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Wayne looked at Helena funny. 'How are you so surprised? He's your brother.'

---

Outside, Zack took Gremlin into a convenient alleyway and squashed him against the wall. Nobody noticed, a wall of people droning mindlessly past.

'Never,' he said lowly. 'Do that to my sister again.'
'Right, right, okay,' Gremlin choked, patting away at Zack's forearm, which squeezed against his throat. 'Just gimme room to breathe here.'

Zack released him just enough that the Aipom was still suspended against the wall. The monkey grinned.

'Thataboy. You gotta admit, that was kinda funny, the way she freaked out and all,' Gremlin said, effortlessly unhinging himself from Zack's grip and swinging around the trainer's arms and onto his shoulder. Zack made no move to rid himself of the pest. Instead he put his hands in his pockets and sighed.

'No it wasn't.'
'Puh-lease, if I'd done that to Stacy Shawman you'd have laughed your little pink butt off.'
'That's different,' Zack grumbled. 'She's a total b***h.'
'You're just bitter because of what she said about your hair. And all that other stuff.'

Zack groaned, thinking back. He'd worked odd jobs in Unova over the past year, the latest of which being a bike courier, delivering packages around Castelia City. Gremlin was the devil on his shoulder, but the devil had a map and prevented Zack from getting lost. Most of the time, anyway. Stacy Shawman was practically a regular, and every time Zack brought her a package, she had some comment to make about his appearance or attitude. Zack, of course, took it in stride.

Gremlin grinned. 'Remember that time you got me to take a dump on her car? Now that was funny.'
'Yeah,' Zack said fondly, 'that was funny.'
'She never found out, you know. She thought it was that a*****e Houndour that lived in the alley near her apartment. I saw her chasing it with a coat hanger.'

They rejoined the flow of people. Zack found himself drifting towards Sycamore's lab, but soon had another idea.

'So why'd you leave, Zack?' Gremlin asked. Zack gave him a sideways glance.
'I told you. I'm coaching Helena through the league.' But even as he said it, it sounded like a lie. If he was so good a coach then she'd be listening to him, not storming out.
'Huh. Can't say I picture you as a teacher. You've got far too many anger-type issues, you know. Where are we going now?'
'Some place,' Zack said. 'You'll like it. There's a tree.'

Gotengo

Gremlin's mouth hung wide open. 'No waaaaa-'

It took less time than Zack expected to find his way back to Gotengo. When he'd come here initially, the trip had been something of a blur. Luckily, he'd walked out, and recalled some of the nearby landmarks well enough to wander back in. Plus the noise of the party was a fair tip off. He glanced around disapprovingly, and worked his way to the base of the tree.

'-aaaay,' Gremlin dismounted and scurried up to inspect the treehouse more closely.

'Hey,' Zack shouted to some random teenager, 'go fetch One Shot. I need to speak with her.'

"What?" Helena shot Wayne a look of confusion. "No, the Aipom." The creature had arrived with Wayne which meant he must know something. "How does it talk?"

Gotengo

One of the few party faux pas at Gotengo was talking smack about it's leaders if you weren't close to them. To insult the host at most parties was a faux pas. Fortunately for Zack, Sal wasn't present, so this unspoken rule was more lax. Still, people overheard, and now there was a drove of teenagers giving him weird looks and whispering amongst themselves. Needless to say, he wasn't cementing his popularity, but like a bad rumor, his reputation was expanding.

One kid watched a recording of the moment on his phone. "She walked into his purple sleep cloud, so..."
"Doesn't count if they didn't fight."
"Where's Dune when ya need him?"
"Sal hates Ghosts, I don't think she could beat him."
"Sal beats everybody, that's why the police never bust us."
"There must be blood!"
"Isn't her bandanna supposed to be worn around her neck?"

Mia pinched her brow and ascended the stairs with a sigh, scattering the teens with an offhanded flick of he wrist. "I'm guessing they don't have tact in Unova." Now on the porch, she leveled with him, arms folded.

"Sal's on the coast training for her third badge. What do you want her for? I had the impression that you two despise each other."

Gotengo

As soon as Zack dropped the word "conspiracy", the rando teen took a long chug from his beer to avoid having to talk, then walked away. The party, which hadn't interested Mia much beforehand, became dull background noise to her as she processed what Zack said.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a gun. A water gun.

"If you're just ******** with her," Mia said, matching Zack's tone of seriousness as she pointed the squirt pistol at his head, "I might kill you myself."

Gotengo

Mia was tempted to point down and spray his pants so it looked like he peed himself. But that would've been too easy. She spun the gun on her finger and pocketed it. "Follow me."

The bespectacled teen would lead Zack into the big room at the base of the tree. In the middle of the room where the spiral staircase curled around the tree trunk that went through the ceiling was Mia's PC. "We'll have to call her up."

She dialed Sal's number. There would be no videochat because Salieri never downloaded the app for it onto her Pokégear. Partially because of her lack of tech savvy, and partially out of paranoia that something bad could come from it. Instead, the placeholder would be an old picture of Salieri from when she was eleven, dressed in her school uniform with her arm wrapped around a shy Lucario's shoulder.

Mia moved out of the way so Zack could speak towards the PC's mic once the call was picked up.

Cyllage City – Wilderness Store

Much like the shop where Helena had purchased her camping supplies, Cyllage City’s equivalent also catered mostly to trainers, who would be using the outdoor gear in their travels more than any other demographic. The shelves were stocked with a plethora of supplies, many of which could only be sold to trainers with a certain amount of badges.

Salieri was being shown one such item by the desk clerk: a stun baton. It was telescopic, contained within the handle until it was popped open by a button on the leather grip. Once extended it almost reach the length of her arm. Another button on the grip energized the baton’s steel shaft, causing it to hum and glow with light blue electricity.

“This here bad boy’s usually only for cops and three badge trainers,” the clerk told Sal as she waved the baton around slowly to get a feel for it. “Since we’re on the water, and since it packs a punch on Water types, I can sell it to ya even though you’ve only got two. Special deal.”

“Not bad,” she muttered. In truth, she loved how it felt and couldn’t wait to thwack something with it, but didn’t want to geek out about it. “How strong is it?”
“It’s got the same voltage as a Thunderpunch, I reckon. Like that move, you gotta be strong to make it count. Remember, it ain’t an equalizer. This here’s a deterrent. Think you’re up for it?”

The lil’ lady in question had never obtained a Pokémon she hadn’t pummeled on beforehand. A deterrent would do just fine. Sal de-energized the baton and retracted the shaft. “Oh yeah. I’m up for it.”

She handed the baton back and the clerk rang it up. When he said the price, all Salieri could imagine was money burning into ashes and flying out of her hands. The majority of her income went to taking care of Arnaud and herself. It left little funds for anything else. With all of the stuff on the planet she could use to beat people up, an actual weapon was a luxury item.

But the times were changing. And now more than ever she felt she would need a boost.

Salieri walked out of that shop with collapsed baton tucked away in her pocket, hoping her purchase was the right thing to do. I’ll find out when I give it a spin on that Vaporeon.

Seconds later, her Pokégear rang. Caller ID said Gotengo. "What's up?" she asked, answering the call.

Cyllage City

Salieri made an "O" with her mouth in pleasant surprise. An unexpected call from an unexpected person, to say the least. With all of the opponents she had crushed earlier, she was on a roll and having a great day. Going with that mood, she had what she deemed the perfect response.

As chipper as possible, she said, "Goooooo ******** yourself." And she hung up, satisfied with herself.

Gotengo

The call ended. Mia sighed and took out her own cellphone to dial Sal's number. "Smooth moves, Redgrave."

She held up a finger for Zack to wait a second, until Sal picked up. Without the receiver to his ear, Zack would only hear Sal's voice as a high pitched garble, like Charlie Brown's parents or something similar.

"Yo," Mia said while pacing back and forth. "...I'm actually with him right now...because he's serious. Give him...good question." She paused and gave Zack a once over. "That's up to you to decide...Just take the damn call, connard."

Seconds later, Mia handed her cell to Zack. And once he held up the phone, Salieri would tell him, "Make it good or make it quick."

Cyllage City

Salieri slowed her stroll down to a stop. The sounds of the city became a dull noise, and the people passing her by became blurs. As much as she never thought it would happen, she found herself empathizing with Zack and his plight as a worried sibling. Damnit.

"Well, you're not wrong," she said, massaging her forehead with her free hand. "There have been instances...wait, why the change of heart? Two days ago you said I was crazy."