Catch All The Girlfriends! 2
Page 27
Yoshi turned his attention back to the slide. I could just go back the way I came… but then I’d be abandoning Arlif and Ai too…
SWISH!
A spear of ice zipped past Yoshi’s face, cutting his cheek. It clattered onto the lake and exploded into a thousand pieces.
“Damn it!” Yoshi said, turning around. Naseemas were running on the ice as if it were normal ground. Guess I don’t have much of a choice now.
Yoshi took a deep breath and pushed away from the dark-blue corner. Descending onto one knee, he brought his arms in. He accelerated towards the shallow lip that stuck out from the manhole in the lake.
At the top of the slide, he pulled his leg out from underneath himself and laid back.
“Hooooooooly shiiiiiiiiit!”
The slide corkscrewed, sending Yoshi around and around, faster and faster. The blur of blue mingled with the shards of light piercing the ceiling of the lake he had just spent the last hour sliding on top of.
Except he knew this wasn’t a lake. It was completely hollowed-out below the surface. What is this place?
“Aaaaaaargh!”
The slide bottomed out, then sharply curved up, shooting him into the air. He flailed around, not sure which way was up. As he finally got oriented, he had a couple thoughts: this is just like the first time I took the slide in Sapphire with a few key differences. Firstly, I’m not naked. Secondly, there isn’t a deep pool of water to take my fall.
34
The Man In The Coat
“Crystal go!”
The rock-type was released into mid-air. Thankfully, Yoshi timed it such that she only fell a few feet.
“Catch me!” he yelled, his voice echoing chaotically around the walls of ice.
Crystal looked up, her arms open wide. Yoshi twisted in the air like a demented cat, trying to get into an easier-to-catch position.
WHOOOMPH!
Miraculously he landed in her arms. She took several steps back before grinding to a halt.
“Holy crap, you caught–”
CRUNCH.
“–me.”
“Sorry,” Crystal said, not sounding very sorry. “You were heavy.”
Yoshi got up and dusted himself off. After making sure his nose was still in one piece, he inspected his rock-type:
NAME: Crystal
NATURE: Unflappable
TYPE: Rock
ACC.: NIL
LEVEL: 22
HP: 32/58
- ATTACK: 25
- DEFENCE: 33
- SPCL ATTACK: 28
- SPCL DEFENCE: 32
- SPEED: 19
MOVESET:
Boulder Punch - Type: Rock - 20/30 PP (Strike with a earth shattering force)
Charge - Type: Normal - 25/30 PP (Bide energy for two turns before unleashing it on the third. Deals triple SPCL
ATTACK)
Bone Fissure - Type: Rock - 15/20 PP (Strike critical areas on enemies’ bodies, halving ATTACK points until the end of the battle)
“Where are Ai and Arlif?”
“Mmmmmmrgggnggh…”
Yoshi and Crystal turned around.
“Arlif!” Yoshi ran toward the grass-type. “Don’t sit up too quickly.”
“My leg,” Arlif said, hissing in pain.
NAME: Lifee (Arlif)
NATURE: Playful
TYPE: Grass/Poison
ACC.: NIL
LEVEL: 20
HP: 40/72
- ATTACK: 23
- DEFENCE: 19
- SPCL ATTACK: 20
- SPCL DEFENCE: 18
- SPEED: 19
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.)
Shoulder Charge - Type: Normal - 30/30 PP (Ram foes with your shoulder)
Branch Swords - Type: Grass - 30/30 PP (Strikes up to five times with branches in each hand. Critical Hit percentage +10% for each successful strike).
Yoshi swung his bag down, rustled through it and pulled out a Potion. He administered it to his grass-type:
NAME: Lifee (Arlif)
LEVEL: 20
HP: 65/72
She gingerly pulled her leg towards her, flexing it slowly. “Thanks. Where are we?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Yoshi responded. Crystal and Arlif tensed, sensing a girlfriend coming from around the corner. They relaxed when they saw Ai bounding towards them.
NAME: Aion (Ai)
REL’SHIP: Daughter
NATURE: Vain
TYPE: Steel
ACC.: Carrot Top
LEVEL: 18
HP: 25/50
- ATTACK: 20
- DEFENCE: 28
- SPCL ATTACK: 21
- SPCL DEFENCE: 21
- SPEED: 21
MOVESET:
Shoulder Charge - Type: Normal - 19/30 PP (Ram foes with your shoulder)
Steel Heel - Type: Steel - 14/30 PP (Strike with the ball of your heel with enough force to break bones)
“Oh hi, Daddy. So you ended up following us down.”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
The gym bunny shrugged. “Thought you wanted to stay behind to look for Starry.”
Yoshi’s stomach dropped. “The Naseemas came soon after you came down. I would have been skewered by them if I stayed. Anyway,” he said, clearing his throat, “did you see anything up ahead?”
“Yeah, I think there might be a way out. It gets brighter as I walk through.”
Yoshi nodded. “Let’s get moving then. Flick, come out.”
The water-type appeared. For a split second, she was disoriented. When she realized she was still surrounded by ice, she whipped around to her trainer.
Yoshi jumped in before she could start protesting. “We’re in unknown territory. We might need your Water Barrier in case we get ambushed.”
Flick aborted her whinging and narrowed her eyes. “Fine. But when we get back to the cruise ship, no more blowjobs.”
The other girlfriends looked their trainer in unison; Ai gagged.
“I... OK.”
Flick walked at the front of the group, her Flash set on level 2. Her shivering made the shadows she cast along the wall ripple. Like the chamber they came through, the tunnel was hewn directly out of ice. Whoever built this tunnel must be ridiculously powerful. The path dipped then sloped up, opening out. Yoshi crouched as low as possible.
“Flick, turn off.”
“I’m not a damn torchlight,” she grumbled, before doing as her trainer said. Yoshi clung to the right wall and his girlfriends followed. The space in front was large, open and circular. Yoshi poked his head out and craned his neck up. Snow was falling through the top of the chamber several hundred feet up, gently floating down. That hole probably takes us back up to the surface. If only we could fly up…
He shook the image of Soph encased in an ice cube from his mind.
“Yoshi, look!” Arlif whispered.
Yoshi looked in the direction that his grass-type was pointing in. Towards the far end of the chamber were some blocks of ice, glistening in the weak sunlight that had broken through the ominous, gray clouds.
He squinted. “Wait, is that…?” The XXL down jacket couldn’t hide his girth. That’s Asshat!
The trainer with the wide load had come in from a tunnel at the opposite side of the chamber. He trudged over to the ice blocks and for several seconds, he did nothing but stare at them.
WHOOOOOOOOOOSH…
Something – no, someone – fell in through the hole and into the chamber. She was clad in brown and immediately fell into a crouching position. It was quite a distance to fall - around 30 feet - but the girlfriend didn’t seem to land heavily at all. Yoshi squinted at her but no stats appeared.
“Amber, Cash!”
Yoshi could just make out Asshat calling out his girlfriends’ names as he summoned them. The belly dancer and flaming feline appeared, automatic
ally standing close together in front of their trainer.
Yoshi’s eyes widened. Wait… that’s no girlfriend.
The ‘girlfriend’ slowly stood up, the coat unfurling over its tall form.
That hunched back… the long, grey hair… he’s the creep from the ship!
With his back turned to him and a hood over his head, Yoshi couldn’t see if it was really him. But he knew it was. He could feel it.
“You…” Asshat barked. Yoshi and his girlfriends inched forward ever-so-slightly out of the tunnel. “You’re that weird guy on the Cruisy McCruiseface.”
So Asshat saw him around too. And he also thinks he’s a weirdo.
The hooded man said nothing. Amber and Cash inched slightly closer together, shielding their trainer.
“You didn’t want to fight on the Battle Deck. What about now?” Asshat crossed his arms and smirked. “Or are you scared?”
The creep chuckled. The sound was so deep, its frequency so low it almost sounded… unhuman. Goosebumps rose on Yoshi’s skin.
“I don’t want to fight you and you don’t want to fight me.” He unfurled his coat. Going by Asshat’s perplexed reaction, the creep wasn’t flashing him. What was he showing him?
He closed his coat back up and Yoshi could hear the soft tinkling of a buckle sliding back into place. “Do you like my sculptures?” The creep’s question was soft and teasing.
“Sculptures?” Asshat asked. “You mean…” He turned around, looking at the blocks of ice. “You did that?”
“Do you like them?” the hooded man repeated, his voice pitching up. “Though, I must admit, I didn’t make them for you.”
“You sick fuck! Amber, Vulcan Kiss! Cash, Flame Cannon!”
The fire-types didn’t hesitate. In lockstep, they drew one foot back, took deep breaths and released plumes and balls of fire at the hooded man.
He leaped, using his hips to twist through the air. Amber’s surge of flames passed under him while Cash’s cannonballs soared over him, arcing flat and low, crashing a few feet away from Yoshi and his girlfriends.
Asshat stood there, stunned.
“Are you sure you want to continue along this path?” the hooded man asked. His question had a mocking lilt to it, like he knew what the result was, regardless of the answer Asshat chose.
The large trainer from Topaz refocused. “Perri, Saki, Cher, Maddie, go!”
NAME: Soara (Perri)
LEVEL: 30
HP: 73/98
NAME: Fumi (Saki)
LEVEL: 27
HP: 71/85
NAME: Suzy (Cher)
LEVEL: 25
HP: 58/78
NAME: Patricia (Maddie)
LEVEL: 23
HP: 40/69
One by one, the rest of his team came out. A flying-type, poison-type, dark/flying-type and electric-type… so this was his current team…
They looked around, the absence of the enemy girlfriends confusing them.
The hooded man heaved a deep sigh that seemed to vibrate in the walls themselves. “So you are then. Very well.”
His arms shot out, blue-gray clouds billowing out from his sleeves. Before Asshat could react, there was a wall of mist between his girlfriends and the hooded man. He dragged his arms out to his sides, spinning around, faster and faster.
What in Frank’s name is he doing? And how is he doing that?
In a few heartbeats, the fog had filled the entire chamber. The creep disappeared. Yoshi could hear Asshat’s girlfriends shuffling around, but otherwise not making a sound.
Without thinking, Yoshi climbed up the slight incline in the path and stepped into the chamber. Flick and Crystal followed him, staying on either side of him as he pressed himself into the wall, while Arlif and Ai lingered behind in the tunnel.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeergh!” A screech echoed through the room, followed by a heavy slump.
“Perri!” Asshat gasped.
“It’s best you withdraw her now,” the creep’s omnipresent voice boomed in the chamber. “That way, she won’t bleed to death.”
“What?” Asshat spat. “What did you do? Amber, Vulcan Kiss! Get rid of this damn mist!”
Red plumes lit up the room temporarily, eating through the mist. It was so thick that Yoshi could barely see it. He could just make out a blue beam shooting out, presumably to withdraw his flying-type.
“Aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
Another wail of pain, another slump.
“Cher!” That was Asshat’s strained voice now. “Amber, don’t stop using Vulcan Kiss!”
“The two flying-types are gone, lowest hanging fruit obviously. Ice is super effective against the winged ones after all.”
“Fight me like a man, you coward!” Asshat roared. His voice broke, betraying his fear. There was no response from the fog except for a chuckle.
Where was he? Yoshi pondered. Did he already know that I was in the same room as them? And what ice girlfriend was he using to attack Asshat’s?
“Saki, Maddie, Gas Out and Zap Armor! Get this bastard!”
Purple haze intermingled with the fog several yards away. A few paces to the left of the purple haze, a humanoid figure crackled with electricity. She walked around cautiously before yelping and falling, becoming stiff.
“Raaargh!” A big portion of the fog disappeared, revealing the robed man standing to the far right of the chamber. His hood had fallen back, locks of his long, gray hair flowing loose.
Maddie the electric-type was clutching her stomach where blood was dripping through her fingers, zap armor no longer crackling.
“Saki, gas him out!” Asshat barked. The poison-type ran towards him, toxic miasma streaming from the corners of her mouth. The gray-haired man lifted an arm. Right before Yoshi’s disbelieving eyes, particles of ice streamed towards his open palm, forming a long weapon with a point at the end of it.
Before Asshat’s jaw could hit the floor, the robed man threw the ice spear at his Fumi, striking her in the thigh. The blow was strong enough to bring her down. Seconds later, ice started forming around her being. Yoshi blinked and she was encased.
Fumi is frozen!
Asshat stared at his frozen girlfriend. “What in Frank’s name are you?” he murmured.
The robed man stood up to his full height, the rest of the fog melting away. He was easily six-foot-three, maybe taller. There was a hint of a smile playing on his thin lips as he considered the rotund trainer. His eyes flicked towards Yoshi. A fist clamped around Yoshi’s airways. He’s seen me.
He raised his arm to the air again. “I am the Convergence.” The spear of ice formed frighteningly quick in his hand. It pierced the air, passed Maddie on her knees, the frozen Saki and went straight towards Asshat’s chest.
Balls of fire burst out from the middle of the chamber. The spear of ice struck the center of the Flame Cannon ball and dissolved with an angry hiss.
He spun to the Cashardra, Asshat’s starter, cold eyes blazing with wrath. “Don’t interfere!” he roared. Yoshi blinked. The freak was in front of Cash, an ice spear rammed through the fire cat’s chest. With his hand still on the weapon, he threw a high kick at Amber standing dumbstruck next to Cash, uppercutting her. This sent her crashing into the wall 30 feet away. She slid the floor and moved no more. He snapped the shaft of the spear embedded in Cash off. She fell to her knees, eyes wide.
“Now,” he said, turning to Asshat. “You will make a good addition to my bait collection.”
From the snapped shaft, a fresh ice spear had formed. The robed man moved inhumanly fast, closing the distance between him and the stunned trainer. The tip of the weapon stopped a fraction of an inch away from Asshat’s nose. It trembled in the air, not going any further.
Everyone in the room who was still conscious stared at Asshat and the robed man. The two of them only had eyes for one person.
And that was the girlfriend who was standing in front of Asshat, gripping the shaft of freak’s ice spear with both hands, staring up def
iantly at the man in the coat.
35
Wild Angelika Appears!
Tension crackled between the eyes of the two people clutching onto the ice spear. They took no heed of Asshat, who had fallen onto his wide rump and was backing himself away towards the frozen people behind him.
The gray-haired man humphed. Then once more. Out of nowhere, he erupted into maniacal titters. The new girlfriend didn’t blink, eyes cool as she regarded the lunatic.
A lock of his silver hair fell across his face, all the way down to his chin. His hand dropped away from his weapon. “Angel! You came! You actually came! You–”
WHACK.
The shaft of the spear crunched into the side of his head with so much force that it shattered.
Frank’s balls! Yoshi knew that he was in danger, but he was far too riveted by what was unfolding before him to run away.
The tall man, stumbled sideways, hand where the shaft had impacted. “So much power!” he murmured, almost in reverence.
“And you’re not getting any more of it.” The girlfriend’s tone was soft, yet contained an edge so sharp the tall man shrunk back. She slapped her hands together in front of her with a loud crack. Flecks of ice whistled towards her, pulled from the cave itself. In seconds, they formed into a ten-by-ten grid of arrows, crafted in ice.
She threw her hands forward, as if casting seed into fertile soil. The arrows flew forward, maintaining their square formation towards the tall man. He leaped back, conjuring up another spear of ice. He waved it in a wide arc, destroying half of the arrows and deflecting another quarter. The remaining twenty or so struck various parts of him, sending him down to one knee.
“Arrrrgh!” He grunted in pain. “It seems I’ve underestimated the power you had left.” He pulled the arrows out of his arms, dashing them into the ground, then threw his coat into the air. “I will be back to claim the last of it.”
He was topless underneath the coat after all, but not bottomless. His back had remnants of several old scars. Yoshi only saw them for a moment before he unfurled wings of navy feathers that spanned ten feet across.