and grimaced.

"It's not that bad." Now it was Diane's turn to pout. You looked at her, and she shrugged. "It's an acquired taste."

"And would you eat anything else if we had the money for it?"

Rolling her eyes, the nurse made a shooing notion. "Shouldn't we get going, Master? We have a long day ahead."

"Chow bleh," Monica repeated. "Monica eat Monica food."

"If Monica good," you replied, gesturing for her to follow as you moved to leave the room.

The feline looked at Diane as the nurse moved away from the box. Narrowing her eyes, she stepped closer to the metal box, sniffing it twice, pouting, and then following you out of the room. "Monica eat Monica food, later," she proclaimed as she moved to leave, giving the metal box one last suspicious look before you closed the door behind her.

You shrugged, moving to leave the pokecenter. "Diane, do you know where the whole tamer fight thing is?"

"Are you considering following Kiara's... proposal?" The nurse spoke with a measured tone, looking at you over her shoulder for a moment.

"Diane, I asked a question."

She immediately straightened up. "Yes, I know how to get to the fighting pits, Master."

"Lead the way, then," you nodded, taking a deep breath and a sigh. "And to answer your question, I want to see what we're dealing with before I make a decision." That made her relax a little, nodding a bit more emphatically this time. "By the way, when you meant 'Pokepack in a box'..."

"The pokepack is portable, it's original shape is like a backpack," she said. "It allows for ease of transport for up to two hundred kilograms. Though it cannot contain any pokeballs that have a pokegirl in it." A little moment of hesitation. "There's a special variant that allows for filled pokeballs, but those drain a lot of electricity. They're the ones police put pokegirls into when holding them in stasis."

"Wait, stasis... the one they put Monica into?"

"Yes," Diane nodded. "In stasis, the pokegirl doesn't degrade into a feral state, unlike when inside a Pokeball. For us it is like no time passed at all."

"Huh." You scratched your chin. "And the Pokeball preserves the pokegirl's physical state..." You tilted your head. "Could a Pokeball hold a pokegirl indefinitely?"

The nurse hesitated on her next step, shuddering. "Yes," she declared solemnly. "When a pokegirl does a truly heinous crime, they are sentenced to such a fate, trapped in their Pokeball, feral, forever."

"Do you know of any such case?"

Diane shook her head. "The only ones I know of were sentenced to one or several level 5s before being sold. For being trapped inside a Pokeball forever... the league would likely want to make a very big example out of you."

"Well, that's a morbid line of thought," you grimaced. "How long have pokeballs been around?"

"Since the war." The nurse let out a little sigh. "Yes, sometimes some have discovered pokegirls from the war, that had gone feral inside the Pokeball and remained trapped for hundreds of years. Some theorize the feral state was for Sukebe to be able to keep pokegirls contained in their pokeballs for indefinite amounts of time without fear of negative psychological consequences." She looked up to the clear blue sky. "Unfortunately, it seems that spending that much time devoid of stimulus... even while feral... does not bode well for one’s own mental health."

You had to sigh, scratching the side of your head as you touched the pokeballs on your belt. Kiara and Raven were currently stored in there, completely unable to break out. How easy might it be for you to just make sure they never came back out? Heck, you could have popped their pokeballs into a taming cycle in the pokecenter and they would've had nothing to stop you. You thought to Kiara; she had the power to quite literally fuck everyone into compliance. By the same token, you had the power to erase her mind with the click of a button or to bury her somewhere for her to go feral and spend eternity in darkness.

There were lines. If you did any of those things to any of the girls, then they'd know you could cross the line again but with them instead. If you fived a pokegirl because you didn't like her, then what would stop you from fiving any of the others for the exact same reason? Why should they avoid toeing the lines if you didn't?

Unspoken rules.

You were blind, moving around, trying to figure out where the boundaries lay. How many lines have you crossed? How many rules broken?

A little sigh.

"Don't worry, Master," Diane spoke up. "You can't be turned into a pokegirl with a loveball."

"What?" You shook your head. "No, it wasn't what I was thinking ab... wait, are there other ways?"

"Some pokegirls have poisons that can do it," she replied. "But they'd have to get over my dead body before I'd allow my Master to be turned into one."

"Sometimes I feel knowing too much is a curse too." Rubbing the bridge of your nose, you promised yourself your next reading priority would be figuring out which were these pokegirls Diane would 'put a stop to'.

 

---

 

As it turned out, Violet City was a bit of a hub of movement when it came to movement through the league. Everyone coming into the league from Indigo had to go through Violet unless they'd rather brave the wilds. It was also a good point to head towards Alazea and Ebony if you were coming from either Cherry or New Bark.

But there was another factor to take into account. Northeast of Violet City was the Thorn Mountains, a mountain range that was plagued with ferals; the farther from the city one went the likelier one would be to encounter rather dangerous things. So preparing was always a good idea.

That, at least, was the reason Diane used to explain why there were so many tamers in the "Fight Pits".

Your eyes roamed around the area that stood outside the north wall of the city. It was flattened land devoid of anything. The soil was practically untouched, neither concrete nor constructions decorated this area of land that was probably larger than New Bark town entirely. Within this place there were long lines painted into the soil, splitting the area into smaller chunks.

"Red is the limited fighting area." Diane pointed at the nearest zone as you were approaching. "If the fighters so much as set a foot out of the red, the fight ends there and then." The nearest red area was around a basketball court in size. There was a second line outside the red one, orange; it lay five meters away from red. "Orange is 'only pokegirls allowed', no human should step past orange or they risk being injured." Next, she pointed at the two yellow areas. "Tamer only."

"And white is for the warning that you're approaching an arena."

Diane nodded as you glanced; the proportions were of a "red" area (the size of a basketball court) contained within a white area roughly the size of a soccer field. Your eyes glanced around; you couldn't see a single area that wasn't under use right now. Though you did note there were several dozen pokegirls moving back and forth amongst the fields looking purposeful in their gait.

"Security." The nurse noticed your curiosity and answered.

Nodding, you moved towards the nearest field, making sure you remained only within the white line and looking inside. There was a male tamer at one end and what you figured to be a female one at the other. They'd been calling out orders to the pokegirls fighting inside, but by the looks of it, most of the decisions were changes in broad strategy rather than anything specific.

One of the girls fell and didn't get up, and the male tamer let out a curse and recalled her. The winning pokegirl limped her way to the female tamer, walking proudly with a very wide smile. Words were shared, and the pokegirl moved to sit on the ground next to the female tamer as she then pulled out the next pokegirl.

The redhead looked at her tamer, made a vague roll of her head and, after dropping her baggier clothes, headed towards the centre of the combat area. The male tamer scanned her, rubbed his chin, and released a new pokegirl.

Words were shared, and the pokegirl leaned in to kiss the young man before she began to strip.

"Why...?" You blinked.

"The red-head is probably a fire-type," Diane commented offhandedly. "Fighting against them will always get your clothes burned, so unless they're special, better just strip down.

"Wouldn't they get burned?" You wondered.

"Ah," Diane giggled, moving her hand for you to see, a slight greenish glow covered her fingers. "I think I explained once already, Master, but pokegirls can use their energy to make themselves harder to harm. This includes fire. It's harder to get burnt, and battle pokegirls are expected to be great at this."

"Huh." You'd been just about to settle down and begin watching when you heard the purring sound coming from your right.

You didn't move so much as you carefully glanced over your shoulder. Monica was slightly hunched over, her brows furrowed, eyes focused entirely on the nude pokegirl. Her body was tense.

"Monica, stay," you warned, grabbing her Pokeball and keeping it ready to recall her, just in case.

The feline didn't respond so much as give the barest of nods, her tail swishing slowly while her ears perked up.

Now feeling like you might have to keep an eye on Monica as well, you took a step back to make sure the feline remained within the corner of your vision while you glanced at the two pokegirls facing off. "Who do you figure will win?" You asked Diane casually.

"I'm not too sure, but the fire-girl seems cocky. If she's ranged then the moment the distance is closed in she's likely to lose."

At the shout of the male tamer, the fight appeared to begin, the muscular pokegirl exploding forward in a rush of movement, dust raising in her wake. Though she wasn't as fast as Monica, her running speed was nothing to scoff at. Everything appeared to go in slow motion; the red-head pokegirl unleashed a torrent of fire towards the incoming pokegirl, searing red flames that lit up the field. The fighting pokegirl barely altered course enough to sidestep the attack before continuing her rush forwards.

In the span of a single second, she was upon the redhead. The smaller pokegirl tried to move away but she wasn't fast enough, barely able to dodge the punch before it properly connected with her ribs. The attack was followed by a rotating roundhouse that was blocked, sending the fire-girl sprawling to the side and kicking up dust. Instantly she inhaled sharply, flames flickered at the edges of her lips. The punching pokegirl didn't bother to approach and instead backpedalled.

Barely in time.

Out of the redhead's mouth a sea of fire burst forward, spreading in every direction, yellow and orange; the heat could be felt against your face even at this distance. The muscular pokegirl had covered her face with her arms, dropping to the ground and slamming her fists into the dirt. A cloud of dust enveloped her, cutting her from sight.

The fire pokegirl had not bothered to approach, inhaling again, for longer this time. The pokegirl's hair shone brilliantly with light, the air around her appeared to shimmer with the heat. When she opened her mouth again it was with a deafening roar. This time the fire did not wash over the field like spreading oil, it rushed outwards like an explosion towards the cloud of dust. The pressure wave blew the dust away right before the fire hit.

"No!" Monica said with a growl. "Bad!"

What-?

For a split second, you saw there was no one there.

The next, the fire blinded you as it seared through the air and rose into the sky in a plume of smoke before it could reach the opposite end. The male tamer had to cover his face and duck slightly to avoid the glare and some of the heat.

When you managed to blink away the spots, you saw the fire girl stumbling slightly, frowning and looking towards where her enemy should have been.

"Where is she?" You wondered.

"RUN!" You heard the female shout.

But just as she had the earth beneath the redhead exploded upwards, making her stumble backwards. That was all it took; the pokegirl that had come out of the dirt as if from a horror movie had grabbed the fire-pokegirl's leg, and just like that, you knew the battle was over.

The shriek as the redhead was arched over the naked pokegirl was followed with a solid 'thud' that knocked the air right out of her. The next thing the muscular pokegirl did was yank at the ankle and use her other arm to deliver a blow to the pokegirl's knee using her elbow. The 'crunch' was heard loudly; your knees felt weak. The fire pokegirl shrieked, kicking at her opponent with her good leg and unleashing a burst of flames from her hands, but not before the other pokegirl had managed to deliver a blow to the same leg once more.

This time, the fire hit the fighter in full but it paled in comparison to the previous attacks. Apparently, it hadn't even been enough for her to let go, reaching out for the good leg and landing one more blow before moving back underground. With both legs broken, and blood emerging out of the left leg where the bone poked out of the skin, the redhead whimpered, trying to crawl away from the hole.

She was recalled, and you let out a slight sigh of relief.

Though not before noticing Monica as she frowned. Slowly, the feline outstretched her left arm, making a motion as if to grasp at something, and as she did, she moved her right hand to her cheek and drew a large downwards circle with her elbow. It was during the second repetition of this gesture that you realized she'd been imitating the move she'd seen the fighter use during the battle.

Blinking, you watched her repeat the gesture twice more before trying with her left elbow, frowning, and appearing dissatisfied as she shook her head.

"Rick." She turned towards you, pointing towards the muscular pokegirl as she came out of the ground and began dusting herself of. "Rick, new word."

"New word?" You asked.

"Bite," she said, snapping her jaws, but pointing at the other pokegirl. "Bite." She then proceeded to repeat the elbow blow. "Bite." She then touched her left arm with the right one, leaving angry scratches in the wake of her claws.

"Ah..." You scratched your cheek. "Fight."

"Fight?"

You approached, raising your fists slowly and, very slowly, tapping her stomach before drawing the hand back in a mock boxer's pose. The next one was a little faster, but no more than a little tap. "Right fight Monica," you declared, reaching out to lay the barest of taps against her chin.

Monica blinked, nodding. Her hands snapped out, grabbing both your wrists, and following it with a pounce that knocked you onto your ass. She straddled your chest as she pressed her finger against your throat. "New word?"

"Monica win," you said, forcing the words past the wild beat in your chest. "Rick lose."

A little nod again, she moved to get off of your chest and helped you stand up. Her attention turned to a very nervous looking Diane. "Monica fight Diane," she said.

The nurse's eyes widened as Monica pounced her this time. You were just about to reach for the Pokeball when you noted Monica had pinned her very much the same way she had you.

With one exception.

At some point, the nurse had pulled the knife out of her pocket and had attempted to stab Monica. The feline had stopped the blade with her bare hand while the other pressed against the nurse's chest. "Monica win, Diane lose."

Diane growled at that, a deep scowl as the feral said this. "Diane win," she said, pressing her hand against Monica's chest, a light glow starting to emerge out of her fingers. "Monica stop, or I will hurt you."

And in that instant, you remembered your first breakfast with her, her words of severed spines. "Diane, don't," you stated quickly. "Whatever it is you're thinking of doing, don't."

With a startled gasp, she turned towards you. "She attacked me first." Her knife-wielding hand was still struggling against Monica's grip.

Her words brought about a frown out of you. "Would you rather Monica take you seriously?"

That made Diane hesitate, sighing. "Diane lose, Monica win," she declared, watching the feline nod, though not without looking at you and then at her with pursed lips.

"New words?"

"Later." You moved to recall her, sighing deeply and rubbing the bridge of your nose.

The nurse stood up, dusting herself off as she looked at you. "Why did you want me to concede, Master? I am the alpha, Monica should know to respect my authority."

With a deep breath, you steadied yourself. "And you're not Monica, so making yourself be respected with violence will only beckon more of it if any wished to challenge your position," you replied sternly. "You can't win in a serious fight and we both know it." You closed your eyes, the lines, the unspoken rules. "You can only be rude once."

"What?"

"You can only be rude once," you said, glancing at the two tamers as they approached one another, shaking hands. Your focus returned to the nurse. "Look, if you are nice to someone and then rude, they won't expect the rudeness, but any niceness after it will be tainted because they will expect you to be rude." You gestured at your Pokeball. "Your ability to seriously hurt Monica, if you used it on her, she will never lower her guard around you ever again. You would not have another chance."

The nurse blinked, eyes widening. "If I must use it, then I better make it count."

"Exactly." You felt your shoulders sag a little as you nodded. "I'm going to pull her out now, and you're going to ask for an apology, the normal way." Your eyes glanced around. "Then I'll get Kiara and Raven out, I think I've seen enough."

"What's the plan, Master?"

"Well, I'm going to try and see how Kiara's proposal might work itself out," you muttered, scratching your chin. "Do you have any thoughts to share before I let her out?"

"I think it is a bad thing to do, Master, scamming other hardworking tamers..."

"Duly noted," you said with a slight nod. "I don't intend to leave them penniless or anything like that, I just want a handful of easy fights to get some spending money."

"If it's only that, Master..." Diane hesitated but nodded.

 

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Dex Entry of the day: Baroness -- [Original Image Source: Couldn't find it :( ]

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