Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Zamaku]

Gotengo

Levi's face fell a little when he got zero reaction from Mia, Its been one of his side barred goals to get her to laugh or hell, show any emotions slightly excited, surprised, or the like. Something other than the kristen stewart she's always been fond of. He's seen Sal do it before, It mildly irked Levi that he couldn't wrestle the same reactions from the stoic brainiac.

"Probably," The youth shrugged. "But I wanted to make my stops before I skip out'a town, Don't know when I'll be back... sentimentality and all that." It was basically true, with a free pass on his Sophomore year of high school, he might just be away for a little less than a year. But Levi didn't stop for Sentimentality's sake.

The youthful sneaks posture drastically changed, from relaxed and comfortable to rigid and tense. Leaning forward, the soft brown bangs that hung over his mop of hair would cast a light shadow over his forehead and eyes. "Hey, Mia...What was Sal up to when that Noble died last night...?" The question came about innocently enough, not accusatory at all. But Mia would be able to hear the underlying question, 'Did Sal do it?'

Levi wasn't in Lumiose at the time, being in the Santalune area training to battle the gym leader for the badge he now held possession of. He only heard about it cause news travels fast in this region where everyone's connected 24/7. He knew about Sal's, sometimes extreme, hatred for nobles, but he also, in his gut, didn't think she's go so far as murder. He just had to be sure, And as far as trust went, he had more for Mia than most other people.

In the background, Levi's X-tranciver made a small chiming sound alerting him to a new message. When he would eventually look down, he'd notice it was from his Aunt Laura.

[Are you back in Lumiose yet? Get your a** down to the station before ya' leave for the next town, I got a surprise for ya' - L]  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

After Levi asked his question, Mia felt the presence behind her shift. Carter and Anais were right behind her at full attention, eager to hear her answer. "Shoo," she ordered with a flicking hand gesture. The Youngsters didn't respond, so she shoved their shoulders and they wandered off to play with the other kids who may be present.

Sighing, Mia leaned back in her seat on the stairs, produced the rest of the spliff she had started in the morning from behind her ear, and sparked it. "She told me she was filled with a murderous rage and had to take it out on somebody. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but you know..."

It was hard for most people to tell, since her tone of voice rarely changed, but Mia was being sarcastic. She took a large inhale and blew a plume of weed smoke up into the air, blinking from its intensity. "Get real, 'Daze'. Sal wouldn't kill anyone she wanted revenge on. She's too sadistic for that, if they're suffering in the afterlife then she can't watch them suffer on Earth." Mia neglected to mention what Salieri was actually up to at the time: nearly getting arrested after Zack called the cops on her. That girl is one hot mess. "If your Aunt finds out whodunnit, don't tell Sal. One more drop of fuel gets tossed onto that fire and it'll explode."

Mia held the spliff out to Levi, offering it to him. "So you're leaving Lumiose after this? I'll send you the code for the private PC when I have it set up, if you want to leave any Pokemon or items here, or whatever." She acted like she didn't care, but it was strange and bittersweet to see two of her friends leave the city on the same day while she stayed behind as always. It really is like Neverland here... "If you see any good junk or furniture for Gotengo, you let me know, okay?"  

[Zamaku]

((Ill drop another post either late tonight or sometime tomorrow to Get Levi on the band wagon and outta lumiose. Until then~))
Gotengo

Rolling his eyes at yet another nickname of his, this one born of a rather embarrassing story that was brought about through the use of marijuana. First time Levi used the stuff, he got so out of it that he was practically 'dazed and confused' the entire night. Hence the nickname, which at first irked the hell outta the teen, but eventually he just kind of accepted it as a second alias.

But hell, if Mia didn't think Sal would off a noble, then Levi believed her. She did bring up a good point about Sal's sadistic side of vengeance. The though of said sadistic vengeance being aimed at himself made Levi internally shiver. Not that he'd ever admit that to Sal her self, or anyone for that matter. Didn't want to loose face or anything.

Letting his posture slip back into a relaxed state, the youth took the doobie and took a drag. damn near coughing up a lung as the plant did its thing. He was proud of himself, his eyes didn't even water that time. Pot wasn't something Levi did often, but it was calming and gave him a good feeling, so as long as he didn't abuse the substance, he didn't see that harm in it. It was a hell of a lot better than cig's that was for sure.

"Aww, crap." Levi mumbled lifting the front of his zipper hoodie up to his noes to smell it. "Speaking of My aunt, Laura's gonna kill me." Anybody who knew Levi knew him well enough that he never refereed to his Aunt Laura as 'Aunt.' They had more an older sister younger brother type of relationship.

Having passed the spliff back off to Mia, Levi stood up from his backwards position on the chair. "Yup, ill be heading off too Cylage to challenge Grant next." Levi gave her a thumbs up. "Thanks Mia, you really are amazing with that tech, Ill keep an eye out for anything the 'tengo could use, or any loose purses on the rich it could equally use." With a misciviouse wink, Levi turned to leave, stopping just shy of the door way.

"Yo, Mia. If you get bored or whatever or need something, make sure to give me or Sal a call, one of us will come running." It wasn't sappy or anything, but it was Levi's equivalent of, No matter what, well always be there for you.

And with That, Levi took off at a sprint, darting out of the Gotengo and into the back ally's of Lumiose. His next stop, the Lumiose city police station.  

[Marsuru]

Camphrier Town - Pokémon Center Cafeteria

Zack sat alone in the busy cafeteria. He had already given his pokémon for healing while he waited for Helena. Fatass might be a problem; the Snorlax may not even realise that he'd been captured, he might take it badly or he might take it well. Too much uncertainty. Zack sighed into his fist as he looked for any sign of his sister. The trainer could deal with bad news, but mights and maybes were a pain to handle. Every now and then people with full plates of food had asked if it was okay to sit down, but Zack just told them no, and left them to wander the packed Center for a place to eat. He almost hoped that someone with the backbone to challenge him would show up, but of course they never did.

Parfum Palace - The Maze

Roy looked at Salieri seriously for a moment. The paralysis was wearing off faster than he'd anticipated. Her hands were already bound behind her back with handcuffs, but that may not be enough. Seeing as Salieri was still struggling to speak, Roy deemed it safe enough to kneel down beside her, take out another pair of handcuffs, and unless something stopped him, he'd snap them tightly around her ankles above the cuff of her boots. Double-bound, even if she regained movement she'd struggle to run off.

Rain splattered Roy's black mop of hair to his skull and he stood up, observing the dark blanket of clouds, which occasionally exploded with electricity at random points around the maze. The 'tiny Pawniard' must be more trouble than he'd anticipated if Luxray was resorting to Thunder. Roy pulled a cigarette from his pocket and fired it up.

"I'm not really supposed to smoke on duty," he said after a drag, "Don't tell anybody, okay?"

---

Luxray forced himself to stay quiet, because if he started growling in frustration he could give away his position. He'd only had to relocate twice while slinging Thunders at Dune, and replenish his Rain Dance once, but it was already apparent that this tactic couldn't last. Luxray wasn't by nature a special attack user, and while he could utilise his abilities in creative ways, constant barrages such as these drained him quickly. He had to end this.

Next time Dune launched himself with Aerial Ace, Luxray would throw every last Thunder still in him into a more massive, more powerful blast that would hit Dune's part of the maze like a bomb. Dune could dodge thanks to the short build up before Thunder hit the earth, but if Luxray attacked while the Pawniard was already dodging the previous blow, then he'd catch the Steel type off guard. And if he caught him at all with a blast of this critical magnitude, the battle was over.

He just hoped the rain wouldn't take too long to put out the inevitable fire that the maze would become.  

[Spinne Biss]

Camphrier Town - Pokemon Center Cafeteria

Helena found Zack in the cafeteria. She had the ice-pack held up to the right half of her face as she approached him.

She pulled her badge out of her pocket as she moved to sit down in the empty chair. She held it out to him and winced as the grin crept across her face. "I was n't completely stupid today."  

[Marsuru]

Camphrier Town - Pokémon Center Cafeteria

Zack took the badge and gave it a look over. It was definitely... very shiny. And metal. Very impressive. He passed it back once Helena was sat down. Zack felt a small pang of shame, but kept it hidden; in the eyes of the league, and everyone else, Helena was already a more accomplished trainer than he was. It was an odd feeling. But he had to be happy for her, right?

"Looks like you did okay," he said, "I guess gym leaders aren't too difficult after all."  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena pressed her lips together as she took the badge back and stuffed it into her pocket. "Right? Only had to train for a day and a half to beat one. At this rate I'll have all of the badges in a little over two weeks. Shouldn't be too hard to beat the league after that. You think they'll let me train for a week to beat the Elite Four after I win? Should be enough."  

[Marsuru]

But Zack was only half-listening at this point. A wall-mounted television was showing live news footage, and another trainer had turned the sound up. The camera panned across a rocky landscape where pokémon battles were taking place. It looked like league challengers taking on men and women who wore bright red-orange suits with hair and sunglasses to match. They looked ridiculous, but the trainers were losing one by one.

"Reporting live from Spikes Passage," the reporter said, half-hidden behind a boulder while the camera peeked out, "Team Flare has occupied Glittering Cave just past Route 9. As you can see, they are refusing to let anyone inside, and have met challengers with overwhelming force. Little is known about Team Flare, though several high profile fashion designers have come out in support of their unique sense of style."

Zack leant on his knuckle as he listened. Every now and then, radical groups popped up, using pokémon for their own ends. They were usually put down in short order, or at least went quiet. He hadn't heard anything of this Team Flare before coming to Kalos, but he got the impression that they'd been around for a while. If people publicly threw support in with them, then they couldn't be seen as too much trouble, could they? Then again, this was Kalos.

The fighting was over. Trainers scurried away with their pokémon, though some had been knocked unconscious by the battles and lay in heaps on the rocky floor. Smoke rose from over the reporter's boulder, and Zack wondered how intense the battles had been. Two members of Team Flare, a woman and some kind of man approached the reporter's position.

"Hey! Didn't a couple of guys hide over that way?"
"Oh my god, how could I forget? Did you get a look at his tie? Ew ew ew! And that shirt? Dis-aster-ous!"

"Ladies and gentlemen," the reporter said solemnly, looking into the camera, "This is K. B. Fletcher and cameraman Ralph DuLumi signing off. It has been an honour and a privilege."

"What're you two doing cuddling up? Get outta there!"
"Time for a mmakeoverrrrr!"

The reporter screamed as the feed went dead. Zack was silent while the cafeteria made a mess of surprised comments and uneasy laughter. What the hell was wrong with this country?

"Huh," Zack said at last, shooting Helena a glance, "Well that was messed up."  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena followed Zack's gaze when he didn't react to her jests.

"What the hell?" she asked nobody when it was over. She kept her eyes on the television for a moment longer to see if anything more would happen, but nothing did.

Helena looked back to Zack, the visible half of her face looking like she'd just seen clowns mug someone with pies, or something equally weird.

"We don't have to go through there, do we?"  

[Marsuru]

"Not sure. There a map anywhere near here?" Zack asked, looking around. He really ought to have his own but Centers usually had them mounted on walls for trainers to look at before setting off. He noticed a small crowd had congregated around one of the framed maps and were pointing at a route near the southern coast.

"There, go check," he said. If Team Flare were preventing trainers from continuing with the league, then the league would have stepped in. It was more likely that the Glittering Cave was either an unimportant landmark or part of an alternate route, their actions skirting legality in the form of pokémon battles. And they were strong. A real challenge.  

[Spinne Biss]

As it so happened, Glittering Cave was out of the way of the league.

"It's just an old cave full of fossils."

"You can resurrect long lost Pokemon if you get fossils from there, though."

"You think that's what they're doing?"

"Who knows? As long as they aren't in my way, I don't care."

Helena heard all of this - except it was in Kalosian so she barely understood a word of it.

"They said something about Pokemon and 'fossiles'" Helena said, trying her hand at a Kalosian accent. "But it's all out of the way. Shouldn't be a problem for us."  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

Mia dryly chuckled as Levi smelled his own hoodie. She wondered if his Aunt had any idea what sort of shenanigans her nephew was up to on a regular basis. Given that she was a cop, Mia assumed she probably had a good idea. Maybe Laura just didn’t care much what the minors of Lumiose city were up to. The police could bust into Gotengo and shut it down at any time if they felt like it. Mia wasn’t convinced that its location was under wraps, which begged the question of why no one ever busted them before. Were they busy with more important crimes? Or did they just not care for dealing with it.

The curly haired girl shook the thought out of her head. If she was going to get high right now, she wouldn’t spend that time getting paranoid about what-ifs. Instead she’d work on this PC system and visit Arnaud later after she sobered up.

As Levi stood in the doorway, Mia managed a small, wry smile. She casually saluted the hooded preteen. “Good to know. Have fun storming the Pokémon League, Levi. Don’t lose to scrubs or I’ll tell people that I don’t know you.”  

[Jump Einatz]

Parfum Palace – Courtyard Maze

Salieri pouted as Roy laid down another pair of handcuffs, this time binding her legs. It wasn’t like she was going anywhere, but the idea of running off when she was able was now a pipe dream. Still, she respected Roy’s ability to be thorough. His caution made her feel more like a threat than a nuisance.

There was something about pulling out a cigarette in the rain that just seemed cool. Perhaps it was the smoker’s carefree attitude regarding the welfare of their cig. Regardless, it was enough to make Sal want a drag as well. That, and the incoming stress about getting arrested.

Salieri didn’t smoke very often, only when she was very drunk or on a special occasion. This was a special occasion. On one hand, if her lungs got stiff with full paralysis again during an inhale and the smoke got trapped in her lungs, that would be a stupid way to choke and die. On the other hand, ******** it, she was already in cuffs. It didn’t get much lower than this.

“As long as…you give me…a drag…”

Ivan the Pokédex slid out from underneath a hedgewall, knocked over by the battle and stopping at Roy’s feet. “Analyzing cigarette…whirrrrrrDING! Conclusion: A drag for me as well, beep boop.”

Correction. It was always possible to go lower. “…nevermind…”

~~~~

Hedge walls toppled over left and right as Durendal continued destroying the maze’s interior with Psycho Cutters, keeping his eye out for Luxray’s position. There weren’t many blindspots left for the lion to hide, and Dune was starting to narrow it down.

But there was almost no breathing room as the Thunder attacks kept raining down. Aerial Ace only moved Dune in a straight line, and every time his prediction was off he had to course correct. Continuously starting up the attack for a dodge only to cancel it’s completion drained Aerial Ace’s power points faster than usual, to the point that he would run out of uses for it around the time Luxray would run out of Thunder. Stray sparks still danced onto his metallic armor, and even though he was avoiding direct hits he was still getting chipped away. Dune was hesitant to use his risky maneuver until he had no other choice.

As he dodged another routine Thunder, the air above the maze shifted in a larger way than before. Luxray was about to go all out to drop a Thunder so massive that dodging it would be impossible, especially as Dune was already in the middle of an Aerial Ace. If there was any time to experiment and try to salvage the match, it was now.

Instead of moving, Dune stood still and raised one knife hand into the sky. The tip of his hand glowed red with a waving electromagnetic energy that trickled down along his arm and across his torso to his other hand. The idea: if he could focus and control his Thunder Wave precisely throughout his body, then surely he could do the same with Magnet Rise. And if his estimates served him well, he could focus an electromagnetic field to repel electricity away.

The giga Thunder blast homed in on his hand. Dune felt it tickle his armor as it traveled down the strands of electromagnetic energy like a water slide for a storm. Realizing that he needed to send the Thunder off somewhere else or it would overwhelm him, Dune raised his second hand and pointed at one of the few hedge walls that still stood tall on the other side of the maze. It was a blind aim, but it was better than nothing.

From one hand to another, the Thunder was redirected along Durendal’s body and shot with little loss to momentum at the corner of the maze. Its power was immense, and Durendal felt his knees buckle under the sheer force of it all. Failing to keep up the new technique, or missing while the Thunder finished falling down, would spell the end of the match and a crushing defeat for the Pawniard.  

[Marsuru]

Parfum Palace - The Maze

[Oh s**t.]

Luxray almost froze when he saw his own Thunder being redirected through the hedge maze. The enormous blast of power engulfed him, and for a second Luxray was entirely hidden by yellow light. Rain fell heavily now, and exploded into a spray of sparks when Luxray burst out of the Thunder blast, fangs bared, fur singed and tattered. Excess electricity flew from the pokémon, striking the ground in short and long arcs as the electric type bolted towards Dune.

The distance wasn't too great, and Luxray had a chance to attack while Dune was still redirecting his Thunder. Despite being soaked in the rain, the damp grass had ignited where the Thunder hit, leaving a long streak of fire amidst the ruined hedges. While Dune was still too overwhelmed to avoid his strike, Luxray aimed to crush him with a Crunch attack. If he hit, he would rip Dune from the floor, shattering his bladed armour in a single bite, and toss the defeated pokémon aside like trash.  

[Jump Einatz]

Parfum Palace - 1st Floor

Kecleon veered out from behind a corner in the hall. Just down the corridor was an open window. The sun was getting lower, and the shadows were growing. A perfect time to sneak out with his prized plate.

"Ah. I see there has been a mistake."

A tingle ran down Kecleon's spine. He slowly turned around and saw the Head Butler step out of the shadows.

He adjusted his glasses, reflecting Kecleon in the lenses. Just a minute ago, he had sent the support Mr. Hunter had requested. It was excessive, but he had been certain it would be enough to apprehend the intruder and get the plate back intact. However, if a wild Pokémon was the real criminal, it was a simpler matter.

The Head Butler snapped his fingers. "I'll take care of you myself."

A pair of red eyes glowed from the shadows. A ferocious maw slowly opened, revealing a pair of sharp teeth.

Kecleon gulped.

Parfum Palace - Courtyard Maze

I don't believe it.

Durendal had bet it all on the off chance his idea worked, and the parry had been successful. The strain on his muscles was intense, and his armor was superheated from all the voltage. But he had moved lightning, all for the sake of his trainer’s ambition.

For the first time in this battle, the metal warrior felt the presence of the Parfum Palace behind him and remembered the statues of the Bisharp General and his legion of Pawniards. History marked his species down as bandits or knights, but no matter what side they played for, loyalty came first. Loyalty gave him his power. Even if he didn’t agree with Salieri’s actions, he would stay by her as long as she stayed true to herself. Which meant he’d become as strong as she needed him to be.

Luxray closed in, and Durendal got the feeling it was over now. Over for his opponent. I don’t want to sound overconfident…but Miss Salieri, if you could see this…

Dune dropped his stance. He had not intention of running away, only ahead. Red sparks danced across his body. When he used Aerial Ace, he moved like a train, plowing forward at high velocity. Fleché was even faster, rendering him only as an afterimage to the untrained eye. Luxray could see through walls, but he couldn’t have seen this coming.

I think you’d enjoy it.

In the split second before they made their moves, a quiet sound flowed from Dune’s tongue: [Check.]

Time dilated in his perception as his agility was enhanced. As soon as Luxray was close enough, Dune leaped and flipped over the mighty lion Pokémon’s wide open jaws, the muddy ground splashing up behind him in the wake of his step. With his arms above his head he spun through the air at a rate that made him look more like a buzzsaw blade than a Pawniard. The rain parted in the wake of his slicing and the flames dying on the hedges wavered as he unleashed his most powerful combination attack: a spinning Fleché Fury Cutter, the Spirale Sabre.

With his momentum, the attack would continue three times in a row along Luxray’s spine, unless the lion somehow moved away from the blades. Successful contact with each cut with double the next one’s power. In order to use it, he had to be moving against and alongside his target fast enough that each hits was almost guaranteed to lead to the next one.

Dune would avoid Luxray’s vitals as he traveled overhead. In a way they were similar, both doing their duty of protecting their trainer’s interests even when that trainer wasn’t there to watch. He didn’t want to seriously injure a Pokémon such as this one, especially since Luxray gave him one of the closest fights of his life.

If the move went off as planned, Dune would land behind Luxray, sliding to a stop and dropping to one knee from exhaustion. If it didn’t, then Dune was out of trump cards.