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Desert Ruins

The explosion engulfed the sky, blocking out the sun's natural light. It yawned, slowly
filling out, billows of flame tumbling, eating at the air. Zack stood below his attack,
unaffected by the heat. Thick black shadows loomed, wavering beside the buildings,
flickering as the tower of fire shifted form.

A large ember shot out of the inferno, arcing in the darkened sky. Zack's eyes narrowed
as he recognised the Braviary. It looked burned and charred, some of its feathers sticking
out at crooked angles. He caught a gleam in its eye. Defiant.

The griffin swooped down and Zack threw out another explosion. This one wasn't
as enormous as his flared blast - he didn't want to burn out - but it shot out of his hand
like a buckshot, skimming Braviary as it angled to avoid being struck. The heat strimmed
away some more feathers, exposing the burnt flesh on its side.

It must be in agony, Zack found himself thinking, Jesus Christ.

Braviary tucked its wings in and became streamlined, suddenly seeming to vanish
mid-flight. Zack knew this to be an Aerial Ace and threw up his arms to defend.
Claws gripped the flesh, threatening to slice open his crossed forearms and draw
blood. Braviary was above Zack, wings opened wide. It felt even more powerful than
it had done before.

It forced Zack backwards against the sand, his feet ploughing through until he hit a
wall. It was one of the old buildings. Zack's explosion continued to loom in the sky,
thinning but still large enough to block out most sunlight. For a second he felt a pang
of fear towards the massive screeching bird that had him pinned against the wall.

Power surged through its claws. It was using Crush Claw in an attempt to break
Zack's arms. While broken arms would cripple any fighter, Zack's arms were his
preferred method of releasing his explosions. If they went, then this fight would
effectively be over.

He grit his teeth, flaring his Aura. The human fought against the Pokémon's power,
dragging his arms outward, exposing his chest to Braviary, while Braviary was exposed
to Zack. He eyed the burn marks on its side. The razor sharp beak that seemed
to be aiming at his heart...

Zack felt the surge of power from his flare begin to recede. Braviary had managed
to hold firm even though Zack's arms threatened to break it into two. It was powerful,
more powerful than he had expected it to be. He had no choice.

He flared for a second time, mouth hanging open, face scrunched as he roared. A
ball of force started at his core and exploded outwards. No fire, just a pure explosion
of Zack's power crushing outwards. It hit the air, creating a massive air pressure,
it bored at the sand, carving out a round chunk. The wall at Zack's back crumbled
under the strain, the ancient bricks disintegrating and flying away before they could
fall on him.

The wave of force slammed against Braviary, who still clung tight. Force continued
to barrage the flying type. Zack felt its grip weaken, razor claws grinding against
his flared skin like a knife against stone. Braviary was thrown backwards, flung
into another building. It bounced, crumpling to the floor in a heap.

Zack fell forward, the explosion of power dying as his Aura burned out. He caught
himself, hands and knees, sweating and gasping for breath. The airborne fireball
was dead. The familiar sandstorm had rolled in like a mist, whistling throughout
the desert ruins.

Braviary twitched and Zack's eyes opened wide, though he was still gasping. Recovering
from a burn out was not an enjoyable experience; it felt like your body had just run
a marathon in a few seconds. Braviary moved again, this time rolling over, its wings
flapping out as it found its feet. It shook its head, regaining its bearings.

"No...!" Zack growled, pushing with all his might and forcing himself to move. He got one
leg forward and threw himself after it, letting momentum carry him.

"You...!" he staggered forward. Braviary's head looked to be clearing. It eyed the human
and spread its wings. Zack grit his teeth and built up speed.

Braviary screeched just as Zack reached it, he flung himself through the air, fist drawn
back. As his Aura flooded his body with strength, he immediately flared it, charging
his punch as he swung down, knuckles colliding with the bird's skull, cracking
it to the side.

The griffin flew back, but not of its own accord, and crash-landed, sliding back
before falling into a defeated heap. Zack breathed in heavily, standing over the downed
pokémon. It breathed slowly but weakly. He hadn't fought such a tenacious opponent
in years.

"Don't," he said quietly, looking down at it, chest still rising and falling despite his
Aura having returned. He stood up straight and watched the flying type for a few
seconds, contemplating. Then he felt it. The horde was back.

Zack looked around, over his shoulder, between the gaps in the ruined buildings.
The eyes stared at him. No longer filled with hate, but with immense sadness. He
frowned, then looked back down at the bird.

It really was powerful.

What do you know about these things? he thought back to himself, watching it breathe.

He bent down, tucking the bird's wings in at its sides, covering the burns to keep
them from being further exposed to the billowing sand. Zack put his arm around
the beast and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

The horde had begun to group together and Zack walked towards it. Somehow,
he trusted them to lead him back to town.

That's right, Zack thought, smiling quietly to himself, They fight to protect their friends.

Entralink Base

Jacqueline put her hands on her hips and dipped her head, looking defeated. Hopefully
disproving Jump's concerns wouldn't take very long. She felt her stress levels bump up
a notch... knowing Jump, it would take forever.

"Fine," she said, "We can go to the observation room and ask them to keep an eye out
for any giant castles popping up. Would that make you happy? Or is there anything else
you wanted to do?"

She quickly said, "And it can't involve a road trip of any kind."

---

PokéLand

"I'm not weirded out!" Wayne hissed back. "But you know that N is totally not normal! He
talks about everything like it's a math equation! Tell me you don't think that's just a tiny
bit weird?"

He looked back at the other trainer. Something about N had never quite sat well with
Wayne. N always seemed different. Not that Wayne disliked people who were different,
but N seemed stranger than most.

"Look," he said quietly to Salieri, "Just don't go in there expecting him to be some perfect
Prince Charming because you're just gonna get let down. Besides, dude looks like a lady."

((I really have to get to bed now gonk ))

Entralink Base

"I'm fine," Jacqueline said simply. She held his gaze and refused to back down. It
wasn't in her nature. In truth, she was far from fine. The memories that Sintre had
stirred were haunting and it had put her in mind of her mother. Of her father.

They were the reason she did all of this. Not through due to some philosophical notion
of living up to their ideals; they were literally the reason she'd become a World
Government agent. If her father hadn't died of his illness, and if her mother hadn't
enrolled her on the training programme...

She might even be normal right now.

But this wasn't something she wanted to speak to anyone about. Especially not
a loud-mouth like Jump.

And so she said that she was fine, even though it was a lie.

"We can go for some coffee if you want," Jacqueline said. She didn't really drink
it - she was more about water and health drinks - but she didn't want to spend the
rest of her day standing around in the gym and it didn't look like Jump was going
to leave her alone.

"The canteen is three floors down," she said, "We can go there"

---

PokéLand

Wayne's heart dropped and he felt like an a*****e. He folded his arms and tore his
eyes away from his friend. She did have a point. N was a weirdo but Salieri seemed
really excited.

He should just be happy for her. Where was the harm in that?

"Sorry," he said quietly, "Just don't let him talk you out of being a pokémon trainer.
I'm pretty sure we're supposed to have a battle once we get to Driftveil."

((On a side note, it's March 23rd in the RP now. Which would be important if Kyne Vet was with us cause his character would be turning 11.))

Silph Co. Tower

Being President Silph's personal assistant certainly had its benefits.

Brady could pass through any floor on the Silph Co. tower without restriction. Nothing
was off-limits to him. Silph was old; as much as his technology progressed, he still
needed eyes and ears on the ground to keep a grasp on his organisation. If Brady was
prideful of anything, it was that his diligence had been rewarded with an extraordinary
level of trust from a man who shunned his own family.

He left the fifth floor, which researched new technologies that could be used in items for
pokémon trainers. They were one of Silph Co.'s strongest markets, and a good amount
of resources were pumped into the field. The elevator rang as it reached floor nine. This
was the military R&D wing.

All practical testing occurred either in the sub-basement levels or out in the field. This was
where ideas were born on paper before being manufactured. As the doors shifted open,
Brady was met with a wide corridor and a scanner. It used special Silph Co. technology
to assess the privileges of anyone under its gaze. Then, depending on whether or not
they were allowed to be on that floor, it decided to either grant access or warn the person
to retreat back into the elevator.

If they failed to comply, the Aegis System would be activated. Brady had only the
vaguest understanding of how the system worked. What he did know, however, told
him that it was a highly advanced defensive countermeasure designed specifically
to prevent intrusion into the tower. After the Rocket attack decades ago, Silph had
stepped up its security to be on par with the World Government's. The fact that Silph
held the majority of the WG's R&D contracts helped in that regard.

Brady held his hands behind his back as the blue light of the scanner washed over
him. It took just a few seconds. The laboratory doors withdrew into the wall and he
passed through, hearing the hum of the door mechanism as it locked shut as soon as
he passed through. The lab was essentially an open space filled with desks and half-
finished prototypes. There were a few back rooms and cubicles for private working, but
Brady was looking for something very specific. And that search took him to a pair of legs
poking out from beneath a desk

"Doctor Spencer," he said, and the legs flinched like an electric shock had passed
through them, "I trust work is going well?"

"Jesus, Brady! You almost gave me a heart attack!" the young scientist said, sticking
his head out from the edge of the desk. He was a big guy, heavy in the way one would
get after spending all of his time in a lab eating various pastries. Spencer heaved
himself up from under his desk and clambered slowly to his feet. He looked at Brady
through a single thick, black lens attached to his right eye by a wraparound harness,
then let loose a wide, warm grin as he slapped the personal assistant on the shoulder.

"How've you been, bro? Not seen you down here in ages!" he pointed towards the
floor, "Some joker programmed the circuitry in my desk to make my lamp flash in
Morse Code whenever I started typing. I tell you, these scientists are animals sometimes,
you know?"

"I do have some idea," Brady said. "Spencer, how is your project coming?"

"What, the Vent Spinner? It's fine in short bursts, but engaging in extended fire has
turned out to be a nightmare. Do you have any idea how much air would need to be
drawn through the mechanism to get the kind of range and firing rate that the WG
wants?"

He threw his arms up, then sighed as he dropped them back down, "I tried outfitting
it with a pressure cannister but they'd require changing in a matter of seconds! Completely
impractical. I might have to start from scratch."

"Not that," Brady said, sliding his glasses up the length of his nose, "your other project."

"Ohhhh," Spencer nodded knowingly, then flashed a grin, "That one... It's coming along
just fine."

Runes were sketched, colored across the spectrum and made of aura. Translucent upon her feet and hands. They were a familiar comfort with no sensory existence beyond sight, contrasted to the armor she wore. A suit developed for soldiers made to help her physical attributes.

Bridgette's was a lighter model. Heavier ones allowed suits to punch for the user, they dampened greatly what she was able to do with her own natural infusion. The more experienced you were, the less you needed to be protected.

What she wore now was only in case she was at risk of being shot at. These guys had been under the radar, a feat in and of itself. However the satellites had detected a flare.

The World Government was capable of finding and tracking the use of aura like how one might track any source of light. However scanners all had one common weakness - thick enough wall between you and the all seeing eye of the World Government and you couldn't be tracked.

They'd been hidden for who knows how long, Bridgette determined as she looked down upon the compound for the carrier, but they'd slipped up. Someone had flared.

They had an Aura user.

Cue Bridgette's arrival to the scene. A standard mission - empty the compound, find out what they were doing, erase any existence of their group that branched out from the base.

Bridgette dropped as the back of the carrier opened, the wind hitting her but she didn't feel it. The suit was meant to slow down bullets, wind force wasn't that big of a deal. Unless it was a vent gun, those things hurt.

Her parachute deployed and she landed upon the roof of the building. The thud was only audible to her, the thick walls would remove any sound in the interior.

Good, nobody will hear them scream. The words of her father rang in her head. It wasn't a recollection, it was a device built into her brain when she was still in the womb. It allowed him to actively create thoughts in her brain. He'd mostly just used it commentary. Part of the reason Bridgette was single, actually.

She dropped off of the roof and deployed her means of entering the compound. A flash of light as she rolled her hand to produce the red and white ball. In the next flash it was gone - and so was the door.

Men jumped to their feet, cursing and shouting. They weren't armed, no belt for pokeballs, no bulges for pokeballs, no weapons. They never expected to be found.

Bridgette entered, her aura radiating and the runes came to life. Her right foot gave her speed, not anywhere close to Jump's level but in hand with her natural infusion, it would let her close the distance before a normal person could properly react.

That is precisely what she did - close the distance. The radiating stopped and her right fist radiated strength, turning the natural infusioned punch into something much heavier, denting the man's skull with an outline of her gauntleted fist, caving skull into shattered bits into his brain.

The man spasmed on the ground as his brain fired off neurons, trying to make sense of things and trying to process, well, anything. He'd live the next few moments in the peace of a seizure, consciously blacked out to the rest of the world

"Quiet please, dad." Bridgette whispered.

Two more men, the furthest one away stood stunned, the closest one grabbed a chair and attacked. Bridgette placed one foot back and her right fist calmed, her foot radiated defense, her muscles felt thicker, stronger, her bones denser, her skin harder - it wasn't it was just aura coating them. Her left fist rose and the chair shattered against it. The force, the splintered pieces, none of it effected her.

Her left foot calmed, her right radiated and she stepped into a punch caving in the man's head with the added weight of the suit and her own body, his face pushed back into his skull and pores - natural holes in the body - ripped wider letting free blood and tinier fragments of his skull, eyes bulged as the bottom half of the sockets were inward.

The last one had a weapon. Bridgette had missed it.

She cursed herself. She wasn't like Jackie, who could analyze an entire room by putting her hand on the wall, or like Jump or Zack who had the speed and power - respectively - to not have to worry about missing a detail or two.

Her right hand calmed, her left fist radiated - speeding up her reflexes. She hit her pokeball first, the sped up motion of taking it from her sleeve with a gesture of her hand, the white light that flashed and faded into emptiness.

A unique kind of Pokeball that her father had invented specifically for her. The flash radiated outwards from the materialization, letting opponents perceive the motion as a simple punching motion - which she gave to the man before he could even tap the button of his Pokeball - and the same second allowed her to recall the pokemon without it ever being seen.

For this reason, she had earned the title of the owner of the strongest punch. Wailord, if she were being honest, had merely crushed him with weight he'd take well over ten minutes counting to.

Her visor detected radiating Aura. Bridgette turned, tapping a ball on her belt to reveal Kabutops. Before her was the man that had flared and caused them to catch the group. An Aura user. Inherently more dangerous, if he knew his ability, than normal people. Only because normal tactics wouldn't work.

The first step was to identify the opponents Aura ability. The smartest way to do it was to do it without revealing your own. An opponent would hesitate if they didn't know your own ability. Bridgette's runes remained visible, but the effects could be chalked up to the suit, to natural infusion - she still had the edge of surprise.

The man before her radiated and glistened. Sweat dripped from every pore and his eyes had a crazed look.

A junkie.

"I know, dad," Bridgette whispered.

I need some new eyes, could you leave them alone on this one?

This was the reason she had been targeting the head from the start - to avoid having to carry eyes back to base and through the compound.

"Yeah."

Bridgette didn't hear laughter. The man before her was laughing, but she didn't hear it. This was a present she'd gotten years ago. She agreed to test whether or not a Hitmonlee liver could be transferred to a human and work like a normal liver.

It didn't. She almost died. Not as an apology, but as a thank you, her father had given her one request. She'd asked him to take away her ability to hear laughing. Otherwise her life would be plagued by his constant laughter in her head, blanking out every thought she had with maddening laughter - which was why she'd agreed to the test in the first place, she couldn't think properly to say no.

The man had released a Haunter. He wasn't a tall man, and he was completely naked, sweating and laughing and crazy. Bridgette radiated her right foot and closed the distance.

Her grabbed her helmet, and the material began to melt and break away. Bridgette ducked as the latches burned off, freeing her head.

Acid. She wouldn't be able to hit him twice.

The second part of aura battles. Flaring. In a fight you could flare yourself and your Pokemon. To do it meant to work it toward a benefit. Typically you wanted to flare for the best results, radiating aura to set up for a finishing flare by leading the opponent into a specific spot, or forcing them to flare and countering with your own flare, were the best ways to do it. One could flare a Pokemon to attack a trainer, for example.

Flared extreme speed to get around a Pokemon and hit you was a pain.

Bridgette calmed her right foot, and radiated her left hand, her reflexes let her avoid the drip of acidic sweat that followed every motion of the man.

Kabutops Aqua Jet closed the distance between himself and the Haunter, a flared Nightshade let Haunter return the damage several times over. The man was vulnerable but Bridgette was too far away, and she wouldn't injure Wailord just to flatten him against a wall.

She needed to change the playing field to fight him. Bridgette flared. Kabutops who used Stone Edge on her orders, the splintered ground of the technique was much larger, caving in the thick floor a few feet as it exploded. The man stumbled into the pit, Haunter splintered apart as stones tore through his ghostly form.

Kabutops, who shook with fear tearing at him, was trained to follow orders, but instinctual fear still ate at him. With a nod, Bridgette gave him permission to rest. She could handle it from here.

Bridgette stepped to the edge of the pit, waiting for the man to act, waiting for her aura to recover.

He flared his aura and the acidic sweat increased in production, wetting and burning the floor underneath him. He meant to escape, but the ground was still far too thick for him to burn through it in time.

Bridgette still needed to act fast. She felt her aura recover, just in time. Her calmed her left hand and flared her right foot, letting her close the distance at faster speeds, passing the man instantly, landing perching diagonally on the crater wall behind him. She kicked, turned and swung all at the same time.

Kicking off the wall, turning toward the man and letting her left fist hit him at the cerebral cortex - severing spine and skull in one motion. His feet planted gave Bridgette the miniscule leverage she needed to get over him. In the air she removed her burning gauntlet and landed at the edge of the crater.

The man fell in a puddle of his own fluids. Despite how it might've looked to an outsider, it was actually pretty close. If she'd flared too soon she would've burned out, and fallen into the pit of acid.

Bridgette made for the stairs. She needed to find out what was down there before the ground gave out and whatever was down there was subject to potential dissolving.

At the bottom of the stairs was a set of cages. Cages holding children.

"Human trafficking, I'll need identification and transport to get these kids home after debriefing."

"Understood."

Can I have one?

"No, dad." Bridgette went from cage to cage, radiating her right hand for strength to take the cell doors off their hinges.

Half of one?

"No, dad."

I'll give them robot limbs. Ask if they want robot limbs.

"Does anyone want robot limbs?" Bridgette looked at the collection of kids, all huddled together in the center of the room. Nobody answered.

"No one wants robot limbs."

I'm sure they'll change their minds after they deal with the trauma.

Bridgette herded the kids upstairs before the ground gave way and outside. The transport supplied clothes - emergency supplies for this sort of thing.

You didn't get my eyes.

"He was sweating acid."

You have a bunch of kids right there. Just put into the mission report that one was missing eyes.

"No."

Pokeland

The walk to the Ferris Wheel began in silence. Salieri wasn’t sure if it was a comfortable silence or an awkward one. Since it was a preoccupying worry, she decided on awkward and sought to change it. “So where are you from, N?”

N had been looking ahead, keeping the Ferris Wheel in sights. The question took him off guard. “Hmm? Oh, I’m from the north,” he answered absentmindedly. Salieri smirked and leaned closer.

“I mean where was your hometown?”
“I didn’t live in a town. I lived in the forest by Victory Road.”

That was an unexpected answer. Salieri heard that the wild pokemon in that area were high level. It was suggested by the Pokemon League that only top notch trainers should travel through those parts. “Yeah? Did you have a treehouse or something?”

N still wasn’t looking at her while he spoke, but now he smiled fondly at the memories of his early childhood. “No. But I had extended family. Where were you born, Salieri?”
“I was raised in Saffron City. The dojo master adopted me and my older bro.”
“So you were born there as well?”

Salieri’s pace slowed down. She looked at the ground. “I don’t know where I was born.”
“I understand. I cannot remember my own birth either,” he reassured her. “Nobody can.”
A sweatdrop formed on her forehead. “Yeah, it’s not really like that-“

She stopped walking because N did. They were already in line for the Ferris Wheel. The green haired trainer’s eyes were locked intently on the ride, watching it spin around. “I’ve never been on a Ferris Wheel before.” She hoped that her Nianzhu would help her ride one without getting motion sick.

“I love Ferris Wheels. The circular motion, the mechanics.” He sighed. “They’re like a collection of elegant formulas.”

He talks about everything like it’s a math equation! Tell me you don’t think that’s just a tiny bit weird?

As much as Sal wanted to ignore Wayne’s previous comment, it was absolutely true. N seemed to adore math almost as much as pokemon. “So, uh, you really like math, huh?”

“Mathematics are a vital part of our world. They’re ingrained everywhere you look and beyond,” he answered matter-of-factly. Salieri nodded slowly.
“I bet you were a mathlete in school.”
“I didn’t go to school. I was taught at home.”

Again, an unexpected answer. This one made more sense. I can picture that, she thought. It did explain a lot of his behavior.

“How many tickets?” the ride operator asked N when they got to the front of the line.
“Two please.” N took out the cash to pay for both. He had little use for currency, so spending it on Salieri’s ticket was alright with him.

Sal saw it a gesture of goodwill. She hesitated, thinking carefully about her next action, then hooked her arm around his and leaned against him. “Thanks.”

N furrowed his brow, wondering why she had done that. He recalled seeing her face change shades of red multiple times throughout the day. Perhaps she was feeling sick, or faint, and needed to lean on something? N knew of her motion sickness, yet he was taking her on a Ferris Wheel. “We don’t have to go on this ride if you don’t want to.”

She pulled away and shook her head vigorously. “No way, let’s do it!” Sal wasn’t sure if her small action of affection had given him cold feet, but they had come so close. They had to keep going. She practically shoved him into the Ferris Wheel car, and seconds later the ride started up again with them inside.

As the wheel rose, Salieri mentally adjusted her Aura, shifting her senses to deal with the ride so she wouldn’t feel queasy. Actively maintaining the constant shifts slowly drained at her Aura, so she needed to be careful about it.

The view out the window was spectacular. It was possible to see almost all of Nimbasa City when the ride got higher. She leaned against the glass to see it all. “Wow. This is beautiful.”

Most importantly, they were alone together. On the ride, no one could interrupt them.

“Salieri, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

She spun around to face him. He put his hands in his lap nervously. This is it. He wants to tell me he likes me. “What’s up?”

“I’ve…withheld certain information from you. About me. For that, I’m sorry.”

Sal brushed at her hair behind her ear and leaned forward in her seat. “You don’t have to apologize.”
“I’ve been working on a way to tell you…running the options through equations in my head…and the only way is-“

She put her hands on top of his. “N, I like you,” she blurted out, her face becoming pink once more. It was difficult to concentrate on her Nianzhu, but this was taking her mind off the ride anyway. It was like they were someplace else entirely.

N looked up at her, and their gazes locked. He thought that much was obvious due to the fact that they had been interacting on a friendly basis since they had met. You wouldn’t do that with someone you disliked. “Well, yes. I like you too.”

Salieri let some silence settle between them. If there was a time, this was it. Her eyes slowly closed, and she leaned in closer, tilting her head up at him.

“Which is why-Salieri, what are you doing? Are you okay?”

She scrambled back, slinking into her chair and putting her hands at her side. Her face was entirely red now. “I-I-I thought…”

He had been so cavalier with that little question. There was no way they considered this the same thing. She looked away and glared out the window. “What are you trying to say, N? Why did you bring me here?”

“I’m trying to tell you that I’m Team Plasma’s king.”

The statement came out like a fog that slowly consumed her. She laughed anxiously. “Pssh, yeah right. Then where’s your crown-“

”What’s up with the outfit?” Salieri asked N at the Plasma Banquet on the ballroom floor. “You look like a prince.”
“I’d rather liken it to the attire of a king.”

“Ghetsis asked me to work with him to save pokemon," he told her excitedly, gesturing wide to emphasize the whole world with a broad smile on his face.

”I have many goals that I must accomplish on my own if I am to become the type of trainer I wish to be,” he said to everyone at Henrietta’s house. “But, until those times arrive, I'm in. For now.”

“I wonder…how many pokemon exist in this world…”

“I am a trainer so I can help Pokemon. As long as Pokémon are confined in Poké Balls... Pokémon will never become perfect beings,” N said to Salieri when they first met. “I have to change the world for Pokémon, because they're my friends.”

Sal blinked at him. This date was done, that was for sure. Clearly he was into his weird jokes more than her. The feeling of rejection hadn't yet settled in, because it was just so strange to hear. So she laughed anxiously again, smirking reflexively even though she wasn't happy any longer. "You can't...you're bizarre..."

N only narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean? This dream of mine is not out of the ordinary. I want everyone to be happy."
Her smirk faded. "Alright, N. Cut it out. This joke's gone on long enough and it's not even funny."
There was a sad twinkle in his eye. "I'm sorry...if I sound like I'm joking. But I want you to take this seriously."

She blinked again. Those memories replayed in her head once more, with a new perspective. "You...you really..." The color was returning to her cheeks. Not in embarrassment, but in anger.

N leaned forward, still excited. “I’m supposed to reveal my full identity to the public today. I decided-Salieri?”

She wasn’t listening to him any longer. Instead, she was texting away at the C-Room as fast as she could. By spending some Aura on monitoring her motion sickness, she wasn’t at her full potential for a fight if it came to blows. As much as she hated to admit it, having back up wouldn’t hurt.

Most importantly, she and N were together. Alone. If something happened to her in the Ferris Wheel, no one else could do anything about it. They were at the apex of the ride. Halfway through.



“Salieri? Who-“

The slap to his face stung, forcing his head sideways. N rubbed his cheek and glance at Salieri, who looked more hurt than he was.

“How could you play me like that?” Her voice was strained, a mix of anger and regret. “I can’t believe you…ugh, I’m such an idiot…”

She was beginning to feel dizzy. Her outstretched hand went up to her forehead, pressing against it in an effort to block out the feeling. “I don’t know what you mean. Salieri, I thought you’d understand where I was coming from.”

“You know, I really liked you!” she screamed, shutting him up. Her eyes burned, stinging with tears. “All this time I just thought I was playing it too safe, or that you weren’t into me the same way, or maybe that you didn’t even get it…now I know that you’re just a complete a*****e!”

His eyes narrowed into a glare to match hers. “Let me explain myself. I’ve been under orders to keep my identity a secret until now. I never meant to hurt you.”

“Well you did a great ******** job! Did you know that Team Plasma was spying on us in Castelia City? Or that they’d destroy the Dreamyard and the Pinwheel Forest?”

N dropped his hands back onto his lap. “I…knew they were spying on you. But those other things, those were mistakes. They weren’t supposed to happen that way.”
“Yeah right! You’re a liar anyway, why do I even bother asking?”

Their car came to the bottom of the ride. As soon as the door was open, Salieri lunged forward to grab N by the collar and throw him to the ground outside.

He landed on his back with a loud THUD. Fairgoers scattered back, confused but intrigued as they watched Salieri advance on N. “Wayne’s grandpa’s house got blown up. His friend Shery was murdered! You knew that too, didn’t you?”

“No!” he shouted, getting to his feet. “I don’t condone violence. I’m not a monster!”

Her nostrils flared. The word ‘violence’ triggered something in her, making her head feel heavy, less clear. Salieri clenched her fists. “No more lies, N! When we found Darumi with Henrietta, and she was attacked and missing her memory…what about that? Did you know about that? Was it you?!”
“…that was-“
“That was meeee~!”

Salieri turned her head to the unfamiliar, singsong face. Her cheek met with a boot, and she was sent flying into a concession stand.

The Battle Girl stood up slowly and brushed herself off. For a moment she thought she saw double. After a few seconds, it was clear that there were not two N’s in front of her. One of them was clearly a girl. She was laughing, leaning against the real N for support.

“I…haha…can’t believe you. You chose her?” E continued laughing. N’s eyelids were heavy with sadness.
“Why did you hit her?”
“Can’t you tell? The native girl is looking for a fight.”

Despite Sal’s body being reinforced by Nianzhu and Natural Infusion, the kick had rattled her. Whoever this cruel, female lookalike was, she was stronger than she looked. “Who the hell are you?” she spat.

E chuckled and held her long tan coat for a curtsy. “My name is E. I am N’s sister, another part of the royal lineage of Team Plasma.” Her polite tone sounded insincere, as if her role was just a game. “You must be Salieri Del Forrest. The Anti-Hero? You’re much smaller in person.”

That moniker was icing on the rotten cake that was this moment. Salieri’s death glare transferred from a remorseful N over to the cheerful E. She remained silent in seething anger, save for a low growling. She called me native girl…

N stepped forward. “Salieri, please. I don’t want to fight any of you. I’m just trying to change this world for the better, so pokemon can live up to their potential. So they can be free. Don’t you follow my logic?”

Sal’s chest rose up and down. She was trying, with little success, to control her breathing. “N…you’re crazy.” Her hand went for a pokeball on her belt. “I’m done trusting you. And I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done to my friends. My real friends.”

Those words wounded him more than her slap ever did. “…I’m not…I’m not crazy…” he squeaked. This wasn’t supposed to happen. My calculations…they’re failing…why? “I won’t fight you.”

E pushed him aside and flicked her hair back. “Then you won’t mind,” she asked, licking her lips, “If I have some fun with her first.” The pupils of her eyes changed. The emerald green swirled around, and a plus sign appeared in each one. “I’ve never fought a Battle Girl before.”

“Step right up,” Salieri offered bitterly. At this point, she couldn’t even look at N without feeling sick. She had been warned several times over not to get her hopes up for this date. But no one could have prepared her for this betrayal.

Her fingers curled slowly, cracking and popping loudly. Sparks of electricity danced on her nails. “I’ll show you why you won’t fight one a second time.”