Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital

"Smartly! That's what I've been saying-wait, huh? Helena? What are you talking about...how long have you been standing there?"

All this talking about conspiracies had Salieri too wired to remember that she was horny. She wondered how long Helena was listening to her talk with Zack and Benedict. Then she wondered how long Zack had been listening to her talk with Ben. She still wasn't sure how long Ben had been listening to her talk with Mia before. Had Matheson secretly been listening to her talk with Mia but didn't speak up because Ben talked first? Sal checked her sides to see if anyone else she knew was going to turn the corner.

"Two's company, three's a crowd, I don't know what four is but it's too much for here." Her eyes lit up with an epiphany and she pointed up, looking to everybody with confidence in her idea. "Who wants to move this talk to the roof?"  

[Marsuru]

((Goddamn conspiracy episode, dude. So good))

Cyllage City Hospital

'Helena's got a point. She never does anything stupid or dangerous, you should all listen to her.' Zack said with vague sarcasm.

'And screw you, One Shot. You're only suggesting that cause I'm on a crutch.' He paused and glanced over his shoulder, then grinned. 'Well you know what? I don't even need it.' Zack stood upright, and to prove his point he lifted the crutch off the floor and didn't fall over. 'I traded it for some painkillers. Instant disguise. Anyway, yeah let's go.'  

[Klarp Glornharm]

"So instead of being passive aggressive, we can try hearing her out." Benedict replied with a shrug. He would glance over to Sal, then, and nod at her suggestion.

The roof was as good as it was gonna get, as far as going somewhere inconspicuously. The group of them all going off somewhere would make them obvious to anyone who was watching Zack and Sal, so minimizing the distance was for the best.

"The roof it is."  

[Spinne Biss]

Cyllage City Hospital

"Sounds great to me," Helena said after rolling her eyes at Zack's comment.

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

"So you honestly went after Ratio?" Helena said once everyone was present and accounted for on the roof. She turned to look at Salieri and Zack, ignoring Benedict, whom she didn't know.

Helena recalled Ratio's name spoken by Aliana, the events of the Glittering Cave clear in her mind. "You know how easily he could kill you, right?"  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

It was windy on the hospital's emergency helipad. Salieri put her hands in her pockets. She almost gave Zack a look as if all this was his fault, but she had decided to go in on her own volition. So instead, she shrugged.

"Yeah." Sal pointed back and forth between herself and Zack. "We got the message...I'm guessing you don't want in on the next round."  

[Marsuru]

'Of course she doesn't,' Zack said. He'd tossed his borrowed crutch into an uninhabited sideroom on his way past, and now stood with his arms folded. It was goddamn freezing on the rooftop, even in the summer sun, since paper-thin hospital clothes provided around zero protection against the wind. Zack didn't let it show though.

'And yeah, we went after him.' Zack glanced at Salieri for a moment before continuing. 'Some noblewoman said she'd pay me if I did. She said her name was Elizabeth Leroux, and Ratio had killed her father. Next thing I know One Shot over here is telling me Ratio's at Route 10 so that was that.

'It was going to be a lot of money, Helena. Enough to solve all our problems.'  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

Salieri did a double take between the two Redgraves. "You were gonna get paid!?" Now Zack's actions were starting to make more sense. "If we get him, I get half." Her eyes flickered to Benedict. "I mean thirty three percent."  

[Spinne Biss]

"You want to talk about our problems, Zack?" Helena's voice took a more serious tone to it as she stared him down, looking him straight in the eyes. "Dad's gone, Mom's going to need help for the rest of her life, you're trying to get yourself killed and as for Ratio? He wants me to join him. How is money going to solve any of that?"

Then she shot Salieri a glare. "There isn't going to be a next time, Salieri. Ratio is hands-off."  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

Salieri was amused by Helena's attempts to intimidate her. Last time she checked, Helena hardly had her own party up to speed. Sal barely took Zack seriously and he was supposed to be the tough one of the sibling pair. "Let's see, give up on a major lead orrrrr listen to you. Tough call. Okay officer." She crossed her fingers behind her back with fake naivete. "I won't put my hands on did you say Ratio asked you to join him?"

She shifted gears. Now that was something unexpected, for more than the reasons she didn't find Helena intimidating. Salieri was so surprised and unwilling to consider that Helena was strong enough to be Ratio's sidekick that all she could say was "...like on a date?"  

[Marsuru]

'Whether it's a team up or a date, the man's clearly a lunatic,' Zack said, butting in to Salieri's butt-in. 'Helena, all you're doing is listing off reasons for me to put you on a plane home.'  

[Spinne Biss]

"You don't get to decide that," Helena said, ignoring Salieri. "If I'm going home, then it's got to be both of us, together. Ratio didn't kill the two of you, so maybe he won't kill me either. If we go home, if you agree to that, I'll turn him down. But, Zack, if you stay, then I won't have a choice. There's only one way I can keep you safe, and we both know what that is." She couldn't bring herself to say it, but joining Ratio was the only sure-fire way that she knew of to keep at least one potential killer from hurting her brother.

Then she regarded the karate girl. "Salieri, if you put my brother in danger again, on another one of your suicide trips, I'll kill you." The words would have surprised her, if she hadn't just survived the place between routes fourteen and sixteen. Her own decisions there had surprised her, but they had been necessary to survive. She couldn't say if she could actually bring herself to harm Salieri, but she knew one thing, the girl wasn't going to take her seriously, not without a dramatic flare to things.  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

Salieri dwelled on what Helena was saying and tried to put herself in the Unovan's shoes. For all she knew, Ratio was after Moze in some fashion. Would she bow down to an ultimatum if it was given to her? No, Moze would never want that from her. They made a decision to live free. Salieri couldn't bring herself to believe that Helena's only option was to join Ratio. She would have pointed out the other options, like working together. And she would've told them leaving Kalos wasn't such a bad idea cause the Redgraves were getting on her nerves. She would've said it all, if Helena hadn't just threatened to kill her. Something clicked.

Her mouth turned into an 'O', and Salieri beamed like a kid getting ice cream. "Oh. Ohhhhhh oh oh oh. Oh, did you just threaten me?" She was practically bouncing on her heels, keeping her excitement at bay and not exuding any menace herself. "Please tell me you're being serious. Do you think you could actually take me, Helena? Be honest, c'mon, I need to hear you say it."  

[Marsuru]

'Just shut the ******** up, One Shot. Anyone throws a punch, they're getting off this roof the fast way,' Zack stepped in between Salieri and Helena, holding up his hand. Despite Blissngale's efforts, he was still in bad shape. He doubted he'd be able to fend off a six year old, nevermind these two. Of course, he didn't act like that was the case. He turned his attention to his little sister. 'And you. What the ******** is wrong with you? Are you out of your goddamn mind? You're just casually threatening to kill people now?'

Zack dropped his arm. This is how ridiculous the situation had become: he, Zack Redgrave, was the mediator. 'Fine. If the only way to make you stop acting like a crazy person is to go back home, that's what we'll do. Pack a bag, we can go tonight. Have fun waiting tables the rest of your life.'  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena ignored Salieri again. "I'm acting like a crazy person? How many times have you put your life in danger this week? Over someone you have no business going after? What is with you and this obsession with Ratio? Are you trying to die? I mean, seriously, tell me, Zack, are you suicidal? Because I don't know what to think, and all I can do is worry about what stupid, idiotic thing you'll do next."

She was fuming, she could feel the red in her face. Embarrassment, shame, anger, all caused by confronting Zack, all caused by him talking down to her. Even now, when she was in the right, when he'd screwed up - again.

"And how's Serene, after you almost got her killed? What about the rest of your Pokemon? Are they still breathing? Is there someone else in this hospital that wouldn't be here if not for the two of you? Anyone else you've gotten hurt because you dragged them into this?" Waiting tables for the rest of her life? If Zack couldn't see how that would be infinitely better than explaining to their Mom how Zack had died, she didn't know what else to say to him.

"I'm not the crazy one here, Zack. She is." Helena pointed at Salieri. "And I'm not the idiot, either. That would be you."  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

"Oh SNAP." Salieri snapped her fingers and glanced at Benedict. "They're siblings, if that wasn't obvious." Then she sidestepped Zack so she could look Helena in the eyes again, still smirking. Durendal had a second scar now because she went along with Zack's stupidity. And if she didn't go into Route 10 in the first place, Matheson could've been dead. The guilt of her decision wasn't so heavy with that perspective.

"Hey, you're half right. Your brother's an idiot and you should both leave Kalos while you can. Now, I don't know crazy, but I know karate. Zack, stop kidding yourself before I flick you in the Fire Fang wounds." She said this without looking at him.

"Helena, Helena, Helena." She shook her head. "What happened to 'Lady Redgrave'? Is this her, the tough talking you? I have been waiting for you to think you're so tough. This is like Christmas for me." Sal clapped her hands together. "As much as the two of you leaving Kalos would be the smart idea -which I suggested yesterday- you can't go yet. Helena, you owe me. All this conviction is crap unless you have a backbone. If you and Loki can beat me and Durendal right now, I will never bother your brother about the nobility or Ratio or anything ever again and I will literally leave here with a sock in my mouth. Zack won't have any more of my leads to go on and you can waltz through Kalos thinking you have a shot at being Champion without being so scared of a guy in a cape. If you can't, then bon voyage."