Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Klarp Glornharm]

The Redgraves both seemed to drift into their own world. Robby shrugged at Henrietta when they did, even when Zack drifted back in to circle back to something with Helena. "Y'two sh'ld." Robby said.  

[Spinne Biss]

"Sal is gonna be here in thirty," she informed the group. Smiling at Zack she'd add "I've been training off-route for a while now. I wouldn't mind going with you." It was incredibly difficult to train in such an environment but the Redgrave sister had slowly been getting better at it.

"It's where I found the oil field. It's also where I've been taking Ecarlate to train with aura." It had always been a dangerous place, but one where good trainers became better trainers. It's why Helena wasn't intimidated by an insurmountable wall of progress. Overcoming difficulties was basically her middle name.

It was actually Alexandria, but that was a story for another day.  

[Jump Einatz]

And there it was. The pieces clicked together, and Salieri had a good guess as to what Robin wanted out of the dinner party. She sympathized with Robin's desires, but she didn't want to throw a wrench into Benedict's mission if the two of them were supposed to be dates. More importantly, her request was easier said than done.

"Soooo Alanza Taine is the trainer of that Klefki, and she hates me. I don't think I'm the girl to be asking her for any favors. If you wanna try it yourself, I think she's still in the Anistar City Hospital."

Salieri also wanted to visit Alanza, for totally different reasons. She wanted to get Nicolette's real identity out of the Gambler. Her only lead on Nicolette Nostrad came from Alanza. Getting close to her would already prove difficult, and getting the Klefki off her for Robin could risk her chance at following through on the lead. She wondered if Robin would find out that Salieri crippled Alanza if she went to the hospital. She wondered if Robin would be able to tell she did it on purpose.

"If you don't think that noble is gonna keep his word without a contract, how would you get a guy like that to sign one?" Salieri asked, trying to change Robin's budding strategy while the other trainer was still riffing. "What do you need that noble to do?"  

[Marsuru]

'Oh,' said Zack, a little disheartened. He had wanted to be there when Helena first left the relative safety of the routes. It was a kind of rite of passage for any decent trainer looking to push their limits, but Helena had just done it. What other milestones had Zack missed out on during their supposedly joint adventure?

Suddenly his burger didn't taste so good.

'Cool, we'll figure something out,' he said, trailing off. Zack turned to Robby and asked, 'Could one of your underlings prep a medium rare burger with a fried egg for when Sal gets here?'

---

'From what I've seen, Kalosian nobles wear their pride on their sleeves. He'll sign,' Robin said. It sounded as if it'd be a challenge to get a hold of that Klefki, but overcoming challenges was basically her middle name.

It was actually Marie, but that wasn't much of a story.

Robin could feel her anger rising the more she thought about why she was here. She settled it. No use in getting frustrated, it wouldn't solve anything.

'Alanza Taine was one of the nobles who messed with your brother, wasn't she?' Robin continued, leaning back against the handrail. She knew about Salieri's campaign for revenge, and had seen the lengths the trainer would go to for justice. If Robin knew Salieri's hand, it was only fair that she show hers. 'You remember that news story from a few years back? A bunch of Kalosian soldiers committed war crimes in Orre. Nasty s**t. Kind of stains that don't wash clean, you know?'

Robin smiled joylessly, remembering the day she heard about it. Saw the pictures. Her mom telling her through tears that it was all true. Every word.

'Fifteen years and nobody knew, not until a video surfaced that wound up landing every single last one of them in jail.' Her fingers were holding the handrail tight. Robin sighed, heavy and deep, and relaxed her grip. 'My uncle was one of the soldiers. He'd been like a second father to me, put me on the road to being a trainer, even. I'm not going to try and justify what he did: he deserves prison, he's a monster.

'But they didn't act on their own. The man who ordered them should be sat in a cell right alongside. I was going to win the league, meet him face to face, then force a confession on the world stage, but instead I've landed an invite to his dinner table. I'm going to make sure tonight's the last decent meal Lord Balibar ever has, cause tomorrow everyone will see him as the vermin he truly is.'  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Robby legitimately didn't know what the Redgraves were talking about, but he nodded anyway. And then Zack told him to set one of his underlings to preparing a burger a specific way.

Robby would nod. One of the servers was getsured to, and he signed in Sign language Zack's order for his friend. They signed back an affirmative. "Y'g't't." He replied to Zack out loud.  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena watched Zack's face as she continued to eat her burger. Hers didn't lose its taste, in fact it was the most delicious thing in existence still.

"Have they shown you what you're going to wear to the dinner tonight?" Henrietta asked and Helena shook her head.

The teens extensions had all been taken out during the cleaning process, leaving her with just her freshly dyed black hair. Whatever they had planned would probably be ridiculous or over the top. Kalos felt like a place where the economy ran on weirdness and fashion sometimes.

Swallowing her bite of food Helena said, "I met the designer whose making it though. He offered to make Juliet and me matching outfits but she didn't like that idea very much." The teen grinned at the idea of being rebellious toward the nobility, even if it had been vetoed. Her eyes moved to Zack.

"Is it weird like this if you're sponsored in other regions?"  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri listened silently as Robin told her story, trying to look shocked when appropriate even though she knew about Robin's uncle because Zack did. Even so, having the story told to her by Robin in person was more powerful, and her goals were still a surprise. Sal's inner storm clouds crackled in kind with Robin's, knowing all too well what an opportunity like that would mean to someone like them.

"Now that...is a motive I can get behind." Sal stood up and stretched her arms over her head. The more people around her awakened to the disease that was noble society, the more she felt like what she was trying to accomplish could actually make a difference. It invigorated her in a way that let her stow her turmoil over Mia for another time. "And to think, I was this close to warning you to quit. Bon dieu, who am I kidding with that? I'd love to see the look on his face..."

She rotated her shoulders. "I still don't think I can get you close to Alanza...actually, I probably can't get close to Alanza either, merde." Sal knew that Alanza held the answer to Nicolette Nostrad's true identity, but she needed someone with a better standing with the Taine to get that information out of her. Going to interrogate the woman she'd very publicly beaten up might not go her way. "I bet if you tell Benedict about what you really want, he'd want to help you at the dinner. He's also come around to being anti. Zack's sister is going too. There are people who share the same interests and concerns as you, is what I'm saying."  

[Marsuru]

Zack shrugged as he finished stuffing the last of his bun into his mouth, and held up a finger so Helena would know to wait until he'd swallowed. 'Depends,' he said finally. 'Each company has different requirements, so some are gonna care more about how you dress, others care for what you do. I guess sponsored trainers in Kalos are a little more--'

Gaudy? Lavish? Showy?

'--fancy than you'd get in other regions. People eat that s**t up, it's part of why Kalos wins its league bid so often.'

And all that flash helped make the sponsored trainers out to be the only real candidates for the championship. Inevitably, the court would want to install a noble as the champion. Zack wondered at what point the Balibars would ask Helena to quietly resign from her championship attempt, or would they simply boot her from their lineup?

Zack really wanted to be happy for his sister. He'd be cynical of corporate motives in any other region, but knowing what he knew about the Kalos League made him all the more wary. The nobility had literally killed people just because they stood a chance of upsetting the carefully woven narrative of noble superiority.

Through Salieri's eyes, he'd lived the kind of devastation the court could leave in their wake. The way they ruined lives simply for defying them. Arnaud lay a demented shell of his former self, Moze was systematically broken and destroyed, Allard had been outright killed, his body crushed into human pulp by a landslide. Loss like that fostered the fires of revenge. If anything were to happen to Helena - Emily's final scream made his skin crawl - what else would Zack find himself prepared to do?

He shook the thought from his mind. It wasn't time for all that. Right now, he just had to be the supportive big brother. Stopping Helena from walking the path she'd chosen was futile. But, if he was lucky, she might let him walk alongside her.

---

'Hm, you think he would?' Robin didn't really know Benedict all that well. She knew he'd been involved with defending Shalour City, which was pretty heroic. And people called him a hero now too, she supposed. Would he really be willing to jeopardise his standing with Balibar for her vendetta?

'So much to think about,' Robin said, rubbing her face as she walked away from the training area onto the sidelines. She had the beginnings of a plan, she just needed to figure out the details. 'I'd say I'll let you know how it goes, but this'll either go so well everyone will know, or you'll find me floating face first down Rivière Walk.'

Robin sent Salieri a mirthful grin, paused, then her face dropped. 'Hey, you don't know where to get fancy clothes from do you?'  

[Marsuru]

Unknown Bunker

It had been days since Elizabeth last saw daylight. She collapsed against the cold concrete as her captor shoved her into the interrogation room for what seemed like the hundredth time. Its single fluorescent light burned her eyes like the sun in what was otherwise the most dim and drab room in all of Kalos, and she hung her head, too tired to lift it. Strong hands lifted her by the arms and slid Elizabeth into her chair, and the wall-mounted speaker crackled to life.

'You know why you are here,' said the voice. It always began the same way. Like being trapped in a recurring nightmare. Elizabeth said nothing, and the voice continued. Dark, and echoing, rattling in her head. 'Will you finally talk?'

A Medicham stood in the corner of the room, as silent and as motionless as a statue. Its job was to watch Elizabeth for any sign that she might resist, and 'control' her if she made a move. Its other job was to read her mind, and discern the truth of her statements. She could feel it now, trawling through her brain like a worm.

'I... I don't...' Elizabeth's voice didn't sound like her own. When she opened her lips, a woman three times her age spoke. 'You know I don't...'
'You colluded with the assassin Ratio to attack your own father's funeral procession, and kidnap the queen,' said the voice in the wall for the thousandth time. 'Explain why. Tell us who Ratio is and how to find him, and all of this will end.'
'I told you before,' Elizabeth said, thick tears trailing along the length of her nose. Why didn't they just believe her? 'I keep telling you. I don't know.'
'Lies,' said the voice. 'You aided Ratio in defeating a Quillon. You prevented his capture. Why?'
'I DON'T KNOW!'

She barely saw the Medicham move. In a blink, its hand drove Elizabeth's head back and pulsed Psychic from its palm. The pain was unbelievable, ripping Elizabeth out of the cold interrogation room into a realm of senseless bliss before dragging her into the moment of the procession, fighting against Dardanius the Savage, back to the moment she learned her father had died, fighting Juliet in a rapier duel, to speaking with Antoinette outside her limousine. The raw power of Medicham's Psychic cooked her mind, each memory flashing through like fire, a hot whistling sounding off in the background that came into focus more and more until Elizabeth realised it was her own anguished scream.

Elizabeth fell forwards, the strong hands grabbing her chest to keep her in her chair. Excess psychic power hissed off her head like steam. An eternity passed, and the speaker crackled to life once more.

'Did that jog your memory?'

Elizabeth sobbed, and the Medicham took a step towards her, its palm humming with latent power. She was dizzy, the room spinning, and she was about to throw up, but when she heard that hum her heart pounded and she spoke with a start.

'Yes! It did...' Elizabeth said, fingers digging into her chair as she closed her eyes to stop the room from spinning. 'I remember. I do. He- Ratio- he made me do it- he said I didn't have a choice.'

The Medicham cocked its head as Elizabeth spoke, then turned towards the speaker and shook its head slowly.

'I do not think you are being entirely truthful,' said the voice.

Elizabeth looked up, started to protest, but could only scream for a second before the Medicham grabbed her head and cut her short.

Lumiose City - South Boulevard

The South Boulevard was busy with the usual cacophony of morning commuters hurrying up and down the stone-paved streets. Esme, Dexio and Sina passed below the enormous screen outside the PR Video Studio, which played ads featuring sponsored trainers on loop. Not too much further until they reached the lab.

'-and rumour has it, these crystals, when held by a pokémon, are capable of fully realising the latent power behind any attack. The implications for Type Energy Conversion Theory are mind-boggling!'
'My mind's already boggled,' Sina grinned as Dexio continued to enthuse. 'Oh, this would be the perfect excuse to go to Alola.'
'I believe there is room in the budget for a week-long research excursion!'
'The Professor would be so on board with that. Whaddya think, Esme?' Sina asked, but the other aide said nothing as they continued to walk. 'Uh, yello?'

'Sorry,' Esme said, looking at a message on her holo caster. The Sycamore Lab's front stairs came into view just as she snapped her caster shut and reshouldered her bag. 'I was miles away.'
'Ooooh. Okay, I won't pry,' Sina said with a raise of her eyebrows that meant she would totally pry once Dexio wasn't around. 'So you down for a little vaycay to-'
'Research vaycay!'
'-yeah, to Alola?'
'Hm?' Esme had one foot on the bottom stair when she stopped. 'Oh, yes. Absolutely. I think I have to go.'

'Yes, we should all go to Alola,' Dexio said, nodding to himself. 'Perhaps during our break we could visit a clothes shop for attire more suitable for Alola's famed beaches?'
'She meant go from here, bidoofus,' Sina replied as she rolled her eyes.
'But we have only just arrived,' Dexio scratched his chin. 'I am not overly convinced that Professor Sycamore would approve of an aide simply leaving without prior notice.'
'Yeah,' said Sina, 'What he said but less weird.'
'Tell him I'm sick?' Esme started walking to the front gate, away from the lab. 'I was up all night working on that assignment.'

She had, in fact, been finished by dinner time, and had a great night's sleep.

'Uh, okay,' Sina said, 'but if you want me to lie for you, it'd be great to know what I was lying for.'
After a moment of hesitation, Esme relented, and Sina soon reflected her discomfort, swapping out confusion for concern. 'Michel wants me to go over. I think I should.'
'Sure thing,' said Sina slowly. 'We'll tell the Professor you threw up on the way here or something. Are you going to be okay?'

Esme wasn't too happy with that excuse, but she appreciated it nonetheless. Was she going to be okay? She honestly had no idea.  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri cocked her head, looking Robin's outfit up and down before gesturing to her own streetwear. "...I mean, I do, but people don't usually ask me that." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, pointing it down the block behind her. "I'm headed to a brunch thing after this, I'll show you a boutique I know on the way-"

Sal paused, looked to the mist cloud on the field, and took a step back to let Reynard's dazed form flop from the air to in front of her feet. Sal returned the downed Vaporeon and clapped at her team on the sidelines. "Durendal, hustle up! Everyone cycles through!"

Dune hopped to his feet and jumped into the mist cloud to face down Vigant in more off screen training. "Soon as you're ready to bounce, I'll take you there," she told Robin.

And after they wrapped up their training, she'd do just that.  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - Vernal Avenue

It was only a short walk from the lab on South Boulevard to Vernal Avenue, but Esme dragged her feet, her pace stymied by an uneasy knot in the pit of her stomach. She made her way up the street, passing under swaying trees that cast speckled shadows on rows of parked cars as commuters hurried past, making her feel as if she were travelling in slow motion. Esme eventually spotted the sign of the Lumiose Stone Emporium, a stylised gemstone on a lacquered darkwood board swaying gently in the breeze.

The sound of the morning commute faded, as if an unseen hand turned the volume dial to zero. Esme caught the noise of her breath, surprised and increasingly shallow, disappearing to naught soon after. It was like standing underwater, except in broad daylight in the middle of a sidewalk. The warm morning air now held a distinct chill that covered her with shivers. Esme was sure she was being watched.

She looked up the street, to the sight of Centrico Tower looming over all of Lumiose City, then back down to the lab. She looked at the people soundlessly passing by, paying her no mind. She may as well have been invisible. Then she glanced into an alley, and saw a shadow flickering on the edge of her vision, one that took effort to even see - a concerted strain where Esme had to push herself to recognise that what she saw was a thing at all. The shape of a woman in dark silhouette, staring at her with a locked dead-eyed gaze.

Esme's heart leapt with a rush. Sound returned to the city - honking cars, noisy commuters, the clash of a battle happening in a nearby street. The shadow woman disappeared from the alley, and Esme forgot all about it and carried on to the shop.

***

The Lumiose Stone Emporium always struck Esme as a strange kind of jewellery shop, with rows of glass cases containing various rocks and stones of differing rarities. This is where trainers typically came to purchase evolution stones for their pokémon, and indeed today there were several trainers in the store pricing up which stones they would need.

Esme went up to the counter, and received a flash of recognition from the clerk.

'Hey, how you doing?' he said, tapping on the bell for attention and calling upstairs. 'Michel! Esme's here!'
'Thanks, Lou,' Esme said, stepping aside to let a customer up to the counter.
'He'll be down in a minute,' Lou said quickly before dealing with a lady asking if you could gift wrap a Fire Stone without it burning the box.

Esme walked away from the counter, awkwardly not knowing where to stand as she waited. That's when she noticed something on the other side of the room, curled up on a soft mat. As if reacting to her gaze, it awoke, and stared at her with a pair of deep red eyes before bounding over. Esme braced herself as she was assaulted with a wave of deep barks and thrashing paws as the Absol jumped at her excitedly, drawing the notice of about everybody in the store.

'Calm down, you crazy boy!' Esme giggled, kneeling to the Absol's level as it placed its paws on her chest and tried licking her face. Once it calmed enough, Esme threw her arms around the pokémon's neck, and let her cheek sink into its soft white mane. 'I missed you too, Shard. Sorry I haven't visited.'

Shard the Absol leaned into the embrace, and Esme could feel its tense muscles growing loose as the heavy smell of its fur filled her nose. She had to be careful to avoid its horn; a long time ago, that horn had been shattered with only a thin splinter remaining. Most trainers would pass on a pokémon whose primary means of attack had been crippled, but not Allard.

After a moment, Shard wrestled itself free and began barking at Esme once again, earning a few disapproving tuts from the other people in the shop. A couple of the more delicate noble-looking types walked out, muttering things over their shoulder about discipline and uncouthness.

'SHARD!' boomed Michel's voice from the doorway behind the counter. Shard scurried back to its mat and sat down with its head between its paws. Esme thought she would probably do the same if Michel ever yelled her name like that. Not particularly tall, but still solidly built and sporting a moustache like a circus ringmaster, Michel Fortier was the opposite to Allard in almost every way. While Allard had inherited his tall and slender looks from his mother, in his chest had beat Michel's warm heart.

'Good boy,' he said with a sniff of his moustache before turning to Esme. 'Ah, you got my message. Lou, let her in.'
'Right, boss,' said the clerk, opening the hatch to get behind the counter. Once Esme had slipped through, Lou locked the hatch again with a jangle of keys.

***

The Fortiers had owned Lumiose Stone Emporium for decades, and were about as well off as you could be in Kalos without being part of the nobility. The glass ceiling very much existed, but life as business owners trading in rare and exotic materials provided plenty in the way of comfort. The Fortier family home extended into the back rooms and several storeys above the emporium.

'We've been able to find all kinds of mega stones following that meteor shower last week,' Michel said as he led Esme upstairs. 'Thought you and your lab might want first look before I sell them on to the nobility. They always buy stuff like that, the Nostrads especially.'
'That'd be amazing, thank you,' Esme replied as they passed an ascending line of family photographs - baby Allard, Allard and his two sisters, Allard with Shard as a puppy. Allard Allard Allard.
'Oof, here we are,' Michel said as they reached the third floor. 'I keep telling Patricia: next house will be a bungalow.'

Michel led the way to their destination, and Esme felt that old sense of dread return. She'd had a flicker of it when first she read Michel's message asking her to come here, but if that was an ember, this would be a bonfire. She stopped in her tracks, steadying up against a wall as her body and head simultaneously went heavy as lead and lighter than air. She fought to steady her breathing as Michel drew away, the short corridor stretching ad infinitum, her heart thrashing its way out of her chest.

Next she knew, Michel had his arms around her, shushing into her ear, and for how long she did not know. He breathed loudly so that she could hear, deep and slow to set the pace and Esme concentrated on it, letting her own breathing flow into Michel's rhythm. Slowly, she felt her panic subside, like claws releasing a death grip, leaving behind dizziness and embarrassment.

'Sorry,' Esme sniffed, rubbing her eyes with her palm only to realise she'd been crying. 'God, I am such a mess.'
'Shush now. I understand,' Michel whispered, letting go. 'You do not have to if it is too much. I only thought-'
'No. No. I want to help,' Esme said, straightening up. 'I'd hate myself if I didn't.'
'Thank you,' Michel said, offering Esme gentle smile and a reassuring squeeze of her shoulder.

They stopped outside Allard's bedroom door. Esme felt her chest flutter, not knowing what to expect except that she'd be transported back in time to when Allard was alive. Every possession, trinket and nicknack would serve only as a fresh reminder of his death. Esme was, in that moment, keenly aware that she had never properly come to terms with it. Never truly grieved for her lost love. Esme grasped the handle and, with a feeling akin to leaping from a tall building, she pushed the door open.  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose Stone Emporium

What awaited inside took Esme's breath away. Allard's mother and father had been unable to touch their boy's bedroom after his death, preferring instead to close the door and hide from their grief. Esme felt the wave of anxiety return, washing over her as she drew deeper into the room.

'Oh, Allard,' Esme said quietly to herself, brushing away some tears. Morning light filtered through dust-covered windows, casting the inside of the room in a heavy white glow. Surfaces were thick with grey dust and cobwebs, but Esme could make out the pictures and books and DVD cases and clothes hidden beneath them. Grime notwithstanding, the room was just as Esme remembered.

Michel let out a deep sob as he covered his face with his hand. Esme put her arms around him, letting a tear well and pass down the length of her nose. No matter where she turned her eyes, there was something to remember. Spending endless hours cuddled on Allard's bed and watching movies, putting all his band posters into frames, rearranging his bookshelf and teasing him for every little thing on it...

---

It took the better part of an hour to bundle things into boxes, and they still weren't done. Pokémon ornaments lay in a rough pile on Allard's bed, which had been stripped down to the frame, its mattress propped up against the wall. Esme placed a collection of badges from the Sinnoh League in with a bunch of other mementos and closed the box, loudly tearing a strip off a brown roll of tape before sealing it up.

Admittedly, clearing the bedroom had gotten a lot easier. At first, the desire to stop with every little object and reminisce about it to Michel had been overwhelming, but sheer practicality wound up outweighing sentiment. Esme had decided to keep a few things for herself, little reminders of times they spent together. Dust motes hung in the sunlight, scattering in the wake of an open window, which Esme stood beside for a minute of fresh air.

'How is it going?' she called to Michel, who was in the process of taking Allard's clothes out of his wardrobe and throwing them into bags to be washed and donated.
'I think,' he said, tying a knot into the last bag, 'we are making progress.'
'Allo~~' said a woman's voice from the open doorway. Looking at Patricia, you could see where Allard got his height. She carried with her a tray of steaming teacups, and paused in the middle of deciding where to put them down.

Esme and Michel had done a good job of stripping the room so far, rendering it almost unrecognisable. In that moment of hesitation, Esme caught Patricia's sudden sorrow at seeing her boy's life packed into cardboard, which was quickly hidden by a warm smile as she moved into the room and set her tray atop a dressing table.

'Ooh thank you,' Esme said, hurrying over to claim a cup. She felt a strong urge to hug Allard's mother, but refrained. After all, Patricia and she had never been particularly close. She heard a familiar scattering of claws bounding up the stairs, and Shard the Absol hurried into the room from behind Patricia's legs.
'Ah, get out of here, you naughty pokémon!' Patricia snapped as Shard ran up to Esme and almost made her slop her tea.
'Shard! Be careful!' Michel shouted and the Absol's energy dissipated. Esme sipped her tea and placed it back down after a quick "thank you" before sneaking up on Shard and rubbing the pokémon's mane. Immediately, the Absol's tale started wagging frantically and Patricia rolled her eyes.

Esme had always held a particular fondness for this pokémon. It wasn't Allard's strongest by a long way, but it had been the only one to survive the attack. It had seen Allard die, his body ripped apart and reduced to slush. She thought that the Fortiers sometimes forgot this, and treated Shard like any other pet.

'Good boy,' Esme whispered, knelt beside the pokémon as she made a fuss. It was there that she saw the album, slotted just behind Allard's bed frame. A red leatherbound book, thicker than her arm. It took a bit of effort, but Esme managed to heft it up and onto the bed.

'What is this?' Patricia peered over Esme's shoulder as she opened the album. Esme had never seen this book before, or any of the pictures inside. Some were of Allard as a child, but soon charted the course of his life as he grew into a teenager. With each turning page, Esme saw life through Allard's eyes, his travels across different regions, pokémon he'd battled, people he'd met...

'Would I be able to borrow this?' Esme asked, realising she'd been flicking through for a bit too long.
'Perhaps we can all go through it together,' Michel said, sliding his arm reassuringly around Patricia's shoulders.

Esme grinned. Her anxiety abated with the promise of looking through the album. She had begun today expecting nothing but a long string of misery and heartache, but something good had come out of it. She felt safe, chatting with Michel and Patricia about the strange task they had before them, unaware of the blond boy staring up at her from one of the photographs, smiling.  

[Jump Einatz]

Lumiose City - Unovan Delights

After wrapping up training with Robin and dropping her off at Boutique Sauvage, Salieri checked her social media for the first time all morning and was greeted by a deluge of notifications. A stream of videos taken of her rap battle and her games with Alanza flooded her Chatter feed. Sal's eyes glazed over the many angles, the gifs of her getting hit with a frying pan, and yeeting Alanza both into and out of her house, to glide through the comments.

It was overwhelming. Sal estimated that she'd been tagged and circulated more than after any of her Gym matches. Like the day before, she could feel the stares of everyone around her. Were they actually staring, or was it in her head? Yesterday the recognition felt like accomplishment. But in her current state of mind, feeling lost and confused, it just made her feel dizzy.

And so, when she looked up from anxiously scrolling and scrolling, she realized she'd made it to her destination. Her sunglasses hid her bugging eyes, and a sheepish smirk helped hide her feelings and hangover.

"Burgers for breakfast. Y'all really are Unovans." Sal's eyes fell on a burger with a fried egg on a plate next to Zack's seat. She wearily plopped into the chair beside his. "Thanks."  

[Marsuru]

Zack finished putting away his fourth burger and slurped down some soda before stifling a burp.

'Hey, it's a stereotype I can get behind.' Zack took Salieri in with one glance. He could tell she wasn't right, and didn't expect her to be after what happened with Alanza. Sometimes the toughest people were just the ones who couldn't process their emotions normally.

He looked away from Sal almost immediately, worried she'd notice how thinly he was holding on. Zack brushed aside his bad feelings, his thoughts about the things he'd done, and carried on acting as if everything were fine.

'Oh uh, this is Robby,' Zack said for appearances. Salieri probably already knew who Robby was from their Bond, but he wouldn't know that. 'Robby - Salieri.'  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena had finished two burgers herself and felt relatively stuffed and a little afraid of not being able to fit into whatever outfit was picked out for her.

"We wouldn't eat so much greasy food if it wasn't so good." Especially when Robby made it. Heaven in her mouth. Helena sighed happily as she looked at Salieri, much too delighted by the delicious food to notice anything wrong with either one of them.

"Are you planning to hit up any gyms today? I was gonna spend the day training but if it means I fall behind you then I'm definitely not letting that happen."