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The Sablenite? Salieri thought about it, then covered her face with her palm. "His girlfriend has a Sableye, it's gotta be for her. There's no way he'll stop looking for it, he'd do anything for that woman-hey!"

"Cops," Math told her while pushing on her back, directing her to the nearest usable door. He unlocked the apartment building with the Magic Door Key. "You guys dealt with the questions yesterday, right? This pirate guy is tearing stuff up, we don't have time for red tape. I'll talk to the police and you guys can work on whatever comes next." He opened the door, which now led to a hallway in Shalour City's Pokémon Center.

Earlier Matheson had only been interested in Skarada because Sal said he was a pirate king and because he enjoyed helping her. Now Salieri thought of yesterday, when Matheson investigated an explosion in order to defend Kalosians from threats unknown because it was his noble duty. His ethics were admirably consistent. As she was reminded of why she was attracted to his personality, for a second she thought about how she was not good enough for him.

"C'mon. They're almost here," he said to them both, holding open the door. "I'll call you when I can."
"Okay." Sal put a hand on his cheek, trying to be tender. He accepted it, but she could sense his tension. She knew he didn't think of her the same way as before. "Thanks."

He nodded and she walked through, waiting on Zack to do the same.

Matheson looked up and away, thinking of the implications. "Merde, you're right." It wasn't the first time the thought had crossed his mind, but it was the first time there were two concrete examples of bad guys he had met who would abuse that power. "You're so right. Yeah, I'll be extra careful. You too."

He'd wait for Zack to go all the way through before he'd close the door and it would go back to normal. As police cruisers rolled down the street, Matheson popped one of his OID meds. He'd need his full concentration today.

The snowflakes that had fallen before were already melted. Matheson had never seen that kind of portal before. He wondered why the Pirate King would need something so big and slow when he had a Gardevoir to Teleport with. Something like that would only be more useful for multiple warp targets, or one really big one-

Math's eyes went wide. "Ohhhhh I think I get it now."

Airship Fishbone

Water Pokémon were at work putting the fire out on the deck of Skarada's airship while the doctors onboard went to work treating the damaged pirates and Pokémon. Skarada was already storming off to the edge of the deck, where Erin stood looking out at the sea of clouds they flew in. "Thanks for the save, love."

Erin smiled and grabbed one of his hands, pulling him closer. "Bad field trip? You look nonplussed," she asked in a tired voice, having recently woke from a nap.
Ska sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and putting a hand up to her very pregnant belly. He swore he could feel their child kicking inside, ready to see the world. "The Sablenite's either in the ocean or in the Tower."
"The ocean?" Erin asked, more alert. This baby had been ******** with her mood for months, so she tried not to jump to negative conclusions. "That's a big place."
"The ocean around the tower. Small search zone, we can scan it within the day." Ska rest his head on her shoulder, and she put a hand on his hat. "But we're still closer than ever, Erin, we're in a good place...I ran into Salieri."
"I figured as much." Erin sighed. "How'd that go?"
"She's about the same as ever. I told her about 241's trainer, that gave her some good food for thought. And I nabbed this."

Skarada separated himself from his wife to show her the Pokédex he had taken. Since he nabbed Ivan, the AI hadn't shut up, first citing an 'Emergency Code Activation' before listing off a string of numbers and letters so long that Ska eventually just lowered the volume. It seemed that program had run its course, because now the Dex said nothing and the screen was black. "Got her Dex."
"Hmm." Erin took it, and twirled it in her hand. "Souvenir?"
"Only the best for you."

They shared a quick kiss. "C'mon, love," she said, dragging him by the hand. "You need a sitdown. Let's go listen to a vinyl."

Shalour Pokémon Center

Salieri and Zack were now alone in the hallway. Sal gave Zack a quick glance before looking away, arms crossed. "So what now?" she grumbled, simmering. "Zachary?"

"Fine. Did you go to the tower or what?" Sal asked joylessly, walking in the direction of the main counter.

"That he's still megalomaniacal. Nothing new." Salieri wasn't as quiet as Zack. She was too riled up to care. "So Jullien still wants to be the very best, like no one ever was? That doesn't get us any closer to the Darkhorse Hunters or Ratio or Team Flair." The web of this conspiracy was growing too out of hand for her taste. She needed a tangible target to decimate, some way to stop one of these problems at the source.

"What if we used the Sablenite to find Ska?" She would've added 'like you said before' but she didn't want to give Zack credit.

"Sergio can Mega Evolve? That's new." Skarada must have picked up new tricks in the past three and a half years, but there were some things that didn't change. "Keasbey doesn't actually stop time," Salieri explained. "Just your perception of time with Quash. He has to do it through your eyes. So just wear sunglasses, duh," she said with an eye roll as if it was supposed to be super obvious.

When he broached the subject of 241, Salieri stopped walking. She looked down. "She isn't supposed to be like that, she's..."

Soledad House, Eight Years Ago

"Ah-CHOO!"

Ten year old Salieri sniffled on the living room couch, red faced and grumpy. She didn't care if she got to skip school legitimately, the common cold wasn't worth it at all.

Her father walked in and put a hand to her forehead. "One more day and you'll be just fine," he assured her, retreating backwards as quickly as possible. "You're getting better."
"You won't even get near me," Sal pouted, her voice warped by mucus.
"I still love you, but, uh. Ehhhhh."
"You said you never get sick!"
Arnaud shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. "I lied."

"Have no fear!" Moze announced. The preteen entered with his Ralts, who was wearing an empty fishbowl as a helmet. "Prou is here! And she's sneeze proof." He rapped on the fishbowl as proof. Prou waved at Sal, who waved back. "You guys are gonna have fun, uh, watching TV."
"You need anything while I'm gone, call me okay?" Arnaud said. She nodded, and he blew her a kiss.

Sal charged up a sneeze, and before she could go through with it, Arnaud and Moze ran out of the house. She could hear her brother yell "Back, foul demon!" as he escaped her germs.

So she and Prou sat there flipping through channels until, miraculously, they found something awesome: an old kung fu movie with a guy in a yellow jumpsuit kicking a lot of a**. Salieri was into it, but Prou was on the edge of her seat, speechless. The Psychic must have been excited, because she could not help accidentally conveying her joy directly into Sal's brain. "So you like kung fu, huh?"

Prou nodded enthusiastically. Sal readjusted on the couch, having found something to brighten her day. "You know what would be awesome? If you learned kung fu!"

The Ralts was wary of the idea. "No, hear me out, no one would see it coming. And you can use your lasers and stuff up close and they'd be crazy strong and fast and you can be like-"

Sal stood up on the couch and made a brutal, shaking karate chop motion. "Hoo-HA!" she hollered, followed by a sneeze. "And then blow things up."

Prou watched, grinned, then stood on the couch too. She did a sloppy side kick. "Whah-cha!" she declared.

Sal began fist pumping and Prou jumped up and down, ecstatic at this proposal. "Oh yeah, this is gonna be so sweet, dude!" They high fived.

Shalour Pokémon Center, Present Day

"She's my friend."

Salieri got lost in the sentiment, letting it linger. Unwilling to show Zack any vulnerability, she hastily started walking again. "Skarada has a lot of tricks, but he's more than that too. He can actually battle. Knowing what his gimmicks are just helps even the playing field. Now if his girlfriend shows up to a fight, then we're in some real ******** trouble."

The Erin that Salieri remembered was as ruthless as she was cunning. Losing an arm in a war had only hampered her fighting ability, not her brutality. To say that Skarada was the tender half of the couple said a lot about his lover. Salieri wondered what she had been like with two arms, but never actually wanted to see for herself.

"They're a package deal, she'll fight with him as long as she can walk. I don't know why she wasn't here today." Sal groaned. She never enjoyed being the expositor but she had to fill a lot of people in on things in the last few days. "Maybe you wouldn't be so clueless if you weren't such a-"

That's when the Chatot flew in and came into her with Zack's face. Salieri did a double take between the bird and the connard. Was this some kind of bizarre ventriloquism prank? Immediately Sal thought about how stupid that sounded, but she had to ask:

"Is this some bizarre ventriloquism prank?" Sal looked the bird over, then gave him the finger. "******** off, ya little b***h."

"I'm the hack? You're the one who thought crows could stop time." Grumpy since she didn't already know what a Chatot was, Salieri took out her Pokédex. Or she would have, if it was in its arm cradle. "Hey, s**t bird. Pipe down before I make you," Sal ordered, officially getting in an argument with a parrot while she searched her belt bag. Ivan wasn't in there either.

Sal patted down her pockets, starting to get worried. "Uh-oh." She was too wrapped up in the consequences of being a Dex-less trainer in League season to notice if anything was behind her. "Mia's going to kill me."