Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

Esme's note taking reminded Salieri of Zack's notebook, but in a far more organized fashion. She nodded with approval, looking to Esme with admiration. Feeling Zack's embarrassment, she figured out her revelation had not gone unnoticed, so for both of their sakes she attempted damage control. "I was...we were just thinking about slushies. I could go for a slushie anytime." Perfect. Damage controlled.

Sal knew Zack's comment was meant to be a jab, but it was still a fair point. "Their Sniper attacked me when I only had one badge, I don't think they care about my number. Probably because I'm related to Moze. We're kind of a big deal." It could have also been a response to when Sal snuck into the Battle Chateau, but she left that detail out. A story about a failed attempt at information retrieval would make her look lame in front of Esme.

She thumbed the pages, but the notes were dense. "How about you give us the abridged version?"  

[Klarp Glornharm]

When Ben arrived, at the new place, he looked around. It was hard to tell what was happening really. He let his eyes follow the others, and he noticed Noel and the rest, Sazerac wanted them to move Liam, but something told Ben that moving him could be a bad idea. Keeping him stable until an ambulance arrived was a better idea.

"Slow his bleeding." He said, as if they weren't already. "But I'm not sure we should move him." Caboose was released in a quick motion. He didn't have a pokemon that could heal, an ambulance might though. And if there was any way to call them...

"Call for an ambulance." He was speaking to Noel now. She probably had. "Tell them to look for the lightning. Caboose will give them a signal to where we are." The electric type looked up at him. Right. They weren't psychically connected...

He had to give the orders verbally.

"Caboose. Give it a twenty count, and then fire a thunderbolt outside of the window, as strong as you can muster, then twenty and another. Get their attention. Roy! Bridgette! Help Noel. Make sure he doesn't die until help arrives."

Caboose was using magnet rise and going to the windows. If any in the direction facing the town were open, he would simply be able to fire the attacks. If none were open, he'd Slam his way out. It probably wouldn't be too hard, given the building seemed to be pretty damn abandoned. Meant the window might not have been cared for, and could be taken down.

Benedict was almost certain the rest would ignore him. He wasn't sure why he was giving orders, actually. It just seemed like something to do. Something to keep his mind off the fact that another innocent person was probably going to die because of their plans.

"Alexa." He would say, approaching her. "You need to stay with these guys. You need to run the story, and you can't do that if you're running. Pass it to me, I have a flying type, and I'm sure one of my friends know someone who has a way to teleport. I can deal with it."  

[Spinne Biss]

Lumiose City - Cordoned Building

"Wait," Bridgette said to Benedict and Caboose. She was holding up the map on her holocaster, pointing at their GPS location. "I'll just tell them the address, don't need to throw thunderbolts around."

Bridgette got her head into the game as she looked around and took in the situation. Alexa was still being chased by her curse. Liam was injured, and everyone else was trying to handle the situations.

It wasn't going to end well if everyone started trying to delegate everything to everyone else, while trying to take the most responsibility for what happened next.

Too many chiefs, not enough indians.

So Bridgette stepped over some toes on the matter, memorizing the address on her caster before she called the police, stepping away if needed if everyone got too loud, and giving them their location. "I dunno how many stories up, just start climbing the stairs and shouting and we can shout back."

((And hopefully, Bridgette thought in a meta sense, Nicolette doesn't intercept the call and send a Darkhouse Hunter. Because that would be inconvenient))  

[Jump Einatz]

Lumiose City - Cordoned Building

Noel was beside herself, begging Liam to hang on while she gripped his hand. She was in no position to make decisions in such a hysteria, leaving it up to Bridgette to direct the paramedics and police up here by GPS.

Meanwhile, Alexa pointed to where the Curse was standing, about twenty feet away. She kept her hand up so everyone would know where it was. Benedict moved just past it on his way to her, far too close for her comfort. Then came his proposal.

"No. No, I can't do that, kid," Alexa told Ben, her eyes never leaving contact with her Curse's. "I wouldn't wish this on my enemies. You've done enough for Kalos today. You don't need to save me too."  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - Cordoned Building

'Then let's all get out of here,' Roy said once Bridgette was out of earshot. He hadn't noticed her go, which was clearly unfortunate. Somewhat more fortunate was the fact that Alexa's curse had apparently decided to wait for them to chat about what to do instead of attacking her.

'If this is really a part of some noble conspiracy then I wouldn't put money on paramedics even "finding" this place, even if they drove past it a dozen times.'

Gotengo

'Yeah. Slushies.'

Esme returned to pretending Zack wasn't there. She read her notes up and down. There were only a few incidents related by but a single thread.

'The abridged version is that over several Kalos Leagues, there have been small, mostly unreported cases of trainers dropping out of the league due to injuries matching those of their pokémon. One even intercepted an attack by throwing herself in front of it during battle. Her pokémon fainted anyway, and any trace of her after that just vanishes,' she skimmed her notes again, then met Salieri's eyes. 'This thing where you are stuck together? That is new. It draws a lot of attention to itself, so I would say it is intended only to slow you down.'

'But not stop us,' Zack said with a smirk. Esme looked at him, then glanced away uncomfortably. 'Uh?'
'There is one incident,' she said, carefully peeling her papers to the back page, 'of a trainer who showed these, ah, parallel injuries.'

Zack swallowed. He wasn't going to like the sound of this was he? Esme cleared her throat.

'He continued with his challenge despite being injured. A day later, the league put him in a mental hospital because he thought he was his pokémon.'  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Ben sighed. Roy was right and they didn't have time to argue about if he was or not. How could they get Liam to a hospital fast without killing him though?

"Go Alexa. We'll catch up."

He would turn then, and move to Liam. Alexa, he hoped, would start leaving. Which she should because murderous curse thing. "We need something to move him. If we carry him normally, the wound could get worse. Could have him ride a Pokemon down, but the only one I have that might be sanitary enough is Jerath. And he's a rock type, so not too comfortable. Or safe." Otherwise it would take two people and a lot of hope that Liam didn't have the wound get worse. If that was possible.

Then again, safety was kind of out the window. They might have no choice but to lift him up and carry him out by hand.

"What do you guys think? How do we move him?"  

[Spinne Biss]

"I don't know," Bridgette said after she hung up the call.  

[Jump Einatz]

Lumiose City - Cordoned Building

"Saz," Alexa said, calling her Vivillon to her side. She pointed in the general direction of the Curse, which never ceased to lumber in at her. "String Shot."

The Vivillon spewed a wall of silk stretching from one support column to another. Alexa looked at the others through the silk. If she stayed too long, either the Curse would get to her or the police would ask questions. If she was detained, she couldn't escape from her Curse.

"You'll be okay," she said to the twins, not really believing it herself. "I...I..."

There wasn't much else to say. Alexa hightailed it out of there, down the stairs and out the building. Seconds later, a human shaped bulge stretched through the String Shot until it snapped in two.

"Just do something, please!" Noel cried, unable to lift Liam herself with her wounded leg and no Gogoat. "Anything..."

Sirens rang a minute later, and a combination of an ambulance and a few police cruisers stopped at the side of the building. Liam was already unconscious. Footsteps pounded up the stairs. "Hello? Paramedics!" echoed the unseen voices.

Gotengo

Now Salieri actually was thinking of a slushie, until the severity of their predicament became clear. "They lost their identities," she said, the words escaping her lips. Suddenly, she didn't want that slushie anymore. For the first time since they had been bonded, she felt fear.

So she was startled when Mia suddenly slapped the heart monitor pads onto her chest from behind, doing the same to Zack next to her. "Just need to check something," said Mia, wheeling the monitor around so Esme could see it. The instrument whirred and info on Sal and Zack appeared onscreen.

"Their vitals are running the same now," Mia told Esme quietly, pointing to the results. "Heartbeat, blood pressure. It wasn't like this two hours ago."  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - Cordoned Building

Roy pressed a pokéball into Alexa's hands. 'Take Fearow and get out of here,' he said. 'Publish what you can as soon as you can. People have already seen the fire. Once the public know about the oil field, this curse might stop.'

Gotengo

Zack glanced at Sal. Was the darkhorse hunter's plan to turn them into two really average trainers? They needed to get this fixed.

'Kind of begs the question of why you're doing data entry when you should be tracking this Chabot a*****e down,' he said to Mia. If she hadn't been able to figure out where he was already, they'd have to speak to Gurkinn to see if there was a spiritual solution. He was all about making two beings come together as one, so maybe he had some answers.  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

"Because I can multitask, you mere mortal," Mia said flatly, not looking up from the screen as the typed with one hand and tossed something to Zack and Salieri with the other. Sal caught the device.

It looked like a cobbled together remote control, with a small screen and only a few buttons. "I figured out the frequency this guy controlled the drone with. It's uncommon, and traceable within a certain range. If you get back to where you were Bonded and you turn it on, you can narrow down a location."

She raised a finger. "But. As soon as you find where he is, he'll be able to see the trace too. And then he can just change the frequency he operates on and run away. Unless you get me a second robot in better condition, you only get one shot at this."

"No problem," Sal said, stuffing the device into her pocket. "We find the guy and kick his a** until he separates us, and then we finish kicking his a**." She looked to Zack while she ripped the suction pads off their chests. "This time I get to do the flail thing."  

[Marsuru]

Gotengo

'Whatever. You'd probably break if I flailed you anyway,' said Zack. 'Let's head back to Shalour. That's where he attacked us so he's probably in that area.'

'Good luck,' Esme said. 'Really. I would hate it if you two became just another note.'  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

Conveniently, Matheson texted Salieri at this time, telling her that he could give them a lift via his Key.

"I already faced a pansy that just wanted to hide. The difference was that the other one actually tried to fight me. This will be simple." Salieri didn't actually want to go into this encounter overconfident, but she didn't want to worry Mia either. Clearly the Ratio attack was taking its toll on her best friend, whether Mia would admit it or not. Sal knew her long enough to see when that unflappable cover was broken. When she became her own woman again, she made a note to have a private talk with Mia.

But there was one thing she needed to mention first. "By the way, did you figure out why I can only hold five Pokémon?"

Mia cleared her throat. "No," Mia lied. "Not yet." She knew that it was because of Ivan, but if she explained that now then she'd have a lot more explaining to do. She'd have to say things in front of all of them she didn't want to admit. "...where's Ivan anyway?"
"I left it in my room at the Center," Salieri lied. She didn't want Mia to know that she had lost the Pokédex the techie had worked so hard on, at least not now when their plates were already full. "It was being annoying."

The two girls were so wrapped up in their own lies, they didn't notice the other one was lying. Sal gave Mia a quick one armed hug, and if Zack didn't have anything else to do, they'd make their way to the nearest door down the street. "We'll keep you posted," Sal told them. "Thanks, Esme."  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Lumiose City: Cordoned Building

They didn't have time to be slow, but they couldn't be careless. Liam was going to die if they just sat there, and yet Ben wasn't sure if he should be the one making the call.

The sirens came, and a shiver ran up his spine. They didn't have time.

Jerath was released, and he looked at Bridgette. "If things get dangerous, can Drifblim carry him with Liam on his back? At least down to the ground floor?" Jerath could move from there. All they would have to do was keep attackers distracted. Assuming the paramedics weren't real.

Ben really hoped they were.

"Just in case these aren't who they say they are. We're up here! Come on!"  

[Spinne Biss]

Lumiose City - Cordoned Building

"Yeah, probably," Bridgette said as she looked over at Benedict. Drifblim wasn't exactly designed to carry people, but he could do it. "Why would things get dangeorus? They're police officers and paramedics!"  

[Jump Einatz]

Lumiose City - Cordoned Building

Alexa took Fearow before she left. "I'll bring him back to you, I promise." Then she truly left, her unseen Curse following behind.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the people who came up the stairs next really were who they said they were, dressed in paramedical gear. The first responders loaded the twins up onto separate stretchers that floated with the aid of Telekinetic Pokémon. Noel held onto Liam's hand as they were taken out, past the police who busted into the room afterwards.

"Is anyone else injured?" asked one of the officers with an outstretched hand, partially because he wanted to calm them down and partially because he wanted to make sure they didn't leave. He saw Bridgette was missing an arm and called back down the stairs. "Stall that ambulance, we've got one more!" He then approached Bridgette to escort her down. "Come with me, ma'am, it'll be fine."

The last person to enter the room was Juliet Nostrad, who stifled a yawn and surveyed the area. It had been a long day for her already, having assisted the LCPD on the Hotel Richissime case from the morning until the middle of the afternoon. Even so, she took the ride to this crime scene while she was still at the precinct. A noble's work was never done.

"Juliet Nostrad," said the highborn brunette, giving Roy and Benedict a short bow while walking past the officer who was trying to escort Bridgette. Already the cops were setting up a perimeter of security tape around the building, and surveying the empty floor.

"Are you okay?" she asked them. They seemed fine enough, physically at least. It was a courtesy question before she could proceed to the real subject at hand. "I'm not sure where to start, so I'll be broad. The LCPD received two calls from here, both concerning a medical emergency. The first one was panicked and mentioned, well..."

Juliet pointed out the window to the northeast where the oil field fire could still be seen miles away. "So how about you explain what's going on?" she asked as she knelt down next to a broken Warp Tile, touching it with her hand. "As thoroughly as possible, please."