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Route 10 - The Central Expanse

Salieri tried to move back but Ratio grabbed her arm mid diss, ready to throw her and add injury to insult. Now that she was facing them she noticed the Aura Spheres for the first time, and in her head cursed Zack for being such an idiot. Sal let go of the baton, letting it drop while she grabbed right back at Ratio with the same arm he was grabbing. His grip was very strong. So was hers. This is probably a bad idea.

Her free hand returned Banksy to her Pokéball, removing all of Ratio's footing as he tried to throw Salieri. Still holding onto Ratio, Salieri kept her grip tough as the iron on his arms and the two of them would fall together. Using the same momentum he had thrown her with, now transferred to her, Sal yanked to bring Ratio back into the path of the Aura Spheres that were hunting him down. She'd bring himself close to him to hide her small frame against his, raising the chances that he'd take the brunt of the blasts.

[Damn straight! I am the strongest, weak piece of-] For the third time today, Reynard was struck in the middle of gloating by an attack. Ancile's Projected Brick Break burst through the last of her Scald and cut into her back, crashing her to the ground. Previously at full health, the Vaporeon was now on her last legs in one hit, struggling to get up while spitting out a clear liquid that must've been her blood. A huge pale blue cut streaked across her, leaking water. She needed a moment to catch her breath before she could even make a move.

Durendal, who was waiting to attack til he was safe from flying into Malis' Flamethrower, saw the Brick Break coming down upon him. There was only one way to avoid this attack in time, and that was to break out his trump card early. Dune abandoned his hope of using Assurance and switched on Fleché a la Mode, cloaking himself in crimson sparks and enhancing his reflexes just enough to dive backwards with the Brick Break passing by him. He landed on the ground next to Zack.

The Pawniard took one look at Lethal, and tried to grab the Clawitzer off of Zack's arm. He figured the Howitzer Pokémon would work better in his hands. Assuming the trainer or Pokémon let him, Dune would mount Lethal onto his shoulder and hover back upwards, aiming at Ancile and telling him to [Shoot something.]

Route 10 - The Central Expanse

Her chest rose and fell with her arms on top of it, gasping for air. Salieri glared at Ratio so hard she thought she could burn a hole through his mask. She couldn't help but feel like she could have avoided being in this position if she hadn't involved herself with Zack. But then Zack might be in this position, and Matheson would never forgive himself for it. The anger she felt wasn't directed at Ratio. That is, until he mentioned her brother.

Shock washed over her face as all her breath returned at once. "My brothURRRRAAAAAGGHHH!"

Salieri howled as her own weapon was used against her, convulsing under Ratio's weight with her head thrown back. Every inch of her filled with pain coursing up and down her body, but she fought through it long enough to bring her glare back in full force, leveling at Ratio a hatred that equaled his darkness in intensity. Her body wanted her to scream again, and instead she growled past the urge and uttered a guttural, "You hurt him, I'LL KILL YOU!" And her scream came back, until it died down into a whimper and she passed out from the pain.

Durendal stopped pulling on Lethal when he heard Salieri's cries for pain. He hadn't come in knowing what they'd do with Ratio if they defeated him. Dune was a planner, always keeping his cool and trying to figure out the rational, efficient way to deal with his problems. With Salieri coming under electric torture, Durendal decided with a very cool head that the best course of action was to decapitate Ratio as soon as possible.

He took one step forward, and then immediately tackled Zack and Lethal off to the side as Ancile swiped down into the ground. Brick Break tore it asunder, rippling up two waves of earth in its wake that the three of them barely managed to avoid. And then Durendal left Zack and Lethal on their own, flying straight as an arrow with all his boosted speed and strength backing him up to Slash Ratio's head off.

Ska jumped out from behind his hiding pillar as Ancile came down, dropped a Hurl Trap on the ground, and stepped on it. He blasted off, and as he zoomed he nabbed five Mega Stones off the ground from where they fell. He skidded to a stop close to another pillar a fair distance from Ratio and gave the assassin a nod.

"S'cool, you keep beatin' up teenagers, mate. Tried that myself bout half an hour ago," Ska grinned, stuffing the stones into his longcoat's pockets. He dropped a Plant Trap in front of him and folded his arms. "Finders keepers on your lunch box, though."

Route 10 - The Central Expanse

There was no clang, no gong sound, nothing as Dune's Slash was rendered impossible against the Ghost's typing. A counterattack was coming, he knew. This was a duel, what he was made for. But his opponent, even more so. Ratio's sword came sideways and Durendal turned to meet it.

Magnet Rise left his body, and as gravity took over he activated it again. The move didn't flood his body with a magnetic field like normal, instead wrapping around his arms like it did in Parfum Palace. Durendal used Parade, and the blood red magnetic waves coursed down his arm and met in the middle, forming a barrier that met the Slash head on.

Dune struggled against the attack, his barrier stretching out until it tore apart and the sword caught him through the chest blades. The Pawniard was throttled backwards, accompanied by a shockwave that blew the grass right out of the ground. He blew past Skarada and lodged into the pillar behind the Flare Admin with a diagonal gash across his chest.

Ska looked over his shoulder, then back at the rest of the fight. "Bad time, then," he sighed, sounding slightly disappointed. He was hoping to gloat more, but they were far too busy. "241!"

The Armored Gardevoir came to his side and Teleported them away in a flash.

Everything was a blur to Dune. His body ached, his head swam. Salieri was gone, spirited away by Serene. He was grateful for that. The killing intent faded, lingering long enough to be replaced by a need to bring this man to justice. Matheson was right. He needed to be stopped, even if Dune had only a sliver of consciousness left to do it.

Durendal slowly shook himself out of the pillar, dropping out onto his knees. Grunting, he got up and activated Magnet Rise for real, flying up higher into the air. From here, he pointed down at Ratio, and then pulled his wrist up.

A Rock Tomb would come up from under Ratio, small slabs that would form cones to pin his feet in one place if the move was on target. As soon as he knew they were in place, Durendal would follow up by diving down and going for a normal elbow strike to Ratio's head if he got there for it, holding back his strength enough to only knock out the assassin.

On another side of the expanse, Reynard got to her feet, spitting onto the ground. [********.] Her Wish had come true, granting her half of her health back and bringing her to just over fifty percent. It was time for payback. With a flick of her tail, star shaped rays spun Swiftly straight ahead. They were aimed at Ratio's sword arm, the wrist specifically, trying to wrench Ancile from his grasp before Durendal came down.

Regardless of the outcome, Reynard went Seine mode and slithered through the grass, going closer to move in for real damage.

Route 10 - The Central Expanse

At such a close range, Reynard couldn't counter a Shock Wave. Being in Seine mode granted her more speed at the cost of her defenses, and so as she tried to squirm away she was caught in the attack, getting electrocuted while transitioning back to solid form. The Vaporeon coughed up a mote of smoke and collapsed.

Durendal's health was brought back to full by the Heal Pulses, which didn't slow him down in the slightest as he made his dive downwards. But even at full health, he couldn't stand up to a Fighting type technique delivered by a much stronger Pokémon. Dune met Ancile's Brick Break head on. The Aegislash broke through his guard and once again delivered a diagonal cut across the Pawniard's chest where the Heal Pulses had just stitched him up. His armor cracked open and he was flung back up into the air, out cold before he hit the ground seconds later.

~~~~~~

Salieri's eyes fluttered open a short distance away from the fight, and the dull noise of the battlefield became clearer to her. Struggling to stand, she got on one knee and released Banksy. The Torkoal regarded her with concern. "Time...to go..." she ordered with a strain in her voice.

Sal flopped herself onto the warm shell and Banksy turned on White Jet, ready to head back in and extract Zack and company. Salieri hated backing down from a fight. In this case, a fight that could lead to their deaths for nothing, she didn't feel that compunction.

((Heads up: As of this post I'm taking over as Jullien Nostrad))

Cyllage City - Hospital

“No, no more tests. I’m fine. Where’s Matheson?”

The moment Salieri entered the hospital with Zack over her shoulder, the staff had separated them and forced an examination on her. Using technical terms they told her what she already knew: she was hurt, and she’d be fine. Specifically speaking, Ferox's explosive attacks had dished out several bruises and a few fractures on her arms and rib cage, a black eye, and Ratio had ran a few hundred volts through her body. The injuries she suffered weren't as bad as the ones the boys went through and were more easily treated, yet still her muscles and bones ached. She shouldn't have been standing, yet she claimed to be okay. The doctors were impressed with her body’s ability to take punishment, especially after seeing the scars The Sniper had given her. Sal chalked it up to always eating her fruit, and put on her basic outfit again, which was not torn to shreds.

Her Pokémon and Zack’s had been shipped off to the Pokémon Center in emergency vehicles. They told her that the wicked gash on Durendal’s chest was manageable, but they didn’t know how much blood the Pawniard lost. That was twice now that he’d be scarred because of a fight she wasn’t ready for. Despite all she still had to check on, the guilt was a constant in the back of her mind.

Zack was put into an emergency room. Apparently, he had falsely mended himself with a Heal Pulse without setting the broken bones, and had to undergo a procedure to fix it. It was exactly what he had told her not to do with Matheson. Now she knew why.

I need to call Helena. Sal wasn’t sure his sister would answer her call anyway. She hadn’t been responsive for the last one, and she couldn’t have cared less the last time Sal was in danger. Before she made that call, she searched for Matheson’s room, and found it at the very end of a crowded ward. The police, the real ones, had moved in on Route 10 after Ratio had cleared out and recovered the bodies of half a dozen Flare Grunts with a variety of injuries. Whispers in the hall told her that Route 10’s terrain had been scorched and torn apart, but the pillars remained intact and standing.

His room was small, and private. He was in a hospital gown, hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor that beeped steadily. Sal tiptoed to the side of his bed, hesitating to reach out. She pulled back his gown over his chest and saw a horrendous bruise. After seeing that, she’d leave the rest up to her imagination.

The lights flickered. KZZZZT. It sounded like something shorted out. Salieri already had an aversion to hospitals, after spending so much time in them for Arnaud’s sake. This only made things more eerie. And now she got the sinking feeling that even though the door never opened, there was someone standing behind her.

A frigid, sharp point of steel pressed lightly into her back. Her paranoia was spot on this time. “Get your hands off of him and step to your right.”

The young woman’s voice was delicate, light but cold as her steel. Was it a knife, or a sword? Judging by the distance of her voice, it seemed like the latter. Salieri grew tense and gulped. She was in no position to fight back. Reluctantly, she shuffled to her right. “Who are you?”

Now she saw herself in a mirror next to Matheson’s bed, and could see the person behind her in the reflection. A young noblewoman with sharp features and short brown wavy hair, wearing a green royal jacket with an orange ascot. The color scheme screamed House Nostrad. From behind her floated a Rotom, who buzzed with an innocent grin aimed at Sal. Being an avid hater of Ghosts, Sal gave it a snarl, and the Rotom shied away to hide behind its trainer’s head.

“I’m Juliet Nostrad. You must be Salieri Soledad.”
“How do you know my name?” growled Sal. She held disdain for most nobles, but House Nostrad in particular earned more of her ire. Jullien Nostrad, Head of the House, was the one who excommunicated Arnaud from nobility. “Are you spying on me?”

Juliet held up a clipboard with her other hand. It had Salieri's medical information from her examination. Sal responded with a sheepish, “Oh.”
“Matheson’s Vespiquen identified you as involved with the Route 10 incident when your Torkoal rode in here. As a noble of a Court House, I exercise my right to take over police questioning of you, a suspect in the crime. What happened to him?”
Salieri steeled herself again. Of course there would be questioning. “First of all, I’m the one who saved his life out there. And if you keep sticking me with that the only thing you’ll get from me is punched to the floor.”
“Mmm.” Juliet smiled, amused by the notion. “Confident for someone who is literally pinned.”
“At least I’m not a coward! Put your toy away and face me like a woman.”
“If this was a fight I would. But it’s not. This is an interrogation.” The sword’s tip pressed slightly harder, nearing the force needed to draw blood. “Now talk.”

They became quiet and the sound of medical equipment hummed as loud as ever. A sputtering cough from Matheson broke the tension as he stirred, blinking. “…oh noooo…” His eyes went from Sal to Juliet repeatedly. “This is my nightmare.”

“Matheson!” Salieri went to his side, Juliet’s threats be damned, and kneeled next to his bed. “Math you idiot, I told you not to go to Route 10. Are you okay? Tell me everything that happened to you out there.”

Juliet sheathed her sword. When she laid eyes on Math he sharp features softened with relief, if just for a moment. “Don’t hound him. He’s just been through a trauma.” Juliet got to Matheson’s other side and looked him over with great concern. “…who did this to you? Where are they? Tell me everything that happened to you out there.”

Matheson pinched himself to make sure he was dreaming. He was not. One hand on his head, he pointed to the two girls. “Sal, this is Juliet. My fiancé. Jules, this is Salieri. We were, uh, on a date.” He rubbed the back of his head and grinned through the pain of two broken ribs, a broken arm and a slew of minor injuries. “You know what? In any other context that would all sound terrible but I think it came out pretty good.”

“It didn’t,” both girls said at once. Salieri stood up and cleared her throat. So this was the anonymous fiancé she had heard about. Before she could speak again, Juliet held out a hand.
“I apologize for getting off on the wrong foot with you,” Juliet told her, not quite smiling but with no ice in her tone. “Matheson can be nonsensical, but he has a way with people. Any friend of his is a…friend of mine.” That part was said through clenched teeth.
Salieri was taken aback by the apology. She expected this encounter to come to blows just seconds ago. It was much more awkward than that now. She shook Juliet’s hand for a little time as possible. Their grips were overly tight. “It’s fine. I, uh…yeah, we were on a date.”
“I know. He just said that. I assume he told you the nature of our relationship?”
“Your marriage is arranged and you’re both not down, right?”
“…yes. We are ‘not down’ with this arrangement.” Juliet gave Salieri a once over. “So you’re the girl he was going on about yesterday. I thought you’d be…taller.”

As Salieri fumed over that comment, Matheson grabbed Juliet’s arm. “W-what are you doing here? How did you know?”
“After that Krookodile wrestling incident I made myself an emergency contact for you. We were notified the moment you entered the hospital.”
“We?”

The door to the room swung open, grabbing the attention of the three. In walked Jullien Nostrad in all his regal glory, robes billowing to the floor and a stony expression on his face. Matheson sat up straight in his bed. Juliet gave her dad a quick bow. “Father.”

Salieri’s heart pounded. This was a man responsible for taking her father’s former life away. She had never been this close before. He didn’t deserve to walk around when Arnaud couldn’t. Sal’s eyes darted around the room for a needle, a scalpel, Juliet’s sword, anything that could even the score.

“Juliet.” Jullien regarded his daughter with a nod, ignored Salieri entirely as if her venom meant nothing, and stood in front of the bed with his arms behind his back. “Matheson. You’ve gotten yourself in trouble once more, I see. How are you healing?”

Matheson nodded. “Yeah. I mean, yes sir. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
Juliet tapped Math’s broken arm. He groaned. “It’s worse. I was just about to start asking him what had occurred.”
“And what were you wasting time with beforehand?” Jullien asked airily, not looking at Juliet. Juliet looked away, embarrassed. “I apologize for my daughter, Matheson. She distracts easily. Now tell me. Was it Ratio?”

Salieri’s ears perked up. Math gulped. “Yes, it was.”
“As I feared.” Jullien sighed with grim reality. “I will need to hear the rest of this, of course. But not now.” He turned to face Salieri, squinting at her like she was disgusting. “You there, you were also present on Route 10. You must tell me everything that happened out there.”

“What?” Salieri crossed her arms and stared right back at him. “I’m not telling you a damn thing.”

Matheson and Juliet’s eyes grew wide. A long pause was indication enough that she said the wrong thing. Jullien remained level but was clearly insulted. “What is your reason for impeding our investigation?”
“Do you know who I am?”
“I do. For trivial reasons. You’re Salieri Soledad. I saw you improvise Damp to defeat a Sudowoodo in your last gym match on TV. The image amused me. It caused me to chuckle.” From the way he talked, Salieri assumed he had never laughed before unless it was in an evil way. “That aside, all facts about you are insignificant. I need answers.”
“I’m the daughter of Arnaud Soledad. Formerly Arnaud Nostrad.” She stepped forward, eyes locked with rising determination and anger in her voice. “You stripped his title away. He lived in squalor because of that. We had nothing. You took everything from the kindest man I’ve ever known. I won’t tell you a damn thing because I hate you.”

Jullien seemed surprised. Arnaud’s was a name he hadn’t expected to hear any time soon. “Perhaps I wasn’t being clear. I demand answers. And I will get them from you, one way or another.” He stepped closer as well, looming over Sal like a statue. “Disrespecting a man like me will land you in more trouble than Mr. Leroux over here. Would you rather have me call the police in here? All it takes is a snap of my fingers to get you detained, for as long as I desire.”
Sal growled. “On what grounds.”
“Because I am not fond of you, either.”

Sal looked to Matheson for help and read his eyes. Math didn’t like Jullien either. But he looked like he wanted Sal to tell Jullien what he wanted to know. The threat must have been very real. Salieri stepped back, putting a lid on her seething fury. “I got to Route 10. It was covered in traps-”
“What kind of traps?” Jullien asked, airy again now that Sal was under his control. It irked her even more.
Skarada’s stupid troll traps. “Booby traps? Whatever. Team Flare attacked me, I beat them, I found an Arcanine mauling Matheson.” The mention of that made Math squirm in his seat, and Juliet put a calming hand on his shoulder. Sal was instantly jealous. “I got Math out of there and called up-“ She needed a definition for Zack. Certainly not friend. “Some guy I know for backup.”
“Who is this person?”
“Zack Redgrave. He’s in ICU.”
Jullien made a mental note of this, and nodded a silent order to his daughter. “Continue.”
“Math’s Vespiquen got him out of there. Before he left, he told me the man who’s Arcanine attacked him was named Ratio…but you knew that already.” Salieri wanted to know everything Jullien did, but the man didn’t say a word, so she kept talking. “We found Ratio, he had some woman with him. She was knocked out and wearing another ridiculous Flare outfit. We fought Ratio, he beat us. Here we are.”
“How terse. Surely there is more.” Jullien rubbed his chin. “Do you know what he was after? What his involvement with Team Flare?”
He wanted a lunchbox. “I have no idea.”
“Is there anything he told you? Anything at all?”
He knows my brother. “No.”

Jullien breathed deep. “This doesn’t give us much to go on. But it’s a start.” He turned to Matheson. “I will contact you tomorrow to discuss this matter further. Tonight, however, is the benefit ball for Ambrette Town and I mustn’t be late. Good day, Matheson. I wish you the swiftest of recoveries.”
“Goodbye, sir,” Math said and Jullien started for the door right past Salieri.
“Hey! Who is this Ratio guy?” she called to him. He hadn’t even thanked her.
“No one to concern yourself with,” Jullien told her, not looking back. “He’s not interested in urchins. Juliet, I shall see you at the ball.”
“Goodbye, father.”

Jullien left, taking the sound out of the room with him, until Matheson clutched his sheets and asked, “Do my parents know I’m here?”
“They told me they were out of the country on business. They can’t come back for a few days.” Juliet tilted her head. “I thought they called you already.”
“They didn’t.” Matheson looked down sadly.

Salieri was still staring at the door. For as long as she could remember, she had an image of Jullien Nostrad painted in her brain. It wasn’t too far off from the truth, except the real thing lacked horns and a pitchfork. “Salieri, my father shouldn’t have spoken to you that way. I’m sorry. This is embarrassing.”

She faced Juliet. Salieri wasn’t sure how to feel about her. She knew nothing about the girl and the odds of them getting along were stacked against them. Math’s fiancé, a Nostrad noblewoman who introduced herself with a weapon to the back. Daughter of a man high on her revenge list. Yet her apology seemed genuine, and Jullien didn’t seem to treat her all that well either. Besides, Matheson trusted her. “It’s not your fault that your dad is a colossal...it's fine,” Sal shrugged, not meeting Juliet’s eyes.
“Would you mind giving us the room? I need to speak to Matheson alone.”
“Sure.” Salieri needed to be alone as well, with just her thoughts to make sense of it all. “I’ll be back later.”

“Salieri, you saved my life.” Matheson sat up, now beaming as he talked about it. “I don’t know what to say. Thanks, for starters.”
“Don’t mention it. I owe you a few, anyway” she said, smiling right back at him. Juliet shrank back, eyes out the window.
“I knew you’d come eventually.”
Sal just nodded. “We’ll talk, okay?”
He nodded too. She gave him a tiny wave and left them alone.

Lumiose City – Rouge Plaza

Rouge Plaza was abuzz with people flittering back and forth between the Ambrette Town benefit and the good old streets of Lumiose City. The on foot hustle left the streets congested. Jaywalkers turned the grid into traffic. At a crosswalk was where Moze saw Horton Balibar again. The politician was flanked by two of hi guars, the same ones Moze had seen earlier at the hotel.

Moze was a few yards away, keeping a short distance to allow people to pass between himself and his target. He had out his crossword once more, jotting down notes about Horton and the behavior of his guards. Spying on Horton was supposed to be a simple task, but Moze felt more uncomfortable the more he did it. There were rumors that Horton was dirty, a politician just trying to make a profit, but he seemed like an ordinary if wealthy man.

“I’m not sure about this,” Moze whispered to the Whimsicott hiding in his shirt pocket. A few people looked at him like he was crazy and talking to himself. Moze paid them no mind. “I want to talk to him about it.”

Shepard Fairey’s answer was a puff of cotton to Moze’s face. “I’m serious,” he said, batting it away. “All this reconnaissance doesn’t feel right. I feel grimy spying on this dude. And about tonight-“

The screeching of tires demanded his attention. Moze looked up to see that a car had floored the brakes to a stop, leaving skid marks on the road. Next to the car was an elderly man on the ground. Horton had his arm around the man, already picking him up. A crowd of nosy Kalosians had already gathered to watch, so Moze inserted himself into the scene. “What just happened?” he asked a Parasol Lady.

“That car was trying to run the light, I think. And that noble, Horton Balibar I believe?” She pointed with her parasol. “He pulled that old man out of the way just in time.”
Moze’s eyes widened. “Wow.”
“The kindness of strangers, huh?”
“Yeah.”

Moze watched for a few more seconds as Horton dusted the man off and made sure he was okay. Somehow, a reporter had been nearby. Probably paparazzi waiting in the wings. They were already snapping pictures, and Horton was shaking the man’s hand. Moze ducked out of the crowd back into Rouge Plaza’s alleys.

“Time out, Shepard Fairey.” Moze made the T with his hands and Shepard Fairey swirled out of his pocket back to full size, riding on a whirlwind and clutching his feet.
“Cott?”
“You just saw that, right? He saved a stranger’s life.” Moze ran his hands through his hair. “He can’t be that bad, can he? Bad people don’t do that kind of thing. He isn’t bad enough for us to…” Moze leaned against the brick wall, sighing with his hands in his pockets. “What you want to do, I don’t think he deserves.”

The Whimsicott’s smile tightened. Cotton balls began to float around the alleyway, and a dull ringing sound filled Moze’s ears. “Cottttt.”
“Stop it, I know you’re doing this,” Moze complained, cupping his ears. “You’re not going to change my mind like that…”

Out the corner of his eye, Moze saw a man smoking a cigarette behind Lysandre Café. He had a mustache and a gold earring. The same description Carter gave of the Potion Extract dealer when Moze shook him down at Gotengo. Pascale. This was the man putting that vile drug into the hands of children. The same drug that had afflicted Moze himself, and would’ve killed him if he hadn’t gotten lucky. “Now that guy, over there?” Moze nodded at Pascale’s direction. “Help me take care of him, and we can talk with the boss about this Horton thing.”

The ringing got louder. Moze could’ve sworn there was another sound in the background, something like children screaming. He looked around and saw that no one else in the sparse alley was affected. “It’s that or I walk!” he growled at Shepard Fairey, who spun over him with that ever present grin.

The Whimsicott stopped moving. His lips parted to reveal his sharptoothed smile, and he squinted at Moze in a way he never had before. The rows of knife like teeth and that look in his eyes reminded Moze of a predatory Pokémon. Something that wanted to eat him.

The cottonballs dispersed and the ringing noise left with them. Moze tapped his ears, agitated. “Thanks,” he muttered. He looked into a pane of broken glass to check his reflection. Moze adjusted his posture, looking cautious but not paranoid. Like someone who knew how to buy drugs. Shepared Fairey zipped back into his shirt pocket and he walked over to Pascale, leaning against the same wall as the mustached man a few feet away.

“Hey. Are you Pascale?”
Pascale tapped the ash off his cigarette, not looking Moze in the eye. “What’s it to you?”
“A friend of mine told me your name. Said you were good for something I need.” Moze checked over his shoulder to make sure no one else was listening.
“Which friend is that?”
“A kid named Carter.”
Pascale scoffed. “That kid? What are you, twenty? How do you know Carter?”
“Old friend. So are you good or not?”

Pascale shook his head and stomped out the end of his cigarette. “Yeah, whatever your deal is, I’m not buying it.” He began to walk away. Moze stepped away from the wall.
“I know you’re holding Potion Extract. Is that something you want to keep on the DL?”

The dealer turned around, getting very close to Moze. “You threatening me?”
“I am. Are you the man I’m looking for, or does someone else have to know about this conversation?”
“…yeah, I’m the ******** man.”
“Good. Shepard, put him in the pipe.”

Before Pascale could respond, Shepard Fairey flew out from Moze’s pocket and grabbed the dealer’s arm. He used his compression technique to squish Pascale into a small dark ball, and stuffed him into a pipe jutting out of the brick wall. “What the ******** is this!?” Pascale’s voice echoed from inside the pipe. “What the ******** is happening!?”

A dark look came over Moze’s face. “Tell me who your supplier is and I’ll get you out of there.”
“Like hell I will! I’m gonna kill you for this man, I swear-“
“A human body can’t stand being compressed for too long. Your bones, your flesh, they’ll all start to adjust to the shape of the pipe permanently. And you’ll be stuck in there until someone finds you. Which might never happen, if I bury this pipe.”
“You’re…kidding…me…” Pascale’s voice was less shrill now, more labored.
“Is it getting harder to breathe Your lungs are running out of room for air. You’ll be wheezing every breath for the rest of your life. Unless you tell me. Right now.” Moze leaned towards the pipe. “Who’s the supplier?”

“Gah…he, he puts the stuff on the streets man…tells me to deal it to people in the slums…gah…the more…the more addicts there are….the more the neighborhood turns to crap, the cheaper…the cheaper it is to flip the housing….making a profit, turn it around…”

This is more than a drug scheme. Moze clenched his fists so tight his knuckles turned white. There was someone so unjust that they’d systematically ruin lives for a dollar. The lives of the people in his city. “Give me a name.”
“Urrrrg….Horton…Balibar…”

Seconds later, Pascale was yanked out of the pipe, inflated back to normal size. He gasped for air on his back, skin red and tears in his eyes. Moze and Shepard Fairey were gone.

[Anistar City - View of the sea, lit by the shade of the giant crystal]

The whole world felt like a surreal ocean of chaos and order. What she knew, what she didn't know, what she'd learned - it all contributed to a feeling that things had changed. A part of it felt so natural, and that's what scared her the most.

Helena looked down at her holocaster, reading Salieri's message for the dozenth time. She wanted nothing more than to rush to her brother's side, to call Salieri and demand what happened, to ease the anxiety that she felt.

It was for this reaosn that she turned to the Scizor beside her, and decided to finish their business. "Are you ready to see Alice?"

The scizor was covered in dents, in discolorations like scraped metal - bruises. His flesh was metallic, solid, and so when it broke it was a terrifying sight. Helena had learned all of this watching him fight, watching him risk his life, and seeing him almost die. So she knew, more so because she had ordered it, that the fine coat of blood and gore that covered him was not his own. There were going to be questions, and the worst part was that Helena knew she could give confident answers about how it had all happened.

Écarlate nodded, and Helena could see it in his eyes as well, the surreal calmness at their choices. Briefly, she wondered if he had felt it worse, since their opponents were Pokemon, but she knew that she couldn't dwell. Not without losing grip on the things that she needed to do. It was this reason as well that she didn't reply to Salieri's message, even though it made her holocaster feel so much heavier than it was.

[Between Route 14 and 16 - Before Arrival]

Seeing Tyrant fall tied a knot in Helena's stomach, but everything moved too quickly to hold on to it. Instead, she pulled him back to her in the red light of his pokeball. Écarlate was uncomfortable, but capable, and Helena hung from his back, one arm tightly clung around his neck.

A triple agility accelerated his movements, allowing them to ignore their attackers, but that required getting past them first, and that wasn't easy.

The world felt both fast and slow, everything passing by too quickly, and happening too close together to process, but slow enough for her to react to.

Before them was Goodra, it's adorable demeanor striking fear into Helena's heart. They couldn't fight, not against Pokemon this powerful. Écarlate could hold his own against one, with the orders of a good trainer he could probably even win. However, the Scizor had taken too much damage for that to be possible.

The words of Absolon and Grant struck out in her head, and visions of Tyrant's massacre played alongside them. They felt vivid, and yet ethereal all at once. "We're moving quickly," she told the Scizor as they rocketed toward their obstacle, and it prepared to strike them down in their attempt to pass. Helena gulped, and held her voice steady, afraid of it shaking, of fear getting the better of her - of anxiety slowing them down. "If you aim for its eyes, we can tear right through it."

Écarlate seemed to understand the order. There were no moves he used, the Pokemon didn't act with his claws, instead he jumped, and moved over Goodra's attack. Helena didn't pay attention to what it was, but she was sure that Écarlate saw it clearly. What Helena did catch was the metalic leg crashing into - and then through - the Goodra's right eye. She heard, clearer than she could stomach - the sound of the eye popping, of the frame of the eye socket crunching and breaking, and the squish, though she wasn't sure if she'd imagined that last sound, of Écarlate's foot tearing through Goodra's brain.

They landed, Goodra spasmed, Écarlate tore his foot free, and they kept moving. Helena swallowed the vomit that rushed into her mouth through her throat, and felt it burn all the way down.

"We're almost safe," Helena said, even as the both of them saw the collection of Pokemon that gathered in their path. Closer together, compact and ready to stop them. It was going to be harder to get through.

They were going to have to do something horrible to survive.

"I need you to listen closely," Helena said, and Écarlate nodded, and she felt sick with herself for how quickly the process came to her, and closer to Écarlate for being right there with her, just as ******** up as she felt.

[Anistar City Hospital - Present]

It wasn't until Helena saw the look of the look on the doctor's faces that she realized how she must look. She only felt detached, however, as her next thought was realizing that she was fine with meeting Alice this way. Bruised, cut, covered in blood and little bits of gore she knew was not her own. Écarlate, with his scarlet skin, must have looked noticably cleaner by comparison, because nobody paid him any mind.

It was easy enough to check in, harder to assure everyone that she was fine. Helena got Alice's room number from the lobby, and started her way up. Everything suddenly felt slower, longer. The walk, the ride up the elevator, the walk down the hall - even opening Alice's door.

And the world froze when she saw the girl.

Covered in bandages, one leg propped up in a cast. Her hair, pretty but a bird's nest of tangles was mostly visible, the only part covered was the same part that covered one of Alice's eyes, and almost half of her face. One eye, her mouth, one cheek, and her nose were all free of any cloth or bandage.

The girl was awake, and gasped audibly when her eyes fell on the Scizor.

"Écarlate?" She had a Kalosian accent, and Helena couldn't remember if the girl had originally been from here or not. The Scizor rushed to his traner's side at that, and Helena stood in the doorway.

The girl looked at Helena, from head to toe, before turning back to her Pokemon, and she began to fuss over him, and Écarlate began to speak, though his words gibberish, and Helena knew he was fussing over her too.

Helena stood in the doorway for a solid minute, watching the two, until she knew they were going to be preoccupied. Every second had caused her more anxiety, more worry for her brother, until she couldn't stand it anymore. Stepping into the hallway, Helena brought up Salieri's name on her holocaster, and pressed call.

]Anistar City - Hospital]

"I;m sorry, Salieri," Helena said, sounding tired and worried all at once. "It's been a hard few days. How is he? Is Zack okay?" Of course he's not okay. "Is he..." Helena turned toward Alice's room, and felt a sudden desire to be in a million places at once. Here, there, back at the route rethinking every choice she made, home in Unova. "I should be there, I'm so sorry. Can you tell him I'm sorry? Is he going to be okay? I should call him, can I call him?" Every word took the steadyness out of her voice. More panicked, afraid, sad, depressed. By the end of it, her voice cracked, and she felt the tears in her eyes.

"Where is he? I'll be right there, I just..." I have to take care of this, first.

"What happened?"