Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Marsuru]

((It cannot be!))

Shalour City Gym

'WHAT?'

Korrina's eyes shot wide as the Scizor reanimated, his Aura flaring more brightly than ever. That was impossible. He was unconscious. She grit her teeth, scrambling for a mental command, but none came in time. Ecarlate brought his claws back, then slammed them into Lucario's chest.

He flew backwards as fast as any Bullet Punch, and collided with the barrier in front of Korrina, which glowed in the shape of a yellow web on contact, then he fell to the floor. As Lucario faded, Korrina released her body, and in a whip and roar of flashing lights, the Mega Evolution reverted. At her feet, her unconscious Lucario, steam still rising from his body.

That. Was. Impossible.

And it wasn't just ego talking. The crowd roared as Korrina recalled her pokémon, face expressionless. Aura just didn't do that. It was a spiritual bond between the Aura user and the life around them. It didn't resurrect fallen pokémon in the middle of combat. What the hell had Helena...?

Then she saw it. The girl was on her last legs.

'W-well done!' she shouted, skating over. To her surprise, she felt a rush of fear as she passed Ecarlate. Up close, she could sense his dispassionate brutality more pointedly than ever. It sent a shiver across her back, the way prey felt in the face of a predator. She halted at Helena, and took out a Rumble Badge.

'Well done, Challenger!' she announced, putting on the show. 'You've won the Rumble Badge!'

As the crowd went wild, Korrina spoke to Helena below their din. She was concerned. 'I'm not going to ask exactly what that was. Not yet anyway. Are you okay? Helena? Are you okay?'  

[Spinne Biss]

Shalour City Gym

The crowd was cheering. Wild excitement roared to life around her, but Helena didn't hear any of it.

Écarlate did not move from his position, body still hot with the explosions from the dual Aura Spheres. He had only righted his posture. Even his eyes, which might have normally locked onto the gym leader, only looked to where the Lucario had fallen.

Helena was similar. Her eyes remained on Korrina as the woman skated over. They weren't glazed over, but they were empty. It wasn't a hard set to her expression, she wasn't tense, her jaw wasn't set. She simply seemed empty.

Her eyes dropped to the present rumble badge and she tensed, only for a moment.

Écarlate had turned and looked at Korinna similar to how a predator would regard prey. Cautiously, but hungrily. Then his eyes moved to Helena and he began the process on his end. At this level of their synchronization it was up to him to draw her out of the state she was in. Slowly, he'd let the adrenaline pump through him. The excitement. The pain. He'd use the sensations to draw himself out of his cold, hard demeanor.

And Helena would instinctively match him. Life and light would fill her eyes, and then with a sharp gasp, the rest of her face. What had been complete silence moments ago was now the sound of a roaring arena and Korinna calling her name.

"Yeah, thanks." She took the badge. Fingers curling around it as her eyes, so full of life, lifted up to look into the gym leaders.

And then she collapsed, suddenly and unceremoniously unconscious.  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri saw the sand hills of the badlands rapidly approach her from her perspective, though really it was the other way around. She unfolded her legs as Banksy came up under her, matching her fall speed and catching the trainer seconds before impact. Daring, but for Salieri and Banksy, not unusual.

"Maybe? I don't want her to get in trouble too...but that sounds like something she'd love."

They realigned their course, flying close enough to the ground now that they tore a wave of sand in their wake. Salieri watched other trainers walking as she zipped by them, closing in on Coumarine City. In this distance, she could see the purple fins of a herd of Gabites diving in and out of the earth, making a ripple effect that'd cause a tubular wave of sand to roar upwards. Salieri wasn't at the beach, but in the badlands with Banksy, she could still surf.

"I mean, it's Mia, there's a chance she's already done it for fun. She's always watching everything-" Sal paused. She looked over her shoulder, and all around her. "...Mia, are you listening now?"

There was no answer. "...don't take that as a 'no'," she told Zack. "I'll keep you posted. What's your plan for the day, you finally bailing on the Tower?"  

[Marsuru]

Zack's Room

There really wasn't anything else they could do about Interpol right now. Maybe Benedict would have some ideas, but Zack had lost track of him over the Caesura. He seemed to like plots and plans almost as much as he seemed to like body wax.

'Yeah, I'm almost ready to go,' Zack said, fixing his hair in the mirror. There was a knock at the door but he ignored it. 'Figure I'll explore more of Kalos. Actually, I had the idea that if I can find and trounce some league hopefuls, they might just quit on their own and not have to be Darkhorse Hunted.'  

[Jump Einatz]

"You wanna take out my competition? Be my guest." Sal grinned wickedly. "But save some strong ones for me, the acolytes were barely an appetizer."

Though some of the Tower of Mastery's burgeoning monks were impressive in the ways of Aura, few could be called competitive trainers even among the new recruits. Salieri didn't enjoy beating small fry repeatedly just for experience points. It didn't make her look impressive, and if she was going to attract the Darkhorse Hunters out of hiding, she needed to keep her reputation going.

Sal and Banksy flew through the center of the crashing sand wave, fleeing from its collapse behind them. The only light available was at the end of the tunnel, and when they emerged, the sand below them was gone. Now Salieri could see the hillcrests of Coumarine City, separated from the other half of town by train. With the winds blowing the flowers gently below, and the ocean on the horizon, it was a sight to behold.

And far in the distance, Salieri could make out the speck that was Coumarine Gym. That's where the main course was.

"Let me know how that goes. Talk to ya later."  

[Spinne Biss]

Shalour City Pokemon Center

"I'm fine," Helena said from her seat. She was still groggy and keeping her eyes open was difficult. It was always difficult to come down from the high of her aura being ripped away. It wasn't like an upper, not like caffeine. But a downer that made everything feel colder, more lifeless. The world was more rational when she felt less and coming back from that was difficult. Not just because of the effort but sometimes, Helena just didn't want to.

"You don't look fine," Bridgette would say as she poked Helena's pale cheek. "You look like you do before we go out partying." She turned to Henrietta. "Are we going out partying?"

The pink haired trainer shook her head. "N-no, Hel just needs to rest."

"You need to rest." Helena shot back.

"Okay, gays and ghouls," Azucena said as she stepped back from the counter. "Nurse says she'll send your Pokemon to your box once they're healed up so we can head to Coumarine City anytime."

"Why Coumarine?" Bridgette asked as she mentally ticked through her Pokemon, checking to see who all could take on grass types.

"Because it's just a route away and once we walk to the city we can get some lunch and then start the gym matches."

Bridgette pouted at the word walk and looked away. "Do we have to walk? We already ran so much this morning."

Azucena looked between Helena and Bridgette as she considered this. It was still morning time. "Yes, but first we get our girl some coffee." She'd take Helena's hand and pull the teen to her feet. "Coffee?"

"Arceus yes."  

[Marsuru]

Tower of Mastery - Zack's Room

The door knocked again, louder this time. Zack said goodbye to Salieri and the call ended with a beep. He grumbled as he tossed his holocaster onto his bed and pulled open the door. On the other side were two Knights of the Tower Guard. A title that might be more impressive, but Zack recognised them both as being newly minted in a ceremony outside the tower just yesterday. Between them stood Dexio, as bright-eyed as ever.

'Zack! I'm so pleased you could answer the door,' Dexio brimmed with delight. Zack resisted the urge to slam the door in his face. 'I must say, I'm surprised to be escorted by these two uh-'
'Knights,' Zack said, flavouring his tone with just a hint of sarcasm. They far from looked the part; clad in normal, bland acolyte robes with a dash of colour around the lapel. Maybe their armour was in the wash.
'Aha, yes, something like that,' Dexio nodded. The two knights looked uncomfortable, but said nothing as they exchanged glances. 'Ordinarily, the personal aides to Professor Sycamore are not treated with such, ah, distrust, especially at the Tower of Mastery, where Professor Sycamore enjoyed such close relations, but I can appreciate current circumstances have led-'
'Dexio,' Zack said. 'Why are you here?'

'Ah, that,' Dexio cleared his throat. 'I believe we may have discovered something that indicates the whereabouts of Grant Mei.'

Zack closed the door in his face.

'Eh? What? Zack no-'
'Alright, sir, that's enough,' said one of the knights as the both grabbed Dexio by the arms.
'Excuse me, please let- Zack, open up again, I have more to say!' Dexio's feet left the floor as the knights started marching him down the spiral stairs.
'Clearly the saviour doesn't want to talk to you,' said the other knight as Dexio kicked and struggled.
'Zack! It's not what you think! It's ah-' Dexio thought about the best way to code this so the knights didn't get too much information. 'It's about the people who hunt darkhorses!'

Shalour City

Zack made his way down the sandbar with Dexio in tow, the seas rushing on either side. He wanted to have said his goodbyes at the Tower in peace, but with Dexio around that was almost impossible. The little twerp buzzed around him, chatting incessantly about Grant Mei. At first, Zack had to wrack his brain to remember the kid, but he eventually recalled him to be the sponsored trainer who had taken an interest in Helena.

Maybe the Darkhorse Hunters had done him a favour, speaking from a disapproving older brother perspective.

Earlier that morning a trainer had apparently wandered into the Sycamore Lab with the fragments of Grant's pokédex and figured he'd hand it in. He said he found it on Route 12, near a weird puddle that absolutely reeked.

'Fortuitously, Sina and I were the ones this trainer spoke to regarding Grant's pokédex, and we recognised the hallmarks right away,' Dexio said, nagging Zack's ear. 'Allard's remains were found in similar circumstances, close to a landslide on Route 13. Of course, we resolved not to tell Esme for reasons we won't go into here-'

Shalour City swallowed them whole with its rounded hills, and Zack made his way through the streets. For living so close for several days, Zack wasn't too familiar with the layout, but knew enough to get to the pokémon center. He just needed a final checkup before heading on to Route 12.

'And we thought we had the perfect idea - go to Zack Redgrave - it was, in truth, Sina's idea, but I take partial credit as the one who said we needed to find someone we could trust for help.'
's**t dude,' Zack sighed, stopping once the pokémon center came into view. 'Pause for breath once in a while.'

Dexio stopped, then started to breathe deeply. Zack stormed off.

'Of course, it does go without saying, that you cannot tell Esme that we have a lead.'
'And why not?' Zack turned on the spot. 'In case she goes off the deep end? Got news, pal, this whole s**t is off the deep end. Doesn't matter anyway, Esme doesn't talk to me anymore, and I ain't too sure I wanna talk to her either.'

The young aide pulled back, as if Zack's voice alone were pushing him off his feet.

'Does this...' Dexio frowned. 'Does this mean you won't help us?'
Zack dropped his shoulders, and softened his tone. 'I didn't say that. Of course I'll help. It's the right thing to do.'
'Excellent! Then let us not waste time and be on our way. First stop, the Shalour City Pokémon Center and then off to Route 12! Also known as Fourrage Road.'

Zack pinched his brow, already regretting his decision.

Shalour City Pokémon Center

The pokémon center was as busy as could be expected. Zack saw a queue at the counter, and looked for seats. Dexio could hold his place in line. He saw a group of girls crowding around the waiting area and at first he thought about waiting outside. But then he saw his sister in the middle of them all, getting dragged to her feet.

'Helena?' he said, surprised. She looked shaken. Had something else happened? Had he failed her again? 'Is everything alright?'

'And that's when Challenger Helena FAINTED - right after getting the Rumble Badge from Korrina. Guess it's true what they say, Mega Evolution is for the pros. Do not try it at home, kids!' yelled the commentator on some post-match breakdown show playing on the television in the corner.

'Oh,' said Zack.  

[Jump Einatz]

Coumarine City Gym

SLAM!

Salieri bust the double doors of the Gym open with a front kick, thankful that they were push and not pull. The light from the sun behind her poured into the building, casting her shadow across the floor and towards the verdant innards of Coumarine Gym. She took a deep breath before bellowing,“RAMOOOOOS!”

Allegedly, the Gym’s infrastructure was provided by Ramos himself, who had collected plants for decades in dedication to cultivating his battling sanctuary. Grassy gardens pushed up against the walls. A beaten dirt path led to the main draw of the huge main room: a massive tree, lined with vines that had been stitched together to form nets and branches large enough to hold decent sized battling platforms. The tree was bigger than Gotengo, stretching high towards the glass ceiling. Even from the doorway, it was plain to see that the wide top of the tree was flattened out, housing bleachers and guardrails on its side.

A few trainers practicing at the base of the tree with their Pokémon stopped what they were doing to look Salieri’s direction, then went back to their training just as fast.

Salieri looked up, up, up at the tree. Her bravado faded as she took in the sight. It reminded her of home. A pathway at the base of the tree spiraled up the trunk, but stopped about a quarter of the tree’s height. To get to the top without the aid of a flier, one would have to navigate the swinging vines and nets in a climb upwards.

“This actually looks super fun,” Sal admitted to Durendal. Between this Gym, Korrina’s skate park, and Grant’s rock climbing wall, Salieri was beginning to think these obstacles were made for her.

Dune wasn’t giving the Gym nearly as much attention. Instead he was looking at the trainers and their Pokémon. He saw a Braviary, a Machamp, a Magmortar, and even a Vanilluxe. All fully evolved, powerful Pokémon. It had become commonplace as the second week of the league kicked off to see powerhouse staples on trainer rosters. Any trainer worth their salt had a core of Pokémon to rely on at this point, and those cores were being honed to perfection.

Dune looked down at the ground, feeling small. Sal watched him from the corner of her eye. Pawniards evolved at a high level, something she knew when she decided to make Dune her partner. In spite of his accomplishments and prowess, his inferiority complex still plagued him.

“Hey. Chin up.” Sal squatted down to see Dune eye to eye at his level. She watched his ashamed gaze match up to the strong Pokémon in the background. “It doesn’t matter who they are or what they do, you’re the guy who’s gonna earn me a badge today. I wouldn’t trade all of them for even one of you, ok? Never.”

She pat him on the head and Dune looked at her attentively. Rarely did Salieri smile with kindness as her only intent, and so these moments were precious to him. “I’ll tell you what a wise woman once told me.”

Sal clamped her hands on his shoulders with conviction, her amber eyes blazing. “You, Durendal, are a badass b***h. Let’s go climb a tree.”

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

And so Salieri spent the next twenty minutes or so climbing, swinging, and hollering like Tarzan on her way to the top of the tree. At times her hangover told her no, what are you doing, stop you’ll make us puke and kill us all. But Sal was a go-getter, and the prospect of regretting this later did not deter her from making the most of a sick obstacle course.

Durendal could not climb, as his hands sliced right through the first vine he tried to grip. Instead he hovered up slowly in a field of electromagnetism, bobbing up and down and supervising his trainer as she seemed like she was having the time of her life.

It was times like these, where Salieri felt free to let go and make the most of the world around her, that Durendal remembered his crusading, traumatized, vengeance tinged trainer was still a kid.

Finally, Salieri cleared the last set of vine swings and landed solidly at the path to the top. She went up the half spiral and saw the entirety of the battleground. It was rustic, basic. Perfect.

She took another deep breath, and bellowed once more, “RAAAAAMOOOOOOOSU!”  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena looked over to see Zack looking at her and the teens face lit up in surprise. "Hey, can you give me a minute?"

Azucena would follow her gaze to Zack and, seeing the resemblance,would kiss Helenas cheek. "Yeah we'll grab the coffee and be back."

"What?" Bridgette chimes in, "she's not coming with us? But we're supposed to leave together!"

Helena snorted as she watched Azucena drag Bridgette away before she turned back toward Zack and waved in greeting.  

[Marsuru]

Coumarine City Gym

Coumarine City Gym's main stage stood atop the single tallest tree in Kalos. It had been transported, roots and all, from deep off-route generations ago. Ramos had been its caretaker for the past five decades, carefully pruning the giant thing into the perfect grass-type battleground. The arena had been drawn across the flat treetop, surrounded by guide ropes. Where natural cracks formed in the wood's surface, Ramos had filled them in with soil, and from there grew the most wonderful, voluminous plants Salieri would have ever seen.

As soon as Salieri neared the top, she would start to feel the heat. The arena was close to the top of the gym, seated beneath a greenhouse glass ceiling, which provided Ramos's plants with life while magnifying the sun's rays. In the summer weather, the sunlight was strong. Perfect for this grass types, and admittedly also perfect for all the pesky fire types he was forced to contend with.

'So yer Salieri,' Ramos said, not looking up from pruning one of his plants. A dead head fell to the floor, and Ramos carefully placed it into a nearby compost bin. 'I've heard o' yeh. I take it yeh've heard o' me too.'

Ramos turned around fully. 'So what'd yeh think, whippersnapper? Did yeh enjoy the garden playground I made with all these sturdy plants o' mine? Their strength is a sign o' my strength as a gardener and a Gym Leader! Yeh sure yer up to facing all that?'

Shalour City Pokémon Center

Zack breathed a bit easier when the last one left. He was glad there weren't any dickhead boys trying to put time in with his sister, then felt a little guilty when he reminded himself of Grant's likely fate. s**t, did Helena even know? He watched his sister as she made her way over. She'd been through a lot this week; he was supposed to be in Kalos to watch over and guide her during her league attempt. Instead he'd been overtaken by his own dormant wanderlust and ditched her at the first opportunity.

Some brother, huh.

'Well, they're a lively bunch,' Zack said. Dexio appeared through the pokémon center doors, opened his mouth to say something, and without looking Zack cut him off. 'Go save me a place in line, Dexio.'
'But- I- ah- oh, hello Helena! I trust Kalos has treated you well? I'm here to recruit your brother to assist in-'
'Dexio! Get in the ******** line,' Zack snapped, shooting him a death glare. It was enough for Dexio to get the hint and jog over to the end of the line. He gave Zack a distant thumbs up.

'Sorry about him. Professor wants me to help with some research,' Zack said. He wouldn't say anything about Grant. He wanted his sister to be in a good place. It was a talk for well after this league s**t was over and done. 'Take it you absolutely wrecked Korrina's s**t then?'  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena turned her head to look at Dexio. The frantic receiving the cutting edge of Zack's personality that Helena was accustom to. She snorted, lips playing into a half smirk as she watched. There was no denying that watching the man deflate was the tiniest bit funny.

Once he scampered off her attention fell squarely and entirely onto her brother. Her smirk bled into a smile and she laughed."yeah, easiest gym match I've ever had." It wasn't but the humor in her tone, the way she spoke on the edge of laughter instead of with confidence likely gave it away.

"Everyone back home is already going crazy, I think I'd spend the rest of the league challenge on my holocaster if I even tried to respond to them all." She made a pained face at the idea of it. "Once this last fight airs in Unova I'll have to get a new number." This time she wasn't joking. Azucena had made sure she was gonna end up famous, or infamous. By dinner time she'd be viral unless someone outdid her antics.

"What does the professor want with you?"  

[Marsuru]

'He wants me to try to mega evolve some pokémon for him. But I guess you're the one he should go to for that,' Zack turned to the wall-mounted TV, which was currently replaying the highlights from Helena's gym battle. It was weird to see his little sister on an 80" screen with people crowding around, some pointing to the real Helena when they recognised her. So her Scizor was the one that mega evolved. Cool. 'Hey, check out what I picked up.'

This wasn't so bad. Zack was hiding that someone Helena knew most likely died a horrific death, but otherwise this felt easy. Like all the tensions from the past week just evaporated.

Zack showed Helena his new mega ring. He had a couple more assorted rings, and wore them with some plain, dark bangles that he'd picked up from the jewellery store at the Tower Village. The rest were just decorative, but made it less obvious that he had a mega ring. It radiated its own dull light that would shine intensely once activated. The keystone, set in the crystal maw of a stylised Arcanine.  

[Spinne Biss]

"Oh yeah, no way." Helena laughed at Zack's teasing. Once he displayed his mega swag she'd snort again. "It's so extra, I love it." Redgraves, whether they intended it or not, always had a flare for the dramatic. Even their mother once crashed an entire class that was graded on a curve by doing all twelve of it's assignments when only eight were required. Seeing the Arcanine ring was just the jewelry equivalent of that.

"Syncing up with one Pokemon to mega evolve is already hard enough, if she plans for you to do a bunch they either all have your exact demeanor or she thinks you have the emotional range of an actor." At the very idea of that she laughed. Once in gradeschool someone had joked that Zack could only perform in a play if he was an inanimate object such as a tree. While the teen knew better than to condense her brother down to a small emotional range, Zack's history was typically more 'hey, let's see if these are fireworks or dynamite' and not 'lets practice Shakespeare'.

"But who knows, maybe I just suck at it. I'll be using some of my other Pokemon for my next gym match this evening so if you wanted to see the rest of my team you'll almost get the opportunity." Hanging out with Azucena and company had been good for her. She felt safe, normal. She had told them everything and it resulted in a group hug. It only drew her away from being honest with her brother but she felt normal around him now. Or close to normal. Closer than she had felt in days  

[Marsuru]

'Pft, mega evolution is easy,' Zack said with a smirk. It wasn't. And after his first few successful attempts, Zack hadn't been able to properly mega evolve a pokémon all caesura. He hated having to chalk things up to beginner's luck, but maybe that's what is was.

'Two matches in one day?' Zack stuck out his lip to exaggerate how impressed he was. 'Proud of you. If I challenged the league, that's exactly what I'd do. Sure you don't want some extra practice beforehand?'  

[Spinne Biss]

"I can't risk my team getting injured." Helena said and then she considered her opponent. "I can do a one on one actually, I have one guy who would suck against a grass type - that isn't a hint don't you dare."