Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Marsuru]

'I have no problem with this.' Zack made his way to the edge of the roof and leant against the wall. 'One Shot versus someone who's barely been training for five days. Seems like a fair fight.'  

[Spinne Biss]

"Fire fang wounds?" Helena practically shouted. Then came Salieri's challenge, and Helena looked at her like she was a crazy person.

"Do you see this, Zack?" She asked, as her brother stepped aside to allow it. "Playing a game over your freedom, over your life? And you're betting against me, and that's not even about whose more likely to win, is it, Zack? It's because you want to stay. You want to know someone else who you've hurt?"

Helena stepped away from Salieri, shaking her head in disgust as she did. She couldn't stand to be near the girl. "Me, and not just my feelings, and not just any confidence I've had in myself while I've been here. I went to that cave because of you. Your Pokemon would have died without me, but that's not the worst part Zack. I saw Ratio there, I met him there. I watched him kill people, and if you hadn't gone there, and if I hadn't followed you, he never would have met me, and I wouldn't be in this mess."

Helena did release Loki, but it wasn't to fight. "You're staying here, Zack, until you're rested up to move. None of that fake pain killer bullshit either. Heal up, and then we leave. You know what happens if you don't."

Then she regarded Salieri, staring her down with a glare on her face. "And I'm not fighting you. We're not rivals, and this isn't a kids game. The last time we spoke, you were scared. You wanted my help, because you were afraid that you were going to die. You know, deep down, this isn't how you need to do this. You both know, the only way you fight through this is by being as strong as someone like Ratio, as cold, and as ruthless. You want to do some real good? There's an oil field between routes fourteen and sixteen," she shot Zack a glance, "yeah, I went there and survived it, how's that for five days?" then she looked back to Salieri.

"It's owned by Julien Nostrad. Do the world some real good and expose that, instead of making more people victims on your way to becoming one yourself."

She gestured to Loki and, unless somebody stopped her, she'd be gone.  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

Salieri could hardly contain her excitement when Helena released Loki, as if she was still talking to Mia about Matheson. He's a Kadabra now, perrrrrfect. When it turned out that Loki wasn't out for a battle, Salieri pouted her way through Helena's spiel. It was all things she'd heard before, about reason before revenge and blah blah blah, so she tuned it out. The girl who wanted to work with an assassin to stop her brother from going after the same assassin was not the person she would be taking advice from. Then Helena told her about the oil field and she thought it over. "That's not a bad idea...hey, hold on."

Sal stepped forward before Helena Teleported away. The smirk was gone, now that she couldn't fight. Once again, she was serious. "How does Ratio get in contact with you? I need to know about him. Whisper it if you don't want Zack to know."  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena gestured for Loki to wait.

"I'm not helping you commit suicide," Helena said. Her look of disdain for Salieri didn't change. "As much as I don't like you, I don't want you to get hurt, and I don't want you dead."

Helena crossed her arms. "You want to know how strong he is? Tyrant's my strongest Pokemon, and he beat it in under five seconds. That's him being casual. Let me guess, it took your whole team just to survive being within proximity of him and his Arcanine, right? And you still lost. It would take you decades, Salieri, give it up."  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

Salieri sighed, looking disappointed. She already knew how strong Ratio was, why did everyone keep thinking she didn't? She was the one who wanted to play it cool on Route 10. What she wanted to know was something actually useful. Either Helena was withholding that, or she really didn't know anything.

"Cool. Well, if that's all you've got to tell me, bon voyage. I have a suicide club meeting to attend."  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena didn't say another word. This time she didn't have to gesture either, Loki knew. Instead she glared at Salieri, until Loki teleported her away.  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

"Well. That sucked. Your sister's got League Madness, Zack." Salieri faced Benedict, who she assumed was overwhelmed with the family drama and her own smack talking, and Zack. "...You're not really leaving Kalos, are you?"  

[Marsuru]

Helena wasn't coping very well, that was for sure. Zack stayed quiet as she ranted. He hadn't been around much during his days as a trainer; mostly he was either at school or off travelling, seeing Helena for only a couple weeks at a time. Did she really not know her own brother? And when had she decided she was capable of keeping him safe? He pushed off the wall as she disappeared.

She had seen only a fraction of the world since becoming a trainer, so of course someone like Ratio would blow Helena's mind. He wanted her to join him? That certainly fit in with his bullshit during their battle. But why? What benefit would an unstable, overly-emotional sixteen year old girl provide?

Wait. Oh no. 'Ratio wants to bang my sister.'

Zack's eyes opened wide at the realisation, and his fingers went white as he clutched the wall. That son of a b***h. Salieri was saying something, and Zack shook his head as if it would make unwanted thoughts fly out of his ears. He took a second to respond.

'No. Uh, probably not. You heard her, she's off being a nutcase. I'll have to fix that first.' Zack coughed into his fist. 'You, uh, you guys hungry? I feel like there's a hole in my gut.'  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Benedict absorbed every word that was said, with no guarantee that he'd actually remember it all. The revelations, he kept his face straight through, and in the end, he found himself watching as Helena vanished and the other two started off whatever new conversation this was going to be.

"Well. Go team, we've managed to scare off the one lead to Ratio and his motives we had." Benedict said at last, ignoring Zack's comment about food. "That was about the only peaceful way that we could have gotten information on him. Nonspecific stuff she might have been willing to share."

He glanced between the two then. Helena's lead was by far the easiest step of them, or the easiest sounding. Prove that land belonged to a noble, not that he was sure he could think of how that would help. "So that leaves us with her lead, your pirate, and your brother." Part of him wondered if that girl was going to join this Ratio, actually join him. Saying it out loud wouldn't be a good move with Zack there, but that might actually be a good thing, having someone near him that might be able to share things with them. Even something as simple as where not to go.

"But that's just for Sal's mission. Wherever we decide to make a plan, here or eating, we have to decide something if we're actually gonna work together. What are we out there trying to do? We have to know exactly what, or any alliance won't last longer than the first disagreement."  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Hospital - Roof

"My brother's off the table," Salieri reflexively snapped, quickly giving Benedict an apologetic look after. "My bad." She closed her eyes and pinched her brow. As much as Sal found herself unable to decide which Redgrave she currently disliked more, Helena was their best or only real lead to Ratio. They should have talked her down. If she had been a kid in Gotengo, Salieri would have dealt out diplomacy instead of taunts. All of the sudden she was gladder then ever that Benedict was there, a buffer in the face off the meltdown.

"Okay, we have three leads. The oil field, Skarada...and the Mega Stone one of Zack's Pokémon picked up on Route 10." She opened her eyes. "But you're right, Ben, we need to figure out our next move. I'm not used to having options, I've been grasping at straws for so long...and really, it's kind of obvious what our next move is, isn't it? There's only one real option, everything else sounds like a risk. I don't know if it's the same for you Ben, you know how it is around here. But I think I see it."

Sal pointed down the street corner at a bistro. "That place is the closest one that looks good to me, everything else is all granola or a chain. You guys see it? We should eat there, talk about what we should do."  

[Marsuru]

'Well good job saying something when you had the chance,' Zack said to Benedict. He doubted they could've talked Helena down from her rant. She'd gotten it in her head that she was right and no amount of reasonable discussion would change that. Still, Benedict had been standing right there the whole time, and was only willing to offer input now that things had calmed down.

Spineless? Yellowback? The Silent Passenger? He'd have to think of a nickname later.

'But whatever. I'm open to anywhere that does a decent steak. Let's go.'  

[Klarp Glornharm]

"I thought you had it, her being your sister and all." But then, Benedict was the first to admit he wasn't the person with the most sibling experience. So maybe her being his sister didn't actually mean anything?

He glanced to Sal, and nodded. "There works."

*******************

Cyllage: That Bistro Place Sal Pointed At

"Alright, so goals." Benedict said at last, once they were all situated in the place that Sal had pointed to. "What can we all agree needs to be done? The Horses are probably one thing we can agree needs to be dealt with, at least."  

[Jump Einatz]

Cyllage City Bistro

The bistro was plain but pleasant for a good meal, appealing enough that it was near full at dinner time. The trio had a table at the window, and Sal had a steak in front of her. "The hunters hunt the darkhorses. We'll be the horses if we get enough badges," she said, pointing to herself and Benedict with her fork. "It's the hunters we need to deal with, but they're all unknowns. The one name I have is the one Darkhorse Hunter who might be public, her name's Alanza Taine. Mia's looking into her."

Sal cut into her steak, leaning forward and getting quieter. "Ratio was on Route 10 for those Mega Stones. I'm betting he fought Team Flare for them. So there are people who will kill for Mega Stones. And we have one." She practically whispered the last part and nodded to Zack. "You can't let the wrong people see it. If we can figure out why they want the stones, maybe we can figure out what they'll do next." Sal paused, and took a bite of her steak. "But I barely know a thing about Mega Evolution."

All her teacher ever told her was what she told Benedict: Mega Evolutions were powered up forms, and required tools to initiate. She had been interested in that power once, but the search for Mega and Key Stones was something she wasn't willing to cut into training time for. Until now. "Skarada was on Route 10 for the stones too. I don't know why he's in Kalos, but we need to be on the look out for him. Either he'll lead us to answers or he'll try to complete the collection he stole. These stones are like lightning rods for psychos."

It was all intel to gather, research to do. Salieri thought things were simpler when all she had to do was find a guy and smash things. "There is one solid move I think we should make. There's supposed to be a journalist at the Lumiose Press, Alexa Norvath, who tackles the issues people are too afraid to talk about. She doesn't back down from threats and she gets the real story. I read her piece on the Invasion of Orre...so sad..." Sal lost herself in a swoon for a second, then realigned. "Anyway, I don't know her myself, but I have this friend Esme who might be able to get us a meeting with Alexa."

Salieri went back to her dinner. Food always tasted better when your body was stitching itself back up. "Not a bad first move, right?"  

[Marsuru]

'A meeting? A meeting about what? You can't just tell a journalist your conspiracy theories and expect them to write an article. You'd need some kind of proof.' Zack attacked his steak as he spoke, as if he wasn't sure it was quite dead. It'd soon been reduced to squares of meet drenched in peppercorn sauce. He stopped sawing for a second. 'Didn't you say you recorded yourself interrogating that darkhorse hunter?'

Zack popped a chunk of steak into his mouth and started to chew, ignoring the passersby who regarded his hospital clothes with odd looks.  

[Jump Einatz]

At Zack's question, Salieri choked on a piece of steak. She forgot she let it slip to Zack that there was a recording of her interrogation. One that didn't paint her in the best light.

"Th-that recording's just insurance that The Sniper won't bother me again," she sputtered, forcing her food down her throat. Faust had been so in the dark about Nicolette Nostrad's Darkhorse Hunting system that he didn't even know who he was working with. It was all speculation. Nothing substantial to give to a reporter. Sal recorded it for blackmail purposes only.

"I think we should tip off Alexa about Jullien Nostrad's oil field. Let's be honest. Do you guys want to trek between routes through a no-trespassers zone just to see a mechanical travesty, or do you want to leave that part up to the professionals? Alexa can get the story if we give her the push, it's her job. We can pass this lead on to someone who can do something with it. Helena dropped this ball in our hands, lets pass it on."

Sal leaned back. "I'm not a journalist, okay? We heard about this oil field like twenty minutes ago, we're not exactly credible. This isn't our story to tell."