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Lumiose City - Gotengo

Not much had changed at Gotengo in the past hour. Youngsters Carter and Anais had graduated from Quacklin's school of stick fighting and had moved on to playing cards on the porch. Veillantif was shooting Octazookas lazily at Sal's Emolgas flying overhead in the courtyard.

And Mia was inside one of the shacks on the mighty tree branches, the one that served as her workshop. On the table were two discs containing the privacy software she and Sal used to make their calls private. Sal had asked for more copies to give to Zack and that allegedly handsome Ben guy. It had only taken Mia a few minutes to make copies. A short distraction from the foreboding sense of danger she had felt since the hotel incident.

She had returned to the Menger Sponge puzzle by now, thinking about Moze. He still hadn't called her back. Mia didn't ask for much in their relationship, even though their secret was something she never fully approved of. But now she needed him and he wasn't there. He said he loved her. Maybe he didn't. Or maybe he didn't know what that would mean to her.

Deep in her own thoughts, she didn't notice that she had completed the puzzle until the whole box opened up, revealing a speaker inside. "Ding ding ding!" Mia waited for more. That was it. An underwhelming prize to say the least. It was the journey that was supposed to be important, but now that the journey was over she didn't know what to do except for close the puzzle back up, reset it, and sigh,

"Uhhh, Mia?" Carter said at the doorway. "There are two ladies outside who wanna talk to you. I think they're nobles?"

"Nobles?" Mia looked out the window and saw their guests standing in the courtyard, immaculately dressed in fancy and slightly feminine suits that showed off the Leroux and Nostrad House colors. No doubt they were here because of what happened yesterday. Unless this was something about Salieri. Mia put out her spliff and whistled. Her Noibat, Bass, flew in from the crow's nest and perched on her shoulder. "Let's see if they took a wrong turn."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Asking around Hotel Richissime for Miriam Aviad's whereabouts wasn't particularly fruitful. The girl had been a temp that had only been working for a day, and a pretty negligent temp at that. Her contact information had led Juliet and Elizabeth to talk to Miriam's father, Gavin. His restaurant was quite busy at the time, which he used as an excuse to cut their questions short. The search for Miriam was proving difficult.

But as soon as the name Mia was mentioned, the servers at Restaurant Le Yeah all knew who they were asking about. "Ohhhh you meant Mia. She's probably in her treehouse."

Asking about the treehouse had led them to this spot, which to Juliet looked very illegal. She brushed a hand on the wall of the dilapidated building, pinching the dust that came off. "There's a lot of history in these walls," she mused, observing the patchwork marvel that was Gotengo. It was hard to believe this place was built by children, even if it was tailored to youths.

Mia came down the spiral staircase and then out of the mainroom, standing on the porch with her arms folded. In one hand was the Menger Sponge puzzle, and in the other was an ancient looking scrolled up paper. "If you're here to kick us out, I have the deed right here."

Route 12 - Fourrage Road

"Lunch time!"

Salieri and her team had found a soft patch of moss to sit on next to the beach as they ate sandwiches she had picked up from town. The whole party was present, relaxing and soaking in the sun. Even in the broad daylight they could see shooting stars streak the sky. Oberon was particularly focused on them with a sad look in her eyes. Sal felt kind of bad about it, but unless Mia knew how to build a spaceship there wasn't much she could do for the Cleffa except give her a sandwich, which the alien gladly took.

"So you're really done with that mode, Dune?" Sal asked her Pawniard excitedly. He nodded as he nibbled. His sandwich was supposed to be on rye, not wheat, but he wasn't going to complain. "That's so awesome," she cooed, tapping her feet excitedly. Sal recalled that Helena said Loki had a bag of one hundred and one tricks, yet the ones they used in their battle failed to do much. Sal would rather have a couple of tricks that actually worked. After all, if one of your tricks was good enough, it was all you'd need. A handful was less to sift through than a bag and she still got results. When all you had was a sword, you sharpened the hell out of it or dipped it in magic or something. Sal had forgotten the exact saying.

[Well I learned how to punch!] Biz bragged, flexing his bicep. He was still soaking wet from all the Hydro Pumps, even though he had managed to start punching them head on with Seed Bomb propelled fists. Nobody else looked impressed. [Well check this out!] Biz stuffed his whole sandwich in his mouth. [Shee? I'm ha bosh.]

"Biz, that's gross," Sal said through an open mouth full of food. "Rey, those Hydro Pumps were looking on point."

Reynard ignored her and pointed out at the water. [There's a lady drowning over there.]

Everybody looked to where Reynard was pointing. Sal made a visor with her hand, and made out the faint shape of a woman face down in the sea. She wasn't moving. Sal stood up to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. "Merde. Rey!"

Reynard was already on it, diving into the ocean and turning into water. Soon, the woman was dragged closer to the shore by the unseen force that was Sal's Vaporeon. Sal waded into the shallows and pulled the woman out while Rey became solid again. She put the woman on her back on the sand.

The athletic woman looked to be about thirty, dressed bizarrely even for Kalos. She work cork sandals, leather pants with fringes on the sides, a short orange cape wrapped around her waist, and a matching orange halter top. Loose black bangles hung on her wrists, and necklace of a very lifelike Chandelure hung on her neck. Lacking better words, Salieri thought she looked like she belonged to some sort of ancient tribe. What was most unnerving was that this woman shared Sal's skin tone and hair color, something Sal had rarely seen.

On the woman's waist was a holster. It was too wide for a gun. Instead, it had a book, which was strangely enough entirely dry.

Rey raised up a paw, and the water in the woman's lungs floated out of her mouth. She sputtered to life, eyes wide as she gasped for breath. Amber eyes, just like Salieri's, except that her slcera were light pink and not white. Biz, Dune and Sal sighed in relief. "Lady, are you okay?"

The woman gripped onto Sal's arm, still gasping. Salieri was very tough for her size, so it was saying something when she found that grip to be strong. "Thank you," she managed to choke out. "Thank you."

Salieri helped the woman to her feet and led her to the moss patch with all the lunch. She settled down, tapping her chest. "How'd you end up out there?"
"Fell off my horse," the woman said. She squinted and looked away, but Sal didn't know she was looking at. The woman nodded to herself. "Yes, I suppose...he's more of a zebra..."
"Oh-kay." Sal handed the woman a bottle of water, which she gladly downed. Sal turned to her Pokémon, who were watching with great interest. Except for Banksy, who didn't care and was taking a nap inside her shell. "You guys go play on the beach. Massage train, or something."

[Shot not the back of the train!] Biz shouted, running onto the beach while the other three followed. Dune enjoyed the massage train, mostly because he had to be in front by default. No one wanted him to massage them, a fact which had bugged him at first until he learned to embrace it. Soon, Sal's party was out of sight.

"Where'd you fall?" Sal asked, curious. Still drinking, the woman pointed up. "...Oh."
"Am I near Shalour City?" she asked, looking around.
"It's to the west, yeah."
"Good. Good. I thought I was getting lost." The woman laughed to herself. "This country is a circle."
"Kind of." Salieri didn't know what to say anymore. At this point she thought the woman's eyes would return to their normal color, but they hadn't. It wasn't the sea salt that turned them pink. Sal knew it was rude to ask, but... "What's with your eyes?"
"...Do you believe in magic?" the woman asked.
"Absolutely," said Salieri. She had seen too much not to believe.
"I'm a witch," the woman said, entirely serious. Her tone had remained somber but whimsical the entire time. "That's what they call me." She held up a finger to her mouth with a "Shh". That must've meant it was a secret.
"Uhh, I don't think I follow."
"You don't have to," the woman said as she placed the water bottle down and began humming to herself, a tune Sal was unfamiliar with. Now Salieri was plain uncomfortable.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm looking for a man. A pirate man. Have you seen a ship?" The pink eyed woman made a sweeping gesture out to the sea. "Out here, up there?"

Of all the places to find a lead on Skarada, Salieri never thought she'd find it with a potentially crazy woman in the ocean. "Seriously? I'm looking for a pirate too! His name is Skarada."
"Yes. That's his name."
"...so do you know anything about him? Do you know where to look?"
"I was hoping you'd tell me, Salieri."

Sal froze up. Her hand crept to her pocket where she kept her switchblade. "I never told you my name."

The whimsy faded away on the pink eyed woman's face. "Right. That's right. You didn't."

She planted her hand on Salieri's face, holding it tight. A pink mist came from her palm and went up Sal's nostrils. "Maybe I'll leave that search up to you, then," the pink eyed woman sighed while Sal struggled. "So I can see the sights." The trainer's eyes fluttered close, and then she fell asleep.

The pink eyed woman cracked her neck side to side. She took a pair of chopsticks out from her pocket and tied her hair up in a bun with them. "I appreciate the rescue. I really do," she mumbled to the sleeping Salieri as she took the rest of the girl's sandwich. "I mean it. I owe you one. I mean it."

The pink eyed woman woman walked away with a skip in her step while she hummed and left Sal to dream. She took the book out of its holster and flipped through the pages with one hand without looking. The pages were lined with etchings of a language long lost. The letters glowed, and then in a flash of light, the woman was gone.

Lumiose City - Gotengo

Elizabeth was rather impressed that something like Gotengo had been allowed to flourish in the middle of Lumiose City. Surely it stood against the city's every virtue; shabby and wild with no noble oversight, the thought of this place would make her father's skin crawl. She leant over to Juliet when the little boy went to fetch Miriam Aviad.

'Don't forget to wipe your feet on the way out,' she said under her breath, straightening up in time for Mia's arrival. Ha, she was sure a deed to a treehouse would hold up in court. She smiled, assuming Mia was joking.

'We're not here to chop your tree down,' Elizabeth said, holding up her hands. 'We want to talk to you about someone you met at work yesterday. Can we come in?'

Off Route 14

Wailord was pulled back into his ball in response to Alexa's shouting. Bridgette was a young girl, barely a teenager, staring down this group of people about to run for their lives, and the pieces of that were slowly coming together.

"Do you think they need help?" she asked Drifblim but he didn't respond. Instead she pursed her lips and shouted "hold on!" before rushing toward the man she'd blown off the path, and searched his pockets for her badges.

Once she'd obtained the two of them, she gestured for Drifblim to pick him up. It was only beginning to dawn on her that this wasn't a place you should leave people. With that she moved back toward the route, waving at the potentially approaching crew, "hey! do you neeed some help?!"

Cyllage City Hospital

Goldberg woke up with a sudden start. The first thing he realized was that he couldn't breathe. The second was the pain down his throat. He moved to lift his arms, but neither budged. The movement caused the stub of his right arm to throb, and his heartbeat, beating a million miles an hour, caused the rest of the pain in his body to radiate out. His chest, the stubs of his missing toes, various minor injuries from his body shutting down, from the muscles screaming at him, and the ache of struggling against bindings that had been placed to keep him from tearing the tube out of his throat.

The giant man grunted, and choked, his body looking more as if it were rapidly twitching than as if he were struggling. The machines around him began to beep more rapidly and a group of nurses came in.

They were telling him to relax, to calm down, trying to hold him still.

One nurse snapped near his ears, drawing his attention. "Let the machine breathe for you," she said.

Relaxing was a slow process. As it happened, Goldberg began to let the machine breathe for him, struggling against all urges from his brain to panic. His body remained tense, but he eventually complied.

"Do you know where you are?"

Goldberg shook his head.

"You're in Cyllage Hospital. Do you know your name?"

The Flare member nodded.

"Okay, great. Are you going to freak out if we undo your arms? You've torn that tube out a dozen times already."

Goldberg didn't remember any of this. He nodded again, and the nurses began to undo the straps. He could see the wear and tear on them, on the armrests of his bed. They had not been prepared to deal with him. Goldberg's heartrate monitor shot up again when he saw the stub of his arm. He remembered fighting Ratio. He remembered some brat stepping in the way.

"You had lost a lot of blood, but your injuries had received some treatment before your arrival. Originally, your toes had been re-attached by the trainer who brought you in, but you struggled a lot and it conflicted with the healing process. It's unlikely that you'll be able to walk again without some physical therapy."

Goldberg began to relax as he recalled more details about the battle.

"You have some people that are waiting to see you. They've requested that we transfer you to one of their facilities when you're able to be moved."

"Must be lucky," chimed in a male nurse who was replacing one of Goldberg's I.V. bags. "I wish I worked for an organization like that."

Team Flare. Goldberg tried to snort, but failed. He wondered what they'd say, what they'd want to talk about when he returned. His failure to stop Ratio? How had the operation ended? Goldberg hoped that Ska had done his job, that he had made sure nobody else got hurt - that it wasn't a failure. If not, he'd have some words for the Pirate King.

"I'll let them know you've woken up, okay?" Goldberg nodded and grunted against the sudden shift of his head and neck moving the tube in his throat. He resisted the urge to choke as the nurse frowned at him and then left the room.

"Nice butt on that one, huh?" said the male nurse and Goldberg looked at him, and then grinned, lifting his arm to give the man a thumb's up. When he looked at it, he saw only the stub. The giant's grin faded, he could have sworn he felt the hand, the fingers moving, every motion of making a thumb's up gesture.

This was not going to be an easy transition.

Off Route 14

Dear lord, I am not getting paid enough for this.

'Feraligatr!' Roy shouted, tossing his pokéball with his free arm as he ran with Benedict heaped over his shoulder. The water type reemerged, now rid of confusion, stomping and roaring and ready for battle. Fearow dropped the Big Whirlwind, and the circular wall of pressure dropped into a breeze into nothing and Roy led the charge as the Wailord dissolved into light. Feraligatr would stay behind, rolling its shoulders and working itself up with Dragon Dance as the incoming pokémon came in.

'Ice Wall!' Roy threw the command behind him as he sprinted toward Bridgette. Feraligatr would then leap backwards and drag an Ice Beam across the forest path, sending a violent spray of ice spikes skyward after a second of glowing ground. Anything caught by the explosion would suffer 90 Power physical ice damage, while anything caught behind it would struggle to break through. When it next touched down, Feraligatr would launch into a run to keep up with the others. As Roy passed the teenaged trainer, he'd yell at her to, 'Get your brain in gear and get moving!'

It was a shouty sort of day.

Lumiose City - Gotengo

'The man I mentioned,' Elizabeth said. She had no time for toys, and there was a chase she'd like to cut to. 'I'd like to talk about him. If you saw anything that might indicate what he was after, I want to hear it. I'm sorry to say this isn't the first time an incident like this has happened, though we could make it the last.'

Elizabeth popped a small pouch on her belt and reached inside. It was usually reserved for item balls and other tools for use in pokémon training, but since her meeting with Zack she'd had it stocked with half a dozen cards containing her contact details. She slid a card into her palm, reading the loopy handwriting of her own name, and looked back up to Mia. 'I know it's hard, but you wouldn't be the first person who's willing to help. And frankly, I'm willing to pay. Tell me everything you can.'

Coumarine City

It had been a while since Zack rode a train. Last time was in Saffron City a couple years back, but it had been an altogether different experience. Instead of ripping through the city like a bullet, the Coumarine express took a winding route around the major landmarks, offering a view of the sea dashed by blurred buildings. He rode along the cliffside until reaching the lower city to the north, where the train stopped with a hiss.

Zack stepped out at the station, wafting away loose steam and looking for a way out. According to the maps inside the train car, it would be a fairly short walk to the harbour, which he had to pass through to reach Route 12. The ground here was level and open, with a chill breeze soaring over the sparkling ocean. Zack trod along beneath a row of trees as bobbing boats drew into sight.

His Holo Caster beeped. Since Zack was steadily adapting to life with one arm, he had thought to keep the device on a loop around his neck where he could quickly access it. Two New Messages. One was from yesterday, and judging from the time he had missed it while in hospital. Esme had said she'd seen him on the news and asked if he was okay, which made him smile. The second was a picture sent a few seconds ago of an Aunt Moreau special; a plate of sandwiches that Esme had annotated with 'I feel better already.'

'God damn, I wanna bang you,' said Zack under his breath as he beeped the holo caster off. He started walking again, but stopped before he made a second step. Something was staring at him in the trees with a pair of narrowed eyes. Its feathers were shiny and brightly coloured, its head in the shape of musical note. A Chatot. Zack frowned. 'What, you got a problem with that?'

Apparently it did. The bird spread its wings and screeched, then dived right at the trainer. Zack raised his one good arm in reflex as the pokémon's claws raked across his forearm. Shallow cuts drew blood as Zack swore in pain '********!' and the Chatot arced around, landing on another tree branch with enough force to bend it.

'Oh really?' Zack grabbed Hazard's ball, sparing a glance for the red lines trailing to his elbow. 'Really? Big mistake, pal. Now I'm gonna have to ******** you ********!' shouted the Chatot, flapping its wings like it was going to take off again. It sounded exactly like Zack. 'God damn, I wanna bang you. Now I'm gonna have to ******** you up!'

It dropped from the tree and shot towards the trainer again. Luckily Zack had his wits about him and dodged, catching himself on a tree trunk and lobbing Hazard's ball to the side. The Haunter materialised in a flash, casting a Thunderbolt at the flying type, who positioned a tree branch in the way. Wood exploded, the branch hit the trail, scattering with one end charred as the Chatot took to the skies and flew away going 'What, you got a problem with that? Big mistake, ******** it was a dot in the distance, Zack breathed out, his mouth hanging open as Hazard bobbed around his head, laughing. 'You've got to be kidding me.'

Route 12 - Fourrage Road

Not long after the Chatot Incident, Zack made it to Route 12. The harbour had been nice, but he was still fuming over the encounter and barely took it in. His cuts mended quickly thanks to Blissngale's Heal Pulse circulating his system, leaving a brown smear along his arm that would eventually flake off on its own.

'And you're saying I can hire it,' the trainer said, eying the Skiddo cautiously. It seemed a little small for him, but he was getting tired of walking. 'For how much exactly?'
'Oh, I'd say a couple hundred ought to do it. Cash preferably, but as I see you're one-a them trainer types, I suppose I can accept Trainer Card,' said the ranch owner, a middle-aged guy with a Unovan accent.
'This'll definitely get me to Shalour City. This thing?'
'Ain't nothing faster. Not unless you count Teleportation. Or flying, or riding a bike, or basically any other form of vehicle. But you're paying for the novelty, son. Novelty and convenience.'

Zack looked at the tiny grass type one last time before making up his mind. With a sigh, he took out his trainer card and blew some money he wasn't sure he had.

---

Turned out the Skiddo was stronger than it looked. After borrowing a length of rope, which Zack tied around its antlers, the trainer was able to stand on the pokémon's back and direct it with sharp twists. He had learned to ride pokémon standing up back at the academy, and it was a skill that never really left you. Besides which, if he was sat down he'd feel every bump and jump the thing made, which would divert directly to his arm. At least when he stood, his legs turned into shock absorbers.

Plus in his humble opinion, he looked pretty awesome.

'Whoa there,' said Zack as they approached a cliff. The sea bent around and reached far into the mainland. The opposite shore was quite a distance and would likely require another hire on Zack's part, which was annoying. Not least because it meant the ranch owner had goddamn lied. As he scanned the near shore for a boathouse, he spotted a dark object laid out on the sand. The trainer squinted, which didn't help much. Looked like a person.

Turning the rope, Zack drove the Skiddo along the cliff side, encouraging it over a jump or two until they reached the bottom. When they touched down on rock and sand, Zack dismounted and the Skiddo looked from him to the top of the cliff and back again. It seemed distressed.

'I don't know, figure something out,' Zack said, heading toward the shape he saw on the beach. As he drew closer, a smile played across his face. His frustration at the Chatot bubbled into the urge to be really mean, but he maintained his cool and merely stood beside Salieri's head and stroked his chin. First instinct would be to bury her up to her neck, but that wouldn't solve her major problem, which is that she'd still have her mouth.

Instead, he resisted the temptation and nudged the top of her head with his foot until she started to wake. He would greet her with a grin. 'Poor One Shot, she's all tuckered out.'

Lumiose City – Gotengo

Moonwalked. Now Elizabeth had to squeeze what she could from Salieri and Zack, if only to cross reference. If Ratio had no business with any of the other guests at the hotel, then it was likely Horton was his only target. She made a mental note to see if anything else was reported stolen or missing during the attack, but somehow she doubted it would be the case.

'You're very lucky,' Elizabeth said, half attempting to sound genuine and concerned, but her mind was elsewhere. The picture Mia painted hardly resembled the one Elizabeth imagined, and on some level she felt disappointed. On another, it was terrifying. The man wasn't just a sadistic killer, from the sounds of things he was a lunatic as well. Power couldn't be entrusted to just anyone, after all.

'We'll have to ask you to keep our conversation here a secret, but I'm sure that goes without saying. You wouldn't want to draw unnecessary attention to yourself, would you?' Elizabeth forced a smile. 'If you think of anything, even if it doesn't seem significant, I'd like to hear about it.'

Elizabeth nodded towards the counter where her card rested between beer cans. 'After all, you know how to reach me.'

Route 12 - Fourrage Road

'Oh, I'd say around midday,' Zack said, squinting up at the sun. He held his one hand out for Sal to take, and if she did he'd drag her back to her feet. It wouldn't be very comfortable for him, but he'd manage.

'Funny place for a nap.' Zack frowned when he saw the whites of Salieri's eyes were now pink. 'Are you on something or what?'

Lumiose City - Gotengo

'I don't mind. It's just a shame we didn't find out more,' Elizabeth said, unclipping a pokéball from her belt. The Aviad route had lead her nowhere. Elliot was still an untapped source of information; he had to know something, he was the head of a Court house and likely one of Ratio's biggest targets. Not to mention how evasive he had been lately. She would return home.

'It's been a pleasure, Miriam. Juliet, we'll be in touch,' said Elizabeth, tossing the ball skyward. She reached out and grasped a bundle of light as it materialised into her Gyarados' scale and it dragged her into the air. She kicked another scale and landed on the serpant's back as it twisted its way around Gotengo and shot into the Lumiose skyline.

Route 12 - Fourrage Road

'Sure you're not still dreaming, One Shot?' Zack said, noting her eye colour change but not really thinking much of it. He glanced up and down the beach. Empty except for the two of them and some native Dwebble digging around the sand. 'Anyway, I need to get to Shalour City. Tell me how you made it over the water.'

Route 12 - Fourrage Road

Zack grinned. 'You want me to ride you while you swim us over? I didn't think you were into that kind of thing, One Shot.'

There had to be a boat house somewhere, or maybe the passage was crossable at low tide. If he still had Antiq, this wouldn't be a goddamn problem. As advanced as their society had become, for some reason main routes between cities were still really shittily designed. How oh how did non-trainers manage? He'd just have to use his pokémon to get by. Maybe he could hammer in how to Surf while he was at it.

'No, I think I'll manage on my own but thanks for the offer.' Zack reached for Lethal's ball. It was a little more awkward than he'd really like on account of it being on the opposite hip to his good arm, but after a second he had it. Heading towards the water's edge, Zack would pop the ball and have Lethal materialise amidst the waves.