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"Just a second." Salieri put down her phone so she could jump up and down on the couch while pumping her fist and hissing "YESSSS" quietly to herself. She sat back down, composed.

"I'm at Shalour City. Meet me in the cove at the edge of town?" Sal already knew Helena was an avid user of Teleport. She was counting on it.

Salieri hung up the phone. Helena said she wanted to try something out. Sal wanted to try something out too, but Durendal's new mode wasn't ready for battle yet. Still, she felt confident that it would work out her way. "Finally."

Shalour City Cove

It was on the verge of low tide, and soon the mile long sandbar that led to the Tower of Mastery would surface. The wind curled up against the rocky walls. The sand was matted down, tough and good for treading. And no one else was around. Perfect for a battle.

"Hey," Salieri called over to Helena. And what's-his-face? There's a surprise. Oberon sipped on Salieri's pink smoothie while she cradled the baby in her arms. Durendal walked next to her, not particularly excited to be a part of Salieri's planned exhibition. "I remember you! From the gym, and the turtle ride. Grant, right?"

Got sniped at a bunch, nearly burned alive and tased by a maniacal assassin, but I also got sweet vengeance, formed a network and found real boyfriend material so there's that. "I dabble."

She found herself grinning at Helena's subtle boast. "Well he can swim, so, no." Sal paused, then looked at Durendal. "You can swim, right?"

Durendal held a knife hand horizontally and wobbled it a little. The universal sign for 'Eh'. Then he shrugged and nodded. "Well he can fly, so, no."

Her sentence hung in the air. She was tempted to go for a quip, but that didn't work out for her the last time. It took much self restraint from making a verbal jab at this girl, but Salieri would try Matheson's way. She eased up while dropping the humor. "Before we do this, can you give us a minute, Grant?"

Salieri waited until Grant was out of earshot. "I don't get what your deal is, Helena."

There was no malice in her tone, just a weary feeling. "You wanna be friends, then you don't. You say you don't like me, but you wanna talk. You tell me you're quitting, then you stay. You want to run. You want to be the best. You want to dodge me. You want to fight me. Where do you stand? I mean I can't even..."

She heaved a sigh, watched the sand blow away in the wind. "So what's up?"

It was funny that Helena mentioned a rock and a hard place because Salieri was stuck in a far more trivial one as she was torn between getting the satisfaction of watching Loki get pummeled by Dune or hashing out this beef. It had become about more than just the Kadabra, Salieri knew that now. She never wanted to complete the league and find justice on her own, but this wasn't the kind of help she wanted. And there was one thing that kept getting to her. Damnit Durendal, you better nail him because I can't watch this, merde merde merde!

"Dune," Salieri said without looking back. "You know what to do."

Dune became battle ready the instant Loki Teleported. That meant his Pressure snapped on automatically, and the wind in the cave slowed to a crawl in his atmosphere. It was one of the few things Salieri had him specialize for. He had no stake in her quarrel with Loki, but he did as he was told. He had spent a good amount of time training for it anyway.

"Zack is the one who called me. Benedict's the one who asked to join me. I was doing fine on my own, I never asked them to get involved." True, she had sent the video of Ratio on Route 10 to Zack, but he made it very clear he wanted a piece of that action the day before. She wasn't above using that, not if he was willing. "So get off my back about my responsibilities, because none of you are mine."

Whenever Teleport was used, the air moved. When Loki repositioned through space and Dune cycled through stances rapidly with Swords Dance in response, the Kadabra's absence created a vacuum. His reappearance would force the air away. Dune had the Inner Focus to notice each of these shifts through the density of his Pressurized arena. He could tell where Loki was going to end up this way the moment before he fully warped.

Durendal pivoted around, mildly happy that this trick was working. Sal was nothing if not thorough.

Salieri felt her voice rising. She was trying to keep level but it wasn't working. Oberon finished the entire smoothie. Not in front of the baby, Sal, not in front of the baby. "I have people who are counting on me to fix what went wrong. I need to make sure there's justice because no one else cares enough about it. You have no idea...Nobody else should have to do what I do."

Loki made his shot and Dune faced the Charge Beam head on. Parade would work here, but just like Fleché a la Mode, Salieri didn't want him to lay that card on the table immediately. There were other options here. He stomped a foot into the ground.

Four rock walls emerged from the ground around Loki. The two in front of him met the Charge Beam, blocking the attack and crumbling in the process. What was supposed to be a Rock Tomb was now half a rock cone. Instead of the stone walls converging like Dune normally used the attack, they stood still. Loki now had his back to a this wall while Durendal dashed at him to close the distance, kicking up sand and prepping to chop at the Kadabra with an Assurance attack.

"Surviving isn't that hard, Helena, living is. If you want to survive, you had it right the first time. The best thing you can do for yourself is leave. Face the Unova league. This is not a good time to be in my country."

Loki moved around Durendal and Durendal stopped, craning his head to watch the movements. Now Dune was in between Loki and the rock wall, but that was fine. The wall would not hinder him as he could slice it in half with ease if he had to. Loki had powered up, but Dune was a very prudent battler. He wasn't about to use Parade. Salieri told him if Dune had his Pressure on, Loki would only have five shots with Charge Beam. Count the shots. He'd used one. These were numbers two and three. He'd be using Parade on one of the last two if the opportunity came.

"I never liked chess," Sal admitted offhand, though she was fond of planning steps ahead if she could. Like right now, with how she gave Dune training specifically for this matchup. What she did with Zack wasn't the same. It was a desperation move. Matheson was in danger, but she wasn't about to throw out 'hero moment' for an argument. That wasn't her thing. I'm not a bad person...

Even with the gap in levels between them, Loki was still faster, but not for long. The Pawniard's body brightened with Rock Polish while Loki moved, and now he had the upper hand in speed. With the sudden burst of agility he sidestepped the first beam.

"Fine, yeah, I've had help. Of course I've had help, and it was always on my terms. I never lied to anyone when I said what I wanted. If they make their choice, that's their choice. They know what they're getting into."

The second beam came up. Durendal ran at Loki with blistering speed, armor shining under the sun, and slashed at the second beam with a powered up Dual Chop. Loki had spent multiple power points on two attacks. Dune got the same for the price of one, with a quicker rate of attack as a multi hit move. Power economy 101. The first chop deflected the beam off to the side, where it fizzled against the Ground. The second, which came out almost immediately, was a slash aimed with the other hand at Loki's chest.

"You're quick to point fingers, Helena. Is it easier for you to 'survive' or whatever if you can hand out blame?" Sal was growing frustrated, rocking Oberon perhaps a little too fast. "Cause it sounds like you think I'm some kind of mastermind. You're going nowhere fast if you're gonna act that warped."

((The hell are all these word boxes appearing in this thread?))

Lumiose City – Bleu Plaza

Zack walked along the shadowed path, his footsteps echoing as the city sounds faded to a distant hum, then to silence. Bleu Plaza was a quiet eye of the city storm, its circular walls surrounding a neat central garden that reminded Zack of calm meadows in the wild. He passed the coolness of the entry, into the summer heat, and spotted Esme curled on one of the benches, a notepad cradled in her lap. She hadn't seen him yet as she sat facing the tall monument in the middle of the garden. Zack took his time, watching her scratch words onto paper, and enjoyed the peace.

Esme put her pen down, and placed her head in her hand, knocking her sunglasses onto the gravel. Her other hand dropped the notepad, which worked free of her crossed legs and hit the stones as the hand traced its way across Esme's face, locking over her eyes. Her shoulders heaved and shook, and her dry, wounded moan cut through the silence of the plaza. Zack's mouth went dry, his face hot, as he realised he had intruded on something personal. His first instinct was to turn and leave. It was none of his business, and he doubted Esme wanted an audience right now. She wouldn't even know he'd been there. As he stepped towards the path back to the city, he hesitated. Something nagged at him to stay, to try to help. But what could he do? He was Zack Redgrave, he wouldn't even know where to start. He wasn't usually the one who made the crying stop.

'Hey,' he said, crunching up the gravel path. Esme wiped hard at her tears before she turned, but it hadn't helped. Her eyes were still red, her skin blotchy. Now what?
'Zack,' her voice unsteady as she dabbed her cheeks with her palm. Neither spoke as Esme tried to straighten herself out and Zack loomed awkwardly, not sure which expression to make. Her gaze tracked to the black sling. 'Zack, your arm…'
'Your aunt said I'd find you here,' he said, stepping forward as if that would set him back into character. 'She freaked out when she saw my arm, ended up giving me sandwiches.'

He raised his hand to show her the foil-wrapped package that had turned into an uneven lump in his grasp. Esme laughed. He must've looked dumb.

'That sounds like my aunt Janvier. She thinks the solution to all life's problems lies between two slices of bread.'
'Can't hurt to try, right?' Zack tossed the foil package to Esme, who flinched as she caught it. 'I'm guessing you need it more than I do right now.'
Esme smiled as she crinkled the shining metal between her fingers. She looked up, wincing in the sunlight. 'Says the guy with the broken arm.'
'I'm crippled, not upset,' Zack grinned, sitting beside her. She didn't seem to mind him being there. That was a good sign, it made him confident. 'What's wrong?'

'Oh, you know,' Esme tipped her head back and looked at the bright blue sky. 'It's Allard. I'm rebuilding my research, and so I thought I'd start by brainstorming everything I could remember. Turns out I remember more than I'd like to. And I am very much hungover.'
'Oh. You need like a coffee or something?'
'About half my blood is caffeinated right now. I'll be fine,' Esme smiled, tired. She bent forward and picked her notepad off the ground. 'I put down all the major details. The time it happened, the place, the official story. I need to double check it all later, but this is my starting point.'

Zack nodded, skimming Esme's notes, which she had thankfully written in National. Allard died on the Lumiose Badlands, around midday. They couldn't be certain of the time because the body was damaged by the elements, and partially liquidated by falling rocks. A freak landslide that broke him apart, turning human being to slush. The final note's lettering was heavy, like Esme had stabbed the page with her pen. Apparently identification had been difficult as wild pokémon had devoured parts of the body. Zack swallowed and glanced at Esme's profile as she quietly ate the sandwiches provided by her aunt. He glanced again at the date, and frowned as he did the very simple math.

'That's two years ago tomorrow,' he said.
'Yep.'
's**t,' Zack pinched his brow. He reread the notes, felt his stomach turn over. These were the people who might go after his sister. '******** don't play around.'
'Keeping commoners out of their ranks isn't a game to them, no. Bet they'd give anything to overturn the law that lets league champions become nobles, but it was enacted by the royal family. The only one who can change it is the Queen.'
'Why doesn't she? Save all this s**t from happening.'

Esme opened her mouth to reply, then closed it, frowning. 'That is not actually a bad question,' she said after a second. 'Maybe Queen Antoinette doesn't know about darkhorse hunting. Maybe the shot at nobility is too big a carrot for them to stop dangling. We've hosted the league for years now, and must be raking in a fortune.'
'So it's either ignorance or greed. Sounds like a government all right,' Zack angled himself towards Esme more directly. 'Sorry to change the subject, but I need your help. Something's wrong with Serene.'