One
Damn, this is embarassing. Two hours... TWO HOURS I've known this girl, and I've spent the last hour and a half staring at her! The woman herself, bless her heart, laughs off each time my amber eyes fall across some part of her body. "Aren't you jus' the cutest thing..." She would often say as the carriage drug on, the sounds of the Rapidash's hooves clikity clacking against the cobblestone path as we continue on. A wooden door behind my head opens and I crane my neck to see Jessyca's eyes appear in the small slit.
"Mistress, there seems to be a roadblock ahead. Should I go around or try to drive through?" Xenobia thought for a moment before responding.
"What's the origin of tha' crowd?" Jessyca smiled, evident by the 'che' that she uttered.
"Fans, m'lady." She responded, her eyes scan the interior if the carriage. Xenobia thought for a moment. "I would advise against exiting the carriage in your present state, m'lady." Xenobia looked herself over and nodded.
"You know best, dea'. Did you pack my extra dress?" Even through the small slit, I could recognize the subtle head motions of a bow.
"Of course, m'lady. Mistress Fifty Four is sitting on it." Reacting, I stood up as Xenobia reached over to my seat and lifted it up, a long, flowing black lace gown within. The carriage was tall enough for her to stand to her full five foot eight and redress, her bathing suit serving well-enough for underwear, since she didn't actually get a chance to swim. "Also, m'lady, I would suggest taking either Lizbeth or Chelsea with you. You know how your fans can get rather... rabid." Xenobia, now dressed in a very elegant black dress, her already fairly slender waist slimmed farther by the addition of a corset, which also served to press her breasts up higher.
"I would agree, dea'. Fifty Four, dahlin', would you please accompany me to speak with mah fans?" She offers me her hand, her long, lithe fingers both inviting and frightening at the same time, her perfectly manicured nails glistening off the sliver of light coming from the small crack in the blinds. I nodded and took her hand, wrapping my ruby hands around her alabaster ones, her skin cool to the touch. Pushing the carriage door open, she stepped out into the noonday sun, the very rays from the sun itself almost refusing to touch her pale visage. I followed her out, still hand in hand with her, and looked about, the crowd that Jessyca mentioned was hoarded around the wrought iron gate near the entrance to a beautifully-decorated manor atop a hill in the near distance. "Jessyca, dea', please go around the back. We'll meet ya inside." Jessyca nodded and ushered the Pokemon on, taking a small path through the forest. "Stay close to me, Fifty Four, dahlin'. These dea's could get a li'l overzeaouls." Nodding and reafirming my grip on her hand, the pair of us continued towards the crowd.
"What's goin' on hea'? Are ya'll waitin' on li'l ol' me?" The majority of the crowd turned at Xenobia's voice, some of the girl shrieking and the men cheering. She slowly started towards them, pushing a few of the girls away, smiling and nodding to the occasional one. One hand stretched out, her fingers interlacing with the hand of another girl, who shrieked in joy and fainted dead away in the crowd. I watched this rather pathetic display through my unending stare, my blue hair tugged on by the stiff wind on the trail. 'Overzealous' didn't even begin to cover it. With this simple guesture, the entire crowd exploded into speech, words that were too mushed together for anyone to make head or hide of. They very quickly closed in, crushing myself against Xenobia, the girl's grunts letting me know she was getting uncomfortable with the arrangement. "Fifty Four, dea'... I'm havin' a might bit trouble breathin'... I don' suppose you could do something, could you, dahlin'?" Someone's errant fist bashing me in the back of the head accidentally set me off.
"ENOUGH!" I shouted, shoving a group of people away, the entire group backing up several steps, giving us plenty of room to move. "You rabid freaks are CHOKING us!" I could see Xenobia taking a breath, her hand removing itself from my own, finding it's way around her neck.
"Thank you, dea'. Ladies an' gentlemen, Ah'd like ta introduce you to mah friend, Fifty Four. She's going to be making sure ah survive these days." She gave me a little side hug, tugging me farther into her dress as we started up the path, through the gate, and up to the house eventually. As we entered the house, Jessyca was sifting through the mail, her face smiling as she saw us.
"Did you enjoy the crowd, m'lady?" She asked with a grin, throwing another envelope onto a pile.
"They were a bit crazy." Xenobia responded, looking out the window as she closed the blinds. As she sighed and retreated, I noted another change in her voice. "Crazy sons of bitches. Just about strangled Fifty Four and I." She hugged me as I stared in disbelief.
"Getting out of character a bit earlier then usual, m'lady." Jessyca smiled, handing the girl a stack of letters.
"I know." She responded, her accent gone now. "But after today, I just want to be myself for a change..." She turned to me and smiled, this smile a more cocky, happy-go-lucky smile then the soft, caring, regal one she showed upon me so many times earlier. Holding a hand out, she offered it in greetings. "I apologize for the slight confusion, but this is really me. Xenobia Dark."
"Who's the 'Darche`' personality, then?" I find myself asking as I absentmindedly shake her hand. Opening the parasol, she begins to detach the Ultraballs she has dangling there, and releasing the Pokemon from them one at a time.
"Xenobia Darche` is just what you saw. She's a more regal version of myself. I doubt if the people of Veilstone knew the real me, they'd be as calm and collected around me." I blink.
"Say what?"
"Royalty, my dear Fifty Four, commands a considerably higher percentage of respect then the 'rabble' of the peasantry. If they knew I was really just... this? A girl who likes to play dress up and live out a fantasy life? Oh, man, I'd have NO free time to myself." Popping her knuckles and wrists, I could see that this facade she keeps up on, what I could only assume to be a day-to-day basis, must be an extreme drain on her; both mentally and physically. The girl then looked at me with a strange, almost sickly amused smile. "Hey... Fifty Four? Do you... uhm... wanna meet the Third Xenobia?"
"Third Xenobia?" I asked, one blue eyebrow piqued very much in curiosity. Jessyca laughed at this as she started running a few letters through a shredder.
"There are three faces Mistress wears. The first is the Black Baroness of Veilstone, Xenobia Darche`. The second is the Mistress' true personality, Xenobia Dark... and the third is a Masked Battler."
"Masked Battler? What's that?" I asked, genuinly curious about this 'masked battle'.
"You don't know!?"
"Uhm... Amnesia? Hello?" I responded holding both hands out, laying my predicament on the table. Xenobia inhaled sharply and made an 'ah!' sound as she seemed to ready herself for an explination.
"About three years ago, a bunch of nerds got together and said to themselves 'Pokemon battles aren't thrilling enough!' They're adrenaline factories, sure... but only to the two Trainers who are participating. With anyone else, they're just glorified sports matches... and not spectator sports, either. So these nerds sat down and tried to think up a way to spice Pokemon battles up for the crowd, as well as the Trainers and their Pokemon. They're idea was have the Trainers and their Pokemon dress up in ridiculous costumes, think up names and back stories for these fictional characters, and have massive exposition combat matches about twice a week. The idea hit the Sinnoh region like a truck, and Masked Battling has been the latest craze since then. I got into it about two years ago, and let me tell you IT IS AWESOME!" The more she spoke about this subject, the more of the quiet, dignified lady facade crumbled, replaced by the raving fan girl that I could only imagine was REALLY Xenobia.
"Hmmmm..." Jessyca muttered as she saved one letter from the shredder, one she must have previously passed over.
"Hold here, Fifty Four, I need to go get my costume on. You'll LOVE this." She ran off towards a massive set of double stairs in the center of the hall, sprinting up towards her room to get changed.
"Mistress does enjoy her Masked Battles. So do the people." Having a few moments of alone time with Jessyca, I decided to get a few things off my chest.
"Jessyca... can I ask a few questions?"
"Of course, Mistress. Ask anything of me you wish."
"G'eeeh..." I started, unsure how to word this. "Why... does she make you call her 'mistress'?" The girl blinked twice as she sat the salvaged letter onto the table.
"She doesn't." She answered simply, sitting upon the rather lavish couch, her hands folded on her lap as though she were born a servant. I was just about to follow that up with 'why do you, then', when she beat me to it. "As to WHY I address Mistress as such... well..." She inhaled, seeming to channel a whole different person. "When Mistress Xenobia and I met... I was a poor, starving girl on the streets of Heartholme City. I would do whatever it took to survive day by day. Street-side entertainment when the police wouldn't break that up... begging. I even stole more times then I'd care to admit. One day, I saw a rich-looking putz walking about Heartholme like they owned the place... I hated people like that. Those who were so rich they practically sneezed money; they always spat on the degenerates like me. I moved in to try to swipe this one's wallet but... I was caught."
"It was Xenobia, wasn't it?" She nodded.
"She caught me with my hand in her purse, took a firm, yet gentle grip on my hand and looked at me with these cold... but caring eyes. She said to me 'Would asking hurt that much?'" Jessyca sighed and turned away. "I was so ashamed that this girl told me all I had to do was ask and she would feed me. I... I couldn't do it. I wrenched my hand from her grip and fled... anywhere to get away from that face."
She paused a moment, reaching into the front pocket of her dress, taking out a small silver coin. She turned it over slowly as she seemed lost in her own thoughts for a time, collecting the events that transpired next, filing them in proper chronological order, so I could make sense of them.
"The next day, as I slowly woke from the pitiful excuse for sleep I could get in that cardboard box, I found this beautiful, pale face staring back at me. It was Xenobia... the same girl from yesterday. This time, though... instead of the beautiful, regal dress she wore the day before... she was dressed in rags, just like me. An old, unwashed shirt, a torn skirt and socks that were clearly a banquet for moths. At first, I thought she was mocking me. I got... so angry! How DARE she mock my situations! What did she know!?" She calmed down from her pseudo-rage. "... Then I realized exactly why she was here. She didn't come to my home, dressed like I was because she wanted to mock me... but because that was what she came from. We sat and talked for a while, the poor girl from Heartholme, and the rich Baroness from Veilstone... and I realized she wasn't too much different from me. She asked why I felt I had to resort to thievery to survive... I told her I didn't have anyone to rely on. I didn't have any skills I could use to get better in life... She stood dusted herself off, and offered me her hand. Do you know what she said, Fifty Four?" I shook my head, enthralled by the conversation.
"She said 'You're not alone. You don't have to be. Not anymore. Come with me.' So I did. I took her hand, she got me cleaned up, a nice place to live, clothes on my back, three meals in my stomach every day... She was my angel, my Mistress of Hope. In exchange for all the kindness she's showered upon me... she only asks that I smile once for her every day... and tell her good morning. So I do her one better. I smile at least once an hour for her. In the morning, I wish her a good one; in the afternoon, I tell her what a beautiful day it is; in the evening I tell her that the night is still young, and finally; at night as she's getting ready for bed, I give her a hug and wish her sweet dreams. I could easily call her 'Xenobia', 'Ma'am', or even 'you'. But to me, she's not a normal woman. To me, she IS my Mistress of Hope. My Lady of Mercy; and I'll address her accordingly." I blinked a few times from her story.
"I..." I sighed, feeling like a great idiot from how my question came off. "I'm sorry about that."
"No no... don't be sorry, Mistress Fifty Four. If one doesn't ask... one will never know." Before I could answer this, there came the sound of a door handle opening, the hinges giving a light squeek as they were pushed open. My eyes looked up to the stairs as the strangest sight befell my eyes.
Descending the stairs comes a tall figure dressed head-to-toe in blackened plate mail armor, the kettle helmet on the figure's head decorated with a frightening visage of what appeared to be some ancient Pokemon long since deceased. Large pauldrons accented the armor, giving the already menacing figure an even more imposing silhouette. A long, flowing black cape draped across it's back as it's left hand set lazily upon on blackened longsword at it's side, the weapon itself more intimidating then the figure carrying it.
"What... the... hell...?"
"Looks pretty freakin' cool, huh?" Came Xenobia's voice from the kettle helm, a metal hand reaching up to remove the headpiece, Xenobia's grinning face revealed beneath, her long purple hair rolled into a bun at the top of her head.
"What... is that, Xenobia?"
"No no... I'm not Xenobia. I'm Black Steel." I turned to Jessyca to get some kind of explanation, but she just smiled and pointed to Xeno- I mean, Black Steel.
"Just listen. Her story's the best." Xenobia tucked the helmet under her unused arm, slowly walking down the stairs to the couches Jessyca and I were seated upon.
"My name is Black Steel. I was born fifteen hundred years ago in the region you now call 'Sinnoh'. I fought the forces of the Endless Night for fifteen years, stemming the flow of lies they spread throughout the land. However... the Endless Night had one last tick up their evil sleeve. As I was to deliver the final blow to their leader, her pleaded to allow me one last wish. Foolishly, I allowed it. With a powerful spell, the villian opened a portal and cast me inside, sending me fifteen hundred years into the future; your time." She paused for a slight breath. "I can only return to my own time when I find and slay the reincarnation of the Endless Night, and return peace to this land."
"That's awesome." I stated simply, still looking over her in all her armored glory.
"Yea, you're only getting to see like... half my act. Pyroclasm, one of the Rapidash's that pulled our carriage here, we get her dressed up in all sorts of pretty regalia and I ride into the stadium on her. My act is to die for."
"While you have the costume on, m'lady... I have a few things I think you'd like to see... or at least a few things that might peak Black Steel's interest." Xenobia nodded, throwing the helmet back onto her head, reaching over to take the letters from Jessyca (who had taken the liberty to slice the tops open already), pulling the folded sheet of paper from within. Upon unfolding the letter, I could almost see the smile on Xenobia's face; even through the helmet.
"Most Honorable Black Steel..." Xenobia began. "The Masked Battle Commission of Sinnoh would like to extend to you a most prestigious offer. We are about two weeks from opening our Johto Branch of the Masked Battle Commission, and would love nothing more then to have a famous Masked Battler such as you be our Mistress of Ceremonies, and participate in an exhibition match between the illustrious Lust and Envy..." She trailed off, nodding.
"I've heard little of Lust and Envy, Mistress. All I have heard, however, is good. They are a good team." Black Steel nodded.
"...Should you accept our invitiation, please find a ticket enclosed for you and two of your closest friends to ride the S.S. Aquarius from Canalave City in the Sinnoh Region, to Olivine City in the Johto Region. If you would like to attend, please send a message to the Chairman of the Sinnoh Masked Battle Commission at your earliest convenience. Signed Chairman Alex Gillus, Head of the Masked Battle Commission, Sinnoh Region. Signatures and all."
"Well, Mistress? Shall Black Steel be in attendance?" The kettle helm jostled as Xenobia gave a laugh.
"I would be foolish to turn this honor down. I shall attend." Jessyca smiled and nodded.
"I'll be sure to send a message to the MBC posthaste; and... one more thing for you, m'lady." She reached across once more and handed Xenobia another letter, this one considerably less formal. "It's from a Delia Ketchem in Pallet Town..."
"Pallet Town... that's Kanto, yes?" Jessyca nodded as Xenobia turned to the letter. "Baroness Xenobia Darche` of Veilstone City. I understand that, it is through you, I can get in contact with the Masked Battler Black Steel... As you may not have known, my son loved all things Pokemon and, in his short life, always tried to watch your battles. Now that he is gone, I would like to ask if Black Steel could find it within her heart to attend Ash's funeral. It would mean the world to me if she could even make a short appearance. His funeral is scheduled for..." She trailed off as she read a date, quickly picking up the first letter, checking the date there. "Four days between the child's funeral and the opening..." She trailed off for a moment, looking up in thought. "Ash Ketchem... why does that name sound familiar."
"The young boy who has spent the last eight years in coma, Mistress. He was pulled out a few months ago, but died very recently due to complications. He was a fan of yours, apparently."
"It would be cruel of me to turn down an appearance at the boy's funeral. Jessyca, pen a letter to the boy's mother and inform her that I would be more then honored that she would ask me to attend, and be sure to assure her that I shall be there, if for no other reasons then to pay my respects to a life taken too soon." Jessyca nodded and stood.
"At once, m'lady."
"If we are to make it, however, we will have to leave fairly soon, within the next day."
"I shall begin packing for you, m'lady, once I finish this letter."
"Don't bother, Jessyca. I shall pack for myself." She stood and looked me over. "Come, my dear Fifty Four. Let us see if we cannot find something that will fit you."
"Thank you. I was beginning to wonder if you two were going to just leave me naked." I heard a little chuckle come from Xenobia's mouth behind the helmet.
"Aaaawww, but it suits you so well."