Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Marsuru]

[Now, now, chica. Let's not be too has--]

Hawlucha ran out of talk time. Reynard blasted into him, bowled him off his feet and flat on his back. He lay there, wet and groaning with his wings spread at his side and almost half his health gone. He felt more than saw Reynard cuddling against his chest, claiming the interior of his wing as her own and was that purring? Dios mío. [At least this time she is a woman.]

Korrina pinched her brow. Attract usually left her opponents on the back foot. She hadn't anticipated them to start cuddling. 'Let's finish this, Hawlucha!'

The luchador pokémon nodded. His wet feathers suddenly fluffed up, dry after using Roost during his time on the floor. Now his health had returned and, with it, his grace and style.

[I am sorry, chica,] Hawlucha said, producing his rose and holding it toward the spotlights. With a flick of the wrist, he tossed it skyward, its crimson petals glowing before the lamps. With the rose gone, Hawlucha became Unburdened, his speed doubled and along with it the potency of his Acrobatics.

In one clean motion, he would free his arm from under Reynard and launch himself into the air over her. Not too far, as he immediately twisted and drove his heel acrobatically into her stomach. If it didn't take her down outright, it would leave her barely conscious. Assuming his Acrobatics met their mark, Hawlucha would hop back onto his feet, swipe his arm across, and catch the rose as it fell.

[We are of different worlds, you and I,] Hawlucha would say, holding the rose above his opponent as a tribute to their battle. [Goodnight, chica.]  

[Jump Einatz]

For a moment, Salieri detached herself from watching what was an inevitable loss long enough to realize that Reynard was, surprisingly, a cuddler.

Reynard coughed up a splash of water when his heel plunged into her gut, rolling over sloppily onto her feet. Now everything hurt, but nothing more than her heart. [How...could you...] She reached out a paw to the one who Roosted with her before falling onto her face, unconscious.

Now Salieri came back to reality, returning Reynard to her Pokéball. "I'll be back!" Sal yelled across the arena floor to Korrina. She spun on her heel and yanked Zack towards the exit, fuming. But if she was feeling anything more than general anger, it was guilt.

Arnaud's memory declined every day. It was bad enough that the League Tournament was at a set time at the end of the month. Gyms were only open for twenty one days during League season. Failing to acquire a badge could set her back a whole day, and she couldn't afford many wasted opportunities. For most, one loss could be the same as calling an audible. For her, with Arnaud's condition, it was a definite step backwards.  

[Marsuru]

For Salieri to spin on her heel, she had to swing Zack all the way around her body, which caught him off guard. On top of the pitiful loss, they must have looked ridiculous; a big strong guy getting thrown about by a littler strong girl. They were almost at the exit, away from the eye of the cameras, when Zack braced himself so that Salieri wouldn't budge him.

'You lost,' he said in a low voice, Salieri's anger and guilt roiling inside. He didn't know why these emotions were stirred up in her, but he sure as hell didn't deserve it. 'Don't strop outta there like a little kid, and have a little dignity for ******** sake. You're making us both look bad.'  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri came to a sudden stop when, anchored down by Zack. She looked ahead, clearly mulling over what he said. Winning a Gym match was important. So was her dignity. She recalled how her match had ended with Helena this morning. How neither of them had felt good about it.

Sal looked over her shoulder at Korrina again. "You're pretty good!" she yelled to the rollerblader with a little more pep. "When we come back, we'll be even better than that!"

She gave Zack a sideways glance. "Happy now?" she asked, matching his low voice. Now she could walk out of here with some grace saved, and avoid a feedback loop of negative emotions.  

[Marsuru]

'A little corny, but acceptable.'  

[Jump Einatz]

"Your mom is corny but acceptable," Sal retorted. She was particularly satisfied by that burn as they walked out of the Gym. It was, surprisingly, better than her usual fare.

Durendal was waiting outside the Gym with Hazard, sitting on a bench with his legs dangling off the side. Between them was a busted Chatbot, still sparking out of one shattered eye.  

[Marsuru]

Zack felt particularly satisfied that Salieri was incapable of delivering a good burn. More good news waited outside the gym; Hazard and the Pawniard had actually been successful. He grinned and hurried over, ignoring Hazard as she floated proudly over her shared kill, and knelt down for a better look.

He felt weirdly vulnerable as he did. He had entrusted his balance to someone who didn't really like him too much. Still, better not to dwell on what might happen. If Salieri thought to pull him onto his a**, he'd deal with it by kicking hers. The Chabot was busted. Its body wasn't solid metal but a thin chassis with bright material stretched across to emulate skin. The feathers were synthetic, reminiscent of the stuff used to make fake flowers. Its shattered eye had almost been pushed out of its socket, smelled like burnt solder. Up close, it didn't look convincing at all.

'Gonna -- gonna -- ******** you up -- ya little b***h,' the robot said like an animal on its last, laboured breaths, voice flicking between different records.

'Not today,' Zack said with a triumphant twitch of his lip. 'One Shot, see if there's an off switch for this tin can.' He glanced up at Dune. 'Not you, the bird.'  

[Jump Einatz]

Dune have Zack a nod, glad that jab wasn't made for him. "That was fast. Good job, Dune."

He tried to pantomime that it was actually a concerted effect between himself and Hazard, and how they set up a cool trap where he chased the robot into an alley so Hazard could phase through a wall to take it out by surprise. Sal paid no attention, however.

Still grumpy off a fresh loss, Salieri was prepared to tell Zack to do it himself. But he couldn't. And she wanted that bird to shut up as much as he did.

Sal turned the scrap metal over in her hand, searching for some kind of button or switch to flick. If there was an external one, it had been destroyed. There was a hatch that may have been a battery pack, but it was screwed tight. Sal considered crushing the windpipe in her palm, but that probably wouldn't work like it would on a real bird.

"Nothing. Do you know what a GPS thing looks like?" Before he could answer with a 'No' like Sal thought he would, she said, "You know what? Let's just bring it to Mia. This is her wheelhouse. She builds robots for fun."

She had a few other things she needed to talk to Mia about, anyway. Her team wasn't able to extend past five Pokemon for some reason. Ivan was missing and she needed to find it. And she wanted to see how Mia was doing after the Ratio attack. It was one thing to hear that she was okay, but Mia couldn't hide the truth from Sal in person for long.

Sal didn't notice Matheson coming down the street, waving at the two of them.  

[Marsuru]

'Maybe she's behind this.' Zack stood up. Ordinarily, he'd fold his arms while he thought this out, but he couldn't. At least he was halfway there. The Chabot's controller was likely still in the area, somewhere between Coumarine and Shalour. Mia might be able to narrow down the search zone, but if the guy had any sense, he'd bolt long before Zack and Salieri came knocking on his door.

[Bang you -- bang you -- bang --] the Chabot went dead. Whatever robotic life was once behind its black camera eyes faded into nothing, its wings hung limp and beak left halfway open. Zack relaxed. Now he needn't worry about that thing flying around impersonating his voice.

Zack did notice Matheson from the corner of his eye, so he nodded toward him to make Salieri notice too. 'Hey look, your boyfriend's here.'  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri checked where Zack gestured too. "Merde," she muttered, waving back at Math with a smile. Becoming nervous, Salieri looked at her reflection in Durendal's helmet to fix her hair. Maybe good hair would distract him from the hand holding. She wasn't sure how Math would take it. He didn't seem like the jealous type but she'd only known him for four days and he wasn't so happy with her earlier.

"Act natural, okay? I'll explain this."  

[Marsuru]

Zack glanced back over his shoulder. Matheson was nearly there. He could feel Salieri's nerves coming through their bond and buried them. He wasn't gonna let emotions dominate how he acted; that was the essence of being in character.

'Not a chance, you're just gonna screw it up,' he said, catching sight of his reflection in Dune's dome, and noticing the state his hair was in. Probably happened when they were knocked out. Since he had no hands and sure as hell wasn't asking Salieri to fix it, he blew at the rebel strands until he ran out of time.

'Matheson,' Zack at least tried to sound friendly. 'You found us. Tell me you didn't see that travesty on TV.'  

[Jump Einatz]

Sal gave Zack a quick thumbs up. "Douchy, great. Keep it up.."

"Guys guys, I have a theory!" Matheson blurted out when he got close enough. "I have to tell you before I forgot-oh my gosh, no, I didn't." Matheson's eyes went wide. "There was a travesty? What happened?"

He looked down at their hands, then at Salieri, then at Zack, then back at their hands. He didn't say anything until he heard what the horror on TV was.  

[Marsuru]

'It's not another Ratio attack if that's what you're thinking,' said Zack, subtly pushing his shoulder back to make his pecs pop better. Best to look strong when you're reassuring someone. He paused, looking Math up and down. The guy was built like a linebacker. 'Damn you're huge. You know, if you want a gym partner, you should give me a shout. I'm down for whatever you want to do.'  

[Jump Einatz]

Matheson's upper cheeks became a shade pinker as attention was drawn to his frame from an unlikely source. "Uh, thanks?" he said sheepishly, letting out a few uncomfortable laughs. "I'm still not really used to, uh, this. I used to be chubby, so-"
"Really?" Sal blurted out, shocked by the news. "I would never have guessed that."
"Yeah. But I did a lot of lacrosse, so. There you go." Math cleared his throat, eager to get the attention away from his body as he hunched over slightly. "Anyway, what's the travesty?"

"I lost my Gym match," Salieri admitted, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Now that Zack pointed out how Math was jacked, Sal couldn't help notice that Zack was also jacked. In fact, they were quite similar in how huge they were. She felt very short all of the sudden. And she tried very hard not to look at Zack's biceps. Fortunately, that was easy for her when Math's biceps were around. Ah, there they are. Hello old friends.

"Oh. Ohhhhh pssh. That's not so bad. Phew. You had me worried for a sec." Now Math looked at their hands again. Still attached. "Are you...hold on...thinking..."

Salieri gulped. Math rubbed his chin. "It's really not what you think-"
"Are you guys Cursed to hold hands right now, or what?" he asked with much apprehension in case the answer was no. "Please tell me you guys are Cursed right now."

His other theory was that the vitriol he had heard of and witnessed between the two of them was actually thick sexual tension that had come to a head in the last hour. Not one to be an accuser, Math really hoped his first theory was correct, or else this would be an unfortunate turn in his day. And his day was going alright so far. After all, he was hunting pirates.  

[Marsuru]

'It's whatever you say it is.' Zack cleared his throat. 'I mean yeah. Some a*****e attracted us in the pokémon center, and cursed us with his Cofagrigus. That's hot's left of his bird.' He stepped aside so Math could get a better look at his profile, and also the busted Chabot. 'He's been using it to communicate, so I figure we take it to an expert and get them to find out where he's been broadcasting from. Don't you think that's a good plan?'