Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Spinne Biss]

Santalune City

Helena slumped her shoulders as she tried to grow smaller. She didn't want to get up and show off how pathetic she was in person. It would be a lot easier to just curl up in a ball and-

"I'll be right there," Helena said. She pushed herself to her feet before she hung up the call. She hadn't gone to the center yet to get her Pokemon healed, and part of her said she could do that and stall.

Another part of her wanted to see her brother and pretend that she had no obligation to Pokemon training.

In the end, obligation won out and she stopped by the center and dropped off her Pokemon with a time for how long it would take. With Abra at her side, she started off toward the route.

***

Route 4 - Parterre Way

The route seemed to stretch on forever to Helena. She only had to cross the road to get to Zack. It wasn't very long itself, with a fountain at its center, but it still felt like hours and hours to her.

Every thought danced in her head. About how lame she was, how she should have done things differently. She was conscious of each step she took at the same time.

Head hung and eyes on her feet as she walked, unless someone interrupted her, she'd quietly and agonizingly make it to the gate to meet her brother.  

[Jump Einatz]

Route 4 - Parterre Way

"Hey, you. Pick up your head."

Salieri stood a few feet in front of Helena, sipping on a blue slushie. The only pokemon at her side was Dune, who had opted not to get his own slushie. The difficulty of gripping onto the cup with his blade hands wasn't worth it.

"You're a pokemon trainer, right?" Sal asked Helena, eyes on Loki. She lowered the slushie down to Durendal so the Pawniard could have a sip. He looked away, deciding that being fed the slushie was embarrassing. Although it did look sooo good...

She shrugged and took it back, sipping once more. Dune missed his chance. "I think I beat all the trainers here already, but I wanna practice my Pawniard's new attack before I get back to Lumiose. Wanna battle?"  

[Spinne Biss]

Route 4 - Parterre Way

Helena looked at Salieri when she spoke. "No," she said flatly.She had already been utterly crushed twice. A third match, with a Pokemon that didn't know any combat moves, just meant that she'd be crushed a third time. Helena didn't have enough in her to handle that.

"I'm meeting my brother," she said and she moved to step around Salieri when she stopped and looked at Salieri. "I'll bet he'd like to battle you, though." If she could watch her brother, she might be able to learn a thing or two. After all, Hazard was only a day old. It was the perfect chance for some actual experience.  

[Jump Einatz]

Route 4 - Parterre Way

No? Sal furrowed her brow at the word and took a harsh sip of the slushie. Either this girl just got dumped or she experienced a recent loss. Seeing people discouraged like that agitated her. It reminded her of Moze's darker days.

This girl had a brother as well, one that was apparently a pokemon trainer. Salieri wouldn't question his skill level, as she didn't expect too much from the trainers around Route 4. "A brother, huh? Alright, I'll give it a shot."

With one long pull, she finished her slushie and tossed the empty cup over her shoulder into a trash bin. "The name's Salieri Soledad. You can call me Sal."

She crouched down so she was eye level with Loki and tapped at the pokedex resting in her arm band. "Beep boop that's a Skitty." said Ivan in its tinny voice as it crackled to life. Sal sighed at the lie, and Ivan mechanically laughed, "Ha ha beep boop ha ha, nah I'm just playin'. Its an Abra. Little dude sleeps all day, and when it's awake it doesn't fight. You wanna fight that thing, it teleports away. What a p***y-"

"Give it a rest, Ivan," Sal growled at her pokedex before turning it on mute. She poked lightly at the side of Loki's face. "Yeah, my pokedex is, uh...yeah. So is it true? Or are you just not a trainer?"

She realized after speaking that her words might come across as mean. Sal didn't have much of a filter when she spoke, and if she wanted to battle this girl's brother she couldn't just push her away, so she tacked on a quick "I mean, whatever it is, it's cool. You do you."  

[Spinne Biss]

Route 4 - Parterre Way

Helena pulled out her xtransceiver to send Zack a text as she looked over at Salieri and listened to her speak.

dp,r hot; esmyd yp nsyy;r upi Send.

"I wouldn't, personally," Helena said in response to Salieri's nickname. "I'm Helena Redgrave - how about I call you Sally?"

Salieri's pokedex beeped at the two of them and Helena cocked a brow at it. As the thing prattled on, Helena felt her shoulders slump again. Helena could already tell that Salieri's presence would demand a lot of energy.

Energy she didn't have.

"You named your Pokedex?"

Loki didn't like to be touched and, unless Salieri had some way to block or avoid teleportation, he would teleport them both ten feet up before he teleported away by himself, to reappear at Helena's side.  

[Jump Einatz]

Route 4 - Parterre Way

Salieri pouted at the suggestion of "Sally". It sounded like a little schoolgirl wrapped up in a bow and dress like a saccharine present. "Salieri or Sal. Those are your options...or Future Champion, that’s got a nice ring to it."

She continued to poke the Abra's face from different angles, wondering if the pokemon was asleep or not. It was hard to tell if Loki’s eyes were closed or just naturally slits. "I got a hold of a broken pokedex in Orre couple years back, and my friend –she’s a real tech wiz- fixed it up for me. But now the A.I. won’t stop glitching, it’s a real piece of sh-“

In a flash Salieri was gone, ten feet up in the air and falling. “-IIIIIIIIT!” she cried as she dropped to the ground, wincing. The delinquent was a very resilient girl, but the fall still stung. Durendal folded his arms and looked away, embarrassed for his trainer.

She got to her feet and stared down the Abra. As much as she wanted to punch him for it, she knew he would just Teleport away before it landed. Even Ivan warned her that much. Instead, she grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes. “Alright, maybe I shouldn’t have poked you, but ******** you, connard.”

Sal rubbed her sore back at looked to Helena. “You’re walking to Lumiose, yeah? Why don’t you just Teleport there?” She had never encountered a teleporter before, so she wasn’t entirely keen on how it worked. But it was probably better to ask Helena about it than Ivan.  

[Spinne Biss]

Route 4 - Parterre Way

Worry and humor flashed across Helena's face before worry won out though not before Helena had to tighten her lips to hide the smile at Salieri being the victim of Loki's pranks.

"Are you okay?"

When Salieri brought up why she didn't just teleport Helena shook her head. "It's not that simple. Loki can only teleport to places he's been"

Loki, meanwhile, made a face at Salieri like he was laughing before he quickly resumed the guise that he was sleeping.  

[Marsuru]

More police arrived in small vans and began to cordon off the area. With little more to see, the onlookers dispersed back into the crowd and continued about their day, now with a little story to tell their friends. Zack stood up at his table, chair screeching on the speckled flagstones. Pangoro growled a little as he climbed to his feet, careful not to break the chair with any sudden movements.

The trainer returned to the slow flow of people, dark type following close behind.

Route 4 - Parterre Way

Zack tried to calm down. On top of being eccentric, apparently Kalosians slowed to a crawl when in a group. Being unable to get to his destination at anything faster than a snail's pace until he reached the Route 4 gatehouse, Zack had generated blood pressure that would make a steam cooker blush. The sun behind him and Pangoro casting a thick shadow, Zack glanced around, looking for his sister.

He spotted her standing around, apparently alone save her pokémon. Had she tried battling with just an Abra? No wonder she didn't land a hit. As he made his way over, Zack realised that Helena wasn't alone after all.

"Hey, Helena," he called over as he approached, hands in his pockets. Then he feigned a look of surprise when he looked to Salieri, grin widening, "Oh look, it's One Shot! How've you been? Steal anything good lately?"  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri rubbed the back of her head, trying to push down her annoyance at the Abra laughing at her. She couldn’t stand anyone laughing at her. I’m gonna get you back for this someday, you sleepy a*****e.

“Yeah, I’m fine. So where do we go to find your-“

Zack walked up as a surprisingly convenient answer to her unfinished question. She did a double take between Helena and her brother. “You didn’t tell me your brother was this a*****e,” she growled to Helena as he walked up to them.

When Zack opened with the “One Shot” remark, Sal’s nostrils flared. Recalling the loss made her blood boil. “I’m not the one that took your dignity, if that’s what you’re asking. What kind of trainer starts a fight by not fighting?” She craned her neck up at the obviously powerful Pangoro. “At least this time you brought a pokemon with some substance. I was beginning to think you were just hot air.”

Durendal took one look at the huge panda bear. It was clearly stronger than him, but if Salieri really wanted to try fighting Zack then he would stick by his trainer’s side. He just hoped she wasn’t arrogant enough to think they’d beat it.

Salieri took a few steps forward and pointed at Zack. “Look kid, the next time you take a step in my city you better know your place, cause if you run your mouth off about Gotengo again-“

Wait, did she say her last name is Redgrave? What noble house is that?

“Wait, your last name is Redgrave? What noble house is that?”  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena stood dumbfounded by the exchange. She had expelled all the energy she didn't have with Salieri already so she let them talk at first.

Zack poked at Salieri, and the abrasive and energetic girl poked back. They looked like a bad couple. Helena managed to recover a bit of stamina by the time Salieri asked about their nobility.

"This is a secret so don't tell anyone," Helena said as she stepped over to Salieri and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "We're not nobles."  

[Jump Einatz]

For just a moment, a gear slipped out of place in the clockwork that was Salieri's brain while she stood there, dumbfounded. "...You're not nobles?"

Dune closed his eyes and turned away entirely. Of course Salieri would have jumped into this without knowing everything. That was her style.

It was clear she was going over the events of the afternoon's chase. When she rewound far enough, back to the beginning, she turned to Zack. "Then why were you wearing that lame-a** noble coat?" she asked him, perplexed and flustered.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Route 3

Route four had been crowded, more-so than he enjoyed with the need of training his pokemon. Oh, it worked well enough, giving him space to try new things, and some wild pokemon to try things against. Essence, his Budew, had been able to show its ability to use absorb, growth, and water sport, but Benedict couldn't quite find a way to see how she would be making any moves against Viola's gym anytime soon. Bug pokemon were there, after all, and trying to tackle them with one viable pokemon that wasn't particularly strong against bug types would only backfire...

Which had brought the newbie trainer to route three. He'd need another pokemon, and those that he'd seen on route four hadn't really felt so promising in this case... Not that he was suddenly expecting his pokemon to win so soon after being caught, there was a very real chance he wouldn't be able to challenge the gym that day at all, but Ben had his heart set on dealing with Viola. Even if it wouldn't be near so impressive as he'd hoped...

A small flying pokemon caught his eye, and the womanizer felt his lips curl into a grin. Not the best thing for a grass-type like Essence, if he remembered his basics right, but the bird would be good against Viola. Budew's pokeball was tossed out, and the pokemon was released. "Absorb" was whispered, and the grass-type followed the command. The landed flying type, which seemed to be pecking at the ground for food, was caught, and turned to find the attacker. Another absorb was called out as it moved in with a tackle, which proved something grand...

Essence would win the fight easily. Unfortunately, what followed was fairly dull, and ended with a weakened pidgey in a pokeball. Francis, Benedict decided, would be its name. "His" name, as the pokedex told the trainer moments later.

Potions were used carefully on the pokemon, and Benedict took a deep breath before releasing him next to Budew. "That's two of you then." He said, staring at them. This wasn't going to be fun, but then, he hadn't really expected all of pokemon training to be fun. The perks would be, though...

"Alright. Let's get started on some real training, then." He said, grin widening. No, there wasn't any chance of challenging the gym that day...

But tomorrow. Oh, they'd have a heck of a time tomorrow.  

[Marsuru]

He was a little high on Potion at the time. But Zack didn't want to tell them that. And now that he thought about it, the coat he was given by the effeminate men was much worse than the ones he'd seen genuine nobles wearing. Maybe a prank had been played on him? He didn't want to tell them that either. So instead, Zack did the honourable thing and shifted the subject.

"Probably the same reason you're wearing that ridiculous outfit," he said, gesturing to Salieri, "Really, a bandana? Are you 12? And I thought Kalosians were meant to be fashionable."  

[Spinne Biss]

The two started into each other and Helena felt the drag of energy required to be a participant. She let out a heavy breath and stepped away from the duo.

"You guys should just battle," she interjected in a soft voice.  

[Marsuru]

"We did," Zack said to Helena, turning to exclude Salieri from the conversation. "Hence 'One Shot'. It was actually pretty funny how easily she went down."