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"A couple of hours," Helena said, sticking her thumb in the direction of the stage. "Azzy was the DJ, and I helped her livestream your fight."

Rolling over Salieri's self deprecating joke in her mind the teen eventually sighed. She had to admit that she liked Salieri a little more now that the teen had done something so nice. It had been a growing opinion ever since they helped stop the pirates together.

"You shouldn't give yourself crap like that, it was actually really cool. I think it's nice to see something positive after such a big fight. Remember after we stopped Ska's crew and that lady, every day we went to train, was offering us Homemade donuts? These are your donuts."

She couldn't help but smile at the memory of it. "By the way, can I ask your advice on something?"

Helena snorted. "You can say no if you don't want to," the teen said. Helena looked out toward the pool and made a mental note to bring a swimsuit next time she went to a noble party. She made another mental note to bring one to the dinner just in case.

"But if you say yes you have to promise not to tell Zack. I mean, that's probably a given though considering you're now a champion of the people." Helena winked.

Helena sighed. It was close enough. "How do you know if you aren't, you know, straight? Benedict told me whatever I felt was right, but I don't really know how I feel. I kissed Grant and it was fine, but I was wondering if maybe that's just cause I wasn't really into him. So I thought, what if I kissed a girl, you know? But if I know how I'm supposed to feel, or if what I'm feeling is what I'm supposed to feel, then maybe I could know without doing all that." Helena explained in a single breath before taking a moment to catch up on her breathing.

Helena felt uncomfortable about the whole conversation. Shy, vulnerable, but determined to talk about it. The obvious thing was to ask her friends about her sexuality, but she didn't want to put them off by implying that she was enjoying the impromptu snuggle fests every night for more than just cuddly platonic reasons.

Helena's cheeks flushed when Salieri asked her if she wanted to kiss anyone and stiffly, the teen shook her head. The only person she'd really been crushing on was engaged. "Not really," Helena said.

"I was kinda hoping to figure it all out before trying to romance anyone. It feels weird to try and kiss someone that I like before I know if I actually would like them."

Helena's blush spread from her cheeks to the rest of her face, causing the pale teen to look sun burnt in a matter of seconds. "What?" she squeaked, far louder than she had intended. People looked over at the two of them for a few seconds before losing interest, but it didn't stop the embarrassment from drilling into the back of the teen's head.

"N-n-no, I'm not trying to k-kiss you." her voice was higher pitched from being flustered, causing her to sound more like Bridgette than herself. "I-" she looked away from Sal, trying to look literally anywhere else.

Subject change, subject change, subject change!

"J-jean-Pierre was here," she found herself saying before she could think of anything else.

Lumiose City - South Boulevard Pokémon Center - Afternoon

Zack hated being trapped. A few years ago, Zack and Kelly had gone cave diving in Panula Cave in Fiore where they got stuck beneath a sheet of ice and almost drowned. It had become a warm memory next to this; being Pinsir-gripped in a cafeteria booth by Dexio and Sina. The kitchen Audino tapped its way through a tablet recording Robin's order, and the other trainer sat down opposite Zack. From the look on her face, it was clear she wondered just what she had walked into. Zack gave her an apologetic wince before looking dead ahead only to find Sina leaning forward, attempting to stare a hole through his head.

'We need to talk,' she said, as deeply and darkly as she could.
'Man, ******** this,' said Zack. He barely got to his feet before Dexio clapped his hands on Zack's shoulder and threw his whole weight into getting the trainer to sit back down.
'Apologies, Zack, we will endeavour for this to take as little time as possible.'

Robin hacked back a laugh. 'What?'
'It's his thing,' Zack replied. 'You two picked some real bad timing. I'm not in the mood for this s**t.'
'That doesn't matter,' Sina said, pulled her holo caster from her jacket and placing it on the table. 'You need to explain this, Zack.'

He didn't even need to look at the hologram. It was a 3D view of the farmhouse with the article detailing its destruction floating alongside. Zack clocked Robin's eyebrows going up, and that was all he needed to feel like s**t all over again. He growled, turning the caster over, its blue holo-light bleeding onto the table.

'We asked you to go there to-' Sina cut herself off and glanced at Robin. 'Who is she?'
'Robin,' she said before Zack could, 'Hello.'
'Ah, what a lovely name! My name is Dexio, this is my friend Sina. We're the aides for Professor Sycamore here in Lumiose City,' Dexio practically shook Robin's hand off until she pried it free.
Sina kept frowning at Zack. 'We asked you for help, and instead this happened. Please please please tell me this isn't your fault.'

Zack went quiet. He hadn't started the fire, but if he hadn't been there in the first place then the Ramos's would still be alive. It was absolutely his fault.

'I was attacked,' he said at last and Sina threw herself onto the table.
'Ohhh thank goddd,' she said, 'I thought we'd have to give you to the police.'
'As I had been incapacitated, my observations of the event are unclear at best, but just to elucidate, was there a Darkhorse Hunter involved, perhaps the one we had been tracking?'
'Oh my god,' said Robin, biting her knuckle, 'I just can't.'
'Hey. How much does she know?' Sina hissed to Zack. The trainer pinched his brow and sighed.

---

A short time later, Zack finished his explanation of the situation in Kalos. Robin nodded along, but didn't really take him on with any of the more paranoid-sounding assertions. Dexio and Sina had heard it all before, being friends with Esme. Zack hadn't taken them for true believers until recently, but it seemed like their general position on the darker side of Kalos was to ignore it and hope for the best. Deep down, Zack really couldn't blame them; most people were aware of corruption, but few were motivated enough to actually do anything. Sometimes things were just too big.

As he explained about the events of the farmhouse, he noticed their demeanour shift. Even Dexio stopped trying to interrupt when Zack recounted his interrogation. He got results, but he couldn't help but feeling a little judged. He skimmed on the details about Emily, and kept the part about Jean Pierre to himself.

'And what happened to the girl who attacked you?' Robin asked. 'You let her get away?'
'Yeah,' Zack said, meeting her eye. She frowned at him, and Zack had the sinking feeling that she could read his mind.
'Man, that is craaazy,' Sina said. 'I can't believe you guys stumbled into something like that in one shot. So all you got on the guy who killed Allard is his name? I mean, that's still super huge.'
'We can look into that,' Dexio said to Sina, 'we are, after all, researchers.'

'You take care of that,' Zack said, noticing the kitchen Audio wheeling its cart over with Robin's meal. 'And do me a favour.'
'Anything, my friend,' Dexio said.
'Tell Esme what you're doing.'
'Except that,' said Sina, shooting Dexio a look.
'It's not fair keeping her in the dark about this. She's not a child, she has a right.'

Sina and Dexio shared a look, and Sina sighed, blowing a bang of hair off her face.

'You're asking us to give vodka to an alcoholic,' she said. 'You weren't there when things got dark, I thought she was going crazy.'
'Think about how she'd be when she finds out that her best friends kept a secret like this from her.'

---

Dexio and Sina eventually said their goodbyes, leaving Zack and Robin alone. They finished eating, not really saying much. It was already awkward between them before Zack had been forced to divulge what had happened on Route 12. Robin put her fork down and slid the plate to the edge of the table.

'So,' she said, 'your friends are weird.'
'I'm not taking ownership of either of them,' Zack replied as they both climbed out of the booth seats. 'Thanks for sticking around. Not exactly how I wanted that conversation to go.'

They made their way to the reception area. Robin had dropped her team off too, and Zack was a little bit hopeful that he'd get to see them again. They were once his travelling partners as well. A piece of the old days.

'I'm impressed that you seem to think there was a good way for that conversation to go,' Robin teased as the nurse went to fetch her pokémon. 'You really believe all that stuff? Darkhorse Hunters, killer nobles...'
'Think generations of nobility winning the league is because they're inherently better? It's rigged somehow.'
'Point,' Robin said as she took her balls from the tray, 'Hard to believe they've gotten away with it for so long though.'

The pair made their way into the training area out back. There were a couple of trainers resting between a round of battles but the rest of the dozen or so arenas were free. Plenty of space to unwind, and no chance they'd be overheard. Robin kept staring at Zack until they reached the benches at the back, and eventually he noticed.

'Zack, don't take this the wrong way, but you look super ragged,' she said, placing her fingertips to his forehead. He couldn't deny that he enjoyed the touch. That is, until she looked him dead in the eye. 'Plus I can tell when you're hiding something.'
'Like what?' Zack batted her hand away. He thought back to Emily, to her final, wrenching scream. It was like he could still hear it.
'I don't know,' Robin shrugged. 'But I do know whatever it is, you'll keep burying it until it grows roots. Anyone you can talk to?'

Zack looked away. He was used to shouldering his problems by himself, he supposed. He thought about Salieri, that if anyone could understand how he felt about the choice he made, it would be her. She'd made similar decisions. As if the universe itself knew what he was thinking, his holo caster beeped.

~Party @anistar tn. 9~
~Alanza Taine’s house~
~Front row seats to her destruction~

'Ooh, who is that?' Robin said, 'is that Esme?'
'No,' said Zack, beeping his caster off. 'We're not talking right now.'
'Ahuh...' Robin smirked. 'So you're risking your life tracking down a dangerous assassin for the sake of a girl you aren't even talking to. Zack, I say this as one of your oldest, dearest friends: ouch.'
'I promised I would,' Zack replied, but he didn't sound too convincing even to himself. 'Look, it doesn't matter. Let me see your team.'
'Thought you'd never ask.'

---

For the next few hours, Zack engaged in light battles with Robin. Her pokémon vastly outstripped his in terms of levels, but that was all the better. He'd rather they get used to fighting higher levelled opponents now than when their lives were on the line. It was almost relaxing, for Zack anyway, as he could just sit back and watch as Robin inevitably took over the whole session.

Malis darted in a flaming array of short blasts of fire; an ember in a storm. Xivi, Robin's Fennekin stood in the middle of the disorientating display of flames. Zack recognised her defence stance, and knew exactly how this would go. Malis reared back, then rode a bolt of fire towards Xivi's back. Zack winced as the Fennekin pirouetted, caught Malis against her stick and redirected his momentum to drive him snout-first into the ground.

He rolled over, growling, and sat himself up as Xivi muttleyed with a row of shark-like fangs.

'That was a great try,' Robin said, kneeling down next to Malis. The Charmeleon flinched away, scattering to his feet and away from the trainer. 'Relax. Here.'

Robin tossed an apple-sized Sitrus Berry to Malis who caught it between both claws. He sniffed it, then nibbled suspiciously. Robin gave Zack a disappointed look, and he just shrugged. Around them, their other pokémon took up empty arenas and were more playing than battling. Vigant, Robin's Goodra, kept showing off to Hazard and Lethal, while Serene sat on a step to watch. Antiq sat in a corner trying to nap, but Reptilia, Robin's Noivern managed to coax the ancient Aerodactyl into a fight after being asked by his trainer.

It was nice. Peaceful. And made Zack long for the old days. They used to train like this all the time, far from cities and towns, in some of the most beautiful places in the world. Zack watched quietly as Robin instructed Malis, the Charmeleon hanging onto her every word. Each new attempt brought him closer and closer to seizing Xivi's stick. They trained into the night, stopping only for vending machine breaks.

'And there wasn't anything down there, just signs of a battle,' Robin said, finishing off her story as Malis ducked below one of Xivi's swipes. 'I figure whatever used to live in that cave got caught by a squad of nobles.'
'That better not be significant,' Zack said. Generally off-route pokémon made on-route pokémon look freshly hatched. Anything that had its very own cave would likely be in a league above the rest.
'Oh, I'm sure it won't be,' Robin said before shouting for Reptilia to get off Antiq's back as it drove the Aerodactyl into the floor.

Zack took out his holo caster to check the time then paused. 's**t.'
'What's up?'
'Nothing,' Zack said, flipping his caster closed, 'Just running late.'

Taine Villa

A screech cracked the night air above the Taine Villa. If anyone looked up, they would see a black silhouette against the starry sky, giant wings beat down huge drafts of air. Zack rode on Antiq's back, closing in on the dwindling party. They hovered a few yards off the ground before Zack recalled the dinosaur in a dissolving wave of light. Landed not far from where Helena and Salieri were talking.

'This party's on life support,' he said on his way over. Salieri looked beat, which told him he'd missed the main event. He looked Helena up and down. They were talking about something, but it probably didn't matter. He nodded to Helena, 'Hey, how you doing.'

"Let me know if you need help getting home. Guess he'd be faster." Ben said gesturing to Math. Helena and Sal were having a conversation. Then Zack showed up. Things looked serious over there. Seemed like Matheson and Sal hadn't gotten to talk yet either. "I'm not sure but it kinda feels like I should be over there. They'd say something if they needed me though, right?" Weird nagging feelings. Just because all four of them showed up in one place didn't mean there was more conspiratorial meetings going on.

Zack stepped up. Salieri was a powder keg where Moze was concerned, and wittingly or not, Helena just struck a match. Zack reached his arm out to cut between Helena and Salieri, standing to his full height. The message was clear: cool the ******** down.

'Ease up, Sal, that's my sister.'