Chapter 9

A Flare for the Dramatic

Luckily for Avaline, the Battle Chateau really wasn't that far away from Ambrette Town. Although the cliffside path was awkward, she was able to get there without too much trouble well before evening set in. Calem and Shauna were both astonished to hear about her meeting with Lysandre and that she was now a Viscountess.

"Should I start calling you 'my lady'?" Shauna asked.

Calem laughed, so Avaline thought she was probably joking. "My parents are both Viscounts, too," he said. "Mum's rank has dropped since she retired from the Gym, of course. Congratulations, Ava."

"And your charmander evolved, too!" Shauna grinned at her. "That's great! We'll make you take us to a really expensive restaurant to celebrate."

Avaline pulled a face. They didn't seem to quite grasp why she had found the whole thing so bizarre and uncomfortable. Maybe it was a Kalosian thing? She didn't really want to make a big deal of it. "Well, I guess…"

To her relief, Calem and Shauna turned out to only have been joking about going to the most expensive restaurant in town, which would have bankrupted her. (She'd been pretty sure they were joking, but it was still hard for her to detect sarcasm sometimes.) They chose one which allowed pokemon outside of their pokeballs. Queenie seemed excited to be out with Avaline again, because she buzzed around excitedly until she accidentally scared a young kid with her big stingers and came back to Avaline curled up in a little ball. She perked up a bit when the little boy realised how very sorry she was and clumsily patted her head.

Senshi and Atlas, Avaline decided, were really too big to be outside in an enclosed cafe space anymore, so she let out her new - still unnamed - spritzee instead. She attracted a lot of attention from the other customers, most of whom had probably never seen a spritzee in the flesh, never mind one as personable as Avaline's. Poor Queenie began to sulk at seeing everyone in the cafe coo and fuss over the spritzee.

Why do I always seem to attract the weird ones? Avaline thought ruefully, as she watched Queenie sneak her way into a selfie some tourist was trying to take with the exciting spritzee (who was posing).

At least she didn't have to worry about any personality clashes, because once she realised Queenie was feeling left out, the spritzee insisted that they appear together in all of her photographs.

"She's just like a little celebrity!" Shauna said, giggling.

Hmm... like a celebrity...

Maybe the spritzee would like a name in honour of Diantha? Not that they had met, but given how lovely Diantha had been, Avaline was confident that the spritzee would like her, and she was one of the most famous people in Kalos. What was Diantha's last film again? A historical drama set in one of the old Kalosian territories called Brittany… that had a pleasant ring to it.

Her spritzee seemed delighted with the name, though she also seemed delighted by pretty much everything. Still, she certainly wasn't opposed to it. Queenie shook her massive stingers in approval, so Brittany it was.


After lunch, they decided to head to the Fossil Lab. Calem and Shauna had introduced themselves when they arrived in town yesterday (Avaline tried her best to look apologetic), so Professor Sycamore's contact was expecting them. When they got there, though, one of the scientists told them that Dr. Albain had gone down to the dig site in Glittering Cave.

"He did leave these papers for you, though," said one of his female colleagues. "He asked me to make photocopies, but I've been busy all morning. Why don't you go down to the site and see how he's getting on? He said he thought he'd found something that might be of interest to Professor Sycamore. Anyway, I'd bet none of you have ridden a rhyhorn before. It'll be fun to have a go!"

Calem had to very hastily explain why Avaline collapsed in a fit of giggles before she had time to cause offence.

They made their way to Spikes Passage where they found that there was only one rhyhorn at the station.

"Still waiting for the others to come back from taking some other passengers," the supervisor said. "If none of your have ridden a rhyhorn before, we have a safety talk, but know that you ride at your own risk. If you could just sign in here…"

"Can I just go?" Avaline asked, dutifully signing her name on the visitors list and adding her Out time. "I've ridden a rhyhorn plenty of times before."

The man looked up and down at her outfit with a doubtful expression.

"Her mother is Grace the rhyhorn racer," Calem said, possibly noticing Avaline's sour expression. People always doubted her racing credentials if she wore her dress.

Shauna stifled a giggle as the man looked at Avaline again with wide eyes. He coughed awkwardly. "...Why don't you go on ahead, miss."

The rhyhorns were well cared for, though, so he must be good at his job. At least it would be something for her mother to laugh at over the phone later.


Glittering Cave was well named. It wasn't just that the strange crystals sparkled, but they actually emitted their own light. According to the ranger outside, Glittering Cave was formed by a river that used to run through the region thousands of years ago, but had since been diverted. Because of that, it was pretty easy to navigate if you stuck to the largest passageway. No one really had an explanation for the glittering rocks, apparently.

Following the ranger's instructions, Avaline eventually found the narrow, low-ceilinged passage opened up into a huge cavern, which had additional man made lamps and was much brighter than the shadowy cave system.

...Which was in this instance a crying shame because it gave her full view of the person in the absolutely horrendous orange suit standing in front of her.

"What are you even wearing?!" she blurted.

"Hmph," the strange man said. "These premises are now under the protection of Team Flare. Please leave until we've finished our investigation!"

Investigation...? What on earth could they be doing? Anyway, they had no right to close the cave off to the rest of the public. Avaline planted herself squarely in front of him and crossed her arms. "No." Before he could reply, she added, "And your fashion sense it what really needs investigating."

"How dare you!"

The Flare threw a pokeball, which burst open to reveal a houndour. Avaline scrambled to find Senshi's pokeball and barely got out of the way in time as the houndour spat embers at her. When Senshi appeared, she simply gestured at the other pokemon, stumbling backwards in shock. She hadn't heard of anyone ordering pokemon to attack a trainer directly since the days of Team Rocket. Because pokemon were so much more powerful than the average human, the penalties for using them to harm another person were severe. Most criminals avoided using pokemon because the risks outweighed the rewards.

This Team Flare turned out not to be that strong. Senshi easily defeated both of his pokemon and the man ran off to the entrance. Avaline followed the old mining cart track deeper into the cavern more cautiously. Compared to the trainers in the Battle Chateau, the fight had been easy, but it frightened Avaline all the same - and not because they actually seemed to believe those suits were not a crime against fashion. It was the thought of them organising to show up here, willing to use violence, without any apparent rhyme or reason. I mean, this is an archaeological dig, not a gold mine. What could they possibly be interested in?

Eventually she ran into two more of Team Flare as the passageway narrowed, a man and a woman. The woman smirked at her with her head tilted to the side, as though studying Avaline. "Aww, did you come fossil hunting too, little girl?" she said.

Avaline rolled her eyes. This didn't seem to be the effect that the Flare woman had been going for and she gripped her pokeball angrily. She braced herself for a battle. Two on one would be tricky, but if she used Senshi, who could strategise independently, then-

"Sorry I'm late, neighbour!" Calem shouted, coming up beside her suddenly. He was panting harshly, but managed to release his espurr - Barbour - at the same time as the Team Flare members released their pokemon. Avaline hastily let Senshi out of his pokeball too.

"Thanks for coming," she murmured to Calem, although between trying to get his breath back and warily waiting for Team Flare to make a move, she wasn't sure if he heard her.

The two Team Flare pokemon were a scraggy and a croagunk. Avaline didn't know much about either pokemon. Wasn't croagunk a poison type? She didn't have any pokemon that resisted poison types and she was pretty sure Calem didn't, either, so it seemed the most threatening. "Senshi, get that one!"

"Wait!" Calem said.

Avaline winced as Senshi staggered under the weight of Barbour's psychic attack. The croagunk shuddered but took advantage of Senshi's distraction, punching him with enough force that he was sent staggering away. Avaline had lost track of the scraggy and it suddenly reappeared, leaping over the croagunk to deliver a powerful blow to Calem's espurr.

"The other one is a dark type," Calem said, tight-lipped.

"Sorry," Avaline whispered. That must be why Barbour had been hit so hard by the scraggy. There wasn't time to dwell on it now. "Senshi, get the yellow one away from Barbour!"

Even injured, Senshi was still the fastest pokemon there. He tackled the scraggy out of the way as Barbour released another wave of psychic energy. The croagunk seemed badly affected but managed to knock Barbour back, and this time the little espurr let out a weak cry and couldn't get up again.

Avaline remembered the Flare member at the entrance who'd attacked her. "Senshi, the croagunk-"

Senshi managed to get in the way of another punch from the croagunk, aimed at Calem. He seemed woozy, but Avaline didn't dare recall him when it would give the croagunk and scraggy an opportunity to attack them.

Calem managed to get out his next pokemon, an absol that Avaline hadn't met before. It took in the situation at a glance and didn't even need Calem to say anything before it pounced on the scraggy that was trying to sneak up on them. Senshi was trying to shoot water at the croagunk, but it was proving quite nimble and was able to dodge a lot of them.

"Angelica, get the croagunk!"

"Senshi, back off, come back for the scraggy!" Avaline added quickly, dragging Calem further away from the fight for good measure.

The absol batted the scraggy out of the way and leapt on the croagunk, biting it. Avaline winced as it let out a cry, but at least it finally seemed out of the fight. Meanwhile, Senshi managed to get the scraggy with a water pulse. It wasn't as quick as the croagunk and couldn't dodge, and when Angelica turned back to fight it as well, it quickly scrambled back towards the Team Flare man rather than fight both of them.

The man's face twisted, but he recalled the scraggy. "Useless pokemon," he muttered.

Angelica growled at him and he jumped.

His partner gave Angelica a nervous look and grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Avaline didn't let herself relax until they were both out of sight. That was close. If they'd had more pokemon and had been able to keep fighting, she would've had to swap Senshi out and then she or Calem could've been seriously injured. She went over to Senshi to see how he was doing. He seemed tired, but not concussed as she had feared. He responded to her with some energy when she asked if he was okay and he seemed able to track her movements just fine. Still, Avaline wanted to get him back to the Centre as soon as possible to be on the safe side. Senshi refused to go back into his pokeball until Calem promised that he and Angelica would look after Avaline.

Calem was grim-faced. "I thought there would be trouble when the ranger said a few Team Flare members had tried to fight past her, but I didn't expect…"

Avaline winced. Maybe the grunt she'd fought at the entrance to the cavern had called for reinforcements? Shauna did say that holocasters could get signal anywhere. Avaline hadn't even thought about the ranger at the entrance, or the possibility of more Team Flare arriving.

"It was nothing the ranger couldn't handle," Calem added. "The rhyhorns helped her to fight them off, too. I think Team Flare were hoping they wouldn't be noticed or they would've sent more people. Did they say what they were after?"

Avaline remembered the woman mentioning fossils. "...We should check on Dr. Albain."


Luckily, it seemed they had beaten Team Flare to Dr. Albain, because their concern was met with only confusion.

"Oh! You're the kids from Professor Sycamore! How lovely to meet you," he said in a formal tone.

Avaline nodded. Perhaps Calem sensed how pensive she was feeling, because he took control of the conversation.

The Flare woman had said they were here for fossils. For what? To revive the pokemon? To sell them? Reviving the pokemon (if the fossil was in a good enough condition) could give one a powerful addition to their arsenal, but since revived pokemon were so rare, they would also stand out a mile and get caught very quickly. And, well... could fossils really be worth that much money? So much that it was worth dragging a large bunch of your organisation all the way out here, where they would be very recognisable, for high profile bad press? From what Professor Sycamore had said, she understood there were so far only scattered reports of Team Flare being 'nuisances', so you could maybe argue that was just a few bad apples.

But this? This had been organised.

I really need to keep up with the news more, Avaline thought glumly. Just one other bit of homework to add to the list. Maybe they were just worse than I thought.

"Have you found any fossils?" she asked abruptly, realising that she was interrupting the conversation and feeling a little too overwhelmed to care.

"Fossils?" Dr. Albain pushed his glasses up his nose considering the question. "Well yes, they do turn up in this area from time to time - I found another one this morning, in fact; the second of the dig. But mainly we've been finding what look like very high-end items which were in use by the precursors to pokemon trainers. We've been speculating that this area used to be a training ground for the nobility, possibly even by the kings themselves. It's very exciting!"

So Team Flare's claim of being after fossils at all seemed a little suspect, to say the least.

"And of course," Albain continued, "there's the strange stones we found. They look like glass, but are made of a much tougher material. I've never seen anything like them, but we found quite a cache. There were four of them, and it's possible we could even discover more!"

Avaline and Calem exchanged glances. He nodded at her significantly.

"Could we see them?" she asked.

"Yes, of course. I left them at the site because we weren't really sure what to do with them, and when I contacted Professor Sycamore, he seemed to think they might be sensitive objects and it would be better not to broadcast their discovery just yet."

Dr. Albain had to dig up a small box before they could look at them - a good place to hide them. Avaline drew in a sharp breath when he opened the lid. She was sure they were mega stones. They looked startlingly beautiful in real life, even compared to the lifelike painting they'd seen at Parfum Palace.

Dr. Albain was looking at them oddly. Avaline told him a little about what they had learned of mega stones, just so he didn't think they were completely crazy. By the end of it, he was nodding along with her. "Oh, I see..." He scratched his head. "I'm afraid this is all a bit out of my league. I tell you what, why don't you take these 'mega stones' with you? I don't think they will have much use to us beyond the significance of them being here in the first place, and even if they do, it seems to me that your investigation is a little more urgent."

"Thank you," Avaline said.

"Oh, and we should exchange numbers," Dr. Albain said. "If we find any more, I'll let you know."

She nodded, hesitating before adding, "If you could, would it be alright it to ask for some information about the rest of your dig. I mean, I understand that you probably won't be able to make any definitive theories or anything, but it might help if we have some idea of the context of why they were here."

"Yes - I left something with Alexis for you at the lab, as well. I think that covers most of what we know so far. And thank you for sharing what you know about mega evolution! It might not seem like much but it could actually help to shed a whole new light on our finds here. Us researchers have to stick together, eh?" He winked at them.

Even though it was a joke, Avaline felt pleased beyond words to be even remotely considered in the same category as a proper researcher, an archaeologist. I mean, he has a PhD! I can barely even work the pokedex sometimes!

As Dr. Albain handed the stones over, Avaline grabbed one that was almost warm to the touch and nearly dropped it. But when she reached out for it again she found herself mesmerised by the sliver of reddish-orange which ran through the centre.

Strangely, the others didn't seem to have the warmth of this one. Avaline frowned to herself. She hadn't put much stock in what Frederic DuBois had written about the immortal soul, but now she thought... maybe there was an element of truth to that? Something about this mega stone, in particular, seemed to react with her in a way which the others didn't. It was very strange; definitely something she would need to investigate.

Calem himself seemed to be drawn to one particular mega stone, too. He looked down at Angelica with a thoughtful expression. His mega stone's colours were black and white. "How strange."

Avaline looked at the colours of her mega stone - it already felt like it belonged to her. The reddish-orange was similar to Atlas's colouring. Frederic's diary had said each pokemon species had a unique kind of mega stone.

I wonder…

She had a lot to think about.


Current team:
Frogadier (M) - Senshi
Beedrill (F) - Queenie
Charmeleon (M) - Atlas
Spritzee (F) - Brittany


A/N: Sorry this is slightly late, my son has been ill today so I didn't get time to sit down and edit this chapter until after he'd gone to bed. It's nothing serious but he needed looking after. Writing the double battle was difficult! Keeping track of four pokemon fighting at once is a challenge, ha. Hopefully it reads okay and isn't too confusing.