Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Spinne Biss]

"Camping is smelly, surrounded by jerks, the showers are too cold and the food is under-cooked - just like Pokemon centers," Helena announced to her answered call from Zack in a tone that suggested some part of her was having fun despite the experience.

Her hair clung to the sides of her face where she had brushed it from her eyes. She had donned a jacket that covered up the t-shirt that clung to her figure.

She looked at the image of Zack from the end of her arm, which was currently extended in a shoulder stretch.

"How was your morning?"  

[Marsuru]

"Let's see: the cave smelled dank, I've been surrounded by jerks, nearly frozen by a shower of seawater and I don't even remember having breakfast," Zack said, unclipping his Xtransceiver and leaving it on the railing beside him.

"So now I'm in Ambrette Town, and Route 9's been closed off because of that Team Flare s**t in the cave," he paused then snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah. Was wondering if you'd evolved Loki yet."  

[Spinne Biss]

"Caves also sound like Pokemon Centers." She switched to her other shoulder while Zack spoke, and was reaching for her toes when she started again.

"Not yet, I was going to do some warm ups and train a bit. Hopefully he'll evolve from all of that." Helena gave a strained sound as she reached for her toes, not quite getting there, and after a moment she straightened back up.

"Route 9 is out of the way anyways - unless there's something you want from there?"  

[Marsuru]

"Well," Zack said, trailing off for a second, "I was gonna see if those Flare assholes were all they're cracked up to be, but you know me, I'd never go against the wishes of a police officer."

He wasn't even lying, not completely anyway. Trouble magnets like Zack had plenty of opportunities to learn how to deal with assholes and idiots. And Zack's personal brand of trouble usually lead to him fighting the kind of selfish animals who robbed and abused others. While the idea of following the orders of someone (probably) dumber than he was didn't sit well, Zack had always thought that if pokémon training didn't work out, he could join the Castelia police force. Maybe become a detective. It appealed to his sense of justice.

"Anyway, I thought that since both Loki and Hazard evolve to their final stages when traded, we could switch up once Loki's a Kadabra. It'd do you good to train a variety of pokémon, and they'll learn more from different training styles."  

[Spinne Biss]

"Sounds good. We can trade when I get to Ambrette Town? I wanna get through connecting cave myself." Team Flare didn't interest her as anything more than a news story. She wasn't righteous enough to go hunting them, and she wasn't curious enough to go and fight them for the same reason as Zack. Avoiding them seemed like the best option, as far as Helena was concerned.  

[Marsuru]

"Sure. I wouldn't bother getting a real shower if I were you, not with that cave," Zack said as a van rolled up to the gatehouse with more police. Half a dozen of them unloaded from the back of the van and were immediately swarmed by the other officers as they walked to the gate. Rather than SWAT gear, they wore uniforms that put Zack in mind of the clothes worn by Ace Trainers, and carried themselves with the air of experienced battlers. Were they the reinforcements?

Zack put his back to it but continued leaning on the railing. "Oh, and if you find a layer of dead Zubat in Connecting Cave, that, uh, wasn't me. That was some old a*****e and his Arcanine."  

[Jump Einatz]

Lumiose City- Soledad Apartment: Eight Years Ago

Salieri sat on a worn in armchair in the sparse living room of their small apartment. Despite her desire to escape from this scenario, she was forbidden from leaving the apartment by her adoptive father until they had their talk. Right now, she heard him in the kitchen, pouring something.

Style was paramount in Kalos. From the upper echelons of society to the bottom rung of the ladder, everyone worth something had a standout was of expressing himself. Arnaud’s style came from his patience. In his few years of being a father, he learned that lessons of discipline required patience. If he exploded, so would the kids. So he always tried to settle things with a talk.

“Your brother isn’t picking up his phone,” Arnaud grumbled as he returned, two glasses in hand. One was a cup with some kind of mixer, and the other was orange juice. He handed the juice to Sal and kicked back on the couch to face her. Arnaud slipped a flask out from his pocket and poured some whiskey into his cup. You didn’t have to know Arnaud for long to know he liked his drinks strong.

“The principal says if you’re caught leaving school grounds again, or if you’re written up by any of your teachers, you’re facing expulsion…Moze already got his Trainer’s license, and that’s not an excuse for the things he does, but for you to throw away that opportunity…” He groaned and sat forward, rubbing his temples. “I ground you, and you don’t take it seriously. I take away a privilege and you try to circumvent it. I just don’t know what to do with you anymore…why were you skipping school today?”

She didn’t answer, instead looking at her reflection in the glass. “I asked you a question, Salieri.”
“Nothing.”
“I walked by Sauvage today.” Her ears perked up. “I recognize my son’s handiwork by now, and I bet you had a part in it too. Am I right?”

Again, no response. The silence was its own answer. “It’s important for you to express yourselves, but you can’t do it if you’re hurting somebody else-“
“No one got hurt-“
“You’re hurting their business. I don’t care what kind of rumors surround that place, and I don’t care if they’re true. Two wrongs never make a right…that’s all bad enough, but this afternoon with the bracelet, you weren’t even trying to make a statement. Hell, you don’t even like bracelets.”

Sal pouted and her eyes trailed away from the conversation. “I liked that one.
“You’re not even wearing it…I heard those private school girls talking about you.”
“Yeah? What’d they say?”
“Nothing you’d want to hear, and I don’t think they ever will. It’s not worth it to care about what snobbish people think of you.”

Arnaud leaned in and put a hand on Sal’s knee. “I know I can’t afford to give you clothes or jewelry or a new phone,” he began apologetically, “And I wish I could give you everything you wanted. We don’t have as much as other people, but someday you’ll realize that all those material things fade away over time. There are beautiful things in this world that can’t be grasped. Love, friendship, trust, you know how it is. The feeling of building that yourself can’t be taken away by anyone. That’s the most important thing I can teach you. You don’t have to be jealous of silly trinkets when you could have so much more than those girls will ever know.”

Sal’s eyes narrowed at Arnaud’s hand. She shifted away and stood up, now visibly upset. Arnaud became silent, waiting for her to speak. All he wanted was for her to tell him what was wrong. “I-I have a show and tell project due on Monday.”

There was a slight pause after she said that. “…aren’t you a little old for show and tell?”
“It’s a self reflection piece. I need to bring in something important that belongs to me.” She lifted her arms, gesturing to their little apartment in exasperation. “What would I bring in, Arnaud? I don’t have anything. We don’t have anything. Maybe it’s easy for you to preach, but don’t you want something more? Everybody else has something important-“
“Sal-“
“Mia brought in a half hour slideshow from her mom’s research. Her mom hasn’t been around in years, and she still left something for Mia. Nothing in this apartment is important to me! If nothing out there is ours, how am I supposed to know when something’s mine?” Sal’s voice was becoming strained as her feelings began to leak out from behind her hardened shell. “If I fell off the face of the Earth, no one would know, because I left nothing behind. I don’t want that. And what I don’t get, what I don’t get at all, is that if you always had so little, why you even took us in!“
Arnaud’s eyes darkened. “Sal-“
“Why would you do that to yourself? Didn’t you know it would be like this? Two extra mouths to feed, for what? Why don’t you want something better? Why do you think this is fine?!”

Suddenly Arnaud stood up. He lacked his children’s amber eyes, but his could become just as intense. A tight scowl was placed onto his lips. It seemed something she said had said had finally made him angry, and that was enough to make Salieri’s rant squeak to a stop. Still, Arnaud didn’t not explode. After a few deep breaths, he said, “Sit down. I’ll be right back.”

She did. And he left the room. Two minutes later, which felt like an eternity, he came back in with a photo album and sat back on the couch. “Come here,” Arnaud told Salieri, gesturing to the seat next to him while he opened the album. “Come on.”

Slowly, she got up and sat next to her father. The photos in the album were at least fifteen years old. Arnaud looked to be in his thirties, smiling jovially while dressed in a nobleman’s outfit surrounded by a few others doing the same. Each picture had him posing at high-end social gatherings with elite citizens. The more photos she saw, the more people she started to recognize. They were Kalos nobles, a mixture of League Trainers, politicians and standard nobility alike. “…what is this?”

“Soledad used to be my middle name. My last name used to be Nostrad. I was a high noble in that house.” Salieri’s eyes grew ********. I know. Watch your mouth.”

Sal believed Arnaud, but at the same time it seemed so surreal. She took the album out of his hands and kept flipping the pages. Over and over, the content was the same. Her fingers stopped when she saw a picture of her father with a few other men, all wearing casual trainer clothes. The Arnaud in the photograph had his arm around the shoulder of former League Champion, Kyren Balibar. “You’re not a noble anymore?"
“No. The head of the house and I had a…disagreement. I wasn’t comfortable with the direction of a project they were working on, so I chose to distance myself from them. I resigned my title and took on a new name.” He stroked his facial hair with a tiny smirk. “It's amazing, people are so interested in appearance that they don't notice what's really in front of them. No one recognizes me anymore without all those fancy clothes. The beard helps.”
“You gave up all of that just because you disagreed?”
“We strongly disagreed.”
“What was the project?”
Arnaud sighed, and sipped on his drink. “It’s a secret…doesn’t matter, anyway. It’s not going to happen.”

Her head was swimming with this revelation. A new kind of light was shining on almost everything her father had once told her, and the things he stood for. In almost all of the photographs, he was smiling. “You look happy.”
“They make you smile for all those photos. You never know when they’ll be used for a press release.”
“…so you weren’t happy?”

Arnaud thought about that for a moment. “No. No, I was happy. Most of the time. But I realized if I didn’t stand for what I believed in, I wouldn’t be anymore. That’s why I left. Because I couldn’t change things, and I wanted my dignity intact…ask yourself, Salieri, what is dignity if you’re all alone?” He stood again and walked to the window, looking out to the Lumiose skyline. The sun was primed to set soon, and it cast an orange glow on the tops of the buildings.

“For a while, when I came to this city, I had nothing. One night, somebody somewhere decided to leave you and your brother at my door. And then I had something I’ve never had before.” He looked back at her, grinning. “You asked me why I took you in? Because nothing makes me happier than the two of you. If I fall off the face of the Earth, I know I’ll have left something important in my place. And that's worth more than riches any day, trust me.”

The back of Sal’s throat went dry. She gulped down her orange juice and looked at the floor in shame. “I’m sahh….ahem.” She cleared her throat. “I’m s-s-s….I’m….I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. You’re still ten years old, if you aren’t making mistakes then something’s wrong.”

Arnaud walked back to her and took the photo album. “Alright, good talk. As long as you don’t get into trouble, you can go out and play before the sun sets, and when it gets dark come home. Cause you’re grounded. For the weekend.”

Sal opened her mouth to protest, but Arnaud countered with a look that shook her temptation. Instead, she nodded reluctantly. “Okay.”

He smiled at her and ruffled the top of her hair. “You’re a good girl, Sal.”

Arnaud left to put away his album. Sal took a deep breath, rubbed her face, then walked out the door. When she got into the hallway full of other apartments, the first thing she saw was Moze, sitting against the floor and staring out into space with intense focus. Immediately, she knew he heard everything.

“…you wanna go take a walk or something?”
“Yeah,” he answered instantly, getting up and stretching without looking at his sister. “Yeah, let’s go.”  

[Spinne Biss]

"I'll keep that in mind." The journey so far had been a strange experience, but Helena found herself excited by it.

"Anything else?" She didn't mean to sound like it, but she wanted to jump right back into the adventure.  

[Marsuru]

"Hm. If you see a guy handing out flyers, just try to ignore him. It's for the best, trust me," Zack said as he pushed away from the railing and picked up his Xtransceiver. "Catch you later, little sister."  

[Marsuru]

((Ah training post, it has been so long))

Route 8 - Muraille Coast

"That's it, just like that. See? You're getting it."

Hazard bit her ghostly fangs together in concentration as she twisted shadows into a ball in her palm. She was still some time away from learning the technique naturally, but Zack was an experienced enough trainer to tutor the move himself. They'd found a quiet spot between the rocks overlooking the beach. It was a small plateau with a little bit of weedy plantlife but mostly dirt and sand; a perfect place to train undisturbed.

The Haunter started to put more power into her Shadow Ball, turning it purple with flecks of ghost-type energy spiralling off its surface. Just when it looked about right, Hazard started to grin and that mental slippage was all it took for her Shadow Ball to veer out of control, its surface whirling and its round shape turning to chaotic bubbles. She panicked, cupping the Shadow Wobble in both hands and trying to squash it into shape like a snowball, but by then it was too late.

"You know," Zack said a few seconds later, arms folded as he leant against a tall boulder. Hazard's face was scorched black with a layer of shadow, her eyes blinking through. "If it had happened to anyone else, you'd be laughing right now. Keep trying."

Hazard blew a raspberry as soon as Zack's back was turned, but redoubled her efforts to master Shadow Ball. Zack climbed over a rock to look for Serene. It didn't take him long to spot her; she was the one chasing a nest of Seviper and picking them off one by one with her Confusion, just as she'd been told. The Seviper had the advantage in that they were numerous and could quickly slither in between rocks to hide, so Serene countered by using Double Team to corral them into remaining in the area, and Teleport to keep up with them.

Zack suppressed a smirk as he watched the frightened snakes scramble, tying themselves in knots as they rushed for safety. Just when it looked like one was in the clear, it'd run into Serene's ghostly afterimage and turn around, only to be taken down by a blast of Confusion. Eventually, Serene ran out of Seviper, breathed a tired sigh, and waved to her trainer, exhausted but happy. She vanished in a flash and reappeared in front of Zack, dropping to the floor gracefully.

"Well, at least someone's having some success," Zack said proudly. Serene grinned, then flashed white as her body hummed with glowing power. In the time it took for Zack to take a step back and run his fingers through his hair, Serene's body elongated, her horns shifting position on her head, where her hair grew halfway down her back. Once she was finished glowing, Serene the Ralts became Serene the Kirlia. "Heh, poor Hazard's looking less and less impressive by the second."

The shadowy smoke rising from Hazard's area told Zack the Haunter was still struggling. He'd taught her everything she needed to know about the technique; to take and mold her energy into a stable ball, which would detonate on impact. She just needed practice. Maybe a bit of do or die.

"Okay, new plan," Zack said as he dropped back to the plateau where he'd left Hazard. The Haunter looked up when Zack spoke, and got a face full of Shadow Ball for her trouble. "You're going to keep practising, and each time you screw up, Serene here will blast you with a confusion."

Serene teleported next to Zack and bowed. Hazard's jaw dropped several feet, but she quickly reclaimed it, chattering excitedly to her newly evolved teammate. Serene replied in a sing-song voice and it went back and forth. Zack folded his arms while their conversation played out, frowning a little. He closed his eyes, flexed his jaw then cleared his throat loudly.

"Anyway, that's the plan," he said. Hazard rolled her eyes and Serene giggled at it, then stood to attention. "Seriously Hazard, I've done this a thousand times. It'll work."

Ambrette Town - Pokémon Center

"Here's your pokémon, have a nice day," the nurse on reception said, passing the tray back over. Serene pouted guiltily at Zack's side while he reattached Hazard's ball to his belt, then doddered after him when he set off walking.

Maybe it was too soon for Hazard to learn Shadow Ball after all. Maybe he just wasn't training her right. Zack had been out of the trainer game until recently. The basics were easy; move tutoring had a knack to it. He could probably do with working on his explanations. What would really help would be consulting his notebook.

The trainer hit up a vending machine for a pair of lemonades, tossing the second can to Serene. She fumbled the tag, so Zack reached down and popped it for her, then undid his own while she guzzled greedily, stopping only in response to the unexpected influx of bubbles. Zack sipped his lemonade, looking through the glass wall to the outside world. Ambrette had a good view of the ocean, which sparkled like crystal in the warm sun. The coastal town was built on a slope, and the Center was near the top, giving the illusion that the sea was right on the Pokémon Center's doorstep.

Zack finished his can, then crushed it under his fist before tossing it into a nearby waste bin. Serene followed suit, squashing her can with her psychic power, then hurried after her trainer. He went through the sliding doors and into the sun, and began cycling through his Xtransceiver contacts list.

"Hey, we need to talk," he said as the call picked up. To Zack's surprise, the face on his screen wasn't the lovely, dollish face of Esme Moreau, but the wrinkled old mug of one of her aunts.
"Monsieur Redgrave! 'ow nice it is to see you again," she beamed in her thick Kalosian accent. Zack felt his heart sink.
"Oh hey, err, you," he said, feeling his face go red, "I was looking for Esme, I thought this was her number."
"Non non, this is my own, how you say, personal number," the librarian said with a wily smile. More of Zack's internal organs deflated.
"Could- could you put Esme on the line?" he squeaked.

After a few minutes of nothing, giving Zack the chance to calm down and scour his mind, Esme finally appeared in front of the camera. She looked unimpressed as always, hiding tired eyes behind her glasses, her black beanie doing a poor job of keeping her messy hair in line.

"Are you still in your pajamas?" the trainer blurted out.
"I had a late night," Esme shrugged, stifling a yawn. "So what's this about?"
"My notebook," Zack said. "Does it have anything about move tutoring, any rules I might have jotted down?"

Esme sighed, rubbing her eyes. Zack really enjoyed the way she rubbed her eyes. She used her fingertips. "It's upstairs. Are you asking me to run all the way up, then all the way back down?"
"I guess... it's not that important?"
"Correct," Esme said, then she slipped a smile, "You learn quickly."
"It's one of my many talents."

Serene stuck her tongue out. She then ported to the Center roof, which she used as a perch to blast Wingull out of the sky with her Confusion attack. Training. It's what Zack would have wanted.

"Oh, so now you're talented. That is surprising. Where are you? I can see the ocean."
"Ambrette Town," Zack replied, not looking away and for once keeping calm in front of this girl. "It's nice. It has, y'know, sand and houses and... stuff."
"I know, I go there every summer," Esme said.
"Then you'd know your way by Teleport."

Esme stopped short of a laugh and shook her head. "Are you trying to ask me out?"
"Not as a date," Zack said quickly as his calm crapped out, "Just as a friendly friend thing. As friends."
"Hm. Well I suppose you do need your book..." Esme looked thoughtful as she tapped her lip. "Okay then. Give me one hour, and we'll do this friendly friend thing. As friends."
"As friends."
"Yep."

By the time the phone call petered out, Zack's heart was trying to explode out of his ribcage. He looked up to find that Serene had progressed to chasing Wingull around the sky with Magical Leaf to make it easier to pelt them with Confusion, swinging her arms like a symphony orchestrator. He then looked down at himself and pinched his shirt, and studied his pants and he realised Jump was right.

"This is a disaster."  

[Zamaku]

Camphrier village - Route 7

Aside from the Parfum palace, there was really nothing of interest going down in Camphrier. Making a side trip to the Palace sounded like a waste of time, that and on the way into the Pokemon center, Levi over heard a couple of gaggling trainers gossiping about how they swore they saw a Quillon heading both too and from the palace yesterday.

Now, Levi had confidence in his ability to slip in and out of places undetected, but if there was even a slight chance he could come to face a Quillon, he wasn't interested anymore.

So the thieving youth wasn't sad in the slightest to put the dull Campharier behind him as he skated casually down route 7.

It was still early out so the route was pretty empty. Skating further down the route, passing by the berry farm, then the Pokemon day care, neither of which held any interest to him. That's when he saw her, doing warm up stretched by the river. She looked like she'd slept outside all night, and judging by the pile of camping equipment, she probably had.

Levi remembered her. Hemma something or another, her name wasn't important, but the pre-teen remembered seeing her Santalune gym battle. both of them actually. So unless she made it through connecting cave, then won a gym badge in Cyllage same day, then doubled back; then by Levi's reasoning, they should have the same amount of badges.

Grinning mischievously to himself, Levi clicked his heels to recall the skates into the soles of his shoes before striding from the path and ducking behind a lining of trimmed hedges that ran parralel to the female trainers pile of tent.

Moving almost silently, and if remaining undetected, Levi would snatch the girls wallet from the pile of supplies before removing the tucked in trainer card and leaning against a tent pole casually.

"So, Helena Redgrave huh? From Unova." He commented, letting out a low whistle. "That's pretty far out there isn't it?" He said all this with a pleasant grin, like he wasn't invading on the female trainers privacy.  

[Spinne Biss]

Route 7 - Riviere Line

Helena had just ended her call when Levi spoke up. She spun around to face him and brushed the hair from her face. She had just dealt with a kid ruining her tent, and now she had someone else going through her stuff. Camping was quickly losing its appeal.

"Give that back."  

[Zamaku]

Route 7 - Riviere Line

"Yea sure thing, but first...How about a Pokemon battle?" This really wasn't about a Pokemon battle, more of a way for Levi to levitate some early morning boredom. That and Helena looked to be about as skilled as Levi was, so it would be a good comparison that he could use to gauge the growth of his Pokemon.

"You battle me, and ill give this back. How bout it, win or loose doesn't matter." Levi was slowly learning that Mia's preference of pulling reactions out of people was almost as rewarding as pulling wallet out of back pockets. Levi was curious how this would go down, would she cave and give him the battle. Or would she get pissed and have her Pokemon attack him. Or maybe she'd cry...

Levi really hopped she wouldn't cry, he'd probably feel bad. Levi was trouble maker, but he wasn't a bully, at least not to people who he didn't think brought it on themselves.  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - Vernal Avenue

Zack was back in Lumiose and on the desperate hunt for clothes. He had one hour, less, as he lost a minute leaving the pokémon center teleport zone and running to Vernal Avenue. The street was crowded as per usual; people came for the league and stayed for the shopping. As he hurried through Vernal, Zack noticed that shop displays were already rigged up with the faces of sponsored trainers who were doing well in their badge hunt, the favourites. There was already merchandising based on the trainer and the pokémon they'd used to win their famous gym matches, and to Zack's surprise people were actually buying that crap.

Partway down the street, he noticed a store with a black archway surrounding gleaming double doors and a silver sign that read 'Boutique Couture' in fancy type. Perfect. Slowing his pace, Zack entered the shop and was immediately accosted by a shop assistant. She was about his age, maybe a little younger, but wore her sneer as easily as someone twice as old.

"Yikes," she said, taking one look at him, up and down.
"Yeah, thanks. Get out of my way," Zack said, "Please."
"I am sorry, sir, but Boutique Couture only accommodates the most respectable of clients. You are simply not stylish enough to shop here."
"Style is why I'm here in the first place."
The store girl shrugged and held a satisfied smirk, "It is our policy, I am afraid."
"But that doesn't make any sen-"

Zack was cut off by a womanly scream. High pitched, he thought it might shatter glass and send all of the boutique's carefully crafted displays crumbling onto its ornate marble floor. Given his reception, he couldn't help feel a little disappointed when that didn't happen. Instead, the scream's owner busily made his way across the shop floor, swinging his hips and flailing his arms. He had a neat beard that seemed to have been sculpted by lasers, and a chuck of his hair had been shaved at the side with the rest smeared over the top of his skull then outwards with a flick. He wore some kind of puffy purple shirt with tight black pants and boots, and several jewels gleamed on his fingers.

"What the hell are you?" Zack asked incredulously.
"I," the stranger announced, fingertips drumming to his chest all at once.
"Monsieur von Silver!" the assistant squeaked, bowing her head, "I am so sorry, I was just seeing this vagabond out of the door. He won't come back."

Von Silver sucked his cheeks then placed a long-nailed hand on the air above the girl's shoulder.

"Ahh, girl who works at the front of my store," he noticed a minor kink in her lapel and straightened it with the look of someone about to puke, "You needn't worry yourself with who comes in and out of Boutique Couture any more."
"I... needn't?"
"Why of course not, you silly b***h," he looked her over with a flick of his eyes, then smiled, "Your shoes are dull, your watch is scuffed, and that freckle is three millimetres too close to your eye. Get. Out."

The girl choked and Zack held his hands up, standing aside as she ran crying out the door. Once she was gone, he took one look at Von Silver and started to leave, muttering '******** this' under his breath.

"Ahhhp!" Von Silver said and Zack rolled his eyes before turning around. "One cannot simply reveal to me an abhorrent stylistic anomaly such as yourself and then leave."
"Really? Looks that way from where I'm standing," Zack said with a fake grin.
"I," Von Silver drummed his fingers to his chest again, rings clicking together, "am Viro von Silver, your hope and apparently your saviour. World famous fashion designer with a doctorate in Style. Of course, I need no introduction."
"Never heard of you."

Viro looked genuinely shocked, as if he'd been shown a photo of a bad haircut from his youth, then settled into calm confidence. "It only makes sense. I would not expect a proletariat to understand the works of a great philosopher. You are no different. I see you are sporting the Étranger Ennuyeux, a halfbaked look that was semi-popular in Unova eight, perhaps nine years ago. I am not even going to mention that thing growing on your head."
"What's wrong with my hair?" Zack frowned.
"Sacrebleu," Viro bit his knuckle, "It is worse than even I had thought. Come, come, you poor creature. I will help you."

Zack scanned the boutique. Everyone inside had stopped what they were doing to eavesdrop the conversation. He could see their looks of distaste, though some seemed to be in awe of Viro, or aghast that he'd seen fit to speak to Zack almost like a person. The trainer was suddenly worried about what would happen if he turned Viro down. Knowing what he knew about Kalos, he'd probably be blacklisted from every boutique in the country. He sighed.

"Fine. But I've only got an hour."
"An hour? I said I was a doctor, not a miracle worker," the stylist said, twirling his hand to get one of the bouncers to escort Zack further inside.
"Also," Zack glanced at some of the customers on his way past. "I don't have any money so I can't pay."
"...That's fine," Viro replied and Zack smiled inwardly. Viro had already put on such a show of fixing Zack, it'd be embarrassing to back down over a simple matter like payment. And, from what he could tell, the opportunity to appear charitable was the perfect kind of fuel to the bonfire of Viro's ego. He just hoped he didn't wind up looking like a clown.  

[Spinne Biss]

"Fine, but I'm not fighting for money since you're blackmailing me," Helena said. She couldn't afford it anyways, not without skipping a meal or two. "You have to though, if I win you still give me money." Which was fair, she thought, he was blackmailing her after all.