Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mia pointed to the sky as Ben flew in on a Pidgeot's wings. Salieri propped herself up on her elbows, smiling weakly as the trainer approached. "Ben! You made it."
"Missed one hell of a party," Mia told him with a small smirk. When Ben made his proposition, and reminded Mia of Sal's condition, she looked at the rebel with a raised eyebrow. "I mean..."
"Nah. I'll be good. Oof." She readjusted herself, grabbing a Pokéball off her belt. "Lemme show you guys what we do in the field. Zack does it all the same." Sal wondered where Zack was, and what he was doing, then wondered why she was wondering that.

She released Oberon, who scanned the situation with her face frozen in a smile. Salieri knew herself well enough to recognize her broken ribs. That was the most serious injury she had. There were several fractures, internal bleeding. The worst fracture was in her right leg, which happened when she fell from the second floor into the pool. She told Oberon her estimations. The Clefairy rubbed her hands together, then got to work washing over her trainer with Heal Pulses.

Immediately, the cuts and bruises Salieri had sustained began the process of fixing themselves, sped along by her Pokémon. The pain was being alleviated slightly as Oberon continuously massaged at Salieri's skin, pulling up red bubbles from seemingly nowhere and eating them as she healed. Out of all of Sal's Pokémon, Mia found Oberon to be the most unsettling despite her adorable face, and her manner of wasn't helping.

"Math should still be at the villa. He'll help. His Vespiquen is better at this than Oberon," Sal groaned. It was just like the care she could receive in a hospital, except less confining. And slower. Probably not as thorough. "No offense, Obie." The Clefairy seemed to take none. Sal's eyes met Ben's. "No hospitals tonight...please..."

From all Ben and Mia knew about her, it was apparent that Salieri hated being confined to one place, especially if it was a hospital. More than that, she didn't want to be trapped in the same building that she was sure Juliet had taken Alanza Taine to for the night. Either way, she'd have to take it easy tomorrow to let her bones fully heal. If she was unlucky, maybe longer.

"Whatever. I suppose we shouldn't go," Mia sighed reluctantly. "Besides, if they got one whiff of my BAC right now, they'd think I was legally dead."
"Do you wanna take a seat?" Sal asked Ben, gesturing to the sand beside her. "We don't have to go back just yet."

"You don't want that, Ben. I'd feel bad taking all your money." Sal didn't face Ben either, instead looking out into the night as her aches ached and her bones mended.
"Please." Mia rolled her eyes. "You're terrible at dice. You can't even win at cee-lo."
"...All I did was what you said. I put the factors under my control. Thanks for the tip." Sal grinned, not at them but for them. "I'm glad you guys are here."

How could they ever know that despite her victory, her acquisition of new information, her heightened status, and doing everything she had set out to do, she still had yet to be satisfied? The hunger didn't go away. It was only sated, for now. She smiled, basking in her accomplishment, but something rang hollow inside her knowing that her journey was far from over.

Mia stood up and brushed herself off. "You guys wanna go back now? I wanna see what's going on."

Sal groaned and stood up, taking Mia's hand for help. Everything hurt, but the bleeding had stopped. Tomorrow's hangover would be worse than this morning's. Still, she was just as curious about the aftermath of her battle as Mia. She swiveled to Ben, picking up Oberon and hugging the Clefairy to her chest so she could get Heal Pulsed on the walk. "Coming?"

"I can see the villa from here, I'll be fine-
"Sal shut up and get on the damn bird." Mia could handle only so much of Salieri's bravado when it came to injuries.

Sal mimicked Ben and Mia obnoxiously under her breath, but did as she was told. Francis had very soft plummage. He could probably be a contender in Pokémon Contests, if Ben ever went that route.

They walked through the treeline back up the grassy hill, and found a far quieter scene than what they had left behind. The crowd had thinned out, and by the way the remnants were consoling each other over small objects, it seemed like most of those who remained were Alanza's previous challengers. Farther away, Matheson was talking to a group of trainers, writing something down in a notepad.

When Salieri hopped off of Francis, there was a wave of heads turning her direction. On sore legs, she traipsed from the hill towards the pool. Anthony and Cooltrainer Vicky were the first ones up from a circle of chairs that had gathered near the last lit torch. Vicky came up to her and hugged her, crying happy tears as she held up the badges which had been long gone. The two of them tried to guide her to an empty seat, but she declined. "I have to talk to that guy," she said, gesturing to Matheson.

And then she was hit with a deluge of praise, thank you's, awe, and sheer gratitude.

"I can never thank you enough for what you've done."
"Consider me a new fan!"
"I can challenge the league again, thanks to you."
"Do you have an official fan club yet?"
"I'd sponsor you in a heartbeat."
"You're the real deal, I can tell."
"So what did you win?"

The last one struck home. Salieri took mental stock of all that she had been through since meeting Alanza that morning. Her badges were still with her. So was Durendal. Nothing lost. What did she gain?

"It was never about the games," she mumbled, shuffling away. "It was personal."

Salieri left them to spin webs about her accomplishments and who she was. She would become the story they would tell to accompany their drinks. In the meantime, she went to catch Matheson.

As Sal was swept up by the embers of the party, Mia took the blunt out from behind her ear. "Can't believe that I lost a game of pong. To nobles. And it was livestreamed," she vented monotonously to Ben, flicking on her lighter. "This party sucked."

She blew a smoke ring into the air that Bass flew right through. "...Ben, Sal used the Truth or Dare game to see what Alanza knew about Nicolette Nostrad. And she knows who that person really is."

"Plan S." Mia ashed on the ground. Bass landed on her shoulder. The two of them looked at each other, then to Ben. "Plan S?"

"Ohhh." Mia nodded. Code name established. She was relieved to know the S did not stand for Salieri. That girl had trouble with the covert. "Math might still be in with Alanza, but I'm not. Plan S it is."

S for Spy. If anyone from the crew could do that, it'd be him. Sal was hotheaded and Zack was bullheaded. They each had their strengths, and his included interpersonal skills. If she could help Benedict pull off a successful special operation, it'd be a nice change of pace from tonight's destruction. Mia was as proud of her friend as she was exhausted for her.

She watched the crackling torchlight. Beyond it, Veillantif and Biz Marquis were leaping from the pool, glomping painfully onto Salieri. "Scale of 1-10, how close do you think your dinner party tomorrow will be to this? Please say 1."

Mia had yet to properly meet the infamous Helena. Salieri hardly mentioned her, and when Zack did it was usually in the context of feeling like he had to babysit her. Two unreliable opinions. She'd reserve her own judgement for if they ever crossed paths. Regardless, Helena was the other trainer Bertrand Balibar decided to sponsor, so at the very least she had to be a competent trainer.

"Sure, intentionally. Or accidentally, can't rule that out, Mr. Cool Guy. Plus someone else could always ******** it up." She held out the blunt to Benedict as an offering. Was no one else smoking tonight? Was she going to have to face this alone? Mia had faced down worse. "Orrrr it could all go right, we pop bottles, and no one is the wiser. Our group plans never go the way we intend, but we still get results, so go team. We'll figure it out."

"They said you'd be here," Helena said as she approached the trio. She recognized Mia, but only from seeing her at parties. Benedict and Salieri she knew.

The teen had sobered up by now, and her posse were still hanging out on the DJ stage.

Approaching the members of Salieri's crew caused Juliet's words to echo in her mind. Did she tell them about Jean-Pierre?

She hadn't even told her friends. Not yet. She was tilting toward the side of not mentioning it at all.

"You look like s**t," Helena commented as she got a good look at Salieri. "But I'm glad you won. A lot of people are very happy, it's nice to see."

Ben patted Francis. "I have a flying pokemon right here. 'We'll fly over' was right there." He let himself laugh at his own joke. "I'd say you should head home, but you came with Sal right? I'm guessing she's your ride?" And also someone had to make sure Sal didn't collapse while no one was paying attention.