Taschmonchen Ch. 06

Author's Note: This one is prose, not sex.

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Stevie burst through the doors of the tiny photography studio, and saw the black-dressed woman sniggering over her fallen foes. The monchen was still laughing as they turned towards the sound of the newcomer.

"With you in my sight, I deploy my ultimate might!" Stevie yelled out loudly, throwing a hand forward.

Her monchen rolled their eyes dramatically, yawned and stepped forward snapping her fingers and blasting the floating verfolchen with a lightning bolt. "Boom."

The monchen yawned and stretched as the other dropped to the ground, seizing and shaking. She glanced back at Stevie, "Can I go back to bed, now?"

"Got to check on the people, Zilan." Stevie said in irritation, running over and sliding across the floor on her knees to land next to the innocent trainer.

He looked so sweet, out of things as he was. Which unfortunately probably meant he had a tad bit of brain damage happening. Getting knocked out is not something that should really happen to anyone. Not if they wanted to preserve the gooey thing inside their skulls.

"I summon the power of a healing pack!" Stevie said, thrusting a hand into the air.

Zilan rolled her eyes and put one into the proffered hand. Stevie slammed it down, but stopped just before impact to very gently place the cream-covered compress onto his forehead.

"What... What are you doing to Roter!?"

The two functioning people glanced over to the doorway, to find a whole group of people looking in. At the head of the pack was a furious looking trainer, who was being trailed by three monchen who looked as if they were terrified of their mistress.

Zilan stomped both her feet, spreading them and lifting her hands dramatically. They crackled with lightning, and the monchen sneered, "Try me, human. Just try me."

"Chill, Zilan. She probably knows the victims. We must be the heroes, remember? That means not attacking someone until you know they're to blame."

"They're humans. They deserve it." Zilan sneered.

The woman blinked, "Oh. Oh, Roter's always getting into shit. Uh... I'm Blauer. So... What happened here?"

"Your typical verfolchen haunting." Stevie shrugged and stood up, walking over and kneeling beside the weakened blitzchen. She tested the woman's pulse, counting it off in her head. "Don't worry about it. Once defeated, verfolchen tend to become... Possessive."

"Verfolchen... Exist?" Blauer stared at the paralysed woman.

Zilan let out a growl, an eye twitching, "Step. Back. Human."

"Zilan! Chill. That's an order." Stevie snapped, glaring, "Also, healing pack."

The donnchen stared at her, and then her bottom lip trembled, "You want to freaking heal the blitzchen?"

"They are all our sisters. Behave. You're embarrassing me." Stevie said with a hint of anger. Not that she actually felt any. She could never feel angry at Zilan.

The donnchen meekly handed her another medkit, before heading over to the downed blattchen, unbidden, and applying one by herself. Stevie couldn't help but beam with pride at that.

Then she applied her own gently to the blitzchen. The woman let out a weak little moan, shivering in the afterthrows of a rather private moment. It tended to happen, with a blitzchen's attacks. That was part of their magic.

The lightning blasts of a donnchen, on the other hand, were nothing but a weapon. Which was why they had been abused as weapons of war, before humanity had finally grown up and settled down.

Zilan had known that life. It was part of what made her so touchy, and rightly made her hate most humans. A lot of monchen too, but that was less well deserved.

Stevie helped the blitzchen sit up a little, and pulled a comb from her utility belt and began righting the hair of the confused and addled woman. She smiled at them and started to hum to herself.

Blauer coughed, "Eh... Sorry to interrupt but... Who are you, exactly? Will I be seeing you at the research centre?"

"That's Stevie." The police officer beside Blauer stated. "She's... Fairly well known around here. Professor Rita is an old acquaintance of Stevie. If she had known she was already trying to save the idiot on the floor, Rita would be here, herself."

"She's such a sweetie." Stevie grinned.

"So she could beat you into the ground." Vanessa continued.

Stevie shrugged, "Mmm. She loves me."

"Stevie here, is a criminal." Vanessa said angrily, "But... We have orders not to touch her. Last time someone tried, her donnchen levelled three city blocks to get her back."

Stevie winced, "She doesn't really listen to me when I ask her for restraint. I'm sorry. It's her PTSD. It makes her treat people badly."

Blauer stared, "Someone... The cops are scared to arrest?"

"There's thirteen of them, across the country." Vanessa said in surprise, "You've never heard of the Wicked Thirteen?"

The woman shook her head.

"One is in charge of Club Moonbound. That would be Orion." Vanessa explained, "He's... A real piece of work."

"Totally misunderstood." Stevie corrected, still brushing the blitzchen's hair. "Orion is a real sweetheart. He's just... A little focused on his research. Trying to break a hole in the walls of reality."

"That seems like a fucking bad thing!" Blauer exploded.

Vanessa shrugged, "All of them are above arrest. They really above the law, because... Their monchen are basically weapons of mass destruction."

Zilan snickered, "I like that description. I'm a weapon that gonna rain mass destruction down on anyone who goes near my Stevie."

Blauer blushed.

Stevie gave a hug to the blitzchen as they finally managed to wake up. Which was returned by the woman shoving her backwards and sparking angrily. "Who the fuck are you!?"

"She saved your life, whore!" Zilan yelled shoving the blitzchen to the floor, hard enough her skull cracked on the wooden floor.

Stevie crossed her arms, "Zilan! We just healed her. Don't ruin my work. Behave yourself."

She turned to the others, "Sorry. Zilan's a bit on edge today. We ran into Club Moonbound in the forest. They... Weren't very nice. So Zilan is feeling a little bit overprotective."

Blauer nodded slowly, "Right."

"I'd stay to help out with these ones, but probably best I just take her somewhere else." Stevie said, and gave Blauer a quick hug, "Look me up, any time you need another trainer. Oh! And tell Rita that I still love her."

With that, she snapped her fingers and led Zilan out and into the city street. The donnchen immediately wrapped both hands around one of her arms and hugged in tightly. She was feeling nervous. Hadn't expected a fight inside the city limits.

Stevie squeezed her, "Verfolchen always are trouble, aren't they?"

"Am I?"

Both looked up at the floating monchen beside them. The woman's blank eyes looked down at them apologetically.

Stevie smiled and patted their leg, "It's your sense of humour. Not a lot of people understand it. Just a case of culture shock, really. People forget to give you the space to be yourself."

"I'm terrible." The verfolchen stared at the ground.

"My name is Stevie, and this is Zilan. What's your name?"

The woman took a deep breath inwards, "If I tell you... Will you be my mistress? Never leave me behind?"

"She already is. You're totally going to haunt her, if she rejects you." Zilan sneered.

Stevie smiled sweetly, "I never leave anyone behind."

"I don't have a name." The verfolchen whispered. "Everyone hates me."

"Hmm. Then... I suppose I best call you Jasper. Because you're an absolute treasure."

Zilan groaned, "Eugh. You're totally going to make me share a room with that thing, aren't you?"

"You'll be best friends in no time." Stevie grinned.

"Jas-per." The verfolchen said in disbelief.

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Disaster taken care of, Stevie headed for her original destination. She did want to visit the research centre, but that would be quite messy. The violence might affect bystanders, and that just wasn't something that Stevie was willing to let happen.

Instead, she headed by the bank and picked up a few credits. Then with that rather generous donation in her hand, she took her two companions down the street to the most exciting place in the entire city.

The city park.

As they were arriving, Jasper vanished. Hardly surprising. The monchen wouldn't exactly be used to public places. On the other hand, Zilan let out an excited squeal and raced over to the concrete circle that represented the fighting arena.

It was nothing impressive. That was part of the reason that Stevie had come back to the city. It deserved an actual stadium. However, her monchen wouldn't care so long as she got to play around a bit.

She sat down on the edge of the grass, leaning back on her wrists and bathing in the bright sun of the day. The other trainer took some insult at her apparent disinterest, and made the mistake of swearing at her.

Zilan took offence.

Stevie plucked a piece of grass, twiddling with it as she shaped it into a square. She didn't much feel like watching her monchen twiddle another into a monkey fist knot. Instead she shaped her grass until it was inside out and showing a hint of the metacoding of reality.

She had spent most of her life studying the metacoding. Most trainers didn't agree that it even existed. Rita had believed in the idea. Stevie had tried her best to teach the woman how to examine it, but the truth was that Rita just didn't have the skills.

Of course, no one had every skill. Rita was a fantastic dancer, and a better singer, whilst Stevie had no idea how to hold a tune. Not that it stopped her trying. She adored music.

She could tweak her own metacoding of course, but that felt much too like cheating for her to be comfortable with the thought.

"Would you like anything from the coffee cart?"

Stevie looked up at the innocent shopkeep, pushing his little coffee cart, and just trying to get by. Running a business in a city was never an easy thing. Especially when you could accidentally walk up to someone like Stevie.

The other Thirteen would probably take offence that he hadn't recognised them.

Stevie bounced to her feet, smiling broadly at him, "What have you got? I don't really do milk. Don't like the idea."

His warm smile captivated her instantly, giving her a glimpse into a heart full of kindness and admiration for his craft. His sandy blonde hair, tousled just enough to add to his rugged charm, matched the deep blue of his soulful eyes.

So very innocent.

"The most popular at the moment is the Sunrise Spark. It's made from a brew of roasted icatu beans." The man smiled broadly, "Roasted using the buzz cannon of a blitzchen, here in the city. Absolutely fresh."

She frowned, "Hmm. I don't think my donnchen would appreciate that. Bit on the jealous side of things. Anything prepped by human hands?"

"Well, in that case, I have some nova." He said brightly, "I prepared it myself, just yesterday. Nova has a bit more kick than most coffee. A hint of bitterness. Just two tokens a cup, though."

Stevie nodded, glancing back over to where Zilan was stomping on the head of a weak and innocent other monchen. She was dominating the arena, as she really ought to. "Sounds great."

As he prepared her coffee, she looked back over, and their eyes met, lingering for a moment longer than necessary. Stevie's heart fluttered, and a wave of excitement swept over her. She felt an undeniable pull towards this overly brave barista.

Their connection felt tangible, as though the universe had conspired to bring them together in this moment. Their hands brushed as she took the coffee, and she found a seat nearby.

Coffee in hand, Stevie sat comfortably, stealing glances at this stranger as he attended to other customers. She couldn't help but hope that this newfound meeting signified the beginning of an extraordinary adventure, one that only Eastre City could offer.

Stevie sipped her nova coffee, savouring the bitter taste. She gazed at the barista, her heart racing with anticipation. She couldn't explain it, but there was something about him that drew her in, something that made her feel alive.

Zilan upped her game, offering and taking on three other monchen at once. Even hesitating before she attacked, to give their trainers a chance to realise just how big a mistake they had just made.

Stevie continued to sip at her coffee, turning her eye to Zilan's movements. Just because she was winning, did not necessarily mean she was doing the best that she could do. Stevie was going to have to work on the monchen's footsteps. They had a small vulnerability, an unsteadiness that could be exploited by an expert.

Zilan was always overconfident. It was a problem... But it wasn't ill-earned either. She really was one of the most powerful monchen to have ever been born. Becoming one of the Thirteen and living above the law was hardly something to be snorted at.

Stevie finished her coffee, using the excuse to go back towards the barista. Using his rubbish disposal, as she walked over to him with a bounce in her step. She always felt so happy and light in Eastre.

"You don't seem to have a monchen helping you out." Stevie tried to open a conversation.

The man shrugged, "I've got a couple back home. They're a bit busy preparing beans for tomorrow. It's a busy business."

"Prepping beans? Then they'll be kuhchen, won't they?" She asked curiously.

He blinked, "Oh. You know about monchen? Afraid I'm not much of a trainer. I just make a few drinks. We never join in the arena, they're not the fighting kind."

All sense of smile dropped from Stevie's face.

Stevie lifted her hand to her lips and whistled. The man looked at her curiously, and then looked over in shock as the concrete circle that was the arena turned into broken debris, and all the monchen hit the ground.

The perpetrator skipped over lightly, grinning around proudly. Stevie rolled her jaw, and spoke simply, "He doesn't take care of his monchen."

"Give him a chance?" Zilan asked, glaring at the confused coffee cart operator.

"No."

Stevie turned around, putting her hands into her pockets as she walked away darkly. Her entire mood had turned sour in that one moment. She didn't feel any guilt about it, but the people who refused to give the monchen what they needed were racist pricks.

A monchen doesn't need exercise - they need a fight. It was a part of their very fabric. Just like humans become depressed and lost when they never see the sign, a monchen needs the rush of adrenaline that a fight brings. They need the reactions and the thinking that comes with it.

Zilan skipped up beside her, "Don't think too hard about it. There's always one like that."

"He had kuhchen. They'll need a trainer." Stevie replied, "Any chance you know where they are, Jasper?"

The verfolchen materialised with a shimmer, blank eyes looking out across the city. "There are a lot of kuhchen. Most of them alone."

"We are not saving them all." Zilan protested.

Stevie's face brightened just a little bit, "It... It is about time the damn industry got an upgrade. Learned to respect the ones who bring them the milk."

"Nooo..." Zilan moaned.

Jasper didn't say anything, just blinked her white eyes.

Stevie reached up and pulled on one of her elbows, stretching and loosening herself up. "You know, it wouldn't be right for you to do this fight, Zi. This is a human problem. We're the monsters, here. We should be the one to fix it."

"Fuck off." Zilan sneered, "As if I would ever let you get into a fight. You're not getting hurt, Stevie."

"I am adequate if we aim to remove the humans." Jasper offered hesitantly.

"Neither." Stevie snapped, "This one... Is mine. Besides... I'm pissed off. Someone needs to pay."

Zilan went white, "Yes, ma'am."

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