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Pokeland

Salieri held Henrietta's gaze, not faltering even with Wayne joking besides her. Episodes? She had been in the fire just like they all had. If it wasn't for her, Plasma would have gotten the skull. No one else seemed to care why they went there in the first place. If it wasn't for her, Bill could have done to Henrietta what he said he'd do to Eunmi, even if she caught him at the wrong time.

There were times that you had to take action. You couldn't wait and hope for the best. Salieri was all about taking action. This was one of those times. If Wayne was the only person that was going to support her, she'd keep going on.

"End of this? What's this? I don't want to keep going through stupid Plasma bullshit until someone decides it's enough. Nobody knows what enough is until they see what it's like beyond enough."

"This is enough."

Sal twisted to see N break his silence. He looked down at Robby's outstretched hand for a few seconds, contemplating shaking it.

Both girls were right, in a way. N didn't understand the nature of particular humans: the Legends Crew. How could they wish him well even though they'd be at conflict again soon enough?

"I can't," he said quietly to Robby before walking past him towards E. "You misunderstand my words. I said our relationship was meaningful, a learning experience. I did not say that we were friends."

E's smirk grew broader. Atop her perch on the house of mirrors rooftop, Zero stretched her arms over her head and had a smirk of her own. She conjured an illusion of invisibility. The last thing that faded away from vision was her mouth, which had turned back into a Zoroark's bestial, snarling smile before disappearing.

"Friends and enemies cannot be the same thing. They are just another dichotomy in a world of black and white. For you to not understand that distinction means that you do not understand me."

Outlier Teleported to E's side and grabbed her hand, holding Zero's invisible claw in his other. E extended her free hand for N to grab.

"However...I apologize for the grief I have caused. It wasn't my intention to hurt-"

E rolled her eyes. There was no way she was going to let this speech go on and on like the rest of their prattling.

As soon as she grabbed N's hand, they were all gone instantly, Teleported away to somewhere else. Salieri stared at the empty space where the Plasma Siblings and their pokemon just stood, then looked at Henrietta. Her amber eyes were still intense, but not just with anger. Pain was mixed in there as well.

"...I know we've been playing in your clubhouse, but that doesn't mean you get to make the rules. Stop acting like you know what's best. Like you-"

Her gaze shifted to the side, to avoid eye contact from anyone else. "Like you know me...you don't know me at all."

Salieri spun around and started to walk away. She stopped right behind Wayne. "Thanks," she muttered without looking back at him. And if no one stopped her, she'd make her exit. It was time to get out of this sour city.

"Idiot!" Henrietta vaulted down, pole hitting the ground and losing height, dragging her slowly toward the ground. Crystals and natural infusion absorbed the rest of the force as she handed the megaphone back to the man and made her way swiftly toward Salieri.

"What would you do if you attacked N? You'd get thrown in jail, or get sent home under house arrest or worse! You didn't even think, did you?! You just got angry and attacked, like you always do!"

She turned toward Wayne, glaring at him. "And you need to take this seriously. Yes I did something stupid, to save Salieri before she ruined her life over a stupid outburst - over a damn tantrum. You like pointing out flaws, just like in the desert, you like pointing out obvious flaws you see, but you hardly think about what you do. You were the first to point out how we, or our loved ones, could die, and yet you jumped right in for whatever reason."

She felt frustrated, rubbing the bridge of her nose, eyes closed. N's words still hung in the air, denouncing them. They were lies too, try as he might he risked his life for them already. His was a show, Salieri's was ego, and Wayne's was... What was Wayne? His motivation? His thought process? She didn't understand it.

"These aren't orders because I think I'm in charge, these are observations to keep us alive." Henrietta turned to leave, Bastion joining her. "You need to grow up, Salieri. Get over your ego. I'm going to Driftveil." With that she'd turn to depart.

Robby let the conversation wash over him, dropping his hand as Norbert refused. He didn't feel hurt or anything, the two hadn't been particularly close anyway. But the lad did turn his attention to Sally, Wayne, and LG.

It was bound to turn into a fight, and frankly, it was probably none of his business. Now that N was gone, they were all just trainers again, standing together. That they happened to be trying to be team mates didn't mean much without a goal to focus them.

"Hey." He said to Takamaru, instead of speaking up to the other three. "Ya'll have to fight 'im. Keep it in mind, cause he's stubborn." The lad would turn away from the group then, and also start to leave. Fried was waiting, and he didn't want the Combusken getting robbed.

Entralink Base

Jump's eyes widened when he got a sharp reaction out of Jackie. It was a little disappointing that she said no, but he had definitely got her thinking about it. "You know me," he said with a thumbs up. "I'm always serious."

The Interpol Agent stretched his legs and walked up to Jackie. His nose wrinkled above his signature grin. "It was fun for me too. I'm taking your no as a rain check, by the way."

He flashed her a quick peace sign before blasting off, super speeding out of the building and disgruntling several workers who were previously gruntled. The garbage bin teetered a little bit in his wake. Fortunately for the janitorial staff, it remained upright.

TK didn't pay any mind too N's departing words.

He might say he didn't count them as friends, but The silver haired youth didnt buy it anymore than N probably did.

"And when it does everything will turn out ok. Cause friends fight, it happens. Its what we do after that counts." Tk replied to Robby as he too departed from the spot.

Could that have went better? probably, but now all the cards were dealt, now it all depended on who played the best strategy.

With Wayne going with Sal, Tk took off after Henrietta. Iron hide at his heels.

"Ne ne! Henrietta! Wait up!" He called after her.

Henrietta slowed to a stop as she turned to look at Takamaru. She probably looked a lot more tired than she was ten minutes ago. Bags hung under her eyes pretty much the entire half week they were in Nimbasa, concealed with make up but still vaguely present. The droop of her eye lids, the red lines on her cornea - these probably gave it away despite her efforts.

She didn't feel good anymore. She felt frustrated, stressed out and guilty. More then that, she was afraid. She was just too tired to show that, it couldn't be found if you stared at her long enough, if you examined her and tried to find some deep meaning in her expression you'd just see a worn out girl.

The people around her were rash, impulsive to a degree. Takamaru, Robby and even Wayne were more likely to listen, to consider and stay alive simply through weighing the pros and cons. Salieri was different, and that's what scared her. She wasn't afraid of the girl, she'd fought her so many times in the last few days, sparred with her and trained with her, that she couldn't be intimidated by her strength or skill. Rather, it's what Salieri did with that. She was rash and impulsive to a much larger degree, more likely to lash out at things she didn't agree with.

What scared her was that Salieri might throw away her or someone else's life without even thinking about it. It had almost happened before, to the man who saved her, to Henrietta herself, and as a result that could've lead to the deaths of almost everyone, Plasma and Crew, in Pinwheel Forest. The events still haunted her and she hadn't seen enough, let alone any, change in Salieri for her to think otherwise, to not define the girl by that moment. What frustrated her more than anything else was the fear that Salieri would do something insane and stupid and Henrietta wouldn't be there to clean up the mess. What would have happened if Henrietta hadn't arrived today, if Robby and Takamaru hadn't? If she hadn't been there in Pinwheel Forest? Or at the Stadium?

The scariest part of it all? Salieri seemed to get worse as time went on.

Maybe she was just too tired to be judging these things.

These were the thoughts that ate away at her, even after she'd berated the girl only moments ago.

Henrietta looked at Takamaru, her lips curled into a frown, her eyes begging for sleep, her body tense. The twitch of her lips spoke of a failed attempt to smile and she didn't try again. "I need to grab some things before I head out. Do you want to come with or meet me at the gate?"

Pokeland

"Yeah." Sal replied absentmindedly as she watched the other three members of the Legends Crew walked the other direction. "Tell me alllll about it."

And he did. For the whole walk to the drawbridge. Because all ID's had to be checked at each city gate thanks to the recently imposed emergency laws, the gate was congested with travelers getting rejected and trainers waiting in long lines. So there was a lot of story time at that point.

Salieri listened in to bits and pieces, occasionally replying with a nod, or a "Nice, good move." Occasionally, she'd even crack a small smile at Wayne's jokes. It was nice to hear about N losing in a pokemon battle, especially to Wayne.

Mostly, she was still preoccupied with recent events. It didn't help to keep thinking back on everything that happened, wanting it to go differently. Sal knew this. It was just that she couldn't help it.

Exiting the gate brought them to the very short Route 5. Sal had stopped at a trailer that was selling baked good, and bought herself a cupcake. Well, five cupcakes. Less than an hour later, the cupcakes were gone when they got to the drawbridge.

There was a virtually omnipresent light breeze on the river, sometimes blowing around feathers that fell from the flocks of Ducklett that flew above them. With her enhanced hearing, Sal heard ukelele music coming from halfway down the bridge.

"Hey," she blurted out, not sure if she was interrupting Wayne or not because she had recently zoned out. "What was Henrietta's deal before? Saying I throw tantrums and, and other stuff. Temper? Episodes? I don't have episodes."

Sal folded her arms and pouted. "Hmph. She's the one who has episodes. Acting all tough cause she had a megaphone on a ferris wheel. I'll show her an episode."

Henrietta listened to Takamaru as he tried to play mediator. Henrietta herself wasn't in the mood, so she simply said nothing. It wasn't until they were at the exit to Pokeland that Henrietta spoke. "If we fall apart we'll die trying to do this." She was staring far off into the distance, turning toward the direction of home. "We'll die a lot faster if we can't work together, either." They had learned that lesson hard at the Stadium. Impulsive attacks had done them in with Pachi hardly having to lift a finger. The only two hits they'd managed to land on the woman had required such great effort it was embarrassing.

"We all need to grow up. I'm sure Salieri would be more then happy to tell me all my flaws if she got the chance. But I'm not sure what will happen down the road." Henrietta stopped, looking over toward Takamaru for the first time since he'd ran up to her at their departure.

"We need a linchpin, a form of stability. Something to keep us together even when we'd rather tear each other apart." Henrietta had acted like it, but she never felt like it. She didn't have the qualities, nobody really seemed to. Maybe that would be their downfall.

"We need a leader, Takamaru. Before one of us does something incredibly stupid again."