Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Jump Einatz]

((Salieri should've probably kept the girls in the loop, huh?))

Gotengo

Benedict's story was unnerving to say the least. Mia wasn't comfortable with the fact that Salieri told him to come here after he was being actively stalked. Gotengo had few ways of defending itself, even less if the threat was serious.

"Okay," sighed Mia. She held her hand out. "Give me your xtransceivers."

If Ben handed them over, Mia would take her laptop off of the couch and open it up, booting up the protection software editor. "The Stalker's entry is under the Tier 1 folder," she said to Ben, nodding at the PC at the base of the tree while pulling the correct USB wires out of a box of them. "This'll take a few minutes."

If Ben decided to open the folder and find the file labeled 'The Stalker', he'd see a document with Esme's notes as well as old articles pertaining to the topic. Specifically, they were testimonies from Kalos league trainers with a high number of badges, at least six. Each one of the testimonies said something similar: that the trainer was being followed by a loved one, but no one else could see it, and they felt they were in grave danger.

Every testimony matched up to another article detailing the deaths of those who testified. They were mutilated in different, horrible ways, but black handprints were on all of their corpses. There were some articles about these deaths that didn't have a testimony to accompany them. All of the articles dated back to at least seven years ago, if not longer.

Coumarine Pokémon Center

Seriously? Salieri leveled a glare at Zack as she took a Pokéball off of her belt. Of all the Pokémon he owned, he had her release the most useless one into this situation. No wonder he said they should use her team. "She's not the only one with brain-"

They swapped places with Cofagrigus, and were now inside the closing tomb. Salieri didn't even finish her quip as she dropped her Pokéball, releasing the power inside.

The Rock Tomb crumbled around Biz Marquis' body, his huge arms and armored shell enveloping the trainers in a bear hug. He took the attack and became slower as a result, but it wasn't a real threat to him. [Um, what's happening?]

Durendal saw the ball in Salieri's hand, and so he let the attack fly. With enough time to dodge Cofagrigus' Shadow Ball, Dune decided to make a political play.

He bolted off to his side. The Shadow Ball burst into the table he kicked up in his wake, missing him entirely as he slid to a stop next to Bonding. He held one knife hand up to Bonding's neck and one next to his Pokébelt. It was a hostage situation.

Dune stared down Cofagrigus. Now that their Shadow Ball was over, the Ghost could pull another Ally Switch with its trainer. Doing that would put it into a point blank stabbing with Assurance at its unguarded eyes. The Pokémon had the humans at their mercy, but it was up to the humans to decide how to proceed. Durendal didn't enjoy taking hostages, but he didn't enjoy seeing Master Salieri slowly fuse into the same brain as Master Zack either.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Gotengo - The Real Hero's Plan

Ben would only hand over one of his xtransceivers in this case. "Police have the other's number. If we guard it against monitoring, I'll probably be brought in for more questioning." He explained.


"Sorry, by the way. I thought Sal had told you guys about what I was doing. Especially you." He gestured to Esme. "I wouldn't have brought your name up if I didn't think you'd know the plan."


And then he would go to the file. It was kind of... well pointless to go through. On the one hand, the Stalker was gone, blown up and probably on fire right that moment. It would be a pretty heavy test on whether or not ghost types could die, but Ben was pretty damn sure that it wouldn't be able to reform for some time given its weakness to fire.

Which meant that, for now, they were safe from it. Except for one more curse... "I can use this." He said, suddenly. "That Ratio guy... these hunters out for blood... I can use this." It was hard to say if Sal and Zack had accepted this was a life-or-death situation where they might have to kill to survive, but given his day so far, Ben had. It was strange that he wasn't surprised by his own idea. He could take the curse. "If she scratches someone, she can pass it to them. If she scratches me..." He grinned. They wouldn't see it coming.

"It's a double-edged weapon, but given who we're up against, it might be the difference between life and death." He realized, a moment later, that it would probably sound like rambling. But to cover, he started on the next file while waiting on Mia.  

[Marsuru]

Gotengo

'So, ah, Alexa needs to scratch something to pass on the curse.' Saying it out loud didn't make it sound less ridiculous, but then Esme had a backlog of ridiculous to get written up. Something pinged in the darker, more ruthless, practical corner of her mind. 'Why not find something that is already dying and scratch that?'

Saying it out loud didn't make it sound less like murder.

Coumarine Pokémon Center

'Ohh shiiit, b***h,' Zack said, mildly disorientated from the Switch, but pleased with the outcome. They hadn't been crushed, which was excellent, and now Bonding had been caught. Even better. 'Should've known we'd get you, a*****e. We're pokémon trainers, we catch s**t for a living. Uh, not actual s**t but like, metaphorical, uh...'

Zack blinked a half dozen times, his mouth a line. He looked at Salieri. 'The bond's getting worse.'

Bonding laughed, bitter, wet, his face purple and bloated with Dune's knife pushed to his neck. 'Oh, you little scamps. You really aren't cut out for this at all.'

He clicked his tongue and Cofagrigus complied. The coffin pokémon clapped its four shadow hands together, generating a shockwave of pink and black that interrupted the flow of reality within the cafeteria. The ticks of the clock became long, deliberate clacks, heartbeats slowed, blinks blinded for seconds. Trick Room wouldn't last long. It gave Cofagrigus just enough time to scuttle out of the pokémon center, its jerking, spider-like gait sped up like an old film reel.

Once Cofagrigus smashed its way through the tall windows and vanished into the street, the Trick Room would end and reality would resume its usual rhythm.  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

The Curse sounded like something straight out of a horror movie. Mia didn't want to think about it, but she couldn't help putting herself in Alexa's shoes. How would she deal with that? Would she pass it on to somebody else? Who? Having to bear that burden was an awful idea, so when Benedict said he wanted to use it, she was taken for a loop.

One time, about a year ago, Mia asked Salieri what she would do if she got Nicolette Nostrad or Kyren Balibar at her mercy. What Mia really wanted to know is if Salieri was going to kill them. "What's the point in that? They can't answer for what they did if they're dead," Salieri had told her.

But then Mia asked if she thought those people needed to die. By the death penalty or some other method. If that was the case, would Salieri do it then? For the good of everyone else?

"No. I can't do that," Sal had told her.
"Too hard?" Mia had asked.
"The opposite," Salieri had said. "Too easy."

That was the first time Salieri's deep seated rage had actually scared Mia, though she never spoke of it to anyone. Now she saw Benedict ready to use this Curse to kill someone else. He was willing to take on that burden in order to end someone else's life. Was it an emotional high, coming off of his trip between Routes? Or was this something that had potentially been inside him this whole time?

"You'd really wish that on an enemy?" Mia asked, not looking up from her laptop. Ben's xtransceiver was plugged into the side, and Mia was double checking her software now. "Who's your target?"

Coumarine Pokémon Center

For Durendal, the fastest one in the cafeteria, time was so warped during the Trick Room that he could hardly perceive it until it was over and Cofagrigus was gone. That wasn't how he thought his hostage situation was going to go. If Cofagrigus was willing to flee in the face of its trainer's mortal peril, what did that mean? Was it too late to stop the bond? Or was Bonding not worth taking?

"Go!" Salieri called to him in distress, clutching the side of Zack's head. No, that was her head. Was it his hand? No, it was hers. Was it? It was getting harder for Salieri to tell herself apart from Zack by the second.

Durendal, still clad in Mummy wraps, dashed through the broken windows and outside the Pokémon Center, entering a Pursuit to chase down the sentient coffin.

Now Biz, with one arm curled around the trainer, pointed his second arm at Mr. Bonding and formed a wooden cannon at the end of it. Looking down the barrel, it was clear that a Seed Bomb was loaded inside. "Call it off," Salieri threatened through half grit teeth. "Or he'll blow you away."  

[Marsuru]

Coumarine Pokémon Center

Bonding held up his hands, but his relaxed manner made it clear he didn't take them seriously. The only thing keeping Sal from punching his lights out was the thought that she'd already-- Zack closed his eyes, took a second. No, he'd been the one to punch Bonding earlier. Him. Bonding chuckled, a dainty fine china laugh.

'Oh Zackary, why would I ever do that?' Bonding dropped his hands. If it weren't for the sweat on his brow he'd be completely composed. Not a bad poker face. 'Blow me away. I dare you. But be sure that Cofagrigus will never free the two of you without my command. Now put that thing away and let us talk like adults.'

---

With Dune in hot Pursuit, he would exit the cafeteria through the same window Cofagrigus broke. If he looked up, he would see the coffin pokémon scale the side of the pokémon center, its shadow arms clinging from brick to brick. It smashed more glass and burrowed inside, vanishing from view.

All it had to do was keep away, and it'd be too late for Zack and Salieri.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Benedict bit his lip as they started asking questions. It was hard to explain to someone who hadn't been there. Part of it was probably anger, anger at the people who died, anger that he couldn't mourn any of them, and anger that it was his fault any of them were there in the first place. There was too much to do to mourn them, though. And anger wasn't all that was there. To him, it seemed... reasonable.

Mia was the one who had understood what he meant best, and so he directed his words at her. "I'm not targeting any single one of them. I'd love to deal with it without killing anyone. But someone programmed the Stalker. A person did that. Made them into a killing machine, and they'd been hunting people before. How many more of the hunters are out there, preparing to use lethal force because the nobles don't want their pride scratched? How many more people do we get to watch die because we decided to act like heroes from a story, pretending that the people we fight need punishment, and not to be treated like they were trying to kill us?"

"How many of them cause missing persons cases? Or leave bodies in their wakes? I'm not going to leave them to be hunted by the thing, but we can't afford to treat it like a game. And that curse is a weapon they used against us, and one they don't know we have. We were far too calm for them to know we might have it. We were sitting still, talking with them." He looked between them. They might not understand.

"I don't want to hunt them with it, but I'm not going to sit down and let them kill me, or anyone else, when lethal force can prevent it." It was a decision he'd come to at some point that day, it was hard to say when. And besides, that wasn't even accounting for this Ratio person, and anyone else they might get the attention of.

He sighed. Would they still help him, knowing he was willing to kill people? Or, well, would probably be if pressed. "I need to find Alexa regardless. She can be the one who decides what to do with it, if that helps. I'll explain what I plan to do."

((In theory, of course, knocking someone unconscious(fainting them) might deal with a curse. Who knows?))  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

"If you take the Curse, then you've made up your mind." From what it sounded like, whoever had the Curse would have to pass it on or die. Benedict would have every intention of using it once it was his. A premeditated bullet in the chamber. Mia finished editing the software and began downloading it to Ben's xtransceiver. The process would take a minute.

"Salieri deactivated the Sniper who was after her without killing him. She knows that if she crosses that line, it won't be easy to step back. She'd become like them." Mia's eyes shifted from the laptop screen to Ben. "The moment you use that Curse as a weapon, you become the Stalker."

Coumarine Pokémon Center

The Seed Bomb whirred inside of Biz's arm cannon. [Who you callin' a 'thing'?]

Salieri was not good with negotiation. She didn't trust people enough for them to hold up their end of the bargain, and they almost never did. Right now her back was against a wall, her arm was broken-- Not her arm. Zack's arm.

"You think I'm bluffing? I don't believe you for a...for a..." The word she wanted to use was 'second'. Or did Zack want to use that word? Now it was getting hard to speak, let alone stand up.

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

Durendal looked both ways down the street. Cofagrigus was nowhere to be found, so he looked up and saw the coffin crawling up the side of the building like a spider, breaking in through another window on a different floor.

The Pawniard was much faster, if Trick Room was any indication. Catching up would be simple, even without his Abilities. Subduing an enemy was harder than knocking it out, but if they could do it with Reynard, he could do it here.

Dune dashed at the wall and ran straight up it, not slowing down as he gained on Cofagrigus and climbed through the same window, continuing his search.  

[Marsuru]

Gotengo

Esme stayed quiet and listened. She had lived in fear of the nobility for the past year, and here Benedict talked about fighting them. Just like everyone else these days. Most of them didn't know what they were getting into, hadn't felt that sting of personal loss. Life was precious, and a significant part of Esme couldn't believe Ben and Mia could talk about taking it so casually.

'You don't understand,' she said quietly. 'Either of you. It is not about crossing a line or waging a war. If they hear you talk about this, you are dead already.'

Coumarine Pokémon Center

'And yet,' Bonding's smirk twitched. 'Every second you delay you come one step closer to the inevitable. Like it or not, I'm the only chance you have.'

---

Dune would find himself in a spacious recovery room. It was dark except for pale daylight streaming in through external windows, casting stark outlines and inky silhouettes. Coumarine wasn't a massive city, so the ward on this floor was currently out of use. Doors closed, sealing shut the maze-like corridors, dripping in dark. Perfect for a ghost type.

If he was quick, Dune might spot Cofagrigus slipping into the hallways. Right outside the recovery room, the hall split into multiple directions with signs written in Kalosian and National pointing the way. Down one path were more recovery rooms with an open window at the end of the hallway, down another path were fixed seats and a row of vending machines against the wall.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

The Real Hero's Decision

Ben sighed. Mia wouldn't understand, and it sounded like Esme didn't understand either. "It's not like grabbing an inevitable weapon, but if you have a surefire way to cure it, you tell me. Either way, she'd be stuck living like that until someone found a cure for it. One that doesn't give away the fact that she's cursed in that way. You might not agree with how I'd use it, and you might not think I understand, but it's a bullet in the chamber until the time comes., and I can probably deal with it better than she can. At least, if she wants to still have a life."

He was surprised to find his voice was tinged with anger. Not at them, but in general. The day hadn't been going well, and regardless of their plan on what to do with the thing, he wanted some kind of win. And so far, they didn't even have a guarantee that Alexa could write the story.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't plan to use it on someone who's not trying to kill me, or someone who's already been beaten. But I'm not going to say no if there's no other way." At least, he didn't think he would. With all the anger built up, it was easier to say it now. "All I need to do is find her, and we'll let her decide."  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

"That hardly makes me feel better."

The laptop pinged. Mia unplugged Ben's xtransceiver and caught three kids staring in at the living room through the porch window. The moment their eyes met, the kids scrambled away.

Mia stood up and walked to Benedict. "If an outside source somehow traces your calls, gets on your line or manages to bug your microphone, the software will jam them out and give us an approximate source. You'll know it's happened because your xtransceiver will reboot. There's only one person who can do those things to you now. And that's me."

The edits Mia made in the software allowed a singe computer the ability to make it past the safeguard software, and that was Gotengo's PC. Salieri didn't know it, but the same edits were on her Pokégear as a precautionary measure.

"I'll help you stay alive," Mia sighed. "But if you do take that...Curse, and you use it someone else...don't come back here. Gotengo isn't a black ops depot. The role models for these kids ******** up enough already."

She held out the xtransceiver for Ben to take.

Coumarine Pokémon Center

Damnit! This was the exact reason why Zack hated negotiation. Everytime he had to do it, it was because someone else held the cards. Wait, no, that was what Salieri was feeling. Maybe it wasn't. There was no way to tell anymore.

Using Zack's free arm(?), Salieri returned her Chesnaught to his Pokéball. "Lift this Curse. Or we won't have anything to lose."

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

Durendal entered the ward, but once he did he didn't feel as speedy as before. Just moving was like walking through molasses. The second hands on the nearby clock had slowed to a crawl, but the minute hands sped up, and the hour hands went even faster than that.

It was another Trick Room.

Instead of running, Durendal walked, which was somehow quicker in this warped space. Any gains he had in this chase were being mitigated by Trick Room. If he didn't find Cofagrigus soon, he would lose the Ghost.

Dune was given two paths. One of them had an open window, making it open ended. The other looked like it could be a dead end. If Cofagrigus was hiding there, and Durendal skipped past him out the window...

The mummy knight chose the vending machine path, creeping down that hall with his eyes wide open, checking walls and the ceiling alike.  

[Marsuru]

Gotengo

Esme watched in silence.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Gotengo - The Real Hero's Journey Begins

Ben took the x-transceiver silently. There wasn't really much more point in arguing with her. She also probably wasn't going to help him, all things considered. But hey, if she happened to have a better way to deal with the curse, he would have been all ears.

Except she wasn't offering ideas. Just criticism.

He turned around then and started on his way. He didn't need to come back to this anyway, it was Sal's space, and his mind was set. He would take the curse for now.

As he moved, Ben would send a message to Alexa. We need to meet up. Where can I find you?  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

Mia watched Ben soldier off without a word. She wondered how old he was. Sixteen? Seventeen? Maybe no older than her, but one encounter with a Darkhorse Hunter was enough for him to consider murder as an option. Mia didn't know Ben. It was possible this was a potential in him already. But from her experience, it was the Kalos League that changed people.

She came back inside and wiped her hands over her face, tired. The archiving would take the rest of the night. Esme kept a thorough record. "We should order a pizza, or something," Mia said to Esme, collapsing back in her chair. An option to remotely monitor Ben's Xtransceiver was now on the PC's desktop, but she didn't click it. For now, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. If Salieri trusted him, then she would try to as well.

Kalos Badlands

Alexa hadn't gotten very far on Roy's Fearow. The poor bird was exhausted from the battling earlier in the day. Halfway through the badlands, she got off the bird and began to walk. Eventually she tried hitchhiking until a kind and only mildly sketchy man gave her a ride in the back of his pickup truck.

Now she sat staring off at the badlands shrinking in the distance behind them, next to a napping Rhyhorn. She hadn't wasted any of her down time, already typing up a draft of the story on her phone. These conditions were terrible, but she was a professional. By the end of the day, she could have something to send to her editor if she found a PC to use. The emotional charge she was feeling helped her power through. Anything that'd distract her from her grief would do.

Every now and then, she looked up to check on the Curse, which was hitching its own ride on an unaware swarm of Dugtrio. It had changed since the Stalker's body burned up in the fire. Now the Curse had wooden skin, looking like an unpolished mannequin rather than her sister. The rules had changed as well. It floated freely off the ground now, no longer taking steps. That hadn't done much to affect its speed, but she had seen it go through a wall before too. Just like a Ghost.

Alexa theorized that this was some last resort on the Trevenant's part. A transfer of his essence, perhaps. It didn't matter what the reason was, as long as she knew the rules and was one step ahead. Once the story was done and published, Alexa would continue roaming away from her Curse, never stopping for long. There had to be a way to get rid of this, without passing it on. After seeing what it did to Guigsy, she wouldn't even consider giving it to an enemy. She couldn't live with the guilt if she did.

Her typing was interrupted by a text from Benedict. Meeting up with anyone was dangerous right now. What could he want that they couldn't talk about over the phone? Regardless, she told him, I'm almost at Coumarine Train Station, south side. I won't be there for long.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

A Real Hero's Journey

Ben received the message and released Francis. The longer he waited, the more he cooled down. The more he cooled down, the less absolutely certain he was that he could do what he'd said outside of a moment. But it was better to be prepared...

Manny was released, and Ben found himself working on another plan. His team was tired, Francis could get them where they needed to go though. They could all rest after.

And then they were flying off towards where Alexa had said she would be.e Manny was using Calm Mind again, preparing himself for something that was, frankly, a pretty bad idea. Still, Francis seemed okay with it.

And if all else failed, Ben could still take the curse. He just had to know if there was another way. And if there wasn't, then at least he'd tried. At least then he could have an easier conscience from the plan.

********
Coumarine Train Station - South Side!

They would arrive at the location Alexa had said she would be at, and he would look around for her. He was tired, and with Manny linking him to Francis, he was aware of the rest of their fatigue. You didn't get nearly blown up without being tired. His anger had cooled to a simmer, but it was still there.

And when he finally found Alexa, he would approach her. If she didn't have any psychic or mental force stopping it from happening, Manny would Telepathically transmit Ben's next message.

"I need to try something with the curse." He thought after a moment, not sure how else to put things. This wasn't really a moment for flirty, honestly. It was more a moment for serious. "The Stalker didn't make it out, and I think... Manny might be able to stretch it thin so we can hurt it. But we need somewhere isolated to try." He would follow her if she was moving, or otherwise stay still with her. But the plan was to, one way or another, get a win out of the day.

So long as she was willing to try, anyway.  

[Jump Einatz]

Coumarine Train Station - South Side

Alexa hadn't seen the Curse for about an hour. She'd put some distance between them, and she'd need more if she wanted to sleep tonight. Fortunately Ben showed up quickly, so she wasn't waiting long. Sazerac tapped her shoulder to alert Alexa that he was here.

"Isolated, huh?" They had just come up from an isolated place. No one loitered in the badlands. But she wasn't going to head the same direction her Curse was coming from either. The next most likely spot was the northern cape of the city, or whatever may lie between.

Alexa started walking, and Benedict would follow. "Its changed, it's stronger than before. More like a Grudge now. You saw what happened when that girl threw a whale at it. What's the plan this time?"

She could've kept the conversation Telepathic, but it was a weird feeling that she was too tired for now. What was the worst that could happen if the wrong person overheard her, anyway? They could kill her, but that'd be a waste of a perfectly good Curse. The longer she had it the less overt fear she felt. It was turning into a feeling of resignation. An existential crisis.