Chapter Text
Our heartfelt reunion felt somewhat one-sided as Hana hid behind Flu instead of leaping into my arms as I had hoped. As I stopped in my tracks, she looked back at me with a look of genuine confusion, and perhaps even some apprehension. I felt the excitement drain from my heart as if its bottom just dropped out and a thick molasses of dread filled that fresh void. The girl in front of me was unmistakably my former girlfriend, yet something had clearly gone wrong.
I looked to Flu, hoping for some kind of answer, and she must have seen how pitifully confused I looked, because she visibly steeled herself and drew in a deep breath before starting to explain.
“Hana was already like this by the time I got here.” She stopped there, thinking carefully about her next words. “She couldn’t take it- I mean, a lot of us can’t and- The other girls here clued me in. Level 5.”
Level 5 programming. While I had obviously never thresholded, I at least knew what that was. It was a last resort, but an option many threshold cases went with after they turned. No longer human, ripped from their families, and expected to be some tamer’s property, a lot of girls just wish to forget. They wish to start anew.
Hannah had apparently not been able to take it, and out of her shell came Hana.
While Flu and I talked over her, Hana looked back over to me with curiosity. With the familiarity and lack of caution from her friend, she gradually felt safe enough for her to approach. One step at a time, with curious eyes fixated on me, she approached me. One small cautious step after another until she was about an arm’s length from me.
“Hi, I’m Hana,” she paused a moment and cocked her head. “Did we know each other before?”
I nearly broke down in tears then and there. I pounced toward her and let all the emotions that had been pent up for a year and a half gush out. Finally in my arms, I squeezed her tight, never intending to ever let her go again.
“Yes!” I was almost surprised by how loudly I shouted. “Yes, we did!”
She nuzzled back into me and smiled. “You must have really missed me then.”
That smile, that bright and sunny smile made me start crying even harder as I held her even tighter. It was her alright, wiped or not. I held her there trying to get myself sorted. Somewhere in the back of my head, I worried I might have been crushing her, but Hana gave no complaints as we stood there. She even started to hug me back to comfort me.
I would have stood there frozen till the sun went down, and perhaps longer, but Flu didn’t seem to have that much patience for me.
“So what now Bee?” Flu stood by with her arms crossed. “What was you plan going to be when you found her? You’re not thinking of becoming a tamer are you?”
I hadn’t really thought about that. What even were my options after finding Hana? It’s not like I had a tamer’s license or anything. I still lived with my parents, and it wasn’t like I even had my own life sorted when I got home. All I knew was that, with Hana in my arms again, I knew I could never let her go again.
I thought of Hanna staying in the ranch, some young tamer coming to claim her. Taking her away forever into the world to a life I will never be a part of. The idea scared me. It repulsed me.
I couldn’t leave her.
“I’ll take her as a pet.” I find myself saying the words without thinking initially, but once I said them, it seemed the most matter of fact due course of action. There was no other way.
“Alright then,” she soothed. “If you’re sure about this, we can get that sorted at the office.”
I nod, and it’s enough for Flu to be convinced I was probably not going to have a change of heart any time soon. She motions for us to come with her back to the office, and we attempt to follow.
The walk back to the office seems impossibly long, but it’s mostly because I’ve entangled myself to Hana and was refusing to let her go. Our awkward four-legged parade back attracted a few quizzical stares and was in practice less than ideal, but there was no letting her go at this point. Not until I knew we were safe.
Hana meanwhile didn’t seem to mind all that much, she nuzzled into me and purred, an overly-affectionate catgirl who was not at all aware of the storm of emotion and thoughts racing through my head. To her, I was a slightly over-affectionate woman about to take her to her next step in life. To her, this was just what was expected of her as a girl on the ranch.
We make it back to the office where Jodie had settled back into her regular routine, and she looks up at Flu with a curious look as she takes a glance at us.
“She found the girl she’s looking for,” Flu said.
“Seem’s like.” Jodie says looking amused from her desk. “She looking to buy her?”
Flu nods.
“She a tamer?”
“Actually, no, I was wondering if I could buy her as a pet.”
Jodie nodded along, wordlessly and pulls out some paperwork from her desk and passes them to me with a pen.
“First, take that test,” she says.
Once I take the pen from her hand, she’s back focusing on her desk, pulling together some additional forms and papers.
I look over the papers she gave me and quickly realize she’s misunderstood.
“Um, excuse me, but this is a tamer’s license test?”
“Yeah, just complete the test and we’ll get you set you right up.” Jodie says.
“But I’m not looking to be a tamer, I just want-” She cuts me off.
“Honey, I’m sure you don’t, but we’re a ranch, and out here, people only keep pokegirls if they’re tamers,” she said. “Trust me, the tamer test is easier than the pet license.”
It seemed like she would not take another word of protest from me, and I resigned myself to looking over the paper test.
In one sense, she was right. I had always heard the league was eager to hand a license over to just about anyone with a libido, but the test seemed to prove that theory right in spades. A multiple choice test asking only the most basic questions:
What should I do to avoid freezing to death at night if I don’t have shelter? (Build a fire, share body heat with your girls, duh).
What is a water type pokegirl weak to? (Electric types)
Circle where the clitoris is: (Right. There.)
What do you do in the event a particularly dangerous pokegirl confronting you? (Run away!).
I managed to fill out the multiple choice test in no time, although the questions assuming the tamer taking the test was male did point out how out of pocket I was. Still as Jodie looked over my answers with what looked like a cursory scan, she seemed to find nothing amiss, as she was just as quickly stamping the forms with her seal of approval.
Once finished, she set the papers aside and handed me some additional forms. Adoption forms, invoices, and a certificate to certify my standing as a tamer. She listed off everything quickly, but most of it went over my head.
As she worked, Flu stepped in. “She’s also taking me with her.”
Jodie and I both looked at her with a look of confusion.
“Look Bee, I know you’re thinking Hana’s your true love and all that, but you’re gonna need help with her. She’s gonna need help with you,” she argues.
“Flu, that’s not your place to assert,” Jodie snapped.
Flu looked back over to me. Her eyes seemed pleading. “Look, I get it. I know I’m imposing, but you know you could use my help. And well, if I could ever choose a tamer-”
“Pokegirls don’t choose their tamers Flu, this isn’t a shoujo manga,” Jodie said.
“Please.”
I look over to the three of them, my heart was beating fast. Flu did help me a lot, but what she was suggesting was that I take both her and Hana? That seemed like a lot, especially when I wasn’t planning to be a tamer in the first place.
“Look, I know I didn’t wipe my memories, but, again, please,” she said. Her eyes pleading. “I don’t want to be picked up by some random dick looking for adventure. Even if I’m just a pet to my former classmate, it’d be something. It would mean the world to me.”
She held out a hand toward us. I hesitantly took it and gave her a nod.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay,” she said back with a firm nod.
“Well, I guess those fairytales actually do end up happening once in a while,” Jodie said with a shrug. Without any further complaint, Jodie pulled out additional paperwork to sign for Flu.
As reality set in, I started to realize exactly what I had done and all that this will entail. I just bought two of my former classmates, and now they were my pets. Still, I felt like I was doing right by them. After all: Aside from Hana, Flu was and is a dear friend too.
We spend a few more minutes drafting and signing paper work. I pay for Hana and Flu using the money I had saved over the years for what could have been my education, and Jodie sells me on a room at the ranch to get acquainted with the two of them before I go on my way.
“You’ll need to tame them before heading home,” she insisted.
After all the paperwork was filed, I was handed all the basics. Two pokeballs for Hana and Flu, a pamphlet on basic wilderness survival skills and a Pokedex, although I stressed I wouldn’t be needing it. Jodie insisted I just take it and keep it around “for when I need it.” On top of it all, she handed me a key to a room in ranch’s guest quarters.
“Meals are a separate charge, but you’re welcome to stay here till tomorrow morning. Have fun you three,” she said with a practiced professional smile. “And Flu, I’ll miss you.”
Flu rolled her eyes as she waved the milktits off. Once we were out of the office, but perhaps not quite out of earshot, she muttered: “God, she is so fake with that customer service bullshit.”