Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - The Parade

"Stand aside, a*****e!" Zack yelled, grabbing the person in front of Helena by the scruff off the neck and brute forcing him out of the way. The man wobbled, scared as all hell by the look of his face, as he was rearranged to just behind Zack's sister. Luckily, the stranger seemed more embarrassed than angry, having realised he was blocking Helena's view, and just stood there rubbing his head.

Zack watched the back of the Leroux parade as it vanished around the bend, the Taines following behind. The Samurott ridden by the Taine bannermen looked to be in good condition, but not the strongest Zack had seen. He imagined that the nobility acquired pokémon from former trainers, giving them new purpose as show pieces. Samurott were reasonably rare as well. Trainers coming from noble stock must have access to all kinds of different species, he thought, putting bubbling ideas to the back of his mind.

"So, standing on the street for a few hours," Zack shouted to Helena over the music and general din, "That sounds like fun. This is fun."  

[Spinne Biss]

Lumiose City - The Parade

"You don't see it?" Helena shouted back. She pointed at the Taine portion of the parade. "The way they move is beautiful." She found herself wishing she could move as gracefully as the dancers did, to train and command her Pokemon as they had. She wanted that passion, and she wanted it to take her places.  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - The Parade

"I... guess?" Zack said, frowning. He couldn't really see what was so great about it. It looked nice, sure, but he felt like he was the only person in the whole crowd who just didn't care. He'd rather be training. Was that uncultured of him?

"You okay on your own? I have to go, uhh... be anywhere else."  

[Spinne Biss]

Lumiose City - The Parade

"Yeah," Helena said immediately. After a second she came to her senses and looked at Zack. "Thanks for the spot, I'll call you when it's over." He would probably know that it was over, she thought, but it meant that he could get lost in whatever he decided to do until she did call him.

She gave him a curt wave and turned back to the parade - eyes wide with excitement and lips curled into a smile that she both didn't notice and wouldn't be able to stop if she wanted to.  

[Zamaku]

Lumiose City - The Parade

He may have already won a badge, but this felt like the start of his league. The air whipped past them as Sal and TK skated through the city, everything passing in a blur but at the same time, everything stood in the clearest of qualities. TK followed, not finding it hard to keep up in terms of speed, and where is lacking in strength made passing an obstacle difficult, he used a slightly alternative route that fit his way of moving better.

The trip to the rooftop Sal and TK were currently occupying was exhilarating. In terms of Parkouring, no one back in olivine could keep up with him, but here with Sal, well, it was a nice change. Their roof top garden was only lightly crowded, only a hand full of other people sharing the space so getting a good ledge was easy.

TK understood why Sal never paid attention to the speech, the parade was so magnificent that anything else would likely pale in comparison. Everything was so vibrant and alive. TK had to ask Sal about the first two noble families in the parade, the Leroux and the Taine's. But he knew of house Balibar. More specifically, their Champion, Wikstrom.

The man standing atop the Metagross was one of the few recognized as a steel type master. Out of all the elite four members, that was the man TK wanted to best the most. His grip tighted on the ledge he was currently leanings on with both hands in front of him. Swallowing thickly as a bead of sweat trailed down the side of his face. Takamaru could feel a case of the nerves acting up inside him, but it was vastly over shadowed by the amount of excitement he was feeling currently.

This moment felt like the start of something amazing. Or something irreversibly horrible.  

[Jump Einatz]

Lumiose City - Centrico Plaza

Zack wasn’t the only one who didn’t care about the festivities. For Salieri, the actual parade was very routine, even when more money was pumped into it time after time to make it extravagant. That, and her negative opinion of the nobility really put a dampener on the mood. The only reason she showed up every year was so she could see the faces of the people she despised. They were already burned into her memory, but being so close made her revenge feel more palpable. Especially this year, the year she would challenge the league.

As the parade moved into the plaza, more people popped up on the rooftops lining the streets. Sal and TK still had their rooftop garden all to themselves, save for a few other daring souls. It was a corporate building, and only employees and select personnel were allowed on top. The illegality of their loitering was a detail Sal left out to the silver haired Corphish out of water, and she assumed that because she didn’t care, he wouldn’t either. Besides, he was caught up in the spectacle, so Sal spent her time explaining who the Taines and Leroux were instead of warning him.

As the floats for the court houses filed into the plaza and circled the Prism Tower, Salieri could make out the float of the Kalos royal family in the back of the line. It was the smallest and most exquisite at the same time. The base was made entirely of ruby and gold colored stained glass, translucent in a thick way. It had no wheels, instead floating with the telekinetic power of two Gothitelle that flanked the float. A long red carpet went down its length, leading to a few thrones made solely for the parade.

Each of those thrones were occupied by a joyous member of the royal family, and on the center throne sat the most joyous of them all, Queen Antoinette. She was young, maybe a couple of years older than Salieri, but was as bubbly as a child on their birthday, blowing kisses and waves out to her citizens. She was made to look pristine, a natural beauty that practically glowed in her regal white dress. Her image was far more than manufactured. At her core, the Queen was truly sweet.

All the sugar in the world wouldn’t have made Salieri as sick as the Queen did. Far too saccharine for the grim, rough and tumble girl. “Ech, Bon dieu,” Sal groaned, making a gagging gesture at the parade below her.

The royal family’s float ended up right in front of the Prism Tower, with two court house floats on either side. The crowd smushed together to get as close to their queen as possible, and the drunks gave light cheers at her mere presence. A sound technician dressed as a squire passed the queen a microphone, and the crowd went silent at the prospect of her speaking.

“Wow! The Court of Kings has really outdone itself this year, huh?”

The comment earned a wave of applaud from the loyal spectators, and a facepalm from Salieri. Queen Antoinette waited for the claps to simmer, then continued. “The Pokemon League may come once a year, but it is never the same as the one before. Beginners and veterans alike embark on the same journey, and as they go they evolve alongside their pokemon. As they evolve, their battles evolve. As the battles evolve, so does the league, and so does the world. What is evolution, you may ask?”

Salieri tuned out what the Queen was saying. Not because she thought she speech was bad, but because ironically, this was the part that got paraphrased time after time. She’d gotten the gist before. Instead, the girl scanned the floats for her targets.

“Evolution is a change to build a better future. The ability to adapt and grow. The road to the Pokemon League is long, harsh, and only trainers with the heart to evolve can become victorious.”

Madeline Taine, Bertrand Balibar, Elliot Leroux. Three of the four heads of the Court, responsible for maintaining the system that Salieri loathed. To some they were heroes and great leaders, but not to the girl whose amber eyes blazed with undying fury.

The Queen put a hand on her heart with a smile. “The rulers before me always said something like that whenever they started the league, so I thought I should too. We honor tradition to keep it alive, and Pokemon battling is the greatest tradition of all.”

At last, Sal’s eyes landed on the head of House Nostrad, Jullien. This was the one she hated the most. The one who had a personal history with her adoptive father Arnaud. On the Nostrad float in the corner was a young woman watching over the crowd with a stern glare. This woman was Remi Nostrad, one of Jullien’s guards. She was one Salieri’s revenge list as well.

“A good trainer battles not to win, but to find out who they are and who they want to be. So trainers, ask yourselves this!” The Queen flared her arms out dramatically. “Do you have what it takes to evolve?”

Another wave of cheer greeted the question, but Salieri was too busy staring daggers at Jullien to join in. The rest of the people on her revenge list weren't present, so this would have to do. “I could keep going, but I don’t want to stall the festivities any further. Trainer from Kalos! Trainers from around the world! And those of you watching today! Welcome to the Kalos Pokemon League!”

The Queen snapped her fingers. From the base to the top, the Prism Tower lit up, shining like a crystal beacon into the night sky. The shimmering waves caught the faces of the awed spectators, who either stood there to bask in the glory of the competition or who had already begun partying once more. It was official: the League was underway.

“Whelp, there ya go.” Salieri crossed her arms and a tiny smirk popped up on her face. “Nothing says pokemon battles like a glorified light show.”

A brief pause later, and the girl got serious again. She stared up at the Prism Tower, which seemed to stretch into the sky forever. As it reflected the surrounding spectacle, Salieri reflected on her future. “…there’s no way I’m going to lose,” she said softly. “One way or another, I’ll get what I want.”

She stepped back from the edge, becoming casual once more. "If you need a place to stay, you can crash at Gotengo tonight. The party's probably still going on."  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - Estival Avenue

The bay window jutted over the misty street with lead, diamond-shaped hatchings on the surface of its glass. It was the final touch needed to instil the library with a sense of antiquity. Rows upon rows of bookshelves filled each floor with dusty tomes pertaining to the history of Kalos, its figures and culture. The lights were dim, mostly the work of small wall sconces that gave enough to read by, but not so much that you couldn't see through the window. Zack sat on the third floor, looking over the top of his book, one simply titled The Creatures of Kalos. Just as Prism Tower's lights turned on in sequence, a distant roar of approval travelled down the street. He smiled to himself, imagining Helena cheering along with everyone else, fully absorbed in the thick party atmosphere. The streets were eerily deserted by now, an entire city crammed into its central plaza, all apart from Zack and a couple librarians who sported more cobwebs than their books.

Well, they weren't quite alone. Sitting a short distance away under the glow of a heavy iron lamp was a girl partially obscured by stacks of books, scribbling notes on sheets of paper. Zack glanced up at her every now and then as he read. She wore the same shorts and running shoes he'd seen a million times that day, along with slightly-too-large hoodie where the sleeves went halfway over her hands. He wasn't staring, but he noticed that her legs were well toned, lightly tanned and athletic, offsetting the bookish effect of her square-rimmed glasses. Tails of pale blonde hair flowed from beneath a black knit hat, and were knotted loosely, draped carelessly over her shoulders. Zack went back to reading, but realised he hadn't taken in a single word for the past five minutes.

"God... freakin'..." he muttered to himself and closed his eyes. He counted to three and cleared his throat, peeking to see the girl's complete lack of reaction. One, two, three, he cleared it again, louder. She seemed absorbed in whatever it was she was writing.

Reluctantly, Zack climbed to his feet and walked over, book in hand. He hovered by the girl's desk, glancing over the titles of her books. They were all pokémon related, mostly focused around pokémon biology. "I was, uh... hoping I could borrow a pen," he said, swallowing a dry throat, "You know, for uh, for writing."

The sound of a nib scratching paper didn't slow down. The girl flicked the fingers of her free hand towards a scattering of spare pens that had poured from a pencil case. Zack picked one up, span around slowly and retreated back to his seat while waving the pen in the air. That went well, he thought as he collapsed back in his seat, sort of like getting a tooth yanked out by a dentist who thought anesthetic was a skin disease.

Minutes dragged on. Zack had taken out his notebook and pretended to write in it. His Creatures of Kalos wasn't being overly helpful. It was a thick, leather-bound book with shimmering gold emboss, detailing all sorts of myths and legends in Kalos. It specifically listed tales that couldn't be explained as the workings of pokémon, going back several thousand years. The thing that had murdered Gabriel Leroux wore a mask with a distinct pattern. Zack hoped he could find something like it in Kalos' history, understand its significance. But the more he read, the more he felt that any significance was in his imagination.

"So..." he said, peering across the floor to check that they were alone. Sure enough, the scraggy librarians had deemed the third floor too much trouble to climb to and patrol. "What's that you're writing?"
"Notes," the girl said. Barely above a whisper, the fact that she said anything at all set Zack back more than if she'd shouted.
"Parade too much trouble?"
"I've seen it already," the girl said, writing and writing, then she set her pen down and looked up, "and the year before, and the year before that. Are you still using that?"

Zack's heart leapt to his throat. Behind the thick rim of her glasses, the girl had a heart shaped face, with smooth, rounded features like a porcelain doll. He'd faced down wild animals, monsters that would make your skin crawl, survived in life-or-death skirmishes and endured slogs through rivers of s**t for the sake of a mad woman's training, but right now he struggled to string two words together. He turned the pen over in his hand, realising his notebook had fallen shut. "Well, I, uh, I..."

"Keep it," the girl said, flashing a strained smile and turning back to her work. Zack bolted up and sheepishly placed the pen back on the table.
"I'm Zack," he said, "Zack Redgrave. What's your name?"
Looking up for what Zack felt would be the final time, the girl shook her head and said, "I'm not telling you."

"Esme!" a croaky old voice called up the stairs. Slumped in defeat, the girl called back down in irritated Kalosian. A part of Zack that he never knew existed described the sound of her native tongue as an angelic melody, conjuring up images of harp-strumming cherubs descending on clouds, but he quickly stamped it out. The old librarian called back up in matching language. Startled, Esme leapt to her feet and bolted down the stairs. Not for the first time that night, Zack was unsure of what to do, but decided to follow.

---

The library's ground floor was more open than the upper levels. Musty red carpeting trailed from the glass double doors to the base of the stairs, while a wooden counter stood guard over the way out. Zack noticed that the register still had a small dangling bell attached, and assumed that the technology in this place hadn't been updated for decades. As he reached ground level, he saw Esme in heated debate with the librarians. The old women looked like twins, and one peered worriedly out the window while the other bickered with the young girl.

Finally, the arguing librarian slapped a hand on the counter and ended the dispute. She glanced over at the staircase, and readjusted her glasses when she saw Zack for the first time.

"Ah! Apologies monsieur but we are closing," she said in a thick Kalosian accent. "Please, do take care, there appear to be um..."

She pointed through the window. Across the street, under the cover of rolling mists leftover from the Nostrad procession, was the source of their alarm. Zack had to hold back a broad grin, as it felt as if the theoretical gods were giving him a second chance. Going from storefront to storefront, smashing every window and taking what was in arm's reach, were around half a dozen leather-clad young criminals. With all eyes on the opening ceremony, Lumiose City was ripe for thieves.

"Don't worry," Zack said, striding forward. He stopped by the door and gave the women a reassuring smile. "I'll handle this."

---

"Aaahahaha! This is too easy!" said the punk at the front. He swaggered down the street with his arms wide. Even in the thick mist, the pink of his mohawk was clearly visible. "The daft buggers haven't even fit any alarms! This city's ours for the taking!"
"Too right, Trevor!" one of the other punks sniggered, causing the others to burst out laughing, almost dropping their haul. The punk at the front span around and started to shout that his name was Fade, but cut off in short order.

"Trevor? That's an interesting name for a man."
"Who the bloody hell said that?" Trevor span back and stopped in his tracks. Zack stood in the centre of Estival Avenue, a shadow in the mist, barely illuminated by the light from the library window. Trevor paused, then broke into a fit of giggles. "Oh man, I do not believe what it is I'm seeing. Ey, lads, we got ourselves a hero!"

Zack tilted his head inquisitively as Trevor walked forwards. The young punk leaned in, trying to get a good look at Zack while being as intrusive as possible. "Cor, he's an ugly one alright. Got the kinda jaw you could break bricks upon. Say, there's an idea!" What exactly that idea was, Trevor had no time to explain. Zack's hand snatched out and grabbed him by the throat. "Bugger."

"See, there's two ways this will go down," Zack said, holding Trevor at arm's length, just out of reach of reprisal. "You guys drop the things you've stolen, go home, and okaaay you're attacking me."

The next few minutes were a brawl on a mist-strewn street. It had been a long while since Zack had been in a fight like this, but the cool night air aided his focus. He dodged and weaved around blows, and when he took them he gave them back in force. One of the punks went by the name Iceburg, and turned out to be a problem. A brute his size wasn't something Zack could just overpower, and one good crack sent the trainer crashing to the floor clutching his face. The pokémon came out next. Hazard blasted the punks with Confuse Ray, and had them attacking each other, swinging wildly in a fray of bodies. Trevor went for a pokéball, but as it cracked open, Zack clamped a hand over it and forced it shut, then drove a knee into the punk leader's gut.

"You'll drop the things, and... yeah," Zack panted as the punks ran off, Trevor vowing revenge like something out of a comic book. "Yeah, you'll do that."

The trainer sighed relief and recalled his Gastly. Stolen merchandise lay broken in a pile. Zack felt a hot trickle of blood flow from his nose and over his lips. Wiping it into a smear, he grumbled and promised himself to dodge next time. But still, he'd done it. Allowing himself some pride, he turned back to the library. Esme stood at the window folding her arms, and the twin librarians looked at him with a mixture of impressed concern and relief. Zack stopped as he reached the library door, but only because he found it barely budged in its frame. Frowning, he looked up in time to see Esme swing the sign around from OPEN to CLOSED, for the first time with a smile on her face.

"Huh," Zack said to himself as he was left alone in the empty street, "I think I'm in love."  

[Spinne Biss]

Soon the festivities died down, and the city settled into the closest it could get to silence. The next day began with the dawn.

Lumiose City - Packed Pokecenter

The first alarm clock was the worst. It came before the light did in the cramped room shared by half a dozen people.

Each of the rooms in Lumiose City's pokemon center were like this - a necessity given the festivities that had taken place the day before.

Helena laid on the floor next to one of the two beds that had been moved in. The floor was littered in belongings and she used her pack as a pillow, her arms clutched tightly to it in case someone got up before her and tried to take it.

She snapped awake at the alarm and let out a groan that was lost in the sea of them. Whoever had set the earliest alarm shuffled around to turn theirs off and then grabbed their back and left with muttered apologies.

Despite the pain in her eyes and the foggy swim of her head and thoughts, Helena couldn't get back to sleep. So when the second alarm went off, she pulled herself up along with a younger girl.

The girl dressed herself in exercising clothes and left for, Helena assumed, a jog. So she went for the shower before anyone else claimed it.

By the time she emerged, people were starting to get up. One of them, a girl who looked a few years older than her, saw the bathroom door realization dawned on her and she bolted for the open door.

Helena barely managed to get out of her way as she shut the door and claimed the bathroom next. Helena stepped over peoples things and made her way for the lobby.

It was packed with people. Some were eating, some were trading, some were waiting - everyone was talking. She slipped her way out of the pokemon center as she grabbed her xtransceiver.

The morning was cool on her skin as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. Outside it was a lot quieter than inside. There were people moving down the streets and some minor activity, but for the most part it was quiet.

Helena stepped away from the entrance to get a look at the street she was on. As she did she pressed the buttons to call Zack from her xtransceiver.  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - Central Pokémon Center

Not every room at the three Lumiose City pokémon centers had been crammed close to bursting with half a dozen trainers. Helena had been one of the luckier ones. Zack found himself awake some time around dawn, the world swimming as if he'd woken up drunk. Not being quite sure of how many arms and legs he currently possessed, you can imagine his drowsy confusion at seeing fifteen sets draped around the single en suite dorm room. Treating each misstep like one would in a minefield, Zack crept across the room, tiptoeing from his position by the window towards the bathroom door through the gaps between bodies, freezing solid every time someone muttered in their sleep or shifted place.

"Hey," he whispered, kneeling over the pair of youngsters who'd claimed the bathtub, "Get out."
"Nnnnrgh..." they grumbled groggily and Zack pinched his brow.
"Get the hell out," he hissed, "or you're about to get the worst wake up call of your life. How'd you like to be drenched and have some guy's naked a** in your face?"

Zack's subtle act of diplomacy had the desired effect. Stifling yawns and tripping over one another's limbs, the youngsters vacated the tub then promptly snuggled up to a big girl's belly and started to snore. Locking the door, Zack tried to shake off his alcohol-free drunkenness and proceeded to drown himself in an unreasonably hot shower. Half surprised that his skin hadn't melted off, Zack nonetheless felt more awake, though a quick look at his reflection in the steamed-up mirror suggested that he find a way to sleep for a day or two.

---

Lumiose City - Centrico Plaza

Mists still clung to the streets of Lumiose, though they'd devolved into more a thin haze as the sun began its work. Zack found a bench to collapse into, one that hadn't been claimed by a trainer who'd been unable or unwilling to sleep in one of the crowded pokémon center rooms. Prism Tower stretched into heaven behind him, and the abandoned remains of last night's celebrations littered the plaza. Stages and sound equipment lay dormant, and the pavestones were covered in a layer of trash, wrappers and bottles mainly, that shifted around in the breeze. Zack spotted store owners opening up shop, and cafés trying to reorganise their outdoor seating for business.

His encounter with Esme felt like a dream. Zack peered as best he could down Estival Avenue, but the library looked closed. He sighed, slumping down in his bench and tipping his head back to the sky. It felt strangely comfortable, and a wave of tiredness risked sweeping him off to sleep. Did he really want to see her again? The thought terrified and exhilarated him in equal measure, and answered itself.

"Maybe when the hours are friendlier," he said to himself, tingling a little with excitement. There wasn't much to do in a sleeping city, and the pokémon centers were barely staffed this early in the morning. Old routines resurfaced from his years as a travelling trainer, so he did what came naturally. He went off to train.

---

Route 5

Hours passed by visibly. The sun began its long climb into the sky, growing hotter and melting away the morning dew. What started as the odd sighting of another human, mainly joggers and trainers looking to get an early start, became a steadier and louder rush of travellers spilling out of Lumiose's gate. Zack trained his pokémon just out of the way. It was fairly standard stuff. Not wanting to push them too hard before breakfast, Zack essentially had his pokémon exercising through the use of battle techniques, firing them into thin air one at a time. The newest recruits, Corphish and Fletchinder, took some acclimatising to their new situation. The water type had been slumbering peacefully when Pikachu's Thundershock rendered its day over, but it seemed to take to being an owned pokémon quite well. Whatever Zack's senior staff whispered to it in pokémon tongue was apparently convincing.

Fletchinder was another story. While it didn't stray too far, it refused to train with the others, instead taking to the skies and soaring. Zack wondered if it would have just left them behind entirely were it not afraid of Serene's Teleport. He smiled when he thought back to how brutally Helena had taken advantage of the move. That was the kind of do-or-die thinking she'd need to win her first badge, and he hoped yesterday's training session had at least partially instilled the attitude in her.

At first his wrist vibrated, then it started to beep. Think of the devil. Zack held out his Xtransceiver to catch his face in the camera, and swiped across the screen to answer Helena's call. "What?"  

[Spinne Biss]

"Can you teach me how to camp?" Helena asked. The previous night she had told herself that it was infinitely better to be inside. No matter what. After all the noise, the people that were too excited to let others sleep, the people that kicked around in their sleep and the alarms going off - she had rethought her previous opinion.

Her voice was groggy with a hint of monotone, matching how she looked with her slumped shoulders and hair that was brushed through once, looked at, and thrown up in a bun.

"I don't know if I can last another night being kicked by someone that doesn't know what personal space is." She had looked herself over in the shower and was glad to see that she hadn't bruised, but the memory of it was still painful.  

[Marsuru]

Whatever he had expected her to say, it certainly wasn't that. Zack was surprised to see his sister awake so early, though from the looks of things, calling it 'awake' was a kindness. Leaving his pokémon to continue their work out under their own steam, and keeping Fletchinder where he could see it, Zack found a roadside boulder and sat down.

"Camping. Huh. I guess I could give you a few tips, but it's not exactly rocket science, Helena," Zack said. He was more inclined to research things he wasn't sure of using books or a computer rather than asking for help, and he was fairly certain that thought would have crossed Helena's mind as well. She must want him to do the big brother thing. "Find an outdoors shop and buy what you need. They'll be able to give you a hand if you're not certain. Just don't go overboard, you know when people are trying to make you spend money when you don't have to. Then tonight, I promise, we'll let you sleep in a field."  

[Spinne Biss]

Lumiose City - South Boulevard

"Thanks, I'm going to find some breakfast. Are you interested, or are you out doing something?"

She looked up at the sign that told her she was on south boulevard and realized she had no idea what that meant.

I'll find something if I just keep walking, I bet.  

[Marsuru]

Hunger didn't grab Zack all at once. It had been steadily gnawing at the pit of his stomach for some time now, doing little to energise him and making the morning drag. He'd been able to deal with it, push it to the back of his mind while he concentrated on the training, but as soon as Helena mentioned breakfast, hunger found its name and ached with full fury.

"There's a café pretty much opposite the Route 5 gate." Zack said as his stomach rumbled. He did his best to ignore it, and hoped the sound hadn't been picked up by the Xtransceiver, "I'll meet you there. Ask if they do a Full Breakfast, Sinnoh-style. If not, I'll choose when I get there. And get coffee. A lot of coffee."  

[Spinne Biss]

Lumiose City - South Boulevard

"H-hi," boomed the squeaky voice of a pink haired girl on a billboard. Helena found herself staring at the short girl, named 'Henrietta' according to the video, looking increasingly uncomfortable before the video switched to another trainer.

These short videos were shown on the billboard over and over again, and people were mumbling about the first place trainers. Those that had not only managed to get their first badges - but the ones that had been the first to do it at the gyms they camped out at.

Apparently these videos showcased the ones that had agreed to appear on screen. Advertisements so that people knew them and about them.

That's so cool.

Helena kept her eyes on the changing billboard as she walked toward the cafe. She turned as she moved to watch it change from trainer to trainer until she was sure it was too dangerous to keep moving like that.

When she turned back around Cafe Soleil was right there.

"Convenient," she said as she stepped inside the cafe.

By the time Zack arrived she'd have their breakfast there, with a three large cups of coffee. Two for him, one for her.  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - Café Soleil

"That hits the spot," Zack said after clearing half his plate and demolishing one of his two cups. He'd said little upon arriving, other than perhaps 'thanks' and 'I'm not paying for this, by the way'. His pokémon were back in their balls, waiting for their own breakfast which would have to be at the Pokémon Center. The free food at the Center's cafeteria was passable, but there was a reason it was free. And in Zack's less than modest opinion, you couldn't beat a Full Sinnoh.

"So," he said, thumping his chest to quell a burp as he settled into a more civil eating pace, "Have fun standing in a crowd for hours? There's nothing quite like it."