The first thing Shine did when Accendare landed was topple over to the ground and throw up. His head swam, his face felt like it was melting, and his whole body generally felt unpleasant. At that time, he didn't want to think about Curio, about Tony back home, about Bauble or anybody else. He didn't even want to think about himself. He locked himself up in his little bubble, only burst by the presence of Accendare and Adele beside him.
"Oh dear," Accendare exclaimed. "Are you alright there? I wasn't that bad, was I?"
Shine didn't answer.
"Man, the trip really took the wind out of your sails, huh?" Adele said. "Hold on, I might be able to help you."
Shine's mouth was filled with a bitter tang as he ingested some sort of liquid. He didn't know what it was, but after a moment, coherent thoughts started to form again, and after that, he felt the haze over his body clear up. Shine looked up at Adele with a weary expression.
"Thank you," he said.
"Don't mention it. First timers usually get sick, although most first timers don't usually opt for a Dragonite. Can you stand?"
He slowly got to his feet and tried to stretch, but after such a long ride, his legs wobbled and he was back on the floor again.
"Well, this is embarrassing," he said.
"Oh tosh," she said, "With that sort of speed, it's no wonder you're be tuckered out! Don't worry, it'll pass if you get a lil' rest."
He tried his best to smile. "I'll be fine from here on out then."
"In that case, take care, and don't forget our agreement now!"
"I promise I won't."
"Hold on Shine!" Accendare chimed in. "Can I join in with Petri's lesson as well?"
"I don't see why not."
"Thank you!" she said with a smile before flapping her wings again. Adele waved him goodbye and with one flick of her wrist, Accendare took off again, blasting him in the face with wind.
When Shine eventually came to, he looked to his surroundings and recognised he was standing in a park populated by very few people who were already looking his direction. Aside from a wooden stage big enough for a band, he found little out of the ordinary. He looked further into the distance and past a surrounding cluster of trees, there were cottages and wooden houses that snaked up a series of hills, topped with the windmill featured in Curio's photo at the centre. He ignored the townsfolk that looked at him and paced around idly, trying to reorient himself with the sensation of walking and to figure out where he could ask around. His first thought was to find the town square, and maybe a tourist centre if there was one.
In his journey down the paths of Dendemille, Shine had walked out the stiffness in his joints. On the way there, magnolias, cherry blossoms and red maple glided down in a mixture of white, pink, and red, while the scent of vanilla gently wafted in the air. Being in the middle of it all eased Shine's nerves from the ride, and the nausea cleared up soon after.
After going straight down the paths, he found the main square and upon entering the plaza, the presence seemed different from what he was used to in Ambrette. Even though he was in the centre of town, the area was less densely populated, and whereas there was always activity from the coastal Pokémon flying in and the amount of tourists the town gathered during summertime, he found Dendemille more or less beat to the tune of its own drum. He saw many older trainers drift in and out of the plaza, dressed in plain-clothes or overalls, with their farming Pokémon almost as tall as them by their side.
A dozen of market stalls were open in the centre, most of which were run by trainers with different assortments of items, farmers with their crops or fresh meat, while two of the others sat quietly at the end: a hex maniac selling Moomoo Milk and a trader under a tent with makeshift shelves of books surrounding him.
He was the first person Shine could think of to ask about Curio's whereabouts. Perhaps on instinct, as someone he expected was well read probably had the most information about local affairs. He padded over to the tent, glancing over to the shelves to see if there was anything interesting he could look up later back home, and sniffed at the air. Old paper.
"'Lo there," the trader said, "I've not hidden any meat in those books, though I do have a treat if you're hungry."
"No thank you," Shine said, bowing, "Do you have any time to spare?"
The trader smiled.
"Course I do, not much happening here, mind you. You're the first interestin' thing I've seen all week, so I'm chuffed to help out any well spoken Pokémon."
"Have you seen a Lucario with a metal arm around here?"
"You mean Curio?" the trader asked, scratching his balding head. Shine nodded in reply. "Can't say I 'ave, but I've heard many rumours about her walking the town." He knelt down and picked up his own copy of The Regional Roundup, leafing through the paper. "Some folks at the pub said she followed 'em in the streets at night and spoke with them, though they were hammered when it happened so it's probably a bunch of crap."
Shine grew wide eyed. 'Was she seriously talking to drunkards in the street? Even if she was precocious, after all those years of etiquette training, didn't she know it wasn't wise to talk to strangers like that? Wait, isn't that what I'm doing though?' The trainer cackled, interrupting his thoughts.
"Dunno how to react, do ya?"
"No no no, I just don't know if I should be surprised or not, knowing her."
"So you're an old friend of hers, I take it," the trader said, eyebrows quirked, "She lost? Would explain why she climbed that bloody windmill in the first place." Shine shook his head.
"I don't even know myself. So, you don't know where she is then?"
"'Fraid not," he said as he closed the newspaper, "Wish I could be of more help."
"No, no, you've given me plenty to work with, sir. Thank you."
"And you. 'Bout time I got someone who's polite in my lot, not like these old farts here." He looked to the competition around him, flashing a self-satisfied grin.
Shine bowed before him and retreated to one corner of the plaza, resting on the cold cobblestone floor. He contemplated the information the trader gave him, soaking up the atmosphere of the market square as conversation far away passed, while the distant notes of a guitar drifted in and faded out.
There was still a lot he didn't know about Curio. He hadn't come across her once in Sinnoh since their escape, and five years was a long time to change, especially when one had to adapt to an alien environment like Shine did before he met Tony. She could've been anywhere. The only thing he could gather from Curio's trip up the mill was that she had kept her word on planning to travel on her lonesome even if she had to fight tooth and nail to keep herself free. But there was still the mill itself to find out about. That would be the next place to check for her whereabouts.
Shine got to his feet, starting the long trek up the series of hills where the cottages sat. Giving them a closer look, Shine noticed that some of the cottages had farm lots in their front gardens which were tended to by Pokémon and their trainers. As he passed by them, they stopped their work to stare at him, which struck Shine as odd at first. He didn't stop, but the further he advanced, the more he noticed what the Pokémon and trainers did when they spotted him.
A few Pokémon laid free to roam outside the cottages immediately sprang out of their work or napping sessions to stand in front of the fields with their backs straightened, their teeth clenched, their eyes tracking, everything to indicate they were cautious of Shine's presence. The trainers caught wind of this too, either standing by their guarding Pokémon or summoning their Pokémon outside their balls, ready to command them to fight. Shine took a deep breath and looked straight to the path ahead, quickening his pace.
Once he reached the top, Shine stopped and saw the sheer size of the mill for the first time with his own eye. The picture he had seen of Curio was only a close up of her, which didn't give much of an indication of the foundation of the windmill itself. When he faced it even from the edge of the hill, he had to tilt his head upward to see the top of it. The blades gently rotated in the wind, but the air whooshed around it with every revolution.
When he let his head down, he narrowed his eye at the series of tall metal fences surrounding the grounds of the mill, kept under lock and key by a gate. The newspaper mentioned Curio had 'trespassed', not simply walked in as if it was a park. Shine could see plants with Razz Berries, Bluk Berries and many other berries he couldn't recall at the top of his head, while he sniffed the air and tasted the sickly scent of honey. 'Point is, it's a vineyard, supposed to keep pests like me out from stealing anything.'
Shine's eye flashed gold and the surroundings turned transparent, allowing him a full view of everything going on at the mill. Several humans were inside the buildings beside the mill, nowhere near close to where he could talk to them. Two humans were outside picking berries from the plants, one further away and one closer to the gate, a boy in his teens. There was also a Leafeon on patrol walking around the perimeter of the fence from the inside, but Shine preferred to get the boy's attention first if he could avoid being chased by a guarding Pokémon, as it was small enough to fit through the metal bars.
He softly walked through the grass along the edge of the fence with his see-through vision still active, getting closer to the boy until he could see him through the grating. Shine opened his mouth to shout, then-
"Emilio!" A coarse voice called from far away, "Come here this instant!"
"Y-yes Sir!" he stammered, and left his berry basket unattended as he rushed to the mill.
Shine cursed himself. His potential source of information had disappeared. If he found somewhere to hide, he would be able to try again, but he considered the chance that the Leafeon would catch him while he looked. It was worth a try, however.
He turned around and carefully retraced his steps to the path leading to the mill, when he felt something tug at his paw. Shine winced and tried to shake it off, but the more he struggled to get it free, the tighter it wrapped around his ankle, like some sort of rope. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. The last thing he needed to do was to panic.
"Well lookie here," a low female voice called, "I caught me a..." The voice trailed off for a moment, then a set of paws traipsed through the grass and stood in front of him. It was the Leafeon. She squinted her eyes at him.
"Wait, what are you again? I don't think I've seen your type around here before."
"I'm a-"
"Don't care," the Leafeon interrupted, "But you look like a cat Pokémon, and it's always fishy when one of your kind shows up on these grounds." A trail of grass knots snaked under Shine's body and tied themselves around each of his limbs, anchoring him to the ground. He squirmed in its grasp, but with each movement, the knots surrounding him pulled taut. "You in cahoots with Thousand Claws?"
Shine gave her a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"
The Leafeon hummed to herself, and one by one, the grass knots unwound themselves from Shine's body, and he could stand upright again. She smiled.
"Congratulations, you passed the test. If you were one of them, you'd be too stupid to play dumb."
Shine stood on the balls of his feet, teeth bared.
"Alright, you've got a lot of explaining to do, miss. Why did you attack me?"
"Well, I didn't attack you, just consider it a little rough-housing from me."
"That's what I'd call an attack."
The Leafeon stuck her tongue out. "A rose by any other name, I guess."
"Marguerite!" The coarse voice called out again. The two turned towards the source and saw the face of a weathered-looking man behind the fence. "Don't just stand there; when there's a Claw that invades our turf, attack on sight!"
"Excuse me," Shine chimed in, speaking in his human tongue, "I don't know what these Claws are supposed to be, but I'm certainly not one of them."
The man rubbed his forehead, mumbling to himself as he approached the end of his side of the fence. "Well blow me down," he said, "How'd I get a talkin' Pokémon outside my property?"
"Never mind that," Shine said, "Would you happen to know who Franc Lautrec is?"
"You're talkin' to him right now," Franc said, crossing his arms, "What's it to you, though?"
"I was hoping you'd tell me more about the Lucario that trespassed two days ago. I need to know where she is as soon as possible. Any information you might have on her will be very helpful."
Franc took his gloves off and cracked his knuckles. "Oh for the love of-" He cut himself off and sighed. "I thought I'd hear the end of that lousy Lucario. I guess you know her, then. If it'll get her rotten ass out of this town, I might as well tell you what happened. I'll open the fence."
Shine nodded and headed for the entrance alongside Marguerite, who didn't hesitate to nudge his side once he and Franc were done talking.
"Okay, I'm not surprised by a lot of things and I find that awesome. Not one, but two human speaking Pokémon in the same week? I'm pretty sure the world's going to explode at this rate."
Shine looked to his side. "Wait, who was the other Pokémon?"
"Curio, you dingus," Marguerite said, giving him a wink.
"Right." Shine shook his head. He had to admit to himself it was rather stupid for him to say, of all Pokémon. But he moved on and advanced through the newly-opened gate. Franc was there to greet him as he gestured towards the path in front of them. They followed behind him, walking on the footpath surrounded by many different exotic looking berries. Shine took a whiff of them, only to be greeted with many different potent, sickly smells that tingled the senses. Franc stopped just beneath the windmill's blades, and turned to point at his side towards a part of the fence.
"See that there?" He said. "That's where it climbed up. Can't explain how. This fence was installed to keep Pokémon of its ilk from getting in at all." Franc moved his finger downward, trailing through the mess of uprooted plants. "It ran through them grapevines there and ruined them. They hadn't even finished growing and they've been there for two months. Now," he motioned to the top of the windmill, "Usually to get up there, you have to go inside of it and through its machinery, then onto a balcony where you have to climb up yourself. Unless you have a mighty tall ladder, that's the only way you can get up there. Not that Lucario though. I didn't see it happen, but somehow it found a way to climb onto the blades! I'm surprised nothing else was broken after all of that!"
"Excuse me," Shine said, thumping his paw, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I heard the report on her already. Would you happen to know where she went after, or if she came back here?"
"Yes." He pointed at something on the ground with the tip of his boot. "It left behind a bag on that day."
Shine gave him a pointed look.
"Don't ask me where she got it from, but it was in the way, so I had to store it in one of the sheds. I took a little peek in there and it was filled with all sorts of scraps. Opened cans, trinkets, broken equipment like bikes and bats, loose bits of paper. I could go on forever, but that doesn't even scratch the surface of what's in that bag. It was gone by next morning; guess she must've taken it back. Haven't heard nothing about her since, good riddance."
"I see."
"That's as far as my involvement goes with it. I'm sure you had something to do with it too though, Marguerite." Franc said. "Why don't you tell this lad here what business you had with the Lucario, hmm? Take a break while you're at it."
Marguerite's ears perked up suddenly as she leered at Franc. She looked at Shine once more, then turned to the exiting path.
"I'd be pleased as punch to," she said, more for herself than her trainer.
"Thank you very much for the information," Shine said, bowing.
"Don't mention it. Have fun with her." Franc said with a grin.
Shine followed Marguerite out the gate as Franc closed the gate behind them.
"So Marguerite, is it?" Shine asked.
"Ugh, just call me Leafeon. Franc has the worst taste for names."
"Right, what else happened that night?"
"Well, she just appeared outside the fence again and asked me to give back her bag. She had some nerve asking me that, because that's what any Pokémon would ask after destroying a trainer's stuff. I said no, but she offered me something in return for it, so I thought screw it, why not?"
"She did?"
"Sure she did. Follow me."
Leafeon led the way to an odd looking patch of dirt in the midst of the green hill, which had a musky smell to it. Clearly, she had marked her territory. In any case, she dug through the ground, sending clumps of mud everywhere until she reached the bottom, and pulled out an object. It was an odd looking metallic Magikarp made with empty cans of Cheri Psycho Soda, with yellow bits of plastic sticking out for a tail and crudely molded wads of gum for the eyes. It was a 'rare, unusual, or intriguing object' or in other words, a Curio. Shine's mouth went agape. It was just how she used to make it in GeL, perhaps even better, as he couldn't see any adhesive marks.
"That's fantastic!" Shine said.
"You could say that. Useless, but impressive for a Pokémon. You can have it if you want."
Shine wrinkled his nose at the suggestion, considering it was still marked with Leafeon's scent.
"I'll pass for now, thanks. But, why did she give this to you?"
"Beats me. Why does any Pokémon climb up another person's windmill?"
"Point taken. You wouldn't have happened to hear anything else from her?"
Leafeon shook her head. "Nope, she hasn't come back here since."
"In that case," Shine bowed to Leafeon, "Thanks, I'll be on my way now."
"Wait a sec," Leafeon said, "How long are you going to be chasing her tail for?"
"As long as it takes me to find her before Wednesday."
"Then," she gave him a serious look, "Find some shelter before midnight. Those Thousand Claws will get to you otherwise."
Shine didn't know much about them, but something in Leafeon's tone told him what it was about. "Are they a Pokémon gang?"
"Bingo, and like their name, they have a lot of members in their gang. Not exactly thousand, but a lot. The leader can't even count from what I heard, big shock."
"I see. I'll be careful. Well, take care."
Leafeon nodded wordlessly as Shine made his way down the hill again.
As he glanced over to the small landowners, who still looked cautious in his presence, he gained a new found understanding for the town's weird air. It wasn't unheard of to have Pokémon form gangs in the cities, and he experienced it a few times before in previous encounters, but they were only limited to a few dozen at the most, so they didn't cast much of a net. In that many numbers, no wonder the townsfolk were so apprehensive around him. Shine remembered the lack of a jingle by his neck and shook his head. 'Damn it, Bauble, why my collar of all things, especially here?"
Once he reached the town centre again, he was a little more at ease as the passers by there didn't acknowledge his existence. But still, he was nowhere closer to finding Curio than he was earlier. He would have to do a lot of asking to find her whereabouts.
After a couple of hours of greeting, bowing and apologising to random strangers, it was approaching sundown, and Shine found a link to one of Curio's regular spots through another trainer and his Greninja. Although he didn't know where she was exactly, the trainer made an offhand mention to seeing her at a pub he frequently took his Pokémon to called The Vine, a block away from the town square. Shine thanked them and found it not long after, although it was fairly hidden amongst the flashier neighboring shops.
He entered, being greeted with the quietude of the late afternoon, with only a few young trainers crowded around the pool table, clearly not there for the drink. The only other noticeable figure was a Venusaur, most likely the place's namesake, plopped down on the corner of the bar counter above with its eyes closed. Shine padded over to it and craned his head up. It let one of its eyes open, looking down at him with a vacant expression.
"Excuse me," Shine said,"Where's the Poke-room?"
"At the back," the Venusaur said, and let out a mighty yawn before closing his eyes again. "On your right."
Shine nodded and headed for the room in question, faced with a door with a crudely drawn Pokeball etched on the wooden doorframe. With one prod of his paw, Shine opened it, revealing a more lively scene to the ones inhabited by the humans.
It was how Shine expected a local Pokeroom to be. There were a few cushions scattered around the floor with various Pokémon lying on them, a low table set with a Quilladin and a Delphox sat around it playing some sort of chess game, and a couch with a trainer and his Gligar lounging around on it, typing on their PokePad. When Shine entered, the Gligar immediately turned towards the door and grew wide eyed.
"You're Shine? Man, never thought I'd get the chance to see you!"
It flew noiselessly from his trainer's comfort to greet Shine, pointing his barb to the left of Shine's face. He stood silently.
"I was wondering what that eye looked like." In the same breath, he retracted his tail in a sharp movement. "Whoops, how rude of me." He stepped back and cleared his throat.
"Name's Barley," he said in human tongue as he presented his claw to Shine, "And I'm the co-manager of this little shindig, along with my trainer."
"Sup." His trainer reached a lazy hand into the air, still fixated on his screen.
Shine spaced out for a moment, trying to make heads or tails of what Barley just told him. If he knew his name, he must've known Curio for quite some time, long enough for her to tell him more about Shine than he himself would admit. And if he could speak the human tongue as well, then…
"Are you just gonna stare at it?" Barley said, making a face. Shine shook his head, taking himself out of his own headspace, and shook paws with him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Barley," Shine said in the same tongue. "I take it you're a part of the PokeSpeaker's Forum, then?"
"Sure I am! But we can get that out of the way later." Barley rubbed his paws in a quick motion. "What can I do for you? We've got cushions, snacks, toys, and a lot of board games if you're into that sort of thing."
"Heh," the Delphox snorted from across the room, "Three or four, more like."
"Well, I'm still working on that area. But yeah, if there's anything you want, be our guest!"
Shine had come a long way, and the empty feeling in his stomach only grew with each passing minute. But first, he had to address the Wailord in the room.
"Actually, I'm here to see Curio. Can you tell me where she is?"
Barley shrugged.
"Sorry, she only came out a moment ago."
"You're joking."
"Nope, she said she had business to take care of, whatever that means."
He sighed. After all that time looking around town, Shine was nowhere closer to properly meeting her than before.
"Damn."
"Yeah, that is rather unfortunate. But, you've come to the right place, since she's a regular visitor here. Hopefully, you'll get to see her soon, so why not make yourself at home?"
"Even so, I'm in a hurry to find her, so I'd rather not waste any time."
The Delphox huffed from across the room.
"That's probably not going to happen for two reasons. First, there are those Thousand Claws. If you catch yourself alone out there, they'll come out all at once and capture you. And that's not even the worst of it." He stopped to knock over his opponent's Pawniard, much to Quilladin's chagrin.
"Secondly, I have a little motto when it comes to that little vixen," making a point of this, the Delphox turned from his seat and snapped his claws in the air. "You don't find Curio, Curio finds you. Barley will tell you just as much."
Barley nodded, giving a worried look. Shine looked to his feet and thought it over. If he stayed where he was in that room, there was the chance that Curio would come back eventually, but that was no guarantee. His paws still bounced with the excitement of finding her. It was probably a lot smarter to stay out of danger for the night and continue on tomorrow, but would Curio have done that herself? Probably not. If he was to chase after her again, he would need to find a way to venture outside while keeping out of trouble. He sat close to the table the two starter Pokémon were playing at, giving him a view of the board. The Quilladin stared at the board, reaching a paw out to move one of his chess pieces, then retracted it soon after.
"I've heard a few things about the gang," Shine said, "but why here of all places?"
"Haven't a clue," the Delphox shrugged, "I've only been here a few days tops while my trainer gets her contest business sorted out. I can't wait for us to get out of this stinking town."
Barley glided over to the table next to Shine's spot.
"It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for them," Barley chimed in, "As far as I know, it just happened. Quite a lot of Meowths bred on the outskirts of town, some migrated from the other cities, the strays already in this town joined forces and that's how it came to be. Since then, they've wreaked all sorts of havoc across this town. Crops are being ruined left and right. Fights have been started. They've even stolen wallets before."
Shine gave him a pointed look. "What do they need wallets for?"
The Quilladin raised his paw in the air, drawing Shine's attention to him. He gestured at a row of chipped teeth.
"Why'd you think they left me this little present? Because they can."
"Yes, we've heard about it about five times already," the Delphox said, pointing to the chessboard, "I'm still waiting on your turn."
"I'm thinkin' on it, okay?"
Barley tugged on Shine's shoulder, giving him a grave look.
"You can see why it's such a problem, and nobody knows what to do with it, not even the police. And they've done worse. Sometimes, when I glide over town during the day, I see..." He hesitated, then continued in a low voice, "Dead bodies in the alleys. Only small Pokémon like Rattatas and such, but with so many in their gang, they could do it to any Pokémon no matter how big or small."
Shine looked deeply into Barley's eyes, which were misty, and it felt as if the Gligar would've broken down any minute. He hummed to himself.
"That's news to me," Shine said, "I read the papers every week and I haven't heard anything like that in Dendemille. I only read about Curio's little incident today."
Thankfully, Barley's worried look broke off into laughter.
"Oh, yeah. That's probably the most exciting thing that's happened in this town since the gang came in. There might've been something about the Claws a month ago or so, but that's old news now."
"It seems like she's made a name for herself already here."
"You think?" The Delphox chimed in. "You don't get to see her kind every day, especially not with that arm."
"Oh yeah," Barley said, looking expectantly at Shine, "I know she's mentioned you before as an old friend, but you must know a lot more about her than we do. She never tells us anything, but now you're here, what is the story behind that arm of hers anyway?" The other two Pokémon stopped their game to stare at Shine, who all gazed at him with a shared curiosity. Shine suddenly felt a lump in his throat.
The circumstances behind her arm weren't something he wanted to remember. His other memories of GeL after the takeover were no exception, memories so painful that it left Shine in a state of shock whenever they suddenly crossed his mind. It took the gentle coaxing of Tony for him to confess what had happened there, and only after a few years of forming a close bond with one another as trainer and Pokémon. He might've slipped a few hints here and there to other Pokémon, including Bauble, but the only person he trusted to confide his secrets with was Tony. If there was one thing Shine could think back on for days, it was how Curio acted once Shine and his remaining crew took her to their rescue hideout.
Ignoring everyone else's reaction to her new arm, including Shine himself, Curio would stare at it and grip it for ages until Shine pulled her back into reality. To see his friend go nearly catatonic during the day was one thing, but having to gag her to stop her from screaming at night and giving away their location was another. When they had to rest for the night, Curio started thrashing about and wailing, repeating the word 'stop' over and over. It took his whole team to restrain her, and Curio kept fighting for ages until she was in a state to start talking again. What she told them about what happened, however, was not for any regular Pokémon's ears.
If Curio hadn't told those Pokémon about it, all Shine could glean from it was that she repressed those memories on the same level that Shine had. He swallowed, and spoke clearly.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't tell you anything Curio hasn't told you before, for her sake. None of us want to talk about it."
"Why not?" Quilladin exclaimed, "You're the guy who-" The Delphox whacked the top of Quilladin's head with his wooden staff. Before he could protest, the Delphox held a paw over his mouth.
"Watch your tongue, sapling."
Barley's barbed tail drooped behind him. Nevertheless, he smiled and placed a paw on Shine's shoulder.
"I understand. I won't press her about it anymore."
Shine nodded in gratitude. If Shine learned anything from his experience at GeL, it was he was entitled to keep his secrets, and the same went for his friends as well.
An awkward air filled the room after that. Shine sat there, digesting the information he was given as he watched the game progress. The Quilladin nursed his head, still trying to find a way to end his turn while the Delphox waited with bated breath. Barley crept over to the Grass Pokémon's side and whispered in his ear. There was a glint in his eyes, and he slammed the Gardevoir, or in this case, Sirknight, over the opponent's Bisharp. In the same breath, the Delphox made his move and overtook the Sirknight with his Nidoqueen.
"What?" The Quilladin said, banging his paws on the table, "That's not fair, I only just made that move!"
The Delphox smiled. "So?"
Shine budged out from his sitting place as the two argued back and forth. He wasn't gaining anything by staying in this room, even if it was safer. It might've been preferable to the threat of the outdoors, but to him, getting to meet Curio was top priority, even if he had to find a way to sleuth around the city. For the journey, he took a few bites from the shared snack bowl and a quick swig of water, which restored a little of his energy. Before he could exit the room, however, Barley glided in front of him, giving him the same worried look he made earlier.
"Are you sure you want to look for her at this time of night?" Barley said.
"Are you going to stop me?" Shine said. He shook his head.
"No, no, it's your choice after all, just be careful, please. I don't think Curio will want to see you end up as cat food, if it comes to that."
Shine gulped. Part of him secretly hoped Barley would try to put up some sort of fight if it was that severe. But the Gligar stepped aside and gave him leeway to exit.
"One more thing," he added, "What's your name on the forums?"
"'Congress-Of-Dunsparces'. I'll be looking forward to go through it with my trainer once I get home, but for now, good luck keeping this place afloat."
Barley nodded and gave him a wide smile. "Will do. And safe travels, my friend."
Author's Note: This chapter ended up changing drastically from the first draft because of one minor character change (Leafeon was a bit more hostile to Shine before this version), and as a result, a lot of the events had to be rewritten, the most important being the Thousand Claws, whose arc was originally resolved in this chapter. Although it's created more work for me, it's greatly expanded on a few elements of this chapter since I came up with a few more ideas since then. This has also resulted in the writing of a completely new chapter which you'll see next week.
As usual, thanks for reading, and special thanks to the users CarnileN and TemporaryObsessed for going through the initial drafts of this chapter. Again, go check out their works as well, Aura in Chains (Pokémon) and A Hundred Tears of Scarlet (Naruto) respectively.