by KJ Harlow
“Flick!” Starry said, coughing. She shook her comrade’s arm. “Flick!” Starry conjured up her full stats:
NAME: Felicity (Flick)
NATURE: Playful
TYPE: Water
ACC.: Iridescentia
LEVEL: 23
HP: 0/82
- ATTACK: 21
- DEFENCE: 21
- SPCL ATTACK: 25 (+2)
- SPCL DEFENCE: 19
- SPEED: 21
MOVESET:
Water Slap - Type: Water - 9/35 PP (Deals a wet, punishing slap that has 20% chance of causing confusion)
Flash - Type: Normal - 37/40 PP (Produce blinding light that drops accuracy by 50%)
Water Barrier - Type: Water - 4/15 PP (produces a water barrier that sharply increases DEFENCE and SPCL DEFENCE. Lasts 2 turns.)
“Starry…”
Who was that? Starry could just hear the voice, now that the ringing was starting to subside. “Crystal!”
NAME: Crystal (Poisoned)
NATURE: Unflappable
TYPE: Rock
ACC.: NIL
LEVEL: 12
HP: 8/48
- ATTACK: 20
- DEFENCE: 26
- SPCL ATTACK: 21
- SPCL DEFENCE: 25
- SPEED: 12
MOVESET:
Boulder Punch - Type: Rock - 11/30 PP (Strike with a earth shattering force)
Charge - Type: Normal - 28/30 PP (Bide energy for two turns before unleashing it on the third. Deals triple SPCL
ATTACK)
“Don’t move, you’re poisoned.” Starry ordered. The rock-type was propped up against the wall, breathing labored. Arlif was at her side:
NAME: Lifee (Arlif)
NATURE: Playful
TYPE: Grass/Poison
ACC.: NIL
LEVEL: 16
HP: 0/63
- ATTACK: 19
- DEFENCE: 15
- SPCL ATTACK: 16
- SPCL DEFENCE: 16
- SPEED: 16
MOVESET:
Nettle Sting - Type: Poison - 4/25 PP (Fires poison barbs in one direction that secrete a venom of varying efficacy. 40% chance of Poison.)
Shoulder Charge - Type: Normal - 21/30 PP (Ram foes with your shoulder)
Where was Soph? Starry gripped the railing and pulled herself to her feet. There was angry shouting and torchlights shining through the hall.
“Where is my trainer?”
“Soph!” Starry tried in vain to bat away the yellow smog. It flowed around her hands but stubbornly clung to the air.
“Let him go and we’ll tell–”
“I’m not letting this bag of shit go until you tell me where my trainer is!”
Laughter. The trainer who had released Phix was laughing. Starry felt her way along the railing, stepped over fainted girlfriends and descended the stairs to the ground floor. Here, the visibility was better. Back up against the far wall was Soph. With nearly half her feathers gone, she looked savage. Her arms were in Dagger Wing form, held tight against Crocop’s neck.
“You are too late,” he said.
“Soph!” Starry shouted. She ran towards her before a hand grasped her wrist. She turned and looked down.
“Don’t.” Chester’s voice was weak. He had one leg out with nasty, white protrusions below the knee. Lyd was nowhere to be seen.
“What do you mean, ‘too late’?” Soph muttered.
“Oh don’t worry, your trainer is fine.” The man was wearing the same brown, pin-striped suit as when Starry saw him that day. “We’ve taken everything we need from him.”
“Where is he?” Soph pressed her blade against his neck and nicked open his neck. He hissed… in pleasure.
“Aaaaaah, pain. It’s been far too long.”
There was clamoring above, numerous feet tapping on the metal platform. “Police, nobody move!” Moments later, a dozen Labbies had flown down the stairs. The Team Boom grunts were in two minds about saving their boss or surrendering.
“Crocop, it’s over,” Labby #230 announced. “We know Team Boom is behind the kidnapping and illegal breeding. Hand yourself in and no one else gets hurt.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong,” Crocop said. “You see, the pain hasn’t even begun yet.” He grasped Soph’s Dagger Wings.
“What the-?”
“No!” #230 shouted.
Soph gasped. Her Dagger Wings morphed back into her feathered arms, covered with fresh blood. Crocop staggered free, blood spurting out of his jugular onto the floor. With a maniacal smile on his face, he walked towards Chester and Starry.
“Now, the hurt can truly beg–”
He gurgled, fell to his knees then his face, his last words drowning in the crimson that bled from his neck.
“For Frank’s sake, I’m fine!” Yoshi batted away the Labby’s hands. “Are my girlfriends OK?”
Labby #230 frowned. “Mr. Soysauce, nothing’s changed since the last time I checked. Three have fainted, two haven’t. They’ve been given Potions in the meantime. They’re all at Mr. Pampers but can’t be returned to you until they have been questioned by police.”
Yoshi sighed and cupped his forehead. A few yards away sitting in the back of another ambulance was Kell. Either he was delirious or genuinely in awe of the glamor of the Pink Light District.
“Yoshi?” He looked at the new face, non-plussed. His left leg was bound in a cast and he had leaned on a crutch. “You might not recognize me. Let me take off my hat…”
“Oh, you’re that guy who showed us how to use the slides.” Yoshi said. Chester ruffled out his green hair until it was standing straight up again and nodded. “So you helped my girlfriends find me. Thank you.”
“No sweat,” Chester responded, arms crossed. “It’s my duty to look after the people in this town.”
“So you’re not just another travelling trainer?” Yoshi probed.
“No. I’m…” he trailed off.
“Just tell him,” #230 said exasperatedly. “All trainers who come here will find out sooner or later. Don’t know why you make such a big deal about this.”
Yoshi raised an eyebrow.
“Ahem, right.” He looked Yoshi in the eye. “I’m Chester Arlington, the gym leader of the Sapphire Gym.”
“You’re the gym leader?” Yoshi blurted.
“Sssh, sssh. Yes.” #230 rolled her eyes and kept treating Yoshi. “Look, I just don’t want people to think I’m bragging or showing off. I didn’t have much choice in the matter.”
Yoshi nodded. So, I’m going to be taking on Chester…
“Anyway, just wanted to drop by and let you know that your girlfriends are fine. Soph’s a bit shaken up but the police have assured her that they are not going to press charges. Crocop’s body was taken to the coroner and I’ve already heard that they have determined that it was suicide.”
“So he used Soph’s Dagger Wings to slit his own throat?” Yoshi asked.
“His jugular specifically, but yes.” A shadow passed over Chester’s face. “Have the police questioned you yet?”
“They have, more than once.” Yoshi looked pointedly at Labby #230. She raised an eyebrow.
“What? It wasn’t me doing the interrogation,” she protested.
“Well you can tell them again and save me the effort. I gave a sperm sample at the Guild. As I was getting dressed, an Ava called Cava, who had also... extracted my sample knocked me out. I wake up and next thing I know, numerous girlfriends are grinding on top of me until I ejaculate inside them.”
“There was an incubation room there too,” Chester said in low tones. “Though there wasn’t much incubating going on.”
#230 stiffened. “I’ve only heard this from the forensics officers, but it looks like the girlfriends that you and Kell impregnated did lay fertilized eggs. Hundreds, they tell me. Most of them had been smashed. The foetuses were… thrown into a giant processor and chopped up. Excuse me.” The police dog turned away.
Chester
rested a comforting hand on her back. “Barbaric,” he growled. After half a minute, she turned back to face them. She smiled at Chester appreciatively, her face immediately becoming solemn after.
“We’ve arrested eight members of Team Boom. They have been co-operating. Six were grunts, two were lab technicians. According to them, you and Kell have some sort of rare genetic mutation that means that your offspring have enhanced stats.”
“What?” Yoshi said. “My… babies are born powered up?” Babies… man, that sounds weird.
“I don’t know,” #230 shrugged. “Our team is getting more information from them now. I’d imagine they’re also going to call in Professor Thorn for questioning.”
“Let us through!”
Yoshi jolted up. The red and blue siren lights combined with the gaudy signs of the PLD at night made it hard to see… not that he needed to. He knew his girlfriend’s voice from anywhere.
“Where is he?”
“Soph? Flick?” he called out.
“I’m sorry miss, but you can’t…”
Soph used Bird Run!
Yoshi hopped off the back of the ambulance. “I’m over he–”
CRASH.
“You fucking dickhead! Don’t disappear on us like that ever again!” Soph tightened her vice-like hug around her trainer.
“Soph…” he rasped.
“Ease up! What’ll happen if he thinks that you actually care about him?” Flick glowed orange-yellow, smiling at them.
“Ew,” she said, recoiling like Yoshi was covered in gooey snot.
I want to be the very best, like no one ever was…
“Excuse me.” Chester flipped his crutch to his other side, took his ringing phone out of his pocket then returned the crutch back to his right. “This is Chester…”
“Yoshi!” Starry ran forward, also embracing Yoshi.
He buried his nose in her hair, breathing in her scent before pulling away and kissing her lingeringly on the lips. “I missed you, missed you all,” he said, glancing at Crystal and Arlif who had just joined the group. “Thanks for looking for me.”
“It was Starry,” Crystal said, looking at the star mistress appreciatively. “She led us.”
“But you guys all backed me up. I couldn’t have done it without you,” the interstellar-type said, touching the rock-type’s shoulder.
“Starry’s right,” Yoshi nodded. “That’s exactly what I would have wanted you to do.”
“Did you find out why you were kidnapped in the first place?” Arlif asked. Yoshi took a moment to fill them in on what #230 had told him earlier. By the end, his girlfriends were looking at him strangely.
“If you want to make babies with me, that’ll have to wait. I’ve come in so many girlfriends I’m pretty sure I’ve used up my year’s supply. Ow!” Yoshi said, rubbing his arm ruefully. Soph shook her fist menacingly in his face.
“Chester helped us out a lot too,” Flick said.
“Yeah I heard.” He leaned in and his girlfriends followed. “He’s the Gym leader of Sapphire.”
“Wha–!?”
Yoshi slapped his hand over Soph’s mouth. “Sssssssh,” he said, looking over at him. He was a few yards away, back turned to them, speaking in hushed tones on his phone. “He doesn’t want people to know.”
Starry nodded slowly. That explains why people liked and respected him.
Seconds later, Chester made his way back to the group. It seemed like there were lines on his face that weren’t there before. “Sorry about that, what did I miss?”
“You’re the gym leader here?” Soph squawked.
Yoshi rubbed his temples. “Sorry, let the cat out of the bag.”
“That’s OK,” he said quietly.
“Is… everything OK?” Flick said, looking at his face with concern.
He was silent, rocking back and forth on his crutch absent-mindedly. “No, everything’s not OK.”
17
The Truth
“We should help him, Yoshi.”
NAME: Serenette (Starry)
NATURE: Reserved
TYPE: Interstellar
ACC.: Cat Eyes Tee
LEVEL: 23
HP: 73/73
- ATTACK: 23
- DEFENCE: 19
- SPCL ATTACK: 25
- SPCL DEFENCE: 24
- SPEED: 21
MOVESET:
Gaze - Type: Normal - 30/30 PP (Lower defence by staring into opponent’s eyes, stun effect for 3 seconds.
Siren Song - Type: Interstellar - 30/30 PP (Devastates foes with a hope-dashing song, 40% chance of confusion.)
Starry snapped her fingers in front of his face. A puff of stardust popped, scattering the stats Yoshi was gazing at.
“Hmmm?”
“Are you listening to me?”
He smiled stupidly, cradling his chin. “You look really good in a bikini.”
“Yoshi!”
He leaned back. “It’s not that I don’t want to. Chester said it was personal business and then disappeared.”
Flick floated in the The Dish, her breasts rested on her arms as she propped herself up. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have found you. He helped us access security footage, took us to the Pink Light District and fought Team Boom with us,” she said, counting off her fingers.
Yoshi pursed his lips, gazing out over the Big Dish. It was like the first day they arrived in Sapphire: the sun was hot and high in the sky, shining down on people bursting out of the numerous slides, striking a pose in mid-air before slow-mo replays appeared on the mega-screen. For some reason, the members of the public seemed more subdued today. They weren’t cheering (or jeering) as much as they did when Yoshi made his grand appearance. Then again, these people didn’t lose their swimmers in the slides.
“He really helped you guys out, I get it. Now that I know that he’s the leader at the Sapphire Gym, I know where to find him,” Yoshi pulled his legs out of the side of the pool, stood up and stretched. “Believe me, I intend to repay the favor. I just have to pick the moment. Now’s not the right time.”
It’s not the right time because we’re nowhere near ready to face him. Flick had already disappeared back below the water. Like a voluptuous pink-haired seal, He watched her shadow as she swum deeper and deeper:
NAME: Felicity (Flick)
NATURE: Playful
TYPE: Water
ACC.: Iridescentia
LEVEL: 25
HP: 87/87
- ATTACK: 23
- DEFENCE: 24
- SPCL ATTACK: 29 (+2)
- SPCL DEFENCE: 23
- SPEED: 24
MOVESET:
Water Slap - Type: Water - 35/35 PP (Deals a wet, punishing slap that has 20% chance of causing confusion)
Flash - Type: Normal - 40/40 PP (Produce blinding light that drops accuracy by 50%)
Water Barrier - Type: Water - 15/15 PP (produces a water barrier that sharply increases DEFENCE and SPCL DEFENCE. Lasts 2 turns.)
All five of his girlfriends had levelled up after the brawl against Crocop and Team Boom, which was pleasing. When he joked that he should let himself get kidnapped more often, the death stares he got made his balls shrivel up.
Train, save up more Coins, get a new GF-wiki, beat Chester, leave this crazy place. Yoshi nodded. As if the Celeste Caverns ordeal wasn’t enough.
“Heeeeere’s Sophie!”
Yoshi turned around. “Oh hey, you’re–”
WHACK.
Yoshi nursed the new bruise on his head. “What was that for?”
NAME: Sophie (Soph)
NATURE: Bossy
TYPE: Flying
ACC.: Sakura Speedrobe
LEVEL: 25
HP: 46/66
- ATTACK: 29
- DEFENCE: 23
- SPCL ATTACK: 21
- SPCL DEFENCE: 20
- SPEED: 30 (+3)
MOVESET:
Bird Run - Type: Flying - 10/35 PP (Run at foes and crash tackle them)
<
br /> Sand Screen - Type: Normal - 31/40 PP (Lower accuracy by kicking and flapping sand up into opponent’s face)
Fell Swoop - Type: Flying - 12/20 PP (Launch up and dive at foe. 5% recoil damage)
Dagger Wing - Type: Steel - 3/15 PP (strike down foes with sharpened metallic wings [bird-kin only])
The bird-kin snapped her beak happily. “Just proving to you that I did what I said I was gonna do.”
“You didn’t have to punch me in the head,” Yoshi said, rubbing the growing lump on his noggin.
“No skin off my beak.”
Yoshi grumbled then noticed his other two girlfriends behind the speckled bird-kin:
NAME: Crystal
NATURE: Unflappable
TYPE: Rock
ACC.: NIL
LEVEL: 18
HP: 56/56
- ATTACK: 21
- DEFENCE: 29
- SPCL ATTACK: 24
- SPCL DEFENCE: 28
- SPEED: 15
MOVESET:
Boulder Punch - Type: Rock - 30/30 PP (Strike with a earth shattering force)
Charge - Type: Normal - 30/30 PP (Bide energy for two turns before unleashing it on the third. Deals triple SPCL
ATTACK)
Bone Fissure - Type: Rock - 20/20 PP (Strike critical areas on enemies’ bodies, halving ATTACK points until the end of the battle)
“You learned a new move, Crystal! Good job!” Yoshi hugged her around the shoulders. For a second, she looked flustered, before she smoothed her bleach blonde hair behind her ear, her cool demeanor returning.
“I did too!” Arlif squeaked.
“Really now?” Yoshi said. He gazed at the newest team member:
NAME: Lifee (Arlif)
NATURE: Playful
TYPE: Grass/Poison
ACC.: NIL
LEVEL: 19
HP: 70/70
- ATTACK: 21
- DEFENCE: 17
- SPCL ATTACK: 19
- SPCL DEFENCE: 17
- SPEED: 17
MOVESET:
Nettle Sting - Type: Poison - 25/25 PP (Fires poison barbs in one direction that secrete a venom of varying efficacy. 40% chance of Poison.)
