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Kalos Badlands

Under the breaking sunrise, in the midst of the constant whipping sandstorms of the Kalos Badlands, a man as tall as a Seviper is long walked alone. His clothes were old and ragged, his hair a long and disheveled white. A key hung from his neck, tapping his chest with each slow step.

The man stopped. It was faint, but there. A tremor under the bedrock, getting closer. Fifty feet away, the earth cracked and burst as a Garchomp spiraled into the air with a rugged roar. The man turned to face the beast falling towards him, letting the sand shift around him. The Garchomp dropped to his haunches, ran at the man, and leapt.

The sand shark spun, landing on his back and sliding to a halt right in front of the unflinching man with a panting tongue lolling out to the side. The man scratched under Garchomp's chin, and Garchomp wagged his tail in glee.

"Hello, friend."

~~~~~~~~

They sat together on a sand dune watching the sunrise as they had done years ago in the Orrean deserts. Garchomp laid curled up next to the man, purring as the man pet his neck. The Rough Skin barely itched the man's fingers.

When the sun had fully risen, the man stood up. "Goodbye," he said as he walked away. The Garchomp whined, pouting with a lip stuck out and big sad eyes.

"You belong with someone else." The man looked back. "I'm still searching...The flower Pokémon… The Pokémon that was given eternal life…"

Garchomp howled a lonely wail as the man walked away.

Lumiose City - South Pokémon Center

Matheson lay on his back, scratching his chest and staring at a generic flower mural on the wall opposite the bed. He’d woken up at the crack of dawn, still tired but unable to relax. He’d barely gotten sleep in the aftermath of the evening. Salieri had dropped her Pokémon off for overnight care, and his Vespiquen had helped her recovery along as she told him about her conversations with the crew and Mia. After that, she proceeded to cry until she fell asleep.

Sal was indicative of what happened to Kalosians when noble corruption was mistaken for noble excellence. Her suffering was entirely rooted in the system that kept her down in the first place. Every sob from the night before reaffirmed to him that this was the side he wanted to be on. It was his sworn duty as nobility to gut out the rot that was decaying his country.

And then there was Juliet. He had to check on her, and Alanza in the hospital. Matheson found himself increasingly torn between the worlds of the highborn and the commoners, and unable to help one side without neglecting the other. “Are you up?”

He looked to his side to see Salieri putting on her shirt at the edge of the bed without a sound, her back to him. He looked over her dark skin and saw paler marks from old injuries dotted all around her. Even now, Matheson didn’t know how a girl her age ended up with so many scars. Her Pokégear buzzed at her nightstand with text messages and notifications from her PC management. Sal ignored the device entirely. “Carpe diem," she muttered. "Don't wanna waste time."

Rhea was a qualified healer, but Matheson was no doctor. He was sure Salieri would be fine, if she took it easy. The issue was that he had never known Salieri to take it easy. “Nothing strenuous today, ok? You’re still healing.”
“Ok.”
“I mean it-oh. I didn’t think you’d agree.”
“I’ll try to take it easy, Math.”

She turned back to him with false determination. Her eyes were still reddish from last night. Matheson had never seen Salieri as tired or as upset as after fighting with Mia. When she was beaten down by Ratio, she was nothing if not galvanized for round two. Now, she looked like she’d suffered a real defeat.

“I don’t just mean physically, Sal.” He sat up and yawned. "I know we just came off a caesura, but don't push yourself too hard."
“I know. I’m fine.” She was not.

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

The sky was cloudy and a brisk wind blew throughout the day, but the sun still poked through the cover on occasion. Overnight, Mia had deposited Banksy and Biz Marquis back into Salieri’s PC, and so they regained their positions on the main team. Morning dew still clung to the grassy lawn behind the Center where Sal’s party did some warm up training after breakfast. They’d paired off to spar, switching partners every few minutes according to the large clock affixed to the building. Whenever they switched, they took a moment to look over to their trainer with concern.

Sal sat with Banksy at a small garden table, wearing aviator shades covering her eyes and sipping a smoothie through a straw. She’d hardly said anything to her party all morning, but she did have a side chat with Banksy that left the Torkoal retreating into her shell for some alone time. Sal had one hand patting the warm shell and another on her Pokégear, where Moze’s phone number was brightly displayed on the screen, a challenge for her to take up.

Sal swapped over to her messages, where Helena’s texts remained unanswered. The Unovan was trying. It was a far cry from the girl she had been when they battled in Shalour City. It was closer to the Helena Sal had wanted to be friends with, when they first met. Compared to the hurt she felt over Mia, her past spat with Helena was nothing at all. She was still hesitant to jump into a friendship with the Unovan, especially when she was so emotionally drained, but she could at least be cordial.

~All good
~We’re good

A passable, if easy, reply. Salieri didn’t know what else to say. Verbosity took more involvement than her numbness allowed. Today she would do like Matheson suggested, and take it easy. That meant throwing herself into training. And eventually, looking for Moze.

She didn’t know where to start with that. His number was hers now, but she didn’t think he’d pick up for an unknown number. If he did know who it was, he probably wouldn’t answer anyway. Her only lead was practically a dud without Mia. Mama Mia. Mia could take any one of Sal’s trash leads and turn it into treasure.

Except no, wait, she couldn’t. Sal switched off the screen to remove the option from the table. Her screen flashed, and was replaced with a blue background and an animated Ivan sprite. “Boop morning, Master.”

Sal shut the Pokégear off. Moze was keeping tabs on her somehow, and Ivan was supposed to be his ‘proxy’. The Pokémon excelled at surveillance. Even if that wasn’t Moze’s method, Ivan must’ve known where they’d come from before. They were just as complicit as Mia in keeping the truth from her.

The screen flashed on again. “Master Sali-.” Off. On. “Master-.” Off. On. “Sal-.” Off. On. “Master Salieri-.”
“Have you been spying on me for me brother?!” Sal yelled at the screen. It came out scratchier than she’d intended. Her breakdown had done a number on her voice. Sal made a mental note to try not to raise her volume for the rest of the day.
“No I have not, beep boop.”
“But you knew he gave you to Mia, and that she gave you to me?”
“Affirmative, Mozart Soledad is my OT. This means I gain experience points twice as quickly in your care. Congratulations!”

Sal set her phone down on the table and leaned over it, frowning. “Why wouldn’t you tell me that? Not in your programming?”
“You never asked.” they answered flatly. Sal chortled at that.
“Figures. How would I know to ask that, Ivan? I thought we were friends.”
“Friends? You have never told me that before.”
Sal raised an eyebrow at what she thought was audacity. “I definitely have.”
“I do not have any records of you designating me as ‘friend’. I do have a list of prior designations you have given me: Ivan, A.I. abomination, computer thing, Skynet, glitchy, broken, pest-”
“Ok I get it.” Sal’s face grew red with shame at having those terms recited back to her.
“Interestingly, in my presence, you have referred to your other Pokémon as ‘friends’ at irregular intervals. However, you do show them regular displays of affection. I have wondered why this is. Do you not consider me your Pokémon?”
“What? Of course you are.”
“Noted. Do you not consider me your friend?”
“Of course I do!”
“Noted. Thank you for the clarification. I could not say for certain based on our prior interactions.”

Sal leaned back in her seat and stole a glance at the rest of her team. Durendal was flying through the air, weaving between Reynard’s Water Guns like a leaf on the wind. He still didn’t know he had been the ante the night before. If her plan hadn’t worked, Salieri didn’t know for sure what she would’ve done. She probably would’ve razed the property to the ground trying to get him back. But she had bet him all the same.

Her Pokémon never asked her for much, and did everything she wanted. Even Reynard and Ivan had become tame and trusting. Did the rest of them know what that meant to her? Ramos said her love for her Pokémon was power. Now she questioned if that automatically meant she was a good friend. Her eyes wandered north, in the direction of the Badlands where she recalled other particularly difficult growing pains as a Trainer.

It doesn’t matter, it’s in the past.

Always a slave to her own history, Salieri did her best to brush it aside. Her feelings were just a distraction, and her Pokémon needed training. She had taken it too easy yesterday in preparation for dealing with Alanza. It was time to catch up to her own standards. And then, when she had nowhere else to mentally take refuge, she'd deal with her real problems.

Reptilia's Boomburst reverberated throughout the Center's training area, causing Salieri and everyone in her party but Dune and Ivan to flinch with irritation. Wincing, Sal looked over at the source of the piercing noise echoing in her ears before 8 in the morning. Any seasoned trainer could tell those Pokémon were strong, and currently above her team's pay grade. Something about that power made Salieri nostalgic for her Pokémon she'd parted ways with months ago, but that nostalgia extended beyond her own experience. I know that Volcarona.

Her eyes wandered to the trainer as she took another sip of her smoothie. The white streak in her hair, the dark skin, the way she carried herself. ...and I know that girl too. Robin, Zack's old flame. Another trainer from the same academy, and the current trainer of the Volcarona formerly known as Zack's. From what Salieri recalled, Robin's falling out with the Redgrave had been unpleasant due to the infidelity and what-not. Did he know she was here, in Kalos?

Salieri thought it would be dicey to get herself tangled with this trainer now, when her friend had such a complicated history with the girl, a history she herself had witnessed through Bonding. But Robin's Pokémon were stronger than most of the other trainers she came across, and her Pokémon needed the levels. Despite her judgement, Sal stood and walked over to the arena Robin was using.

"Robin Carella?" she asked from behind her aviators, sipping through her straw after asking.

Anistar City Pokémon Center

Zack awoke to his Holo Caster vibrating on the night stand, still slumped against the wall with a pounding headache. Serene sat on the end of his bed, and looked up when he regained consciousness, but only for a second before returning to her game of making small objects race each other around the room. Zack clicked the alarm off and listened, but all he could hear was his own heartbeat. The ghosts were gone.

[WOOooOOooOOooOOooOO!] Hazard flew through the wall and into Zack's face. [I am the Queen of Ghosts! Kekekeke! Bow before meeee!]

Zack wafted Hazard away and stood up, nursing the back of his head. It was light out and, unless his Holo Caster's alarm was suddenly very wrong, six in the morning. He felt more like himself, albeit a version of himself who had recently been blasted by a bolt of Psychic. Zack spent some time in the shower, got out and dressed. He still had spots of dirt and blood on his clothes from yesterday, and decided to grab a new outfit in Lumiose once the shops were open.

'Alright, you big purple clown. Return.' Zack recalled Hazard, who had stolen Serene's objects and started juggling them with her tongue, leaving him alone with the psychic type. Zack finished brushing his teeth, threw his bag over his shoulder and began to fasten his pokéball belt.

Serene said nothing, did nothing, the whole time. Her horns were a dull red, lifeless and empty. It was like having the broken Ralts back. It had been a miracle for her to recover the first time.

'Serene,' Zack said. She didn't look up, and sat statue-still. Zack may as well have been a ghost himself. 'Serene, I'm sorry I made you do that. I was...'

Zack's voice caught, and he realised he had to make the one admission he'd been trained never to make.

'I was frightened. When I saw that list, saw my mom's name on it, I got scared, and I made a choice,' Zack said, but Serene still didn't respond. His insides turned. He saw Emily on the grass, the note in his hand, the fire behind them, the horror of the threat, and her desperate scream. Every moment he fought so hard to suppress back in full force. 'And I've tried to bury how I felt, and I thought that made me okay. Didn't stop to think that you'd be suffering. Can't imagine how it'd feel to...'

Emily's final scream echoed into Zack's mind. His first thought was to shut it out, pretend it didn't bother him. But it did. He'd deliberately rendered another human being into a vegetable. It wasn't fair to her to pretend that didn't carry weight.

He made the decision for his family. If he had to make it again, he would. Running away from his feelings didn't make him strong. Strength came from making the hard choice.

'With the way things are going, I can't promise I'll never have to do that again,' Zack continued, stepping carefully towards his pokémon. Her head turned ever so slightly. 'But I will promise that you'll never have to.'

Light flickered in the cores of Serene's horns. She looked back at her trainer with a down-turned smile, and nodded slow.

'Now come on,' Zack said, tossing his thumb towards the door. 'I'll buy you ice cream for breakfast.'

So he had. Robin struggled to imagine Zack telling stories about them when the unspoken conclusion would always be "And then I cheated on her" but apparently he was comfortable enough to do that with Salieri.

'If it's all good, he's lying,' Robin said playfully. She acted like the mere mention of Orre didn't boil her blood. Pushed the feeling down, made sure she was the one in control. With Salieri wearing glasses, Robin couldn't see quite how wrecked the other trainer looked. 'Hey, no s**t you went to Ferrum? That's where I trained my Braixen.'

She pulled Xivi's ball from her belt and called the Fox pokémon out to play. The fire type stood majestically in the sun and gently twirled her stick. The sunlight shone brightly through the ends of her fur and painted them white. She scanned Salieri's squad and settled on Biz, shooting him a shark-toothed grin. Predator and prey.

'If you were around a couple years back, you might have seen us absolutely trash the Iron League,' Robin said, kneeling down next to Xivi and ruffling the fur on top of her head.

Robin gave Salieri a cheesy grin. 'Really. I saw videos of you "slacking off" already. If that's the case then I look forward to seeing you put the effort in.'

Salieri had absolutely wrecked Alanza Taine in a poké-powered fist fight, becoming the first person in memory to beat her at anything. After that, clips of Salieri's past battles had gone viral. Robin didn't exactly live on social media, but it was league season and it would be silly not to stay informed of the trainer circuit. She was genuinely excited for this battle. There was a level difference between the teams, but raw power only told part of the story.

Reptilia circled back around, hovering close by Seraph, the beat of their wings starting to compete and unleash heavy drafts of air with embers in the mix. Xivi puffed her chest out, twirled her stick, and planted it in the ground, ready to be picked first. But Robin didn't choose any of them, and instead threw out Vigant, her level 74 Goodra.

The dragon type roared, beat her chest, then gave everyone a friendly wave.

'Alright! Let's do this,' Robin said as she went to her trainer box. 'Afterwards, you can tell me where you got that sick bandana.'

Robin tended to dress practically, with cargos and a decent pair of boots. Every now and then though, she liked to accessorise with something cool.

Lumiose City

"I've taken eight years of kendo, and my Pokemon are stronger than yours," Henrietta scolded Helena as the two of them walked. "I'm going to help you stop him."

"Fine," Helena relented. She had told the pink haired teen everything hoping to keep her informed but safe.

"And you're telling Azzy and Bridgette when we get back."

"You sound like Azzy."

Henrietta blushed and looked away. "H-hum."

Rounding the corner they'd arrive at the wonderful little restaurant. The first time Henrietta had taken her here Helena was overwhelmed with how comical it was. Now it just felt like being home for the tiniest of bits.

Her eyes lit up when they caught sight of Zack sitting at one of the tables and she picked up her pace to meet him, no concern for the people who stopped to look at her in her pajamas.

"You came!" she said. It was a delight to see him now that she wasn't keeping any secrets. She wanted to extend her hand to him, to get back to the adventure they had come here for. With nothing between them, nothing pulling them apart.

Helena wanted her older brother back. The one who would tell her all the insane adventures he had out in the field. The one who brought her souvenirs from all over the world. The one who told her that smiling was illegal whenever she was sad because it always made her laugh.

"I know it's ridiculous," she said as she took her seat across from her brother. "but the burgers are legit. They're super juicy like the ones Robby used to make." her voice softened to a whisper, "I think they use the same secret of adding wine when they're cooking them."

Henrietta took her seat on Helena's right, Zack's left. There was a slight smile on her face as she looked at Helena.

"This is Henrietta," she said and the pink haired girl squeaked and offered Zack her hand.

"H-hey."

Helena looked at Zack as he looked between the two of them and after a second it clicked and her cheeks flushed. "No."

"N-no what?" Henrietta looked between the two siblings, still perplexed.


Helena looked at Henrietta. "We're not dating."

And, after a pause, Henrietta said "W-we aren't?" Then, watching Helena's entire face turn beat red, she'd start laughing.

"N-no, but I think I m-might be the one who got her to question herself." Henrietta looked at Zack, still smiling proudly at her teasing.

Helena took a few seconds longer to compose herself. "We share a bed - NOT like that."

"When the caesura started I felt really isolated. I felt like you didn't want me here, Sal hated me, and Ben was just a stranger. So I confided in Henrietta, and a few other people. Azucena, or Azzy and Bridgette. We have a suite in the city with a giant bed and we share it cause," she was still blushing and she looked away from Zack now. "it makes me feel safe."

Helena wouldn't catch it but the entire time she spoke Henrietta watched her with a different sort of smile. When she smiled at Zack it was a normal smile, but when she watched the Redgrave sister talk there was a fascination in her eyes, like she did not want to look away for even a second. "Sh-she's comfy," Henrietta said as she looked to Zack apparently taking pride in teasing Helena.

Then the bell rang on the door as the restaurant opened, door swinging wide. "Oh thank Arceus," Helena said, and she waved over the waiter.