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Salieri threw a sarcastic smirk right back at Zack, then switched back to her confident one while taking out Ivan. A brief scan through her orange pokedex later, and she looked back at Helena.

“Your Abra doesn’t know any attacks, does it?" Sal inquired. It was a guess based on the pokemon’s dex entry, which was typed out in it’s standard academic manner rather than Ivan’s speech pattern. If she was wrong, it could be seen as a taunt. Either way, it didn’t matter much to her proposal.

Salieri reached into her beltbag and pulled out a small disc which she spun on her fingertips. “This is TM 57. It contains the move Charge Beam, an Electric attack that makes you stronger the more you use it. And before you ask,” she said, shifting her attention to Zack and back to Helena, “I found it when I trained in the Kalos Badlands."

Before she had done the bulk of her training in Orre, Sal routinely snuck into the badlands. The badlands were restricted to anyone without a travel tour or a sufficiently ranked trainer registration thanks to the rough climate. Mentioning you've been there would earn some looks, as long as you were speaking to people who understood that. Salieri wondered if these foreigners knew about the badlands at all.

"If you want, you can teach it to your Abra, right here right now.” She clutched the disc in her hand. “The catch is that someday, when you think you’re good enough, you have to battle me. With him.”

Sal looked to Loki. In other circumstances, she’d just prank the pokemon back for her revenge. But this way, she’d eventually get the battle she wanted. And if she won with this handicap, it’d be so much more rewarding than winning now. It was a long term goal.

“So you can swear on your title as a trainer that you’ll battle me in the future and learn this move now. Or you can try to learn it later, when you watch me win the pokemon league."

Her eyes shifted to Zack. Even though he was callous, she considered herself even with him. She tried to steal his book, she almost got arrested for it. It would’ve been a different story if he was a noble. Nevertheless, she did feel a desire to battle him someday. It would at least make the two lost hours of her afternoon worthwhile.

“I’m offering the same thing to you,” Sal said to Zack. “Take it or leave it.”

And then, she tacked on, “And call me Salieri.”

Zack held up a hand and shook his head, "Nah, I'm good."

"Better make it quick," Zack said. It was nearing five o'clock, and a fresh wave of trainers were flocking to Lumiose in time for the parade. He could see fliers darting in overhead; flying pokémon carrying their trainers on their backs, silhouetted against the clear blue sky. The sun's temper had waned by now, and it was merely warm rather than searing hot.

"The parade starts soon, and we've got some things to go over before then," he said to Helena. He expected the festivities to go on long into the night. If he was going to help his sister, he'd prefer there to be fewer distractions.

"I promise," Helena said and she reached out her hand to take the TM from Salieri.

Once Loki had been returned to his pokeball and taught Charge Beam, Helena would offer it back to Salieri.

"What are we going over?" she asked Zack as she turned toward him.

Salieri put the TM back in her bag. Zack revealed something more than what Salieri had expected about Helena, causing her to grin in a "I-knew-it" fashion.

With a click of her pokeball, Salieri's Horsea was released. Veillantif popped up and down energetically, staring with big curious eyes at that huuuuge bear over there, until Sal grabbed her by the head and pulled her up to eye level. "Dryer, Veillantif. Low setting."

Veil nodded, ready to make use of the most mundane utility Sal had trained her to use. By holding back the power of her Dragonbreath, Veil could unleash a warm gust like a hairdryer. The deviant trainer held her Horsea as such, drying down the rest of her clothes and body. It had taken many tries to make this ultimate drying technique a success, but as it's been said before, Salieri was a resilient girl.

“Was I right about your Abra? I totally was. Good thing I have TM 57, huh?” Sal wasn’t about to admit that none of her pokemon knew Charge Beam, but that was beside the point. She eyed Loki, and said to him, “I wonder if you'll bore me to sleep too. Do me a favor, and keep us both awake when we fight.”

The drying process was over, and Salieri returned Veillantif to her pokeball and looked at the siblings. It was a strange way to meet them, and a strange way to depart. Salieri felt like she had squared her main issue with Zack (even if she still thought he was a jerk), and had a guarantee to do so with Loki. So for her, a girl that thrived on revenge, it was good terms to leave on. And she had a weird, cosmic feeling she’d probably she them soon enough. Don’t get mad, get even…Good call, Moze.

“Enjoy your training, kids,” she said with a wave as she spun away on her heel, walking towards Lumiose City. A few steps later, she paused and half looked over her shoulder.

“On the streets, everyone pushes and shoves. It’s not worth watching the parade if you’re not somewhere high up.” Sal pointed upwards, as if her saying it wasn’t already obvious. “If you think you can handle the climb, the best spot is the top of the Prism Tower--”

Sal stopped, a little confused. She didn’t know why she gave them that advice, and she didn’t want to think too much on it. Maybe it was nice to have kids her age to talk to, and not just the children she looked after at the Gotengo. “C’mon, Dune.”

Sal kept walking away. Durendal looked back at the siblings, gave them a short apologetic bow for putting up with his trainer, and caught up to his trainer’s side.

Helena froze at the mention of her losses. Salieri, good or bad moments, was an energetic girl that demanded energy in return. So Helena had managed to take her mind off of it, for the most part, due to that.

Zack had dragged her back to reality where she offered Salieri a meek nod before she turned to Zack and waited for the girl to be out of earshot.

"Viola crushed me completely," she said. Then she took a deep breath and delved into the detailed. About how she couldn't even touch her Pokemon, how she fell for every trap and strategy and her own counters just seemed to make everything worse.

How she practically handed Viola her victory.

By the time she was done her eyes stared off into some far away place that wasn't Zack. Her hands were shoved into her pockets and she looked miserable. "So yeah, probably my fault for immediately taking on a gym leader."

Lumiose City – Magenta Plaza

Youngsters Anais and Carter stared up at the big graffiti in the alleyway. A freshly painted white flag had been put up over the former graffiti tag: a smiling sun. Anais pouted.

“Why did they put up a flag?”
“Cause that’s what they call him now, dummy,” Carter informed his friend. “Moze quit the pokemon league so they call him the White Flag.”
“Oh, okay…why a white flag?”
“Uh, I dunno. I think it means he gave up.”

Anais nodded. “Is the sun tag gone?” she asked. Moze had put his mark all over the city. This was the first time she had ever seen someone dare to deface it. Carter just shrugged.

“I sure hope Sal doesn’t find out about—“

The Youngsters practically jumped when they heard a throat clearing sound behind them. Salieri was right there, looking up at the white flag tag very sternly. Carter gulped.

“Hey Sal. We were, uh, lookin’ for you. Wanna go to Gotengo, watch the parade—“
“Beat it.”

The Youngsters nodded and scrambled away, leaving Sal alone in the alley. She whipped a can of red spray paint from her bag, and in one fluid motion, tagged a big red “X” over the white flag.

She’d come back later to reapply Moze’s tag. Until then, she had to see her father. And that was a lot of work in itself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Arnaud?”

Salieri crept into her dark home, Durendal at her side. She flicked on the lights. Of course, everything was how she left it. It always was.

Sal looked by the window, and sure enough, Banksy the Torkoal was still within her own shell. The spray painted tag of the smiling sun that was once vivid on the turtle’s shell was nearly worn away. It reminded Sal of the white flag tag in the alley.

“I’m home, you old man,” she said to nobody softly while walking through the small apartment. Sal grabbed a glass of water, went to the end of the hall and slowly pushed open the door to her father’s bedroom.

A picture of Arnaud, her father, rested on the nightstand. In this picture, nearly ten years old, he was a large, powerful looking man, aged with white hair that made him look wise like a wizard. On his lap sat little Salieri, who still had yet to receive her scar. Standing next to them was her brother Moze, but that part of the photo had been torn away.

On the bed next to the picture was present day Arnaud. His muscles had atrophied, leaving him skinny and weak. What was once a mane of hair that marked wisdom now looked unkempt and sickly. Dark circles hung under his eyes, but what was most perturbing was the purple scar on his forehead that resembled a ghostly flame.

At the sight of his daughter, he slowly tried to sit up. “Salieri, is that you?” he asked in a creaky voice. “It feels like it’s been ages. Where have you been?”

He began to cough, and Sal felt her throat go dry. She took a sip of water before handing the glass over to her father. “I was here this morning,” she answered, taking a seat on a chair at his bedside.

“You were?...yes, I remember now,” he lied with a weak smile. Sal gave him a weaker one in return. He took a sip of the water. Sal took the glass back and put it on the table. “I’m sorry I’m not as quick as I used to be.”

“It’s okay.”
“What’s Moze doing today?”

She felt a breath escape her. Moze’s absence was something he had remembered all this time, one of a handful of memories that had remained completely solid. Did he lose that memory too? How long will it be before he forgets who I am?

Sal looked away. “I haven’t seen him today.”
“Alright…” Arnaud sensed something was amiss. “Are you two getting along?”
“We’re doing fine,” she lied.
“Good good.” He reached out to stroke her face with a frail hand. She let him. “You’re a beautiful girl, you know that? Even when you look this tired.”
“I’m not tired, I just ran around a lot today.”
“You’re still a kid, Salieri. You don’t need to be so serious…ah, the sun is going down. I should make us dinner.”

He tried to sit up more, but was overcome with a violent coughing fit. Salieri jumped from her chair and eased him back into lying down. “I’ll make dinner, dad. What do you want to eat?”

“Oh, whatever you make. Surprise me.”
“You want brinner?”
“Brinner? What’s brinner?”
“…breakfast for dinner, duh.” She chuckled a little. That right there wasn’t part of his infliction. That was just her father being old fashioned and not used to slang. It felt nice to have moments like the old days.

He chuckled as well. “How am I supposed to know that? Do kids have nicknames for everything these days?”
Salieri cracked a genuine grin. “We weren’t around when you geezers made up the language. We gotta have our own words too.”
“So what about your name? Do you like your name?”
“Of course I like my name!” she told him, defensively. “I just want to make it my own. Gotta leave my mark on the world.”
“Well you have a whole lifetime to do that. You know, I get worried that you grow up too fast—“

Another coughing fit overcame him, this one more violent. Salieri’s whimsy faded as she got the water from the nightstand and held it to Arnaud.

When their eyes met, he became pleasantly surprised. “…Salieri, is that you? It feels like it’s been ages. Where have you been?”

She closed her eyes and exhaled, breath shaky. Then she forced a smile.

“I’ve been out, old man.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the living room, Durendal waited patiently for his trainer. She didn’t like seeing her father with other people around. He considered it luck that Arnaud remembered he was Salieri’s pokemon, or that he remembered what a Pawniard was. Dune couldn’t help but think of the dreadful day where Arnaud would forget who he was. He wondered if Sal’s father would think he was a little monster.

Dune heard the door to Arnaud’s bedroom open, then close. He heard Sal take a few steps before he heard her punch the wall. Hard.

A minute after, she walked into the living room, looking as energetically authoritative as ever. “Okay, gotta make brinner and then we can get a move on. Chop chop Dune, time is a factor.”

She walked to the kitchen area. Dune took note of the specks of bloody drywall on her knuckles, but decided not to mention it.

Half an hour later, breakfast for dinner was made and eaten between the two of them. Sal had left a plate of brinner in front of Banksy, which she knew the Torkoal would eat later when she was alone. Sal also put a full plate on Arnaud’s nightstand. Thankfully, he was sleeping when she walked in. It saved her from going through the ordeal of explaining herself again.

“Ready to go?” she asked Durendal. Her Pawniard nodded and followed her to the door. Before she stepped out, she asked as she always had, “Are you coming or not?”

And, per usual, the Torkoal didn’t respond. Dune walked out the door, expecting her trainer to do the same, but instead she lingered. Seeing Helena and Zack today brought back memories of her years with her brother, and it pissed her off. They used to be a team. Where was he now?

“I’m challenging Santalune Gym tomorrow. And when I win, I’ll start my league journey through Kalos…I’ll stop here once before I go west, but I won’t be back here for a while after that. You should come with us.”

Banksy didn’t move. Sal waited a few seconds, but still nothing. She clenched her hand into a fist, and grit her teeth. “Moze left you here,” Sal told her coldly. “Just like he left me. You won’t find him in here. When I find him out there, are you gonna be with me or not?”

Durendal could’ve sworn she saw the Torkoal’s shell wobble, but after that there was nothing. With a growl, Salieri stormed out of the house. “Stupid turtle…”

She was too agitated to notice the thin plumes of white smoke creep out from under the doorway behind her.