Welcome to Gaia! ::

Juliet exited the shop and walked hastily into the street, groaning when she was away from the shop windows. "You just accepted a date. With a teenager," Kallikrates hissed at her.
"I can't help how she feels. I made it clear that it's not a date. Just an appearance."
"I don't know how clearly she sees that."
"Then she'll be upset. I'm used to that. She'll learn and grow. In a sense, I'm doing her a favor."
"I believe the term the kids are using these days is queerbaiting."
"You don't know any kids."

Juliet stopped in front of an outdoor galette stand, dropped some cash on the counter, grabbed one of the pastries, and tossed it down to Kallikrates. The fox reflexively snatched it in her jaws and hunkered down to tear it apart. Even the wisest of Pokémon were still susceptible to animal hunger pangs. A galette would get Kalli to talk less for a few seconds. "Curse you and your distracting pastries."
"Knowing you, that could be a real curse." Juliet sat down on another bench and looked at the clouds. "I don't think it was that bad."
"Grrrrr." Kallikrates licked her lips and wiped some jam off her nose. "Debatable. Subjective. Up to you. I would rather not see you feel guilty."
"...I always feel guilty."
"Hrrm. Guiltier."

Coumarine Gym

The Gym had cleared up after Helena's match. Not many trainers scheduled their battles around lunchtime. Gym Leaders had more stamina than most trainers, but even they had to take breaks. And no Pokémon battled well on an empty stomach. Salieri could feel hers grumble slightly. She and Matheson were supposed to get lunch, before the news of the sponsorships had distracted her. Where was he?

She didn't have to look too far to answer that question. Outside of the bathrooms, Matheson was talking enthusiastically and gesticulating wildly in front of another girl. The blonde's long hair was braided, and the top of her head was adorned in a red bandanna. Sal gulped. Another girl. With a bandanna. And she was pretty.

Puffing up her chest and standing up straighter, Salieri approached them. Math saw her and waved her over. "Hey! I just ran into an old friend! Serendipity, huh? Alanza Taine, Salieri Soledad. Sal, Aly." He beamed, proud of a chance meeting. "I think you two actually have a lot in common."

The two women stopped what they were doing to look at each other. The full names registered to both of them. There could have been a hundred other people in the lobby, and Salieri would've only been able to pay attention to the one in front of her. Her throat ran dry. The surprise on her face twisted slowly into fury.

"What did he say...your name was?"

Her expression was mirrored in Alanza's own. The other bandanna girl's hands tightened into fists at her sides. "So you're Salieri Soledad, huh?"

Matheson looked between the two of them, not sure if it was something he said. They watched each other through narrow eyes, waiting for the other to make a move. Suddenly, he realized he was in the middle of a standoff. "Uhhh do you guys know each other, or-"

The break in tension was enough. Without warning, Salieri sprinted at Alanza, fist reared back before exploding forwards.

And Alanza had done the same.

BAM! BAM!

They both reeled backwards, shocked the other one had punched them in the face. Sal clicked her jaw. Unlike Faust, Alanza wasn't scrawny. She had some muscle on her. That punch hurt. "What the ******** dare you ******** with my best friend," Alanza growled, stepping forward again after she recovered. Matheson interceded, putting his bigger frame between the two girls. "Don't hold me back, Math!"
"Settle down, this has to be a misunderstanding-"
"You'd say that to me?" Salieri shrieked, and now Math had to hold them both back, one arm for each girl. He wouldn't keep them at bay for long. "After what you've done, you'd SAY THAT TO ME??"

They each stepped back, out from Matheson's guard, sidestepped him, and ran at each other again. Math stepped back too, reaching into his pocket and pulling out Metis. He pointed the Klefki at them both. "Fairy Lock!"

From the tip of the Klefki's pointed keyhead sprouted a series of pink glowing chains. Padlocks jangled form them as they stretched between the two girls, separating them with a wall of locked chains. Salieri touched the space between the chains, only to find an invisible barrier. The wall divided them now.

"Hey! HEY! Chill out!" Matheson yelled at both of them. He continued to hold up Metis. Fairy Lock didn't last for long normally. He had to sustain it to keep up the wall. "Talk it through. What's going on here?"

"Alanza Taine," Sal started, her breath heavy and seeping with venom with each word, "Is the trainer that stole my brother's badges. She's the Duelist."
"Who the hell are you talking about?" Alanza spat back bitterly.
"Don't act like you don't know! Mozart Soledad! YOU KNOW!"
Math gulped. "Sal, I know what this means to you. I've known Aly for years. She wouldn't do that."
"Yeah, that was me."

Sal's jaw slackened at the audacity of Alanza's casual confirmation, and Math looked shocked. She stepped closer to the barrier. "Your brother and I bet our badges on games. And I won. All of them. He was a hell of a trainer...but when he lost, he was just, so, pathetic."
"Moze wouldn't lose to you, no matter what! You're lying!"
"Believe what you want!" Alanza yelled back. "I don't owe you a damn thing! I never will!" She turned her head, blue eyes glinting like ice. "This is the tramp you've been seeing, Matheson? I've heard about her. She is a monster."
Salieri grabbed at the chains keeping her away from stomping Alanza into the curb. "I'll show you a monster."

"This..." Matheson's shoulders heaved. "This isn't something you can't work out." It didn't sound like he believed that.
"She's the thorn in Juliet's side, making her miserable. Our best friend. You'd keep company with that kind of beast, Math?"
"Juliet...Nostrad?" Salieri shook her head and pointed at Alanza. "I couldn't care less about her! Just you! I just want YOU!" She rattled the chains again. People were staring. Math held up a hand to them, as if to show that he had it under control. It wasn't convincing.

"You know what? I've been told not to ******** with you." Alanza let out a curt, mirthless laugh. "I've heard I shouldn't ******** with Salieri Soledad. And I'm starting to think that this time, I should go rogue. Show you what your brother couldn't handle."
"Aly, stop this. You're both making a scene," he pleaded.

The ticker above the entrance to the Gym proper lit up. It flashed Alanza's full name on top. Seeing that only made Salieri grind her teeth more. A vein bulged on her forehead. Alanza noticed the ticker too, and stepped closer to the barrier. The girls were inches apart, unable to get closer. "Kiiiiii," Metis strained. She couldn't hold the lock much longer.

"I don't work on your time. You work on mine. And I have a Gym Match." Alanza smirked, channeling bravado into her anger. "I'm having a party tonight. You show up, and we settle this. Same way I dealt with your brother."
Salieri's livid breath slowed, became sharp exhales in and out of her nose as she retained a modicum of control. "When and where?" she growled.
"Anistar City. 9 o'clock. There's a villa on the outskirts. You'll know where."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Good. Can't have a party without a guest of honor. Now you're mine."
"You wanna scrap on your own turf?" Now Salieri was smirking too, just as wickedly as the other girl. "It'd be my pleasure."
"No, Salieri. The pleasure is all mine."

The Fair Lock dissipated into a drizzle of pink sparkles. Matheson braced himself, ready to run in again. But Salieri and Alanza didn't attack again. They stood there, right in each other's faces. That's when Matheson saw it. Alanza was as incensed as he'd ever seen her, her frosty blue eyes competing with the glare of Salieri's blazing amber pound for pound.

Matheson had seen Salieri get just as angry as Alanza before. He had never seen her get like this. He could see that her fists were balled so tightly, her nails were cutting into her skin. It was as though the void inside her swallowed her whole, and releasing into the world around her. He wasn't sure how Alanza was holding her ground when he was ever so slightly scared. For the first time, he felt he actually understood that Salieri's rage was lived in. It was her home.

"Matheson," Alanza said, stepping back without taking her eyes off her foe. "You coming with me?"

Math heaved a heavy sigh. The decision's weight dropped his shoulders. He remembered when he had stitched up Salieri the day she fought Faust. What she told him she did. If she was left to her own devices again, there was no telling what she would do. This form of Salieri was an enigma to him.

"I came here with her, Alanza. I'm sorry."
"Figures. You got got, Math." Alanza started walking. "You got got." She looked over her shoulder at Salieri. "Be seeing you, Salieri."

Alanza disappeared into the shadows of the arena hall. Salieri's chest filled up. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out

Matheson approached Salieri cautiously, not knowing what to say. He had been learning that sometimes, the right thing to say was nothing. Instead, he reached into his pocket and handed her the Magic Door Key. Salieri took a long look up at him. The void receded in the wake of his gesture. Something in the back of her mind wanted to be released, emerge, and allow her to cry to him. "Ok. I'm ok." She held up the key and nodded to him. "I'm ok."
"I know you're not."
"...no. Not yet. But I swear, I will be."

She opened the closet next to them, wishing for Lumiose City, and headed through the door with Matheson.

Ben swiped the badge when it appeared with his left hand. That ending was pretty good. From the first move, he wasn't sure anyone could have seen that ending coming. "Thanks for the great match. Maybe I'll see you again." He returned Caboose with his right hand, which still distinctly was missing the middle and ring finger tips. "You did good Caboose." Okay that haiku thing was hard. Maybe stop trying to mimic that.

Where in that moment he felt like cheering and jumping up and down or something similar, instead he decided to keep calm and give a final smile to the arena before walking out. Did his best to make it a fond one too. Maybe people would like that.

The Psychic badge. Heh. He wasn't sure how they did it, but they had. Momentum really is pretty important in a fight like that, huh? Gotta keep that in mind. Next up he just had to deal with Bali, then talk to Mia, then... Oof. Sal. That was gonna be a talk too. But for the walk back to the training room, at least, he could let himself feel elated.

Route 12 - Farmhouse

Zack panted as he let Emily's unconscious body slouch to the floor, the flames rising around them as the once peaceful farmhouse charred and crackled. One of the beams ate through with flame and the ceiling around it collapsed. Zack pinched his brow, pulling sweat out of his eyes only for his hand to come away damp with blood. Whose blood, he wasn't sure, he just about hurt all over.

Including his nuts. And that wasn't a pain he could keep at bay for ever, he realised, as he grabbed his balls and let his knee buckle ever so slightly.

'Ahh ahhhh, shiiiit...'

The fire grew, wrapping around the kitchen counter, chewing into more of the house at a rapid pace. Even if there was something to find here, Zack wasn't too keen to risk his life any more than he had done on a chance. He started to move, but stopped himself before he turned fully.

Emily was unconscious with fire closing in. Leaving her here was as good as killing her himself, and probably even less humane. Besides, Zack thought as memories of the volcano whirled in his head, he couldn't do it again. He barely found a way to live with the guilt the first time.

'I hate you so much,' he said, hoisting Emily over his shoulder before pulling her out through the side door the Ramos couple had escaped through. He half expected Adrian to tackle him to the floor the second they left the building, but he and his wife were gone. All that were left were a couple of Skiddo on the near field, chewing grass and watching the fire like a cinemagoer with popcorn.

His wounded pokémon staggered over as Zack dropped Emily onto the grass. He checked her quickly for any more weapons, and tossed aside anything he found. Team Zack stood over Emily in a semi-circle, and waited for her to wake up. He had questions.

Anistar City Gym - Changing Room

Ben should have been surprised that Bali was still as unimpressed as ever with him. "Here is your Holocaster. I've included your parents' numbers, what few friends you had. I've taken the liberty of clearing some of the... Many women you don't contact often. You now have a calendar that I can add to remotely; it and I will both notify you when a new event is added. The calendar will remind you every day from three days out, and two hours before any event." She looked his outfit up and down.

"You aren't going to be wearing the same outfit twice, so don't ask." She said to his unasked question.

"Okay, but counterpoint. If my whole thing is you guys are selling me as a commoner hero people can rally behind, wearing the same outfit sells the commoner thing. And saves us all money. Maybe just as street clothes?" Ben gave his best smile, but Ball's face remained unchanged.

"I'll take it into consideration. For now interviews for you should be scheduled. Outside of some weirdo with a camera walking up on the street, they know to go through us." Ben figured there were probably plenty of weirdos on the street, because she didn't have him change back when he left. The details for meeting Nostrad were in his calendar too. Neat.

Anistar City - Hotel Room
Caboose had been released to rest. Apparently Ben intended for him to go to the center later, but needed him to play with this holocaster thing. Keep it from converting sound to electricity, even though he wasn't calling anyone on it. While he made a phone call in the bathroom. Hotel room was empty so he and the other smaller pokemon had it to themselves. Poor Jerath and... Other guy.

Ben, meanwhile, was attempting to make a phone call to Mia. It was close enough to 30 minutes, and he needed to talk to her before Sal.

"Hey. It's Ben, you probly knew that. Did you get any info on what we talked about before? I have that meeting with him tomorrow so I need all the help I can get." Ben said once she'd answered her phone.

So not too much to go off of... Bertrand was a skilled... fighter? Pokemon trainer? Who knew really? That wouldn't help much unless Ben was challenged. And if he was, well, he could fight if he had to, but nothing like a traditionally trained person. And in pokemon, well, he wasn't sure he could handle someone who did it as their life's blood. Sal might get a kick out of something like that though.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. It happening to two of us so close together is... a lot. Did you see Helena's matches today? It's no wonder they picked her up, especially since she's a foreigner." Easier to convince someone to leave when they were probably there for the money, not the accolades. There was something in those fights that reminded him of that tree monster though. Unsettling. "I'm not really sure what they're looking to get out of me outside of whatever reputation I've managed to build." Money wasn't his goal. There were a lot of safer ways to do that in this country. It helped a ton, sure, but...

"I've been banging my head against that wall for a bit. People who brought the contract, personally brought it if you can believe that, referred to me as the Hero of Kalos. Right outside my room, so pretty much anyone could have heard them. Til I figure out what they're looking for, I don't know how to use the situation for myself outside the obvious." Juliet may know more, if he messaged her. But honestly, he'd already taken part in tanking her family's reputation, and who knows how that might be affecting things?

"The thing is, depending on how we play it, it might also be our only real chance to get real information outside of rumors on what they're doing. Belly of the beast, least safe place to be, but also... Y'know?" Mia was who he wanted to test those waters with. She would understand the dangers, probably. And also the potential benefits. She'd also be the most likely person to be reasonable in whether she told him it was too dangerous or not.

Sal would want to take the risk herself, even though she clearly couldn't. Zack probably didn't really give a s**t. Helena might, but he honestly didn't know her. Juliet, well he'd gotten her text. She wanted to protect him which was sweet, but it also meant she didn't think he could handle himself. Which was its own kind of frustrating. "So... What do you think? Bad idea, or doable but still awful idea?"

"No negative comments of the nobility or Kalos. They run my social media, which is fine since I don't really use it. I have a stylist, I guess, and they pick my outfits for interviews and gym matches. All of which is alright, I'm not trying to paint a target on myself like some people, so I wasn't going to badmouth the nobility or Kalos publically anyway." Keeping their mouths shut was surely just as easy by sending the hunters, right? Why would they sponsor him instead? Maybe it was only possible to clean up so many bodies per League.

"It's more a daily thing than hourly though. If you've got a trick for spreading finances, we can make it look like I'm just spending money normally and bankroll something potentially." Doable maybe. Better than what other people would probably say. Did he really come across as that useless to them?. "If I don't go too deep we might not get as much as we need. And considering the, uh, horses, I'd say a slap on the wrist wouldn't be the worst they could do, even if I'm only treading shallow waters. Testing the waters is a good first step, though. But, uh, I guess that leads into the biggest question I'd have about it."

He took a breath. Had to talk to that one sooner or later. "What would Sal say about this? I can't imagine she'll like it either way, but the truth would be easier to take for her, right? Or would she be such a bad actor that she'd ruin it the first time we ran into each other publically? You know her better than me, so I figured you might know the best way to talk to her. I did already let her know I was sponsored before it was officially announced, so that should take some of the edge off."