Voir-Dire : To Speak the Truth

Sequel to Savoir-Faire: To Know and To Do.

An LLS Production

Prologue : Entrée en vigueur

Rain cascaded down upon the Lavarre Nature Trail. The wings of the Vivillon that Théo Martin had been tracking flickered in the filtered sunlight. Cheerfully, the Backpacker held up his camera, carefully clicking the shutter before the Vivillon took to the skies.

"Eh ben, a Jungle Pattern!" he pronounced with glee as the digital interface flashed to his picture. His eyes narrowed as the rain poured down, his focus upon the spread of the Vivillon's digital wings. "Hold on, this is a Garden Pattern- why is it holding a camera?"

He never saw it flying towards him; the jingle made his head lift up and the sharpened blades caught his eyelids. It struck with a jangle and inhuman fierceness, slashing his face into ribbons and scoring it with scratches. He screamed, gurgling as he tried to run from the metallic menace.

Locks shimmered into existence over him, clicking shut as he blinked through shredded eyelids and a giant teeth-filled mouth descended upon him.

Chomp.

Then a flash went off, and yelling started in the distance.

Gilles Moreau had been just another Trainer with an unknown past moving to Lumiose City. Today, exactly eight years to the day that the Anistar native had moved, he found himself turned onto the floor by his Pokémon.

"Seriously?!" He yelled, leaping to his feet to meet the red gaze. "Sybil!"

I'm hungry.

"You have psychic powers," Gilles told her. "You're a freaking Meowstic!"

Her imperious gaze deepened. The tuft of blue hair on her scalp waved. Make me food, peon. It tastes better from you.

"I'll start after…" he trailed off, staring at the clock. "Oh, come on! It's not even six yet! Guignol, get off the table!"

"Ne, ne!" Guignol complained. The Mime Jr. bounced from its position on Gilles' bedside table, knocking over the alarm clock as it began to ring.

The purple-haired man scowled as it rang, and rang, and made an angry motion with one hand as he turned on one heel, the Mime Jr. held carefully in his hand. "Azelf give me strength, fine."

The ensuing silence was broken only by the warbling of the baby Pokémon. Something of a fog must have descended, for Gilles found himself moving through the morning routine of feeding two Pokémon and tuning the Holo Caster to Kalos Radio. The boiling kettle on the stove further informed him that he was missing some parts of his morning routine when it was joined by Kalos Radio cutting off into the dial of an incoming call.

Gilles grimaced, pressing the receive option on the holographic screen. "Allô?"

"Gilles?"

He sat up at the feminine voice that floated through as the holographic image projected a pretty woman with hair cut like purple feathers cascading over her shoulders. The third most terrifying woman that had ever been present in his life was on the line, and he was going to be as alert as he had been back in Anistar. "Marie? I'm not due in today-"

"Gilles, this is worth your overtime," his boss at the Kalos Attorney's Office cut in with a glare. "We got a case at Mélancolie Path. Dead guy, face and body half-chewed. Chewing from we-don't-know was interrupted by a passing Ranger and a passer-by."

"Uh, it's barely six-"

"The police arrested the passer-by. Someone asked for you by name and…" Marie paused. "The people she represent are scary."

Gilles stopped for a moment. "Who's the client?"

"Erm…" Marie paused as the screen swivelled, towards eyes of emerald set in a frame of ebony, the aristocratic youthfulness only emphasised by the shadows of her face.

"Monsieur Moreau."

He swallowed. "Dr du Bois. Erm… you're my client?"

"I am speaking on behalf of your future client as her guardian. You would have known the girl as Léa Morelle if not for my intervention."

"Morelle? You mean Bastiquois Cinq, that Morelle?!" he demanded as the news sank in. "Madame du Bois, I cannot take this client, this is too risky. I specialise in cases involving the Tripartite, not Kiloude City's five families."

"She was the passer-by," Dr du Bois leant into the screen. "I contacted you precisely because it was a Tripartite case. You must defend her, because she is being set up."

"I don't understand," Gilles spoke.

"Come," she entreated, albeit as an order. "You will know then."

Gilles stared as the screen winked out. He sighed, preparing a Thermos flask of Occa preparation. Guignol was tucked under one arm, and Sibyl combed her fur to walk demurely behind him as the ring of keys jangled.

What does she want?

"A case involving the Maison de Morelle," Gilles shook his head, jangling the keys until they floated in the air above the palm of his hand. "And they want Lumiose City's only psychic attorney to defend the Morelle heiress."

I found myself circling Voir-Dire several times, especially its concept. Things got stale and terribly uninspiring. Since I have a fondness for mysteries, I decided to turn it into a murder-mystery, set in Lumiose. Most likely, the story would involve discussions of some aspects of Kalos, especially its pseudo-aristocratic culture.

Critiquez, s'il vous plaît!