EDITOR'S NOTE: "I came up with the 'Everyone is bilingual and they speak real-world languages' headcanon while playing the language missions in Festival Plaza. Most people only know two, but Looker learned so many languages he somehow messes up in all of them."
Their next mission came a few days later. By the time Calem and Serena arrived back at Looker's office, Mimi and her human (who they had learned was named Emma) were nowhere to be found, despite working for Looker now.
"Emma is slightly stressed," Looker explained. "I gave her the day off so she can play with her friends in the alley, as long as she returns by the time I return to my hotel."
Serena looked ready to protest, but that was when a tourist burst through the door. It wasn't Rosa, or any of her friends. It was a woman, looking scared and angry, and speaking quick, confusing Japanese.
All three of them watched her, and not a single one of them moved. "I only know English and French," Calem hissed to Serena.
"Same," she agreed quietly, watching as the woman slowed down.
"Wouldn't she realize that we're all confused here? Don't they teach second languages in school, or have tourist translators in case people encounter a language barrier anyway?"
"Maybe she does speak English or French, and just reverted to Japanese because she…forgot?" Serena's suggestion was too hopeful for her to actually believe it.
Then, before they could ask, Looker started to talk. The fact that Calem and Serena could still understand him was not quite reassuring. "You are one of our fair city's famous tourists! I can tell that you have traveled far. I am Looker. What may I do for you?"
The woman seemed to understand enough, but she spoke Japanese again. Looker nodded along, seeming to understand what she was saying, which relieved his partners. Then he looked back at them, and again spoke in one of the languages that they understood. "From what I can gather, this woman has been given a great offense."
The saviors of Kalos both shut up. "Looker speaks Japanese?" Serena asked, confused.
"Of course!" Looker was proud of himself. "Japanese, Italian, English, French…I am a master of language! And this lady is offended because she came here as a guest and has not been given tea!"
They weren't sure why tea would get somebody that worked up, but Looker quickly excused himself from the conversation as he rushed out to get tea, leaving Calem and Serena alone with a strange woman and a language barrier.
"Mr. Looker! We're home!"
Emma held the door open for Mimi, who was holding a probably-stolen Lumiose Galette in her paw and munching away. When she saw Calem and Serena, she squealed in happiness and held the Galette out for them to share.
"No, thank you," Serena said quickly, and when Calem turned it down, Mimi just broke off a piece and gave it to Emma. Emma accepted it, and then noticed the woman.
"Um…hi?"
The woman started speaking again. Calem and Serena watched in amazement as Emma listened to her, and her eyes went wide.
"Oh," she said, her voice quiet. Then she asked something, speaking what appeared to be passing Japanese.
"What." It wasn't even a question, but it was the only thing Calem could say at that point. He learned a second language in school, like everybody else, and here was a street orphan from Kalos having a two-sided conversation in Japanese. A street orphan that had told Looker that she could barely read.
That is when Emma looked down at Mimi. "Calem and Serena look a little lost," she said.
"Understatement," Mimi agreed, before finishing off her snack.
"So why don't you use your psychic powers?"
Mimi's ears unfolded just a little bit, and suddenly, Calem and Serena could actually hear the thoughts in the woman's head.
And the first thing out of Calem's mouth?
"So it wasn't about the tea."
"Tea?" Emma looked at Calem in confusion. "This woman had her Pokémon stolen, and you thought it was about tea?"
"Looker can't speak Japanese," Serena explained, leaving Emma and Mimi even more confused.
The woman thought rude things about Looker, but quickly attempted to take them back. Then they heard Emma's annoyance at the woman, but her concern for the Pokémon won.
The telepathy continued to let the woman tell the story. She was walking through the train station when a man came up behind her and stole her bag. Calem immediately thought of Colress or Hugh, triggering Serena's irritation when Mimi passed that thought along to the rest of them. But the woman didn't seem to recognize their hair, which crossed them both off the suspect list. Emma had a different idea…
The sound of the door opening startled Mimi into calling off the telepathy. Looker didn't seem to notice at first as he placed a box of tea on his desk.
"I have returned!" he announced. Then he fully processed the situation in front of him. "And it seems that Emma and Mimi have returned as well! Excellent! Emma, have you introduced yourself to our foreign friend here?"
"Tea, Looker?" Emma said, clearly annoyed.
"I take that as a yes." Looker immediately started heating water for the tea. "Would you like to join us?"
Mimi wandered over to Looker, and though the psychic link was gone, Calem and Serena could still feel the small Espurr's annoyance.
"This woman says her Pokémon were stolen," Emma translated. "Not that she wanted tea. If the thieves are still in Lumiose Station…"
"Stolen Pokémon? Why didn't you say so? We must go and find them at once!"
"But what if the thieves are the Lumiose Gang?" Emma asked. "They're really tough!"
"Tough or not," Looker said, "this woman came to us for help, and we shall give her the help she requested."
And he ran off before anyone could catch him. Five pairs of eyes watched the door close, and then Serena sighed.
"We're going to have to chase him down, aren't we?"
"Would you?" Emma looked hopeful. "He doesn't have any Pokémon himself…I'd go, but Mimi isn't used to battling and I still haven't captured her…"
"We're on it." Calem really didn't want to do this, but he had no choice. "Serena, come with me. Everyone else, enjoy the tea."
"Save me a cup!" Serena called, and she followed Calem into the streets of Lumiose City.
They took another cab ride to Lumiose Station. It seemed to be the easiest method, and the fastest.
So, when they arrived, they saw that Looker was talking to a group of punk-looking people that they assumed to be the gang. Neither of them were surprised.
"I actually expected them to be stealing his money by now," Serena said casually.
Calem didn't even blink. "Or scamming, he seems like an easy scam target."
"You called backup?" one of the punks said, glaring down at Calem and Serena as Looker realized that they were there. "Here I thought you were trying to be tough."
"I am not trying to be tough," Looker insisted. "I am here to demand that you return that tourist's stolen Pokémon!"
"We ain't giving nothing back," another punk said. "If we went around givin' everything back just for askin' nicely, we wouldn't get anything done."
"And that's a bad thing?" Calem asked.
"You stay out of this!" the third punk snapped. "We know you, old man. You're that Looker that's been messin' around in all that Team Whatever garbage. You think we're just gonna let you stay here and boss us around?"
"Then you better think again!" the first punk announced, proudly pounding his chest. "We take orders from no one but ourselves!"
Calem could see where this was heading. "Go back to the office, Looker," he told him. "Serena and I can take these people on."
"Who are you?" the first punk asked.
The second punk squinted. "They look kinda familiar," she admitted. "Don't know where I've seen 'em before, though."
"Where you've seen us isn't important." Serena already had a Pokeball in her hand, preparing to throw it at the first sign of trouble. "What's important is that we know how to deal with people like you."
"You think you can stop us?" The third punk picked up a Pokeball of her own. "Fine! Just give it your best shot!"
And she sent out a Mandibuzz. Serena called Mawile, and used Play Rough to take down the Mandibuzz in one shot. Calem laughed, but that only got the attention of the second punk girl, who called a Pangoro.
Calem wondered if Yveltal would fit in this cramped space. Then he decided that there was only one way to find out.
Yveltal, it turned out, could only fit in the station when its wings and tail were all much closer to its body than it considered comfortable. Fortunately, it didn't have to move, since the punks were immediately and properly terrified of the simple fact that the local death god was under their opponent's control. The remaining punks immediately surrendered.
"That's no fun," Calem complained, though the look on his face said otherwise. "They didn't even try to put up a fight."
"It looked like the smart thing to do," the male punk insisted. "We didn't want to go up against that thing."
"So does that mean you'll give up the stolen Pokémon?" Serena asked.
"No! This kid cheated! He gets nothing!"
"You cheated!" Emma's voice interrupted. "You said you would give the Pokémon back if they beat you in battle!"
"What do you care?" the punk snapped back. "You ditched this gang!"
"Because you're stupid thieves who steal for stupid reasons!" Emma snapped right back. "Now give Looker those Pokémon, or I'll be forced to Do The Thing!
"Not The Thing!" one of the punk girls screamed.
"We'll give ya back the Pokeballs," the guy said quickly.
"And apologize to Looker and the tourist lady?" Emma asked pointedly, narrowing her eyes in a threat.
"Whatever you say, ma'am." He led the two female punks away, all of them looking horrified. "Just...don't Do The Thing."
"Wait," Looker said. All of them turned around. "If you wish to be friends with Emma, then I may have a job for you. I cannot forgive evil intentions lightly, but if you swear to never again lift a hand in cruelty, then you may visit Emma in her new home at the Looker Bureau."
Calem and Serena were both too shocked to speak.
"You're letting them go free just because they're my friends?" Emma asked.
"As long as they promise to be on the side of good from now on," Looker clarified.
They saw no reason not to just accept it and move on.
As they were on the way back to the Looker Bureau, however, Serena leaned over to ask Emma something. "What was The Thing that you threatened to do?"
Emma smiled, faking innocence. "You tell me."
"…so I was never in the gang for real," Emma finished, once the tourist was gone. "I just fought them and won, so they put me in charge."
"She's crazy strong," the male punk added. "We wanted someone like her to get us out of trouble."
"Looks like that succeeded," Calem said, trying not to let his confusion over the whole incident show.
He could understand that Emma had been named leader of a street gang. He could understand that she had let them decide what The Thing meant for themselves. He could even understand that Looker had given a bunch of delinquents a pass to walk around being a gang of good guys.
But he could not understand why Looker claimed to know Japanese when he clearly did not, or why he had immediately run off to get the tourist's Pokémon back when Emma had said that he had no Pokémon himself.
There had to be some logic in there, somewhere. He just didn't know where.
"So," Emma said as the punk left, "about my assistant position. I haven't been assisting anything, just watching you work."
"Learning is important," Looker insisted. "And you are doing a lot of learning in a short time."
"But I thought you were giving me an actual job."
"And I will. But you must first learn how to do the job, if you are going to be hired permanently."
"But Mr. Looker…"
"There is no need to worry. I have savings to keep you fed and sheltered. Your job for the moment is to look after the office and to keep learning."
He allowed Calem and Serena to go home for the night, and left for his hotel soon after. None of them noticed that Emma and Mimi didn't seem entirely convinced by his words.
