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Parfum Palace

With her body numbed from paralysis, the only protest Salieri could make to Durendal entering the maze was a low groan. You're making the same mistake I did, Dune...

As Roy shifted Salieri on the ground, the arm band that cradled her Pokedex became unclipped. Her eyes widened at what may have been her only chance to make a difference in the fight. When Roy lifted her up, she focused the small economy of movement she had into her leg and quietly kicked Ivan across the ground while growling to hide the noise.

Ivan slid backwards behind Sal and Roy into a tiny gap in the hedgemaze. Now it was up to chance to bring Durendal in contact with the Pokedex. She just hoped he could figure out Luxray's advantage before it became insurmountable.

The familiar coldness of handcuffs felt a little bit like home, but in the worst way. Back in Lumiose, Salieri had a friend on the force in Officer Walter. Roy was no friend of hers. He'd really get the police involved, and then she'd really be busted. The prospect of jail time taking away from her Pokemon training really irked her.

Hold on...plate? What plate?

"Wha~" she started to ask Roy before her jaw locked up. A Burn she could deal with. Poison might even be better than this. But not being able to do anything about Paralysis got her steaming. So instead of talking, she just glared at him like a stifled teenage daughter.

Inside the maze, Durendal saw Luxray's shadow on the ground and looked up to the lion incoming. Inner Focus prevented him from being taken by surprise like this, but it didn't mean he wasn't concerned. Luxray's movement meant two things to Dune: that the height of the hedges was not a problem for the Electric type, and that Luxray had a way of knowing where Durendal was going to be.

Figuring that out would be the harder part to deal with. Since Luxray knew that Dune could fly, he would be able to snatch the Pawniard out of the air before he even took off. Dune was stuck in the maze now.

A Rivalry boosted Thunderbolt came his way, but Dune did not slow down. Neither did he attack. He had grown accustomed to the tingling sensation in the air when electricity was charging nearby, and at the last possible moment he dropped to the ground.

Durendal slid underneath the Thunderbolt, with his momentum carrying his tiny form to slide underneath and between Luxray's paws as well. If he succeeded, he'd dare not to attack the lion from underneath. Instead, he'd use a tiny burst of Magnet Rise to stand up faster and continue to turn a corner into the next corridor.

In that next corridor, he'd fire a horizontal Psycho Cutter backwards across the hall and continue to run. He still needed to gauge Luxray's abilities before proceeding, and if he could continue to boost his own attack power then he might have a chance. His Defiant ability reacted nicely to Luxray's Intimidate, but something told the Pawniard that wouldn't be enough to secure victory. Not yet.

What have you gotten us into, Miss Salieri?

The strategy wasn't particularly genius, but Helena knew that it would be irritating to try and face head on. Each time Beedrill would course correct to follow after Feather, she would blast another fairy wind to change her course so that he would have to change direction again. Each time she intended to alter her own self enough that Beedrill would lose at least enough momentum to never hope to catch up.

Unless Beedrill had a different method approach beyond the head on style, his defeat would likely be inevitable.

Gotengo

Mia scoffed at Levi's doubts of her ability to set up a private box system. "I design robots for fun, Levi," she boasted while taking a disc out of her pocket. "I set up a system three days ago. The PC is just the final gear to the machine."

Her eyes followed the velvet pouch on it's midair arc towards the Youngster duo. Mia enjoyed messing with people and breaking minor laws for the laughs, but she wasn't fond of stealing from people she didn't know. There wasn't any reward in it for her if she couldn't see their reactions. All she ended up with whenever she stole from strangers was valuable she'd rather earn herself. Reactions were truly priceless.

That wasn't to say she didn't appreciate the donations Levi and others like him made to the Gotengo. It was about time they upgraded some of their gear. As Carter counted the cash, Anais went upstairs and out of the main shack.

"Thanks, Robin Hood," Mia sighed as Anais scurried back with a locked box. Mia took a key off a string around her neck and opened the box up for her. Carter plopped the cash inside, where there was plenty more, and locked it back up for Anais to return to its hiding spot.

"You sure it was a noble you snagged that from? Sal tried to rob one yesterday, turned out to be some connard foreigner with a tacky highbrow coat." The last thing Mia needed on her first day as Gotengo's Boss was another stranger coming to the treehouse for a fight.

((Huh. Totally forgot Abilities were a thing Glad you remembered about Abilities, Jump. I was worried for a second there

@Spinne - That is the worst name in the history of names that are bad))

Parfum Palace - The Maze

"Hey, calm down," Roy said in reply to Salieri's growling. He tried getting her to move, but the paralysis would make walking her back to the palace too difficult. Roy sighed. He folded the Amulet Coin into a napkin and tucked it into his coat pocket so that it was safely out of the way, then hoisted Salieri onto his shoulder, her legs dangling in front of him.

"I can't imagine how embarrassed you must be feeling right now," he said, smiling. His face dropped a moment later as he looked around. Roy knew they were in the centre of the maze, but that was about it. The rest was... well, it was a maze. How the hell did they get back? "Nevermind, I think I have a pretty good idea."

---

Luxray sprang sideways with surprise when Dune slid below him. There was no attack, though one could have been devastating. The lion pokémon frowned for a second then took off after his opponent, eyes gleaming with gold ember as soon as he rounded the corner. It gave him all the warning he needed to bow below the Psycho Cutter, escaping harm.

Presumably, Dune would be looking back to check whether his attack made contact. If so, Luxray would turn his ducking below the Psycho Cutter into a Swagger, which would dramatically boost Dune's Attack but cause him to become confused. Since his Attack would have risen by five stages, it would be three and a half times as powerful as normal, meaning that confusion damage would be devastating.

If Dune didn't look back, Luxray wouldn't bother with the Swagger, instead launching a custom Thunderbolt attack. Rather than loosing one powerful blast, he would shoot two bolts of electricity at 50% power and in quick succession. This meant that even if Dune predicted the first bolt and dodged, the second would be hidden by the first and most likely hit him mid-dodge. That was all Luxray needed. While the Thunderbolt wouldn't deal much damage, it would send Dune off-balance and allow the electric type the chance to burst forward and sink a Thunder Fang attack.

Lumiose City - Vernal Avenue

Helena exited d**k's Sporting Goods and started down the street toward the Pokemon Center to pick up Feather and Lilt. She had showed d**k her badge and now she needed to get everything together to meet up with Zack so she could learn how to camp.

"How the hell could you lose like that?" The shout was followed by the cry that sounded something like static. Helena, being native to Unova, recognized it immediately for a Deino.

"You useless p***k!" Each word followed another cry from the Drino and Helena started for the source of it.

The guy continued to shout and the Pokemon continued to cry, and each sound caused Helena to move faster until she was trying to but found herself unable to speed up in her sprint.

She came across the scene halfway down a connecting alleyway. She didn't pause or even slow down. Instead Helena charged right at the male trainer, who had a good foot on her, and shoved him away.

He was forced a step back, away from her and the Deino - who Helena put herself in the way of - and he looked at her. His frame resembled that of a beach ball, and his head was as barren of hair.

Helena expected him to say something. Threaten her, tell her to mind her own business, step forward and act intimidating. She expected a verbal exchange like you see in videos or on television.

Instead he punched her in the ******** off."

Helena found herself staring up at the sky through one good eye. The other hurt too much to try and open, and it hurt enough just existing. Out of her left eye she saw the guy step over head and she rolled over to climb to her feet.

He kicked Deino. "I know a guy who'll pay good money for Deino meat."

The Pokemon didn't get the chance to protest before it disappeared inside of the pokeball

"Stop right there," Helena said as she stepped around and tried to shove the guy sideways into the wall. He brought the back of his hand into the side of her face and Helena found herself stumbling as her vision flashed white. She tasted blood and, as she fell to her knees - one hand still gripping the round guy - her tongue confirmed where the blow had busted her lip open.

"Really?" the guy asked in a voice that said he just wanted to leave. Helena pulled herself up to her feet and grabbed on to the guy.

One of his hands wrapped around her throat as her knee came upward hard. It found his crotch and the strength of his grip immediately disappeared as he fell to his knees. He let out a groan as he looked at Helena.

She punched him in the face.

"Ow ow ow!" Helena chanted as she hopped around, holding the hand she'd hit him with. Her fingers curled around her thumb which was inside of the fist. Now it throbbed and she was certain that she'd pulled it. Did she do something wrong? Did hitting people always hurt like that?

He looked up at her a she recovered from the blow she'd given him. His nose was bloody and one hand rested on his crotch. "Give me your Deino. For free."

"Are you mugging me?" the guy said, disbelief in his voice.

"I'm compromising. You give me Deino and I don't report you for beating him up and tell everyone that you got beat up by a girl who doesn't even know how to fight." Helena waved her injured hand about but nothing changed. Her thumb still throbbed.

"Are you ******** crazy, b***h?"

"Obliviously. Deino, please."

"How about you go ******** yourself," he said as he pressed himself up against the wall and climbed to his feet.

"You're gonna sell him anyways."

"Yes, for money."

"I'm not paying you."

"I'm not selling him to you."

"Fine, we do this the hard way," Helena said and the round guy brought a hand up in response.

Helena grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled. The clothing stretched enough to look disheveled and she screamed "rape!"

"Okay, ********, here!" The guy shoved the pokeball at her immediately and Helena took it.

"Make it official," she said and he agreed after a second of glaring at her.

With Deino's ball clipped to her belt Helena took off and the round guy, still leaned against the wall, slumped down to his knees. "Psycho!" he called after her as she left.

Helena wasn't sure how long it took, or how much of it she spent running, but the next thing she could focus on was the fact that she'd made it to the Pokemon Center. She dialed Zack as she slumped against the wall next to the automatic doors.

If he answered she'd say "punching people hurts a lot more then I was lead to believe."

Lumiose City - Estival Avenue Library

"Oh, it's you. What do you want now?"
"I, uh... I... I have no idea."

Zack had exactly two seconds before Esme closed off to him forever. Women could detect fear like a Sharpedo smelling a drop of blood half the ocean away; it was a law of nature. They were shark-people. If he was going to make it anywhere with this girl, Zack had to stop freezing up every time their eyes met. He blinked, squashing his nerves into a little ball, ushering them into a black pit out of sight, and well out of mind. When his eyes opened again, they belonged to someone else.

"So, you got a boyfriend?" he asked, lips curling as he willed himself to emit confidence and charm. Esme scoffed.
"Excuse me?"
"Boyfriend," Zack rolled the word from his tongue and smiled. "Do you have one? Or a girlfriend, I'm not judgemental." He was, but if this was going to work then Zack Redgrave had to be the greatest guy on the planet. Or at least something resembling what he thought great guys were probably like.
"Oh my god," Esme was almost cracking up. She peered, quizzical, curious. "What would you do if I said yes?"

Well he wouldn't cry. Men didn't cry. But that little ball of nerves would explode and sink a hook into every last positive feeling Zack had and drag it, screaming, into the depths of his heart, never to return. So, y'know, no pressure.

"I'd take it pretty well," Zack said flippantly. "Let's get out of here, there's like a million places we could grab a drink."
Esme covered her mouth, shaking her head slowly. Zack couldn't get a read on her through the glare of her glasses, but guessed it wasn't good. "Sorry," she said, "Really. But I'm taken."
"Oh..."
"Better luck next time," she shrugged.

The ball of nerves had become a great Kraken, slithering rubbery coils through Zack's stomach, ensnaring pitiable emotions like happiness and pride, feeding them to its great maw while leaving him the rotting carcasses of despair and embarrassment for company. Zack nodded - thousand yard stare - and said thanks, then headed straight for the bathroom.

---

He emerged twenty minutes later and found the third floor almost empty. The only remaining witness to his shame was the silent Espurr that stood on a table, surrounded by paper notes. Sunlight still streamed through the lead diamond windows and dappled the red carpeting but had shifted angle and deepened in hue. Esme was nowhere to be seen, but she couldn't have gone far judging by all the books she'd left behind. Zack felt weightless, gliding through the library like a ghost and hovering over the mess of notes while Espurr stared at him with cold, dead eyes.

Turned out that he'd been right last night, Esme was studying pokémon biology. It was a difficult discipline by anyone's standards; pokémon were so wildly different that there were few similarities across species. Some had systems that operated similarly to humans, while others were the opposite or simply inexplicable. Research was slow, understanding difficult, and most simply gave up on it. Zack himself had little time for the biological side. You didn't need to understand how pokémon did what they did to train them, so what was Esme's interest?

Zack sat down on a cushioned bench beside the table and slid his notebook over. It had been left face down and open on a page about his pokémon punting records. Of course it had. Great Guy Zack had been a farce from the start, and he'd written the evidence. He sighed deeply and sank his head into his hands. Zack became so lost in his self-loathing that he almost didn't hear Esme sit back down.

"For the record," she said leaning over, "I thought that was very brave." God, Zack thought, now she's patronising me. "Most men opt for the 'sit and stare' approach. It's not as flattering as they think."
"Well, if you're gonna be awkward," as ********, Zack, awkward as ********, "You might as well go full whack."
"Whack?"

Zack took pause. Esme's accent was so light and so delicate, and her pronunciation so clear that he'd forgotten she was Kalosian. They weren't as fluent in National as Unovans were. Probably best to avoid slang words.

"Full whack. It's like," Zack frowned as he thought, "You know, giving it your all. Trying your hardest."
"I'm just ******** with you, Zack," Esme said sweetly. Zack sat and he stared and he swallowed dry. The Kraken was on fire. Esme had collected a new pile of books and started to go through them while Zack watched. Questions and comments bubbled in his brain but he couldn't make them into words: What's that you're reading? What are you studying for? What are you thinking? The hell is that cat thing on the table? Nice weather, huh?! Instead he just quietly leafed through his notebook, barely reading more than a few words each page, mind wandering.
"Did you write that?" Esme asked. Before Zack could think of an answer she said, "It's interesting. May I borrow it?"

No. Instinct punched him in the gut. This was his notebook; he didn't just let people borrow his notebook. It was everything, the culmination of years of hard work. He'd given up his old pokémon but his notebook still survived, still proved that he knew what he was doing. To hell with badges. Then Esme smiled at him, and he finally knew what it meant to be wrapped around someone's finger. Heart fluttering, Zack cracked a lame grin and shrugged.

"Well, we are in a library."

---

It hadn't been a complete loss, Zack thought as he left the book store. He knew where the notebook was, even if he didn't have it, and he'd even gotten Esme's number. Her full name was Esmeralda Moreau. Zack jokingly asked if she planned on owning an island, and she'd just smiled - 'Wow, and I thought you were in the library by accident' - like she hadn't heard that one before. The afternoon had crept on without him, edging further to summer twilight. Things hadn't gone the way he'd imagined while trying to sleep the night before. He hadn't swooped in as Prince Charming, he hadn't won the heart of the girl who literally lived in the library (bedroom on the third floor, not that it would ever matter), the one who didn't make it easy like Castelia Girls and made him want to prove he was on her level.

"God damn, I'm pathetic," he sighed. The street was only partially populated, the police barricade still erected around the smashed storefronts. A thought entered his mind: give up the notebook, delete Esme's number, never go to the library again. He hadn't just lost, he was being manipulated. Hell, he wanted to be manipulated. His Xtransceiver contact list glowed in front of him. Esme's name with a red box beside it. The display changed all of a sudden; Helena was making a call.

Stopping by the nearest wall, Zack answered. Before he could give his customary "What." Helena was already blurting out, "Punching people hurts a lot more then I was lead to believe."

Her face was busted up. She'd been in a fight. Not a battle, a legitimate fight, and she was hurt. The Kraken split open, and with the surge of air and ink and blood, Zack shook with anger. He felt like himself again.

Keeping his voice calm. Ice. "Who did that to you?"


Parfum Palace - The Maze

"You don't know anything about the plate?" Roy fake-gasped, "Well that changes everything! I suppose I'll just have to let you g- nah."

As he dragged Salieri through the maze, Roy became increasingly aware of how lost he was. What on earth possessed anyone to build something like this? If he ever made it back, he'd demand that all staff be given maps to this place. Though looking at the tall walls of green hedges towering in all directions, he doubted a map would do much good. No landmarks.

The thief was talking now though, and that was a problem. Paralysis would have rendered her body numb and made it hard for her brain to tell the rest of her what to do. If she could already speak, then paralysis may well have been wearing off. Roy thought about trying to walk on a dead leg, and how nigh-impossible it was to do so with any measure of control. Even if the girl could move, until the numbness went away completely, she'd flail like a drunk zombie and he'd probably have to knock her out. The joys of being a guard.

"Wait there," he said as he sat Salieri against the hedge, giving her a smirk. Roy took out his Holo Caster and made the call back to Parfum Palace. The head butler's face appeared as a glowing blue hologram. "Hey, Roy Hunter here. I've apprehended a thief in the maze. She tried making off with one of the ceremonials and an Amulet Coin but I got her. I sent my Luxray after her pokémon but he hasn't returned, so I'm a bit lost here. Can you send for some support?"

The head butler sighed and rolled his eyes, then the call went dead. That was a good sign, right? He wondered what kind of reinforcements would be deployed. Maybe a helicopter. It had been a while since he'd ridden a helicopter.

---

The Pawniard vanished, or at least he thought he had. Luxray's eyes gleamed and he looked through the hedge maze, coming to a stop. Dune wasn't very far away, and seemed to be raising his attack power further. The steel type definitely wasn't making it easy, and given his reluctance to engage in head-on conflict, was probably a prudent battler. Time to spread some mis-information.

[You know I'm an electric type, don't you?] he called, his growl-like voice echoing through the maze. To a human, it'd sound like rhythmic roaring. [I can sense that Magnet Rise from a mile away! You can't hide from me!]

Luxray bounced away from where he'd spoken, paws hitting the earth quietly. He could use his sight to close in on Dune, but also use it to navigate away, to make sure the steel type couldn't surprise him. He started to sway side to side, his tail wagging over his body. Soon it would begin to rain. Small specks at first as dark clouds gathered in the once-sunny sky, but after mere seconds, it would become a full-on downpour.

Sparks flew across Luxray's fur as the raindrops hit. He locked on to Dune with his gleaming eyes and called upon a Thunder from the sky. The Pawniard could react to incoming Thunderbolts, but they were what they said on the tin; thin bolts of electricity shot from the user. A lance. Thunder was different. Thunder came from the heavens, a shower of electricity that smashed its target like a hammer.

Dune couldn't move fast enough to entirely avoid two small Thunderbolts, so he'd most likely be engulfed by Thunder. If he did manage to avoid it, he'd probably leave himself open for another Thunder attack, whose accuracy is raised in the rain. Luxray could play this game of cat and mouse at his leisure, always keeping away from Dune as he got close, never giving the Pawniard an opening to attack, always attacking from an unseen distance. It would be easy.

(( ninja ))

Yeah right, Zack thought, some nobody who punched my sister in the goddamn face. For someone so smart, Helena was a complete idiot sometimes. Zack pinched between his eyes and sighed.

"I'm supposed to be looking out for you," he said, "Getting into fights is ******** stupid, and if I teach you to throw a punch you're just gonna get into more fights. Next time use a pokémon."

The squad car down the street stared at him. Hypocrite, hypocrite, it said, guarding the place where Zack had been brawling not a day before. Well that didn't matter, he knew what he was doing, didn't he? Helena should be keeping a low profile, especially on the off chance that One Shot wasn't completely crazy.

"Just meet me at the Center in Camphrier Town. Let's get out of this city for a while, the place is a nightmare. Oh, and don't try drinking a potion to fix your face, get a nurse to look at it. Trust me."

Parfum Palace - Courtyard Maze

If Salieri could raise her eyebrows at the word "support", she would have. But she did manage the tiniest of grins as she tried to shift her body around. Roy had positioned her back up against one of the branches and it was scratching her shoulder. Very uncomfortable.

"S'matter? It's just one...tiny...Pawniard." The strain from speaking showed in her eyes, but she remained confident. "Can't handle...a little thief...on your own?"

Support would actually be bad. Very bad. Salieri was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Still, there was no way she would give in. It wasn't in her nature. As long as one muscle still moved in her body, even if it was just her jaw, she wouldn't surrender. Trash talk was all she could do, but it was enough for her.

~~~~

While Durendal completed his Swords Dance and listened to the echo of Luxray’s taunts, he took the time to center his thoughts. Luxray’s base speed was faster than his own, so without Fleché or Aerial Ace he would be outpaced. He wasn’t sure of the lion’s physical strength, but judging by the scrapes he got from a partial contact Thunder Fang, he assumed Luxray had a lot of power. Dune was already missing a chunk of hit points, but Luxray hadn’t suffered so much as a scratch.

The plan was to carefully navigate the maze and get a sneak attack on Luxray when he had the chance. After that, he’d continue to use hit and run tactics to wear his opponent down. Taking a head on attack from the lion would be too devastating.

Rain drops began to fall down, and Dune looked up. The clouds only hung above the maze and not the rest of the garden, so the rain was artificial. Sal had once told him that if an Electric type used Rain Dance, nine times out of ten you could expect a Thunder attack.

It’s not his sense of smell, Dune thought as he looked ahead. The rain would wash away Durendal’s scent, which would make summoning it pointless. Narrowing it down wasn’t getting him closer to the truth, however. If Luxray wasn’t lying about sensing Magnet Rise, he’d probably sense Fleché as well. But Dune had to keep moving. With his boosted strength, he exploded forth with an Aerial Ace, traveling on a straight line at confounding speeds down the hall.

The reason why Thunder was given such a low accuracy rating was not because it was difficult to aim. It was because in the time it took to charge that much electricity high in the air, many experienced Pokémon could move out of the way. In the rain, the electricity charged in the clouds nigh instantaneously, allowing Thunder to drop at speeds befitting its name.

When Dune dashed, he didn’t realize he narrowly escaped from a Thunder drop until it zapped into the ground behind him, blowing up a cloud of dirt. The second Thunder dropped right in front of his path. Dune stopped his Aerial Ace on a dime, having learned how after his fight with Essence, but his frontside was still razed by the Thunder. The explosion knocked him up into the air and back to the end of the hall, damaging him more than the other attacks combined.

The Pawniard rose to his feet, smoke rising from his superheated body. Before, he thought that Luxray needed to have a line of sight to hit him, but it appeared that the Electric type’s method of sensing gave him the ability to aim without being present. That gave Luxray a serious advantage in range, and Dune had no idea how far his opponent was anymore. Aerial Ace only moved him in a straight line, and Luxray could detect the use of Fleché. How am I supposed to fight this? Miss Salieri, I don’t know what to do, but I don’t want to fail you…

“Beep boop X-ray vision, doofus.”

The familiar, obnoxious stereo voice drew Dune’s attention to below one of the hedges. Poking out from underneath was Ivan, screen glowing with activity. The Pokédex displayed a picture of a Luxray. “He can see through walls. It’s pointless to hide. You look like a beep boop dork.”

Dune stood up, ignoring the pain from the various attacks with Inner Focus. His body felt weak, damaged well beyond half of his maximum hit points, but now he was one step closer. If that was the truth, then Luxray could be anywhere in the maze, aiming from a distance. He never even had to get close to attack his prey. Knowing this was half the battle.

“Stop standing there and get me-I mean, us, out of here booopboop I hate the rain.”

Durendal slid a foot back and held one arm across his torso, facing the wall. He narrowed his eyes, and swiped his arm out wide.

The Psycho Cutter was three and a half time it’s normal size and power. It fired out, wide and sparkling, at the hedge wall in front of Durendal. The telekinetic blade sliced right through the wall and the one behind it, leaving them only a foot high as the bramble fell to the ground alongside the rain.

He thought the maze would have been advantageous, but it was eliminating his options and was the perfect environment for his opponent. The best thing to do was to remove the maze from the equation. If Luxray was trained to guard against more than thievery, the lion would make moves to preserve the maze’s integrity. The more walls Dune cut down before that happened, the easier it would be to fight back and see where he was attacking.

If another Thunder came down, he'd try to use Aerial Ace again in shorter bursts to change directions faster for dodging. Durendal wasn’t sure if Luxray could sense his Electric type moves, but it seemed plausible so he was still wary about revealing Fleché. After all, Dune was a Steel type but he could still sense his own bio electrical fields. With Inner Focus it was easy to feel and control. It made learned Magnet Rise a breeze. ...magnets...wait...

Something glimmered behind his eye. A plan, a risky one with a potential game changing payoff. The next time Luxray tried an Electric attack, Dune had a possible trump card in his sleeve. Until then, he'd be trimming the hedges.