Returning to the freshmen dorms, it was hard to believe that I’d moved out after only a week. It was reasonable, I supposed. I had three pokegirls now. But things were moving way too fast. I hoped that after tonight, they would start to calm down.

I knocked on the door, and it didn’t take long before I heard footsteps, and it swung open.

“Hey! You’re back! Forget your toothbrush or something?” The short brunette with the glasses asked. Marie.

In contrast to her bubbly exterior, her thoughts were more than slightly panicked.

“I’m looking for Yang. Is she around?”

“Oh. Yang. Right. She’s, uh…” “Uhhh…”

“Marie? Move.”

I must have put a bit too much emotion into my voice, because the small girl flinched and backed away from me. “Actually, you know what, I think Faye might have seen her. You should ask her. And you know also what? I think… I have some library books I need to return.”

“Call me up when you want to do more research together! We got some great data last time!” Marie said before dashing past me, anxiety radiating off of her. “Kay bye good luck nice seeing you!”

Just what had made her so nervous?

Back in the old new apartment, I headed towards Faye’s room. I brought my hand up to knock, but heard the doorknob start turning before I could, an unfamiliar girl standing on the other side.

“Oh… uh. Hey, Krimson. Feeling better?”

“Yeah. Lots. Uh… have we met?”

The girl’s blush spread from her nose to her cheeks. “A bit. I’m uh… y’know.”

“...Terry?” My eyes went wide.

“Yeah. Heh. Hey, Ben.”

“Now, now. To be clear, that’s Terri with a I now.” I heard Faye’s voice call out from inside the room.

“They sound exactly the same though.” Terry… Terri, sounded petulant. “Oh, whatever.”

“Whine about your new name later. We’ve got a guest! Invite him in,” Faye chirped.

“Yes, Mistress.” Terri dragged the words out reluctantly, then stepped back from the doorway. “Come in, come in. She’s been waiting for you.”

There was that uncomfortable stress Sabrina had talked about, radiating off of Terri, who seemed genuinely upset at the present state of events. A thick mix of frustration, humiliation… and arousal.

Stepping past her, I saw the inside of Faye and Yuna’s room for the first time. First thing I noticed, rather than having two loft beds on opposite side walls, there was a single, queen-sized bed against the window wall. Other than that, it looked much the same as my old room, with the two desks, dressers, and doorway leading to a private bathroom.

Second thing I noticed was Faye

Dressed in black, she had a cutoff sweater and tiny shorts over a transparent bodysuit, with a cutout in that tiny sweater to put what little cleavage she had on full display.

“Heyyy, Ben.” Like always, there was nothing but a void where her thoughts should be, completely invisible to my telepathic senses. And that cheshire smile she was wearing, she was definitely hiding something.

“Hey, Faye. Have you seen Yang around?” I was curious about whatever the hell had led to her new relationship with Terri, but that could wait for later.

“Yang? Let’s see… where did she run off to?” Faye tapped the side of her chin, pretending to think about it.

Terri’s thoughts had answered the question for me.

I turned towards the dresser, and there was a pokeball charger. Just like the one in my room, it had three pokeballs resting on it, one of them popped open. The other would be Yuna’s, and that meant the other was…

I started walking towards the charger. “Why is she being kept in a pokeball?”

Faye stepped in to block me. “Because… I caught her.”

“...what?”

Faye giggled, and there was a sinister hint to it. “I caught her. Fair and square. So she belongs to me.”

Terri silently fumed in the corner of the room, as far away from us as she could manage.

“Faye, what the hell is going on here? I thought Terri caught her?”

“Hey, hey. Calm down. We don’t want to start any fires in here, alright? Like I said. I caught her. It was as easy as could be though. You pushed her right up to the edge. I was just the feather that broke the camel’s back. You know how it is. It just takes a little… push.”

For the first time, I saw Faye’s eyes glowing with the same pink light I’d seen in Yang’s eyes during our fight. At the same time, I felt a wave of heat and lust hit me like a strong wind. My pulse surged and I could feel my cock stir. Behind me, I heard Terri cry out and fall to her knees.

“...c-cumming…!!” She squeaked out in her new, girlie voice. I didn’t take my eyes off of Faye though, and my psychic defenses were up now, blocking off the psychic wave of arousal for myself at least.

“You did the same with Yuna, so I figured I ought to just even the score. Besides, Yang is super cute, and I didn’t want anyone else to snatch away the low-hanging fruit.”

“Wait. No. I thought that Terri… she was on his team.”

I could almost hear the pieces clicking into place. One look at Terri filled in the gaps. I could hear the conversation playing on repeat inside her head as she stayed kneeling on the floor, leaning against the wall, hugging herself tight.

“She ain’t just immune to fire. It makes her stronger! He’s sweet on her too! He won’t be able to stand up to her, but I’ve got her seeing so much red she won’t even realize she’s pulverizing him until it's long over.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“I just want to see him lose. See how it feels to have his world turned upside down.”

“Wh-what if she’s not enough? I could still lose.”

“Well… you know what happens when someone loses in a big, public event like this. The shame. The pressure. I wouldn’t be surprised if you turn… which would give Ben first rights to you… and trust me, he’s the kind of guy who breaks his toys. But just in case, worst case scenario, I can give you some insurance.”

“Insurance?”

“Register me as your prospective owner. That way, if worse comes to worst and Ben corrupts you, at least you won’t have to be taking it doggy style from him.”

“I don’t know…”

I looked back at Faye, and that same playful smile she always had was there. “I… I thought we were friends.”

“Ben, Ben, Ben… is that what you think this place is? Some Hogwarts magic school where you’ll make friends, learn magic, and go on adventures?” Faye let out a theatrical sigh, then clapped a hand on my shoulder. “That’s not what PMU is about at all.”

I slapped her arm away. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

For the first time since I’d met her, Faye dropped her friendly smile, replacing it with a sneer full of contempt. “We’re not here to learn to control our powers, dummy. For every twenty students, just one trainer is going to graduate. The rest of us? They’ve got us corralled together in this prison so that when we do turn, they’ll have an easy time locking us in even smaller cages.”

One in twenty? That didn’t… sound great. But even so.

“That’s no excuse to be treating Yang like some kind of… some kind of weapon!”

“Of course she is!” Faye clenched her fists together, looking ready to throw a punch. “She’s a walking flamethrower full of raging hormones. You’re just lucky you’re fireproof or you’d have been barbecue by now. But then…” Her eyes narrowed as she stepped closer towards me, and I could see that she wasn’t just angry. She was upset, tears ready to spill. “She’s not nearly as dangerous as you. You… you corrupted my girlfriend into a pokegirl. Without even trying! So yeah! You’re a ticking time bomb, and I want to cut your wires. Is that so wrong!?”

“Yeah!? Kind of!?” I stepped back away from Faye, held up my hands. “I was put into a coma over that, and it’s…” Probably. “...not going to happen again. I’m just new to all of this. That’s no reason to try and turn me into some kind of monstergirl slave.”

“But Yuna deserves that!?” Faye had reached her boiling point, and she lunged towards me to attack. I clenched my own fists, but I didn’t raise my guard. I let her come and hammer her fists onto my chest, beating one then the other against me. She wasn’t extra fast and strong like so many of the other women I’d met. I could barely feel those tiny fists on my chest. “She was… she is my best friend! And now she’s property, nothing but…”

Faye’s voice choked and she backed away. Mascara was running down her cheeks, and that pink glow was back, brighter than before. I couldn’t feel anything though. Was she preparing some kind of attack? Probing at my defenses? Or…

I watched as her features smoothed out. One deep breath. And then there was the smile again. Faye used her forearm to wipe away her tears, then gave me the same bright, cheery smile she always had. “Sorry about that! Still processing things just a bit.”

“Did you… did you just use your Psychic powers on your own brain?”

She shrugged. “It’s not that hard, once you figure out the trick. And it helps me keep a clear head. Be rational about things. And I want to be rational right now, because I’ve got a proposal for you, Mr. Krimson.”

From everything Sabrina had told me, the idea of suppressing her emotions using psychic abilities… that couldn’t be healthy. But I had other things to deal with right now. “What do you mean?”

“Fact number one. You’re a big danger. To not just the students, but everyone. Your mom was a global threat, and your dad is on the government’s Do Not Engage list.” Faye held out one empty palm. “Fact number two. You like Yang. You want to be with her. You were certainly heated up about it at the duel, weren’t you?” Faye held out the other palm. “So, what’s the best solution where everyone wins?”

She brought her hands together and pushed. “Easy. You become my pokegirl. The threat you pose gets neutralized because you can be safely secured in a ball, and you and Yang can be together as my pets. Everyone wins. I was being rather roundabout about it with the whole Terri scheme, but you can see that it was always in everyone’s best interests, right?”

“You betray Yang’s trust, you go behind my back to try and corrupt me, and now you just want me to roll over? No. Of course not!” I looked at Terri, still on her knees. Yang and Yuna had been stuck inside their balls this whole time. “It was my mistake that transformed Yuna… but you’re the one treating everyone else like things to be owned and traded like slaves.”

There was a twitch in Faye’s eyes, so quick I nearly missed it.

“...well, can’t say I blame you for seeing things that way.” Faye said with a calm, playful smile. “But I’m done playing nice.”

Her eyes started glowing pink, and this time, the pressure was enough to throw me off my feet and slam me into the wall.