by K J Harlow
Starry, Sophie and Crystal appeared.
“Ugh, we still in this shit hole?” Soph moaned.
“Soph, meet Suzy, your newest team member.” He looked pointedly at the dark/flying type. “Soph is the one I said could stand to learn a lot from you.”
Soph eyed Suzy’s wings. “Flyers for the win.”
Suzy laughed, giving an obligatory flap of her veiny bat wings. She then extended a hand to the silent Crystal, who took it and gave it a quick squeeze. She then turned to Starry. Instead of offering a handshake, she held both hands up, cupping them slightly, as if she was meaning to grab her breasts. Starlotte looked at it and something seemed to flicker and click in her eyes. She held her hands up in the same manner and touched hers to Suzy’s such that the tips of her fingers hung off the cave bat’s thumbs.
Suzy smiled knowingly, winking at Yoshi. “Welcome home, Celeste Sister.”
Starlotte’s eyes sparkled and she smiled wider than Yoshi had seen since… well since she became his girlfriend. “Hello, Celeste Sister.”
They turned to Yoshi in unison. “Before you ask…” Suzy pulled her fingers away from Starlotte’s, holding the shape of her hands. “This is a…”
“…hand.”
“It’s a C, you retard.” Soph then adopted the same shape of her hands, completing the greeting with Starlotte. “And this makes an S.”
“Ooh… Oh! C is for Celeste and S is for–”
“You have to speak reeeally slooowly to him, like this. Yoshi, do… you… want… to… play… in… the… sandpit?”
All the girls burst out laughing. Even the reserved Crystal cracked a smile and had to smother her mouth. Yoshi shook his head. No point getting worked up about it. His start as a girlfriend trainer wasn’t perfect and his team wasn’t perfect, but at least they got along, even if it was at his dignity’s expense. As much as he hated to admit it, Soph was fast appearing to be the glue who kept the girls together.
He sat down with a groan. How long had they been walking? With Flick as the only source of light, he had no way of knowing what time or what day it was. A quick check of his phone confirmed that it was past 10:30 at night. He had been in this cave for nearly six hours.
He disengaged ring #5 from his belt and held it up so that it was in line with the other five girlfriends’ who were chatting amongst themselves. Their basic stats hovered next to each of them, while the fallen Chippie’s also appeared but was slightly grayed out:
Name: Starlotte (Starry)
Level: 16
HP: 56/56
Name: Sophie (Soph)
Level: 15
HP: 42/61
Name: Felicity (Flick)
Level: 20
HP: 59/78
Name: Crystal
Level: 7
HP: 12/30
Name: Chippie
Level: 9
HP: 0/35
Name: Suzy (Suze)
Level: 11
HP: 26/36
Yoshi sighed, dismissing the stats. Felicity was right. It would have been better if Yoshi had taken the time to build a team early on, grinding with them slowly until they reached level 15 each before going any further. Now with no more Potions, one girlfriend down, two relatively lower-levelled ones and one who still couldn’t attack, he faced a predicament: could he last long enough in the Celeste Caverns until he found Tozuck? Or would he be forced to turn back to Onyx?
“Hey.” The girls stopped talking and looked down at him. He grunted as he got to his feet. “Now that we’re all acquainted, how are we feeling?”
They all said some version of “I’m fine,” or in Soph’s case, “Indestructi-fucking-able!”
“Alright, great. Now that we’ve got Suze on our team, we should be able to find my contact, give him what he needs, then move onto Sapphire.”
“What about seeing the Grand Stone?” Suze said. “Starry says that she wants to go and see it.”
Yoshi looked at his first girlfriend. With a Celeste Sister, she looked markedly more switched on, alert, and most importantly happier. “Do you remember what happened, Starry?”
She shook her head, blue hair swishing left and right. “No, but I do remember the Grand Stone. Maybe my sisters are there.”
Yoshi nodded. “Alright. We are going there as well then.” Hopefully they didn’t end up being at opposite ends of the caverns. “And Flick, how are your energy levels? Batteries not flat I hope.”
She shook her head, pulsing up to a level seven to prove it. Suzy squeaked, turning away and covering her eyes. “Sorry,” Flick said sheepishly. “I’ve got plenty more in the tank, don’t you worry.”
Yoshi nodded. “Perfect. Suze, lead the way.”
“Hm.” Suzy stopped walking.
“Hm?” Yoshi looked up from the broken Team Boom gun. He had pulled out the Digital Toolkit and had been fiddling with it for the last half an hour.
“I might be lost.” She said, hands on her hips. Yoshi stared at her, not saying anything. Felicity turned around, dialling her light down slightly. “I mean, I did say that I hadn’t been to the Grand Stone for a long time.”
“OK… so how sure are you that you’re lost?”
She mulled it over like she was swilling red wine in a glass. “65 percent?”
Yoshi resisted the urge to sigh. He dumped his bag on the ground, put the broken gun and part of the toolkit he had been using back in and swung his bag back up. “So what do you suggest we do now?”
She took slow steps towards him, tenting her black-nailed fingers in thought. “Well this is what I know. I found you in the Onyx part of the Caverns. The Grand Stone is near the Sapphire part.”
“How far is the Sapphire part of the Caverns from here?”
“That’s… what I don’t know. But,” she said smoothing her hound’s tooth miniskirt out, “I do know how to get back to my sisters.”
“Your sisters? Celeste Sisters?”
Suzy shook her head. “No. Every girlfriend in these caverns is a Celeste Sister. I’m talking about my actual sisters.” Seeing the blank look in Yoshi’s face, she elaborated. “Other Suzies.”
“Oh right. Why didn’t you say so?”
Felicity turned away, shaking her head.
“The one good thing about living in a colony is how quickly information can spread. If I ask a question to one of them, it spreads in minutes until the entire group knows. They can individually rack their brains and collectively provide me with an answer very quickly.”
“How big’s your colony?” Yoshi asked, curiosity piqued.
Suzy put her hands on her hips, staring out into space. “I don’t know, not that big. Maybe four, five thousand?”
Flick spluttered. “‘Not that big?’ I’m pretty sure the entire Onyx Lake only had 300 Felicities, maybe 500 max.”
“I’ve heard of colonies elsewhere in Ohno with bigger caves that have upwards of 100,000 Suzies.”
The three of them silently pondered this for a moment.
“So if it’s OK, I’ll lead you guys back there first and then–”
“Wait,” Yoshi said. “You kept saying that you were not like the other Suzies. Why are you going back to them for help now?”
Suzy blushed, turning around. “Just because I’m my own person, doesn’t mean I can’t ask for help from my sisters.” She sighed, dropped her head and turned back around. “Look just… drop it. The sooner we talk to them, the sooner we can find your guy and the sooner we can get out of the Caverns. Come on Flick.”
Yoshi knew when he had crossed the line, or when he was close to crossing it. He let the water-type and dark/flying-type walk ahead by a few yards before calling Starry out.
“Hey baby.” She raised an eyebrow, a small smile on her face. “How’s it going?”
“Good.” Her voice was firmer, stronger and surer. “Suze is nice, I like her.”
“She’s cool, isn’t she?” Yoshi let his eyes wander to the front where she led.
“I’m clo
ser to opening that door, Yoshi. Now that Suze is on our team, it’s like she’s standing on the other side, putting her hand through.”
“Good.” He abruptly stopped, pulled Starry towards him and kissed her deeply. It had seemed like ages ago that she had taken his first kiss. After losing his virginity to Felicity, followed by the night of animalistic lovemaking with Labby, he felt a lot more confident.
His right hand made its way down the back of her white jeans, cupping her tight, smooth ass. Not noticing what Yoshi and Starlotte were doing, the light grew fainter and fainter as Flick and Suze moved further and further away.
Not breaking lip contact, Yoshi’s other hand slipped up the front of Starlotte’s Cat Eyes top. He ran his fingers across her flat stomach and she tensed. Pausing for a moment, he continued his bold upwards assault, pushing his fingers into her skin and going under the wire of her bra. He cupped the rise of her right breast and tweaked her nipple. It was exactly like he imagined it to be: pert and becoming stiffer and stiffer between his thumb and finger.
She let out a moan, resting her head on his shoulder. “We shouldn’t… be doing this.”
Yoshi stopped, and reluctantly disentangled himself from his girlfriend. “Yeah, you’re right. Now’s not the time.”
Eyes half-closed with pleasure, she closed the distance he put between them. She cupped the back of his neck, pushing his face down into her lips. Her other hand rested on the mound that had formed below Yoshi’s waistband. She gripped the shaft through the fabric and gave it a few firm tugs.
She broke away, breath ragged. The girls ahead had stopped, calling out to them. “Coming,” Starry yelled, her voice echoing in the Caverns. “Coming,” she said, once more, quieter, deeper, only for her master to hear.
26
Mother-In-Law From Hell
“We’re almost there,” Suze said over her shoulder. She had to do this, otherwise Yoshi wouldn’t be able to hear her. The caverns now swallowed every noise and sound they made: conversation, their footsteps on the uneven stone floor, even Yoshi’s battle commands for his girlfriends when he fought wild ones. A low, constant hum pervaded the gargantuan, craggy chamber, building tension among the group.
The caverns seemed to stretch to infinity in every direction except below. Felicity had to dial her brightness up to about a seven just so they could expand their range of vision to about 20 yards. She took the lead, Suzy trailed behind by several feet and Yoshi and Starry brought up the rear.
Every time a wild girlfriend appeared, several things would happen: Yoshi would withdraw Suzy, Flick would run beyond the battle ring before the wild girlfriend wouldn’t engage her and Starry would run into it. Then Yoshi would withdraw Starry and either get his walking beacon to Water Slap the shit out of the opponent, or give Soph a chance to stretch her feathered arms. Suzy was too important to send into battle and Crystal needed some TLC, so they stayed unharmed.
Yoshi pulled up the full stats of his top three:
NAME: Starlotte (Starry)
LEVEL: 17
NATURE: Reserved
TYPE: Interstellar
ACC.: Cat Eyes Tee
HP: 59/59
- ATTACK: 18
- DEFENSE: 15
- SPCL ATTACK: 15
- SPCL DEFENSE: 19
- SPEED: 16
LEVEL: 17
MOVESET:
Gaze - Type: Normal - 30/30 PP (Lower defence by staring into opponent’s eyes, stun effect for 3 seconds.)
NAME: Sophie (Soph)
LEVEL: 16
NATURE: Bossy
TYPE: Flying
ACC.: Denim Jacket
HP: 33/62
- ATTACK: 21 (+2)
- DEFENSE: 15
- SPCL ATTACK: 15
- SPCL DEFENSE: 14
- SPEED: 21
LEVEL: 16
MOVESET:
Bird Run - Type: Flying - 21/35 PP (Run at foes and crash tackle them)
Sand Screen - Type: Normal - 35/40 PP (Lower accuracy by kicking and flapping sand up into opponent’s face)
Fell Swoop - Type: Flying - 14/20 PP (Launch up and dive at foe. 5% recoil damage)
Dagger Wing - Type: Steel - 13/15 PP (strike down foes with sharpened metallic wings [bird-kin only])
NAME: Felicity (Flick)
LEVEL: 21
NATURE: Playful
TYPE: Water
ACC.: Iridescentia
HP: 58/80
- ATTACK: 24
- DEFENSE: 20
- SPCL ATTACK: 24 (+2)
- SPCL DEFENSE: 18
- SPEED: 20
LEVEL: 21
MOVESET:
Water Slap - Type: Water - 14/35 PP (Deals a wet, punishing slap that has 20% chance of causing confusion)
Flash - Type: Normal - 23/40 PP (Produce blinding light that drops accuracy by 50%)
Water Barrier - Type: Water - 12/15 PP (produces a water barrier that sharply increases DEFENSE and SPCL DEFENSE. Lasts 2 turns.)
Yoshi cursed himself for not getting more Potions in town, dismissing the screens. “If we come across any more wild girlfriends, we escape.” For a second he wasn’t sure if his order fell on deaf ears. The brightness pulsed, signifying that Flick had heard him.
“Yes sir,” Suzy said, raising an arm, her response not containing an shred of sarcasm. Soph wouldn’t have been happy about the decision, but that was why she was in her ring.
Yoshi had come into the Caverns thinking that he would be in one end and out the other within a day. He pulled out his phone again. 00:01. There was still no sign of Tozuck. Was he in the Caverns at all? Had someone abducted him at the entrance and left his coat behind to create a false trail? Yoshi brushed the speculative thoughts aside. Not my problem if he’s missing… or dead. He threw a glance at Starry, fingers woven into his. Maybe that would mean that he wouldn’t have to give her back to Poke?
Wild Bridget appeared!
“Alright guys, you know the drill.”
Suzy zipped back into her ring, Flick jogged off to the side and Starry ran toward the cave mole. She was the fifth one that they had seen so far. Wish I’d gotten some more Empty Rings back in Onyx. No matter. As rare as she was, Yoshi would come back after he’d finished this damned mission and catch all the girlfriends that he’d missed out on.
Yoshi ran along the perimeter of the battle ring towards Felicity. “Starry, get back!” He aimed his ring at the interstellar-type and she flew back into it. “Flick, let’s get out of here!” Yoshi ran into the darkness ahead, the Shiny behind him. Hearing grinding sounds and dirt shifting rapidly, Yoshi looked back. Damn it, the cave mole wanted to fight!
“I can finish her off. Just one Water–”
“No, we run. I need to save your Power Points in case we need them later.” Flick nodded and silently followed her trainer.
Seconds later, the chase ended. Yoshi looked back again; the dirt trail ended abruptly, as if the Bridget had hit a wall under the dirt. “Ouch, that would’ve hurt.” He called Suzy out again. She appeared, her hands over her face, turning away from the Shiny.
“Girl, can you turn that down a bit?”
“Ask the boss,” Flick said, pointing a thumb at Yoshi. His head swelled but he didn’t let it show.
“Sorry Suze, I can’t see where we’re going. When we get out of here, I’ll get you a nice pair of sunglasses.”
The cave bat muttered inaudibly then turned away. She surveyed her surroundings. “We’re on track. Actually, can you guys hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Ssssh…”
Flick and Yoshi exchanged a look and became quiet. The dull hum continued in the background, but there was something else they could hear in the distance.
“It sounds like… chirping? But like from a thousand birds.” Flick said, furrowing her eyebrows.
“It reminds me of a move a ninja used in an anime I watched as a kid.” Yoshi had a faraway look in his face. “Can’t remember what it was called but it
was awesome. The guy would focus his chakra on his hand and blue electricity would crackle.”
Suzy sighed. “Yeah, when you get that many of us in the one place, we can sound a bit like birds.”
The closer they got to the noise, the stiffer Suzy got. Yoshi put his hands on her shoulders and pressed his thumbs in concentric circles around her shoulder blades. She jumped at his touch but eventually leaned back into it.
“Oooh, that’s nice.”
“Relax a bit. You’re just going in there to ask for directions and then we’ll be out of there.”
Suzy dropped her shoulders. “It’s not that simple.” She raised her head, pushed out her chest and nudged Yoshi’s hands off. “OK, I got this.”
They walked for another five minutes until they reached a rock formation that formed a natural wall, leaving a tall, narrow gap to walk through. The Suzy chirp-fest was deafening.
“You guys can wait outside,” Suzy yelled into Yoshi’s ear.
He shook his head. “We’ve come with you this far.”
Suzy’s gentle smile created a layer of warmth that temporarily blocked out the din. She nodded and they walked in together.
“Actually Flick, you’ll have to decrease your brightness. I’m OK with it, but most of my sisters will hate it.” Flick dialled down to about a four.
“Bit lower.”
Three.
“Bit more?”
Two.
“Just a teeny bit more?”
Yoshi could just make out Flick’s pink hair through the darkness. He felt her looking at him and he nodded.
She dialled down to the lowest level, her body glowing faintly as if she had pale yellow, fluorescent paint all over her body.
Suze gave her a thumbs up. “Perfect. That shouldn’t attract their attention.” She took another deep breath, then turned the corner. Flick went in after her with Yoshi trailing behind.
Mother of Frank.
Yoshi had tried to imagine a cave full of 5,000 Suzies on the way in. He thought he wouldn’t be far off. He was.
He clamped his hands over his ears but that didn’t stop the din penetrating his mind. He bumped into Flick, who also had her hands over her ears. Yoshi followed her line of sight up. A swarming mass the size of a football stadium undulated and rippled above. Some of the Suzies hung upside down, their eyes shut. How they slept, he would never know. Most clung onto stalactites pointing towards the ground, yelling at their neighbor despite being only a few feet apart from them.
