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Camphrier Town - Pokémon Center Garden

"Cool, meet me at the Center by Vernal Avenue in five minutes," Zack said, "I gotta handle something real quick."

Zack turned off the Xtransceiver without waiting for Helena's reply. His hearing hadn't deceived him; Salieri was hanging out of a window talking s**t. Fantastic.

"Do your parents know you're out here?" he asked, putting on a fake tone of concern.

Zack couldn't help but grin as he glanced away, shaking his head.

"I'm not lowering myself to your level, One Shot. Last time something fell that hard it wiped out the dinosaurs."

He let her badge comment just bounce off. Zack wasn't planning on challenging the league, but if badges really were so important around Kalos, he might have to go nab a few to shut some people up. Maybe a challenge wasn't such a bad idea after all? If he won, Zack could give the winnings to Helena, but the last thing he wanted to do was go into the tournament and wind up facing his own sister. For now it was probably just best to keep supporting her so she could take on this task herself.

"But honestly, I'm surprised to see you a third time. Shouldn't you be fading into the background with the rest of the noise?"

"I don't have to tell you a god damn thing," Zack said, smiling sweetly.

Now that he knew he had something Salieri wanted, he'd dangle it in front of her, ever out of reach. It wasn't pettiness so much as good business; a chip he could barter with if he ever needed something from her.

"You need to brush up on your sales pitch. What I know doesn't come cheap." Maybe he was laying it on a bit thick? He couldn't actually think of anything that Salieri could give him. Eh, who gives a damn? "If you've got nothing else to say, I have actual people to talk to."

Zack gave Serene a nod, and unless Salieri said or did something to stop him, they'd teleport back to Lumiose City.

For a moment, Salieri thought of retracting her statement and calling Zack's knowledge as a bluff to get under his skin. But apparently he didn't want to play that game, and he had an escape card with a Teleporter. She wasn't sure if he knew anything of value or not, but Zack was still the only new source of information on mysterious events concerning nobles. I can't believe he's making me play my cards.

"You saw something kill a Court Noble," Salieri said, stepping forward before Serene could Teleport away. "But you don't know why. I can tell you why."

Salieri put a foot up on a bench and leaned forward, taking a deep breath.

"The Kalos nobility runs like a machine, and every noble is a cog," she explained, whirling a finger around in a circle. "None of them know the full extent of what the others are doing, but they work together for the same goals. And one of the goals they have is a secret. Something they can't have anybody outside of their circle knowing...I know this because my father was a Court Noble once."

Her throat went a little drier and she looked down at the ground. "He didn't want a part in whatever their secret goal is, so he gave up his title to live away from it all. When I was ten, the past caught up to him. The nobles got paranoid that he was the doomed loose end." Sal paused to swallow the lump in her throat. "They made sure he had forgotten what he knew for good."

She looked up at Zack. "The elites of Kalos hold reputation as a top priority. They can be monsters, but they aren't savages. If they wanted to protect their image they'd do it under the radar...they could've easily killed my dad, but they didn't. If someone is killing nobles in public, there are two good reasons to do it."

Salieri held up two fingers. "One is that someone wants their secrets out in the open. Death exposes everything, that's why they don't go for assasinations. The second is that it was a frameup. Something flashy, something obvious to draw our attention away from something else."

It sounded like paranoid conspiracy theories, but she laid them all down with sincerity. Factual or not, she truly believed what she was saying. Her amber eyes got very intense as she leaned forward over her own knee. "So, Zack, what do you think you know?"

Salieri stood up, her eyes becoming a little wider. For a moment, she looked hurt by his words. But that hardened over just as quickly as it appeared, and the spun away.

"Forget it. You're just another tourist after all..." She walked towards the Pokemon Center, speaking over her shoulder. "Have fun finding out the hard way."

Lumiose City - Vernal Avenue Pokémon Center

Helena's arrival didn't take long. After gathering up her Pokemon, she checked the time until her match - or at least the rough estimate they had for her, and headed for Lumiose City's pokemon center.

She'd step out of the teleport zone, ride the elevator and arrive inside of the center proper soon after that.

Once she caught sight of Zack she sighed audibly, slumped her shoulders, but she couldn't help the slight curl her lips held that made her look happy.

"The power of friendship is stupid," she announced as she approached her brother. She'd then go on to tell him about Loic and his dumb Riolu that evolved into a Lucario right as she was about to win the match.

"You know, that's actually happened to me a few times," Zack said, standing up once Helena finished her story. "You wouldn't think it, but it can be a good thing. Whenever someone evolves during a match, they either think they're invincible or they're in total shock. Perfect time to blast them with everything you've got."

Helena still had to work her 'everything' being 'something of overwhelming power', but she'd get there eventually. For now, Zack held out his hand for Helena to take and said, "Come on, Camphrier Town awaits. I'm guessing that Route 7 will have stronger pokémon than the ones you've seen so far. That tends to be how it works. Plus there's a huge castle."

He didn't really want to talk about his encounter with Salieri. It had been pretty uncomfortable. So the best course was to think and talk about absolutely anything else until he pushed it out of his mind. With Serene stood waiting, once Helena was ready, she'd teleport the two siblings past Route 5 and into Camphrier Town's TZ.