Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri threw a sarcastic smirk right back at Zack, then switched back to her confident one while taking out Ivan. A brief scan through her orange pokedex later, and she looked back at Helena.

“Your Abra doesn’t know any attacks, does it?" Sal inquired. It was a guess based on the pokemon’s dex entry, which was typed out in it’s standard academic manner rather than Ivan’s speech pattern. If she was wrong, it could be seen as a taunt. Either way, it didn’t matter much to her proposal.

Salieri reached into her beltbag and pulled out a small disc which she spun on her fingertips. “This is TM 57. It contains the move Charge Beam, an Electric attack that makes you stronger the more you use it. And before you ask,” she said, shifting her attention to Zack and back to Helena, “I found it when I trained in the Kalos Badlands."

Before she had done the bulk of her training in Orre, Sal routinely snuck into the badlands. The badlands were restricted to anyone without a travel tour or a sufficiently ranked trainer registration thanks to the rough climate. Mentioning you've been there would earn some looks, as long as you were speaking to people who understood that. Salieri wondered if these foreigners knew about the badlands at all.

"If you want, you can teach it to your Abra, right here right now.” She clutched the disc in her hand. “The catch is that someday, when you think you’re good enough, you have to battle me. With him.”

Sal looked to Loki. In other circumstances, she’d just prank the pokemon back for her revenge. But this way, she’d eventually get the battle she wanted. And if she won with this handicap, it’d be so much more rewarding than winning now. It was a long term goal.

“So you can swear on your title as a trainer that you’ll battle me in the future and learn this move now. Or you can try to learn it later, when you watch me win the pokemon league."

Her eyes shifted to Zack. Even though he was callous, she considered herself even with him. She tried to steal his book, she almost got arrested for it. It would’ve been a different story if he was a noble. Nevertheless, she did feel a desire to battle him someday. It would at least make the two lost hours of her afternoon worthwhile.

“I’m offering the same thing to you,” Sal said to Zack. “Take it or leave it.”

And then, she tacked on, “And call me Salieri.”  

[Spinne Biss]

"I'll take it," Helena said immediately. She figured that if she planned to win she'd have to be better than Salieri anyway. So a battle someday didn't bother her.

Besides, once she factored the move in, her brain immediately began to tick away at how she could use it to defeat Viola. Salieri had sparked hope back into Helena who immediately looked a lot less tired.  

[Marsuru]

Zack held up a hand and shook his head, "Nah, I'm good."  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri shrugged at Zack's decline. She'd figure out another way of guaranteeing a battle with him and his Gastly someday. To Helena, she smirked, bearing her pointy canine teeth. It'd be more fun kicking Loki's a** after giving him a push forward.

"Excellent." She held out the disc. "Just gimme your word and you can use the TM." Sal was serious about swearing by their titles as trainers. Coming from the seedy backstreets of the city where everyone cheated and lied, a promise was a luxury she still believed in.  

[Marsuru]

"Better make it quick," Zack said. It was nearing five o'clock, and a fresh wave of trainers were flocking to Lumiose in time for the parade. He could see fliers darting in overhead; flying pokémon carrying their trainers on their backs, silhouetted against the clear blue sky. The sun's temper had waned by now, and it was merely warm rather than searing hot.

"The parade starts soon, and we've got some things to go over before then," he said to Helena. He expected the festivities to go on long into the night. If he was going to help his sister, he'd prefer there to be fewer distractions.  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri and Dune looked up at the sky when Zack did, and Sal checked the time on her pokegear. She also wanted to attend the parade, but not for the festivities. Seeing the faces of the nobles that had wronged her family was her motivator.

"Hold your Horseas, this'll only take a second," she teased at Zack. Sal considered adding in a jab, something about conformity or whatever, but decided against it since time was of the essence.  

[Spinne Biss]

"I promise," Helena said and she reached out her hand to take the TM from Salieri.  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri kept her end of the deal and handed it over. The TM fit into the black slot that separated the two halves of a pokeball, and through some crazy particle beam science business, would give certain pokemon instant mastery of a basic Charge Beam.  

[Spinne Biss]

Once Loki had been returned to his pokeball and taught Charge Beam, Helena would offer it back to Salieri.

"What are we going over?" she asked Zack as she turned toward him.  

[Marsuru]

Zack felt more than a little annoyed right now. He'd been deliberately vague to avoid embarrassing Helena in front of Salieri, but that turned out to be pointless. "You called me because you were upset that you'd had your a** kicked. I was going to help you figure out where you went wrong. I guess it wasn't such a big deal after all."

More fliers shot overhead. Having a pokémon like that would be useful, Zack thought, and made a mental note to get hold of one when he could. He didn't know what kinds of flying types existed in Kalos. Once he got bored of the festivities, he'd probably find somewhere quiet to do research, assuming somewhere quiet still existed by tonight.  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri put the TM back in her bag. Zack revealed something more than what Salieri had expected about Helena, causing her to grin in a "I-knew-it" fashion.

With a click of her pokeball, Salieri's Horsea was released. Veillantif popped up and down energetically, staring with big curious eyes at that huuuuge bear over there, until Sal grabbed her by the head and pulled her up to eye level. "Dryer, Veillantif. Low setting."

Veil nodded, ready to make use of the most mundane utility Sal had trained her to use. By holding back the power of her Dragonbreath, Veil could unleash a warm gust like a hairdryer. The deviant trainer held her Horsea as such, drying down the rest of her clothes and body. It had taken many tries to make this ultimate drying technique a success, but as it's been said before, Salieri was a resilient girl.

“Was I right about your Abra? I totally was. Good thing I have TM 57, huh?” Sal wasn’t about to admit that none of her pokemon knew Charge Beam, but that was beside the point. She eyed Loki, and said to him, “I wonder if you'll bore me to sleep too. Do me a favor, and keep us both awake when we fight.”

The drying process was over, and Salieri returned Veillantif to her pokeball and looked at the siblings. It was a strange way to meet them, and a strange way to depart. Salieri felt like she had squared her main issue with Zack (even if she still thought he was a jerk), and had a guarantee to do so with Loki. So for her, a girl that thrived on revenge, it was good terms to leave on. And she had a weird, cosmic feeling she’d probably she them soon enough. Don’t get mad, get even…Good call, Moze.

“Enjoy your training, kids,” she said with a wave as she spun away on her heel, walking towards Lumiose City. A few steps later, she paused and half looked over her shoulder.

“On the streets, everyone pushes and shoves. It’s not worth watching the parade if you’re not somewhere high up.” Sal pointed upwards, as if her saying it wasn’t already obvious. “If you think you can handle the climb, the best spot is the top of the Prism Tower--”

Sal stopped, a little confused. She didn’t know why she gave them that advice, and she didn’t want to think too much on it. Maybe it was nice to have kids her age to talk to, and not just the children she looked after at the Gotengo. “C’mon, Dune.”

Sal kept walking away. Durendal looked back at the siblings, gave them a short apologetic bow for putting up with his trainer, and caught up to his trainer’s side.  

[Marsuru]

"Later," Zack called, then turned back to Helena, "Freakin' psychopath."

The trainer filed away Salieri's advice for later. Although in Zack's opinion he was a decent enough climber, he decided he'd rather be flown up. That gave him a few hours to catch and train a flying type well enough to carry his weight a short distance. Shouldn't be too difficult.

He folded his arms, standing the way his mentor would before doling out a lecture, and looked his little sister in the eye. After a long second, he said, "Tell me what happened. I promise I won't laugh."  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena froze at the mention of her losses. Salieri, good or bad moments, was an energetic girl that demanded energy in return. So Helena had managed to take her mind off of it, for the most part, due to that.

Zack had dragged her back to reality where she offered Salieri a meek nod before she turned to Zack and waited for the girl to be out of earshot.

"Viola crushed me completely," she said. Then she took a deep breath and delved into the detailed. About how she couldn't even touch her Pokemon, how she fell for every trap and strategy and her own counters just seemed to make everything worse.

How she practically handed Viola her victory.

By the time she was done her eyes stared off into some far away place that wasn't Zack. Her hands were shoved into her pockets and she looked miserable. "So yeah, probably my fault for immediately taking on a gym leader."  

[Zamaku]

Santalune City - Pokémon Center overnight room

"Lemme see, Lemme See!" Tia's small voice chanted, the audio from the PC she was video chatting from, crystal clear. Tia was a frail looking little girl, even sitting up straight in her hospital bed. Her long Auburn hair cascading down from her scalp, across her shoulders and down her back.

With a Fond Chuckle, Tk plucked his bug badge from its spot in his badge case before holding it up to the PC's camera. "It’s so shiny," Tia said in awe. "Was the battle difficult?"

"Mhmm, yea, Viola was difficult, it was very different from my training. She used more tactics than most of the trainers I battled before," TK replied, nodding his head. "Shuriken and X-Calibur got loads stronger. still... Ill want to do more training before we take on the Gym in Lumios."

"Do you think it'll be tougher? The Gym in Lumios?" Tia questioned in her youthful tone, her green eyes sparkling with interest. Ever since she could talk, Pokémon have always been her favorite subject. Battles, Contests, Poke-theon. It doesn't matter.

"I Think it will, the Gym leader there uses-"

"Electric type Pokémon. His name is Clemont." His little sister interrupted, an adorably cocky smile on her lips. "Anna bought me a book on the Kalos region. It was just published since the Pokémon league is being held in that region this year, so all the information's current." She continued knowingly.

"Hehe your right again, But since Shuriken is week to electric type attacks, He won’t be my first pick. I’ll need to train with X-calibur some more first..." The silver haired youth trailed off. Contemplating his next battle already.

"-What about Iron Hide? Is he still not listening to you?" Tia asked, her concerned frown deepening.

Shaking his head, Tk picked up Iron Hide's Poke ball, the Steel armored Pokémon looked at him from the transparent top of the capsule device. “No, not in battle at least." He mumbled, concerned for his future prospects at battling if his strongest and most trusted companion refuses to cooperate with him.

"What are you-" Tia began, but was cut off from the opening of a door from her end of the video chat. "Anna! Look who’s on the screen!" Tia called out to their eldest sibling as she entered her hospital room back over in Johto.

“Hey-hey! Little bro, saw your battle, you cleaned up over there!” Anna Cheered, her features a bit sharper than Takamaru’s but it was obvious they were siblings. Well, Aside from Anna’s hair, she has the same Auburn hair as Tia, a trait they inherited from the sibling’s mother. “Knew ya’ had it in ya. But hey, what happened a while ago? When I called you on my break?” the eldest sibling asked, refereeing to when TK literally crashed into Helena Hours prior.

“Oh, that. Well, I kind of accidentally ran into this girl, she was cool about it though.” The silver haired youth explained. Wondering how Helena’s match went.

“Oh? A girl, you say?” Anna prompted, a faux tantalizing grin on her lips. “Not even a Day in Kalos and your already getting girls numbers, our little bro’s a player Tia.” Anna finished with a wink, causing an embraced blush to spread across Tk’s nose and cheeks.

“N-No! Really, it’s not like that…” Tk grumbled in reply, flustered at his sisters teasing. That was just so her, Tk would have thought something was wrong if she didn’t have a round of pressing his buttons.

“A-Anyways, where’s Vance?” he asked, referring to their youngest sibling in an attempting to steer this awkward conversation out of these waters. Just as the question left his lips, Anna Bent out of the screens frame, returning back up holding a toddler. “Hey little guy,” the second eldest said at the tiny human, who's name Vance. The only one of Takamaru's three siblings to share his own silver hair, a trait that they inherited from their father.

“Yes Yes, He’s all find and dandy, but YOU. I have a question, Are you still practicing?” Anna suddenly interjected.

“…Yes.” Tk replied.

“You hesitated.” Tia chirped.

“What? No I didn’t, I practice every night!” TK insisted. A bead of sweat trailing down his temple.

“Liar! You left your shinai here! So tell me, HOW can you practice Kendo without said shinai? Hm?” Anna Drilled, knowing she won the argument before it even began.

Groaning at his own stupidity, Takamaru let his head fall back against the desk chair. “Oh, C’mon Adrianna, I don’t even Like Kendo…” Tk groaned. This has been an ongoing argument for the past two years or so. Anna forces TK to take Kendo and TK argues he doesn’t need it, he doesn’t even like it. And he’s mediocre at it at best. But Anna won’t let him. Every time he says he’s going to quit, Anna Bullies him back into it.

Even now, when he’s continents away, she’s forcing it on him.

“I’m sending your shinai over in an item capsule, what city are you in?” the eldest sibling asked.

“Anna I don’t want-“ Tk began

“What. City are you in.” it wasn’t a question that time.

“…Santalune,” the silver haired youth grumbled, conceding.

“And I want you to train, every night. And make so Iron Hide is present, when I check in on you I’ll ask him, he won’t lie to me.” And that was that. after some idle chit chat, and after saying there good byes and good nights, TK disconnected the call.

There was still hours before the sun would even set, and the first day of the Pokemon league parade would be starting soon. With that in mind, it wasn’t even worth getting a room here in Santalune to begin with. Deciding that his time would be better spent traveling over to Lumios, with Shuriken it wouldn’t take much time at all.

Securing his pokeballs to his trainer belt, his Holo-caster around his neck, and making sure his Johto style Pokedex was in the front pocket of his sling pack. The silver haired trainer threw said sling pack over his shoulder before strapping the strap across his chest and departing from his would be Pokémon center room.

His destination, lumios.  

[Jump Einatz]

Lumiose City – Magenta Plaza

Youngsters Anais and Carter stared up at the big graffiti in the alleyway. A freshly painted white flag had been put up over the former graffiti tag: a smiling sun. Anais pouted.

“Why did they put up a flag?”
“Cause that’s what they call him now, dummy,” Carter informed his friend. “Moze quit the pokemon league so they call him the White Flag.”
“Oh, okay…why a white flag?”
“Uh, I dunno. I think it means he gave up.”

Anais nodded. “Is the sun tag gone?” she asked. Moze had put his mark all over the city. This was the first time she had ever seen someone dare to deface it. Carter just shrugged.

“I sure hope Sal doesn’t find out about—“

The Youngsters practically jumped when they heard a throat clearing sound behind them. Salieri was right there, looking up at the white flag tag very sternly. Carter gulped.

“Hey Sal. We were, uh, lookin’ for you. Wanna go to Gotengo, watch the parade—“
“Beat it.”

The Youngsters nodded and scrambled away, leaving Sal alone in the alley. She whipped a can of red spray paint from her bag, and in one fluid motion, tagged a big red “X” over the white flag.

She’d come back later to reapply Moze’s tag. Until then, she had to see her father. And that was a lot of work in itself.

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

“Arnaud?”

Salieri crept into her dark home, Durendal at her side. She flicked on the lights. Of course, everything was how she left it. It always was.

Sal looked by the window, and sure enough, Banksy the Torkoal was still within her own shell. The spray painted tag of the smiling sun that was once vivid on the turtle’s shell was nearly worn away. It reminded Sal of the white flag tag in the alley.

“I’m home, you old man,” she said to nobody softly while walking through the small apartment. Sal grabbed a glass of water, went to the end of the hall and slowly pushed open the door to her father’s bedroom.

A picture of Arnaud, her father, rested on the nightstand. In this picture, nearly ten years old, he was a large, powerful looking man, aged with white hair that made him look wise like a wizard. On his lap sat little Salieri, who still had yet to receive her scar. Standing next to them was her brother Moze, but that part of the photo had been torn away.

On the bed next to the picture was present day Arnaud. His muscles had atrophied, leaving him skinny and weak. What was once a mane of hair that marked wisdom now looked unkempt and sickly. Dark circles hung under his eyes, but what was most perturbing was the purple scar on his forehead that resembled a ghostly flame.

At the sight of his daughter, he slowly tried to sit up. “Salieri, is that you?” he asked in a creaky voice. “It feels like it’s been ages. Where have you been?”

He began to cough, and Sal felt her throat go dry. She took a sip of water before handing the glass over to her father. “I was here this morning,” she answered, taking a seat on a chair at his bedside.

“You were?...yes, I remember now,” he lied with a weak smile. Sal gave him a weaker one in return. He took a sip of the water. Sal took the glass back and put it on the table. “I’m sorry I’m not as quick as I used to be.”

“It’s okay.”
“What’s Moze doing today?”

She felt a breath escape her. Moze’s absence was something he had remembered all this time, one of a handful of memories that had remained completely solid. Did he lose that memory too? How long will it be before he forgets who I am?

Sal looked away. “I haven’t seen him today.”
“Alright…” Arnaud sensed something was amiss. “Are you two getting along?”
“We’re doing fine,” she lied.
“Good good.” He reached out to stroke her face with a frail hand. She let him. “You’re a beautiful girl, you know that? Even when you look this tired.”
“I’m not tired, I just ran around a lot today.”
“You’re still a kid, Salieri. You don’t need to be so serious…ah, the sun is going down. I should make us dinner.”

He tried to sit up more, but was overcome with a violent coughing fit. Salieri jumped from her chair and eased him back into lying down. “I’ll make dinner, dad. What do you want to eat?”

“Oh, whatever you make. Surprise me.”
“You want brinner?”
“Brinner? What’s brinner?”
“…breakfast for dinner, duh.” She chuckled a little. That right there wasn’t part of his infliction. That was just her father being old fashioned and not used to slang. It felt nice to have moments like the old days.

He chuckled as well. “How am I supposed to know that? Do kids have nicknames for everything these days?”
Salieri cracked a genuine grin. “We weren’t around when you geezers made up the language. We gotta have our own words too.”
“So what about your name? Do you like your name?”
“Of course I like my name!” she told him, defensively. “I just want to make it my own. Gotta leave my mark on the world.”
“Well you have a whole lifetime to do that. You know, I get worried that you grow up too fast—“

Another coughing fit overcame him, this one more violent. Salieri’s whimsy faded as she got the water from the nightstand and held it to Arnaud.

When their eyes met, he became pleasantly surprised. “…Salieri, is that you? It feels like it’s been ages. Where have you been?”

She closed her eyes and exhaled, breath shaky. Then she forced a smile.

“I’ve been out, old man.”

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

In the living room, Durendal waited patiently for his trainer. She didn’t like seeing her father with other people around. He considered it luck that Arnaud remembered he was Salieri’s pokemon, or that he remembered what a Pawniard was. Dune couldn’t help but think of the dreadful day where Arnaud would forget who he was. He wondered if Sal’s father would think he was a little monster.

Dune heard the door to Arnaud’s bedroom open, then close. He heard Sal take a few steps before he heard her punch the wall. Hard.

A minute after, she walked into the living room, looking as energetically authoritative as ever. “Okay, gotta make brinner and then we can get a move on. Chop chop Dune, time is a factor.”

She walked to the kitchen area. Dune took note of the specks of bloody drywall on her knuckles, but decided not to mention it.

Half an hour later, breakfast for dinner was made and eaten between the two of them. Sal had left a plate of brinner in front of Banksy, which she knew the Torkoal would eat later when she was alone. Sal also put a full plate on Arnaud’s nightstand. Thankfully, he was sleeping when she walked in. It saved her from going through the ordeal of explaining herself again.

“Ready to go?” she asked Durendal. Her Pawniard nodded and followed her to the door. Before she stepped out, she asked as she always had, “Are you coming or not?”

And, per usual, the Torkoal didn’t respond. Dune walked out the door, expecting her trainer to do the same, but instead she lingered. Seeing Helena and Zack today brought back memories of her years with her brother, and it pissed her off. They used to be a team. Where was he now?

“I’m challenging Santalune Gym tomorrow. And when I win, I’ll start my league journey through Kalos…I’ll stop here once before I go west, but I won’t be back here for a while after that. You should come with us.”

Banksy didn’t move. Sal waited a few seconds, but still nothing. She clenched her hand into a fist, and grit her teeth. “Moze left you here,” Sal told her coldly. “Just like he left me. You won’t find him in here. When I find him out there, are you gonna be with me or not?”

Durendal could’ve sworn she saw the Torkoal’s shell wobble, but after that there was nothing. With a growl, Salieri stormed out of the house. “Stupid turtle…”

She was too agitated to notice the thin plumes of white smoke creep out from under the doorway behind her.