Nuzlocke: Eternal Enmity

by mangaluva

In Unova, four teenagers come of age and set out with their first Pokemon. All they want is to travel together and start working towards their dreams. But forces beyond their understanding are about to clash, and will turn everything they know on its head in the process. (Fifth in a series, BUT this fic is being written with the aim of being accessible to entirely new readers!)

14. Chapter 14

Warren-Pokemon: 1 Deaths: 0

Carlotta-Pokemon: 7 Deaths: 0

Cheren-Pokemon: 4 Deaths: 3

Bianca-Pokemon: 4 Deaths: 3

{Reshin 23rd, 10:01am}

{Castelia City}

The Leavanny crashed to the ground amidst a chorus of cheers from what Rick had started addressing as the gondamn chorus. "Two down, one to go, Carly!" Warren called.

"Well done, Miss Arathos!" Burgh said, returning his unconscious Pokemon and picking up his last pokeball. "Now, shall we see what your final challenge may be?"

Cheren sighed as Warren and Bianca turned expectantly to him, but also quirked a little smile. "Taking on two second-badge matches one right after the other, it's likely he'll use different Pokemon," he said, starting to count on his fingers. "Leavanny is a fixture, but I faced Venipede and Karrablast, and she already defeated Shelmet, so…" He winced as Burgh released a small, squat rock with orange claws. "Dwebble. This will be difficult, but it's not as strong as the Leavanny."

"Alright, Paden, have yourself a break! Great job!" Carlotta called, returning her Pansear. "C'mon, Pijon, you got this!"

Cheren hissed in frustration as the Tranquil attacked the Dwebble, knocking it back but not out. "Carlotta, don't get overconfident, Roland could handle this!"

"She'll be fine," Warren promised quietly, patting Cheren on the arm and shushing him as Rick threw a warning glance their way. The poor guy had started to visibly lose patience with Carlotta's overenthusiastic yelling about halfway through Cheren's match, and just got even more frustrated as Cheren kept blurting out strategy advice all through Carlotta's.

"Smack Down!" Burgh called. His Dwebble started flinging stones at Pijon as the Tranquil ducked and wove around the projectiles, landing an Air Cutter attack that sent the little bug rolling backwards across the arena. It got a claw out and rammed it into the ground just in time to stop itself from being knocked out of bounds, ripping up the ground to make new projectiles to throw.

"Alright, Pijon, Quick Attack'll finish it!" Carlotta shouted. Pijon swooped in for another attack, diving in hard and fast and hitting a rock head-on just as the Dwebble flung it full-force.

There was an unusually loud crack, then Pijon hit the floor with a sudden, abrupt stillness, like a puppet with its strings cut.

Bianca felt her heart stop.

"Hold!" Rick called, running across the field, suddenly alert. Burgh ran around the outside of the field, crouching down by his Dwebble and putting a hand on his shell, muttering under his breath while shooting anxious looks at the completely limp Tranquill.

"Oh no, oh gondammit, oh shit…" Carlotta muttered, reaching up and gripping at her cap, tugging it down hard against her head. Warren put an arm around his twin's shoulders, biting his lip as Rick looked Pijon over.

Bianca nearly jumped out of her skin at the feeling of a hand on her arm. "Breathe, Bianca," Cheren said softly.

"Th-this… he's… he said this gym's got a no-kill rule," Bianca croaked. Her throat felt dry.

"Accidents still happen," Cheren said quietly. "It's sad, but they do. It's just…" he trailed off as Rick stood up, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, Miss Arathos, but your Tranquill is dead," Rick said solemnly. "In accordance with the gym's no-kill policy, a Pokemon death results in the immediate end of the match and the forfeiture of the offending party."

"Which means that you are eligible for your badge, if you wish to claim it at the same time as your friends," Burgh said, returning his Dwebble and standing up before putting a hand to his heart and giving a deep bow. "I am deeply sorry for your loss and that I was the cause of it, Miss Arathos. I assure you, it was not intended."

"No, I know that, it was just… hit that fuckin' rock real fast, an'… gondamn it," Carlotta said, pulling her hat off and digging for a handkerchief as tears started to run down her cheeks. "Fuck. Gondamn it!"

"It ain't your fault, Carly," Warren assured her, handing over his handkerchief and looking patiently unruffled as she blew her nose loudly on it.

"I know, I know…" Carlotta sighed, wiping her nose. "And I know this kinda thing happens in upper level battles, just… gondamn it. Y'know?"

Bianca's stomach rolled. "Is it… really that common?" she asked weakly.

"Not common, but not rare, either," Cheren sighed, putting a hand on her arm and squeezing gently. "As Carlotta said, the higher the level, the more likely that battles will end in a death. It's not a good thing, but—"

"No, it ain't!" Bianca sobbed. "It's not—this ain't—it ain't fair! All I wanted was to be a trainer an' be with Pokemon, not watch 'em die!"

"You know, you don't have to battle competitively to be with Pokemon," Burgh said, tapping a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "Your license permits you to own and train Pokemon, but there's no requirement to battle. If you love Pokemon and want to work with them, there's no need to harden your heart to their deaths."

"I got the same license as y'all, but it's so I can work in Pokemon medicine," Warren added. "Bein' a trainer's a good way to make yourself some cash just now, but you ain't gotta do it forever if you don't wanna."

Bianca wiped her eyes, even as more tears fell immediately. "It just ain't fair, though," she whispered. "It shouldn't be happenin'."

"Well, I promise I'll fix that when I either become President or Champion of the Pokemon League, whichever comes first," Cheren assured her.

"Oh, a young man with big ambitions! I love that!" Burgh laughed. "Change the world, kids. And until then, be kind. Do not let the world make you otherwise."

"…Sure," Carlotta agreed. "For now, I guess, uh… do y'all do funerary stuff? So I can, y'know… send Pijon off right?"

Burgh turned to her, his smile becoming sad. "Of course. Since your Tranquill's death was my responsibility, there's no charge. Do you have a preference for what is done with your Pokemon's remains and where they're stored?"

"Not really," Carlotta sighed. "The National Cemetery, I guess?"

"Then we'll have him cremated and sent there," Burgh promised her.

"Are we gonna say goodbye to 'im first?" Bianca asked tentatively. "I mean, not just us, like… our Pokemon?"

"You want to let out your Pokemon to see the cremation?" Burgh asked, tilting his head. "Unusual request, but by all means, if you wish…"

"It don't even have to be the cremation, just… to see 'im an' say goodbye, I guess," Bianca said, twisting her hands anxiously in her skirt. "Y'all remember when Peabean died? Pijon was so sad. I just think… they oughta get a chance to say goodbye, right?"

"They don't necessarily understand death on a complex level, but… well, it's up to Carlotta, really," Cheren said quickly as Warren elbowed him. "What do you think, Carly?"

"Sure," Carlotta said, hugging Bianca again. "Sounds like a real sweet idea, B. We'll let 'em out for a funeral. Might as well get our badges first," she added to Burgh.

"Well, of course," the Leader said, plucking three badges off of the underside of his scarf. "Cheren Athos, Carlotta Arathos, Bianca D'Artagnan…you have earned your Insect Badges!"

"Congratulations? Feel like I should cheer an' shouldn't," Warren said, clapping anyway. "Especially you, Bianca! First badge!"

"Thanks," Bianca sniffed, smiling as she wiped her eyes and peered at the badge. "Wow… it's real pretty!"

"Why, thank you! Many are quite offput by the insect design," Burgh sighed. "No respect for art. Now, before we get to the somber arrangements, I do have one more gift for all of you. It had to be sure, but you are the young ones who rescued Lenora's Dragonite skull and Sar Kanto's daughter, aren't you?"

"Wh—yeah, but how'd you know that?" Carlotta yelped, nearly dropping her badge.

"Oh, descriptions have made the rounds in certain circles, though actual names have of course been protected," Burgh promised. "But Lenora did ask the other Leaders to let her know if we saw you, since you never went back to her gym. Avoiding media attention, I assume?"

"Yeah," Warren said as Bianca flinched. "We don't really wanna be super famous right now."

"We'll go back to her gym later, since we have to get all eight badges," Cheren added.

"Of course, but she did wish for me to convey her thanks for rescuing one of the most valuable pieces in the whole museum," Burgh said, giving them a flourishing old-fashioned bow. "And in that spirit, I do have something for you… invitations!" He tapped a few buttons on his c-gear, projecting up an email and a series of small boxes.

"A party?" Warren said, peering at the screen. His eyes widened. "Holy shit. That ain't any old party…!"

"No, it is not, Mr Arathos!" Burgh agreed. "This specifically is a cultural affair being thrown to show off the very best Unova has to offer in the arts to various foreign dignitaries—the most prominent, of course, being the visiting Champion of the Indigo Union!"

"What in the hell? Ain't no way we have any way to dress for somethin' like that!" Carlotta yelped.

"Darling, you just leave that to me, if you're interested in going," Burgh insisted. "If you're interested. Are you?"

"Yes," Cheren said immediately. "Of course. We are not turning this down!"

"Don't you gotta security screen everybody attendin' somethin' like that well in advance?" Warren asked, elbowing Cheren.

"Well, yes, that is why I need your names and the opportunity to take photos, retinal scans and fingerprints now, so that you can be screened and cleared before this evening," Burgh explained. "If cleared, you'll be picked up by a teleportation courier to be ported into the secure gala location. If you aren't cleared, well, you'll have some nice new outfits. There are invitations for all four of you. Just touch here, please…" He laughed as Cheren immediately pressed his finger to the c-gear screen. One of the boxes in the projected screen lit up with Cheren's fingerprint. "That's one definite Yes, so how about the rest?"

"I guess we're goin'," Warren laughed, watching as Cheren tipped down his glasses to let the tablet's camera scan his eyes. "Alright, make it two."

"Three, then," Carlotta added, nudging Bianca forwards. "Four, to celebrate you gettin' your first badge?"

"Sure!" Bianca agreed, wiping her hands on her skirt before offering her fingerprint, and her eyes before doing the retinal scan. "What do you mean about sortin' out dresses…?"

"Dresses, suits, whatever your preference is for a formal affair!" Burgh declared. "I told Lenora I'd invite you to the party if you came to my gym before it happened and she told me to send the bill to her, in lieu of reward. I happen to know the head tailor at the nearest Elesa brand, so she'll see to it that you're well attired!"

"Tailored Elesa clothes?" Cheren said faintly. Warren reached out to grab him, laughing at his boyfriend nearly swooning. "We have to get suits. I need a tailored Elesa suit."

"Matchin' suits," Carlotta declared, offering her fingerprint. "We're all gettin' us matchin' suits. Hey, Bianca, it can be your real fancy introduction to the world of pants!"

"We can get you a dress if you really want," Warren assured Bianca, "but it would be fun if all of us have matchin' suits, right?"

"A suit?" Bianca said, looking down at herself. "Ain't it gonna, I don't know… look weird?"

"It'll be professionally tailored, Bianca, it will look stunning," Cheren promised.

"Do a fitting, Miss D'Artagnan, and if you're uncomfortable, you can change to a dress," Burgh promised her. "You'll have time, the tailors at Elesa are marvels. But if I may say so, I think the four of you will look absolutely charming in matching suits. Now…" He smiled and nodded as Warren's retinal scan finished. "I'll send word to the tailor that you're all on your way." His smile faded. "This way to where we'll handle the cremation…"

{Reshin 23rd, 6:32pm}

{Castelia City}

"This is… weird," Bianca called tentatively from the bathroom.

"You gotta practice walkin' in it, B," Warren said, tying Cheren's azure-blue tie for him. "It'll settle comfy once you do. That tailor sure knew what she was doin', huh?"

"Burgh introduced us to the head tailor at Castelia's Elesa superstore," Cheren breathed, clearly still starstruck. "Of course she knew what she was doing. She's a genius."

"Good thing too," Carlotta muttered, taking a deep breath. "This is way too fancy for us. This is a gondamn gala for their gondamn president."

"Who you've already met," Warren pointed out.

"That whole thing in the cave don't even feel real," Carlotta said, fidgeting with her hair, scraping it up into a high ponytail and scrutinizing it in the mirror before dropping it around her shoulders. "Does that feel like a real thing that happened to you, Cher? And that just kinda happened. Adrenaline an' all that shit. This is knowin'ly walkin' into a party full of powerful folks like that!"

"Champion Alder might be there," Cheren breathed, clutching Warren's arm. "War, please don't let me babble on and say something ridiculous. Please."

"I'll do my best," Warren promised, patting his arm. "Come on, B!"

"Comin', comin!" Bianca shouted. "Just buildin' up courage… ready… okay!" The door was flung open as Bianca ran out with her eyes closed.

"Whoa, B!" Carlotta whistled, clapping. "That tailor was right, that embroidery's doin it for you!"

"I dunno how to do the tie," Bianca mumbled in embarrassment, tugging at the honey-gold tie that matched the embroidery curling all over her waistcoat. The four of them had matching pinstriped black trousers and white dress shirts with three-quarter-length sleeves, but each of their ties were a different colour, matching the embroidery on their waistcoats. The waistcoats were all slightly different cuts, too, but it was most noticeable on Bianca, who as it transpired was a lot curvier than suggested by the lumpy cardigans and heavy skirts her parents mandated all her life. Warren was gay, not blind, and made a mental note to keep an eye out, because if any of the diplomats or artists had brought teenage kids with them to the gala, Bianca was definitely gonna draw attention she had no idea what to do with.

"War's the only one who's any good these damn things," Carlotta said, holding up her own candy apple-red tie. She was definitely the loudest of the four of them, but that was how she liked it. She was also the only one who was wearing elbow-length sleeves instead of wrist-length, since she'd been very adamant about the tailor not completely covering up her best feature. "I can never remember this shit an' Cheren always manages to fuck it up and ain't nobody knows how, least of all him. How're you doin' with your first pair of pants?"

"Weird," Bianca said, tugging at the waistline of her trousers. "Feels real tight."

"It's supposed to," Carlotta said, shimmying her hips. Warren made another note to ask her not to do that again, because Bianca had turned the same odd shade of pink she kept turning around Carlotta a lot lately. He had no idea what to do about that impending situation, really, but he was probably gonna have to have a talk with Carlotta about it soon. "You just gotta get used to it!"

"Here, be distracted while I tie your tie," Warren said, putting his c-gear on one of the beds and his news app to play video, plenty of which had queued up in the past hour. Bianca was fidgeting nervously, and he was never gonna get her tie on straight if she didn't stop jittering.

"…sources indicate, however, that he was removed from the Pryce family records fifteen years ago," said a news anchor Warren recognized but couldn't necessarily put a name to. "We go now to our discussion panel. Jessica, what do you make of this?"

"Honestly, I thought it was a smear campaign when the story broke," the middle-aged blonde leading the discussion panel said, looking around at the other panelists for their nods of agreement. "There aren't many Fairlans that are well known in Unova. So claiming she's related to one of the maybe two criminals people have likely heard of, just because the scale of what he pulled was so absurd—"

She was talked over by a grumpy-looking older man. "It's not a claim, though, is it?" he interrupted. "Our own research team confirmed it with the Indigo Registry Office! The Pryce family disowned Giovanni, but that disowning is still on public record! If she thinks she can hide—"

"They don't exactly ask you to declare wanted relatives at Customs," a younger guy said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Carlotta asked, staring at the screen before diving for her own C-Gear and starting to scroll news articles. "They talkin' 'bout Giovanni Giovanni?"

"Damn, I think so," Warren said, waving his hands in a "ta-daaaa" motion as he stepped back from Bianca and reached for his sister's tie.

"Who?" Bianca asked with a frown, stepping over to the mirror on the bathroom door that Carlotta had abandoned, looking herself and her alien apparel up and down cautiously.

"I don't suppose he's very famous in Unova, but if anybody's heard of a Fairlan criminal, it's either him or Maximilian Hyland," Cheren said, straightening his cuffs. "We've all seen his wanted posters in the embassies since… forever. He's still missing. But when Kanto was isolated from the rest of the world, he ruled a sizeable portion of it as his own personal, extremely violent fiefdom for fifteen years. He became something of a meme for how much he sounded like a Crobatman villain, really."

"Oh," Bianca said, sounding like she understood none of that. She looked back at the screen. "So who're the Pryce family?"

"Sar Saylee Pryce," Carlotta said, eyes wide as she stared at an article on her pokegear screen. "Holy fuck. The cartoon supervillain was her dad!"

"Excuse me—?!" Cheren yelped, grabbing his own pokegear. "I assumed from that discussion panel that he was some sort of distant relative, some Fairlan families track quite distant family branches, but her father—"

"No wonder the news is all over this," Warren whistled, rapidly tying his own emerald-green tie and reaching to turn off the video playing on his pokegear. "It sure don't look good for—GAAH!"

"Good evening," the purple-haired young man who'd appeared in their midst said, giving a formal bow. The chunky little green Pokemon hovering over his shoulder beeped and glowed briefly. "My Elgyem and I are your teleport courier service, here to deliver you to the gala tonight, at Burgh Arti's invitation. Please confirm your identities." He held out a touchpad. "Are you ready to go?"

"Hang on!" Carlotta said, running back to the mirror and snatching up her hairbrush to drag it frantically through her hair one last time. "What do y'all think, hair up or down?"

"Leave it down, you never do that, makes it kinda fancy," Warren suggested, pressing his finger to the touchpad until it beeped in confirmation.

"Um, it looks real good either way," Bianca said, missing the touchpad on her first attempt to present her fingerprint.

"War's right, it looks good when it's down and seems fancy because it's unusual for you," Cheren said dryly, giving his fingerprint. She stuck her tongue out at him. "If she does that at the gala," he asked the grinning teleport courier, "can you promise me she'll be immediately evicted?"

"Depends on who she does it to," the courier said diplomatically. Carlotta stuck her tongue out at him, too, while giving her fingerprint. "Thank you very much. Are we ready to go?"

"Oh, wait!" Bianca cried. "Makeup! Shouldn't we put on some makeup? That's what folks do for parties, right? Wear makeup?"

"I don't think I own none," Carlotta said, looking at Warren and Cheren. "Either of y'all own makeup?"

"Uhhh… I think I have glitter?" Warren said, going into his bag. "It's leftover costume glitter… is glitter appropriate for this party?" he asked the courier, who politely hid a laugh behind a cough.

"As you are attending at the invitation of Burgh Arti, I doubt anybody will be in any way surprised or unsettled if you wish to wear glitter," he said. "Dinner will not be served until eight, so while celebrities have started to arrive, you yourselves are not on a pressing deadline, and my instructions are simply to ensure your identities and bring you along when you are ready."

"Glitter it is!" Carlotta declared. "Hit me, bro."

Warren fell into a mock fighting stance, pulling a ridiculous face, before saying, "oh, you meant with the glitter. Just lemme find the dang stuff…"

"How are you feeling in the suit now?" Cheren asked Bianca while Warren scrolled through his bag menu.

"Oh! I… think I'm gettin' the hang of it?" Bianca said, holding her arms up and looking down curiously. "The colours are real pretty. Do I look good in it?"

"You look wonderful, Bianca," Cheren assured her. "And objectively speaking, as a gay man who gets nothing out of this, it makes your figure look fantastic."

Bianca blushed almost as red as she did whenever Carlotta hugged her. "Umm, th-thanks?" she squeaked. "Th-that's a good thing, right?"

"If you are comfortable with it, yes," Cheren said. "It's worth feeling like you look good for yourself and nobody else. You deserve it. And I have to say, I still very fondly remember the first time I put on a suit and saw the way it looked on me," he added, gesturing down at his own outfit and then pulling out his c-gear, scrolling through to a picture from a couple of years previously, with him and Warren both wearing suits and posing under a banner with their school's name and the name of the dance on it. The suits were definitely nowhere near as expensive, but Cheren was positively beaming with delight. "That's not to say you have to like wearing suits, but…"

"I… dunno," Bianca said thoughtfully. "I think I like it. I guess… it's new, and it's excitin'," she giggled. She jumped with a yelp as Warren patted her cheeks from behind. "Ahhh!"

"Aww, where'd that nice smile you were wearin' go?" Warren asked, holding up a glittery hand. "You gotta smile, B, it'll make the glitter catch the light! Here you go, Cher," he added, gently dusting his boyfriend's cheeks with bright powder.

"Gondamn, we make this look good," Carlotta said smugly, putting an arm around Bianca's shoulders. "Alright, I think that's all I got. Let's do this! You ready, B?"

"Ready," Bianca said, straightening her back and smiling, making light dance across her cheeks.

{Reshin 23rd, 7:45pm}

{Castelia City}

"The timing cannot be a coincidence," Caitlin said sourly. "Whoever contacted the registry office had to have been sitting on this information to release it at the most publicly inconvenient time."

"Inconve—somebody with a translator shoved a mic in my face to ask if I knew I'd married the daughter of a supervillain!" Blue grumbled, methodically frustration-eating his way through a whole tray of hors d'oeuvres. "I was expecting a lot of shit on the red carpet here, but that—"

"What did they mean by hiding my relationship, anyway?" Saylee asked. "It's on public record. That's how they found it."

"They don't use family registries in Unova," Caitlin explained. "Disowning somebody in Unova is not a legal process. You simply refuse all contact or connection with them. So to them, the fact that he was legally removed from your family registry, plus your mother's adoption, looks like some kind of elaborate cover-up—"

"My grandparents publicly disowned him," Saylee muttered, throwing her head back to drain another glass of bubbly, more than a little frustrated that the stuff was synth and therefore impossible to get drunk from, as bad an idea as she knew that would be at a public event like this. "And they adopted Mum because she doesn't have any known parents and to keep Silver, Red and I in the family registry!"

"Because they don't have family registries, they also don't have adult adoption," Caitlin pointed out. "Unovans don't understand how these things work. And I sincerely doubt that most of the news outlets reporting this story have bothered to learn before spreading the word as far and wide as possible. Make no mistake, this was deliberate." There was an unnatural glint in the powerful psychic's eyes as she scowled. "Possibly related to the attempted abduction of your daughter. I will keep investigating, I promise you that."

"Speaking of, isn't that them?" Blue said, tugging on the sleeve of Saylee's kimono. She rarely busted out the uncomfortable thing, because she felt like it made her look too much like one of the Geisha from Ecruteak, but with the gala being an international cultural event, it was recommended. Ambassadors and cultural emissaries from all over the world were present in their own traditional dress, and among them she caught sight of four teenagers looking adorable in matching embroidered suits, gaping a little as Lauro Alder clapped one of them one the shoulder with a jovial laugh. Saylee immediately recognized the black-haired boy with glasses and the girl with the long brown hair as the ones who'd run down Scarlet's kidnappers, their blonde friend as the one tinted with the faint sense of being god-touched, and another brown-haired boy…

Saylee rubbed her forehead with a groan. "Two of them," she muttered. "Caitlin, you have to send me some real information about gods in Unova, because some of the bastards have their eyes on two of those kids. Related gods, I think…"

"All the more reason we gotta go say hi," Blue encouraged, offering her his arm as they started to slowly migrate towards the kids, not wanting to interrupt their conversation with Alder. From the looks on the faces of the two from the cave, they were having a religious experience.

Athos Cheren, Saylee recalled from the police reports, and Arathos Carlotta. Which makes the other boy Arathos Warren, Carlotta's twin brother, and the girl D'Artagnan Bianca…

"They're only sixteen," she muttered to Blue.

"When did we get old enough for that to look too young for this shit?" Blue grumbled.

"We weren't anywhere near that young at that age."

"True."

Alder was hailed by the Orren ambassador and waved to the kids before heading off in a flurry of fringes and feathers, leaving four very starstruck teenagers in his wake.

Dammit, where did Key go? Saylee thought as she fumbled for her translator, not confident enough in her own shaky Unovan to say what she needed to say. The currents of the gala had dragged Key off elsewhere early on, and Saylee had only managed to catch a distant glimpse of her friend. She had faith that Key would be setting the record straight with anybody who brought up the news to her, but right now Saylee could really use her best friend's prowess with languages.

Warren noticed her first, frantically patting Carlotta and Cheren's shoulders to pull them out of their Alder-induced stupor as he spotted Saylee and Blue approaching.

Saylee smiled, consciously focusing on stamping down the murderous mood she was in to keep it from showing up in her eyes. It was aimed at the media, after all, not these kids. "Hello," she said, switching on her translator. "It is you, isn't it? From the cave?"

"Y-yes, Sar Kanto… Sir Viridian," Cheren said in his best Fairlan, giving a proper formal bow, which his friends imitated. "Good evening. How is your daughter?"

"Very well, thanks to you," Saylee said, as she and Blue gave them a much lower bow back. "You saved her life. Thank you!"

"We were glad to help," Carlotta insisted, grinning nervously. "Really. We, uh. Weren't really thinkin' 'bout it. We just saw a man runnin' off with a kid and, uh…" The translator stumbled a little over her mumbled Unovan, but the gist was clear.

"You didn't have to think to do the right thing," Blue said, nudging Saylee with a smirk. "You just jumped right in without thinking at all, huh?"

"You have good hearts," Saylee assured them, hoping the translator wasn't communicating that Blue was gently making fun of them. They didn't know him well enough to know he was doing it in a positive way.

"You're very, very welcome," Cheren assured her.

"I can tell you two are good kids as well," Saylee added, gesturing to Warren and Bianca, who both looked startled to be addressed. "Even if you didn't fight yourselves."

"Th-thank you!" Bianca squeaked. "I-I mean, I wanted to help, but, ummm…" she looked aside. "I got lost. In the forest. Sorry…"

"But you saw something in the forest, didn't you?" Saylee asked, dropping her voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Blue scanning the people nearest them, but he didn't look concerned by anything so she continued, "something you can't quite explain?"

Bianca gasped, clasping her hands to her mouth. Cheren edged a little in front of his friend, asking, "forgive me, Sar, but how could you possibly know that?"

"The same way I know that you've seen something too," Saylee said, nodding to Warren, and fighting back a reflexive frown as her pokegear buzzed in her sleeve. I though I put that thing on silent… "Not at the same time, but a little later?"

"No…" Warren began, but Bianca shook his arm.

"In Pinwheel Forest! You kept sayin' somethin was watchin' us, but that other trainer and I didn't see or hear nothin'!" she reminded him. "But they said there were magic things in that forest, right?"

"You didn't see anything, but it sounds like something saw you," Blue commented. "And you're gonna see it again."

"It was just a funny feelin'," Warren protested. "I'm sure it wasn't anythin'…"

"Listen," Saylee said urgently. She was going to have to step aside to politely set her pokegear back on silent, and it was important that she got to talk to them about this first. "I can tell… you kids are going to see things you don't believe. And when you do, for your own safety… you need to have an open mind. You need to remember that whether or not you believe something doesn't necessarily mean that it's true. And you have good hearts, and they'll lead you to jump into things without thinking, for the sake of doing the right thing… but please remember to be careful with yourselves." She bit her lip in worry. "Be safe. Doing the safe thing sometimes feels like not doing the right thing, but it's not the wrong thing. If something happens that you really can't understand, and you need help…" She held out a hand. "Give me one of your phones and I'll give you a number to call, but only in emergencies, okay?"

"You, uh… what?" Carlotta said in surprise as Cheren and Bianca openly gaped. Warren was the first to get his head together and hand over his c-gear. "You're just gonna… just like that? Give us your phone number?"

"Not my number," Saylee said, typing the number in. "Just a number, for me."

"If you go spreading this number around or sell it to a news outlet, one of them will find you," Blue said, gesturing to Janine. She and a couple other members of the security team were skulking nearby in dark suits. Saylee was pretty sure they'd drawn lots for who had to put on suits to come down to the party and who got to stay up in the hotel part of the building with Koga, watching the kids. Janine, at least, seemed determined to extract some fun from the evening, lowering her dark glasses and making very slow, deliberate eye contact with each of the kids in turn until they flinched, then put her sunglasses back with a nod of satisfaction.

Saylee handed back Warren's c-gear, frowning as her pokegear went off in her sleeve again. She glanced down at her sleeve, as if she could glare the device back into silent mode, and as she did she noticed Blue fidgeting with the sleeve of his formal haori, up which he'd stashed his own pokegear. Okay, how are they getting through to both of us?

"Th-thank you, Sar," Cheren stuttered in his decent Fairlan, his friends doing their variable best to imitate him.

"Just be safe," Saylee asked him. "And thank you, again. Excuse me…" She took Blue's arm as they stepped away, smiling a little as the excited whisper-screaming broke out behind her.

"If that little shit's blowing up my phone because of that news story…" Blue muttered, looking at his pokegear. Saylee pulled out her own, frowning as news and email notifications flowed by in a silent, steady stream, then—

New text from :rainbow::fire:

ALREADY SENT SUICUNE PICK THE FUCK UP

"He's sending Suicune?" Saylee whispered, unease trickling down her spine. Exceptions! I can't believe I forgot! Silent mode has goddamn exceptions, and Silver is one!

"He's what?" Blue muttered back. "Alright, let's find a corner where you can call him back…"

"This way," Janine said, closing in on Saylee's other side. "Form up," she muttered sharply at the other two with her. Saylee was reasonably sure one was Meloetta, but she wasn't sure about the other—both were made up to look identical to Janine, as if a black-suited trio of triplets were shadowing Saylee and Blue around the gala.

Once they'd borrowed a corridor for the catering staff, who cut them a respectful and/or frightened berth, Saylee called Silver back. As the screen flashed past, she noted that she'd already missed eight calls, all placed within a five-minute window.

Silver picked up immediately, not bothering with a greeting or giving Saylee time for one. "Red's hurt," he said tersely. "Really bad. He's not responding to me."

"Janine, check in with Koga, now," Saylee ordered quietly. "When you say not responding…" she whispered uneasily to Silver, not sure what, exactly, it was that she wanted to ask her brother. They'd never properly talked about the odd bond that Silver shared with Red ever since the former had brought the latter back from the dead, though given that Red had been brought back as a baby with no memory of his former life it was perhaps more accurate to call it direct reincarnation. The last time Ho-oh's restorative powers had been used to that extreme, the result had been three dead but otherwise normal Eevee becoming Entei, Raikou and Suicune. There was no way, really, that Red was a normal kid, but…

If she never asked, if nobody asked, if Silver never did anything with whatever was there beyond display uncanny timing for inviting Red to play video games with him when the kid was feeling down… they could all pretend that Red was normal. That one of them would get to live a normal life, finally.

"Look, I dunno how much we can communicate, I've never pushed it before," Silver sighed. "No experimenting, not when it could fuck with his head. But I know how he's feeling, even when I'm not really trying, and I got whammied with fear and anger and pain and now… this fuzzy kinda, I dunno, not exactly nothing, pretty sure he's not dead, I feel like I'd know that. I think he's unconscious. So what the fuck?"

Saylee looked up at Janine. "No response," the ninja muttered, gesturing to her comm. "Melody, stay here with Sar Kanto and Sir Viridian. You remember the evacuation signal, right?" One of the other two, humming gently, nodded. "Linda, alert hotel security and get them up to the suite. We have a situation." The other nodded and ran off down the corridor, dodging around a waiter with a tray full of empty champagne glasses. Janine just nodded to Saylee before vanishing herself.

Blue put an arm around Saylee, leaning his head close to hear Saylee talking to Silver over the pokegear. "Janine's going to check it out," Saylee murmured. "She'll let us know what's happening."

"She's checking it out? No response on the comms? From Koga?"

"We'll call you back when we know," Blue said, hanging up the call for Saylee. He hugged her tightly, leaning his head on her shoulder. "Could just be shitty equipment," he muttered. "Koga's still up there. He's as good as it gets with unarmed combat short of actually being a fucking Pokemon."

They're fine, he didn't say. They're fine. They're fine. They're fine.

{Reshin 23rd, 7:55pm}

{Castelia City}

Never go in alone.

Janine had been drilled in that from birth, when their home was a poison swamp full of angry wild Pokemon. Never go anywhere alone. Your partner may not be able to save you, but at least they can give your family the closure of knowing where you died.

The other side of the equation was the first rule of rescue—don't become another victim. Which meant that, once she got up there, she had to assess the situation fast, and if she didn't immediately get some assurance all was well…

She'd known Blue and Saylee long enough to know that the odds of that were low, but dammit, she had to hope. There were children involved these days.

Her earpiece was picking up nothing but static, and her pokegear blanked out once she was a floor below the suite. She was climbing up the elevator shaft, because it was a point of pride for her clan that they did not use stairs, and if anybody was in the hallway, it wouldn't do to give them the warning of seeing an elevator approaching the floor.

Jamming, she thought, checking the blank screen. Dammit. There goes the hope that the earpieces were just failing…

The hallway was empty of movement or breathing. The hall security measures were in place, the suite door locked.

But as soon as she opened it, she smelled blood.

She couldn't see anything past the entryway—the suite was designed that way, to protect its occupants' privacy. Back away. Don't become another victim.

"…'nine?"

"Dad?" she called back, recognizing the voice, even hoarse and faint. Security checks. Dad's been drilling this into you since you learned to talk. Any fool could steal a set password, but exchanging personal information… "My daughter was born on Kyonua fifteenth," she called through, "but she was due eight days before that." Plenty of people knew her daughter's birthday, but only a handful knew her original due date at the time and likely very few of them remembered. It wasn't the sort of information anybody in Unova could easily get.

"In the hosp'al… doc was worried…" There was a bubbling sound. Blood in this throat. Janine forced herself, with training and practice, to remain calm, to not move until she had the all-clear, because if she did either a hidden enemy would kill her or her father would for risking her life by breaching training. "But I said… this one… waitin' for the… right time… just like… you…"

"Clear?" Janine asked hoarsely.

"Clear… aid… needed…"

I know, Janine thought, heart in her throat as she rounded the corner to the suite's main room and stopped de—came to a complete standstill.

Alice was dead, her corpse draped over one of the overturned couches, empty eyes gazing blankly at Janine. Not now. You've known each other since you were three. Not now. Find Dad. Find the kids!

Koga's legs, one bent wrong, were protruding from the doorway to the kids' room, the endpoint of a trail of blood smudged into the carpet. "Dad, don't move," Janine told him as she ran to him, pushing the door further open so she could crouch at his side, assessing wounds. "Linda's bringing backup, hang on…"

"I'll… live," Koga mumbled as she turned him on his side to ease his breathing. He was pale, bleeding from several places but most worryingly his neck. When his hand slipped away briefly, though, the blood only seeped sluggishly from the wound rather than spurting, so thankfully the artery had been missed. He probably would live, with emergency services arriving imminently. "Help… Red…"

Janine looked up, realizing that her father had been trying to reach Saylee's teenage brother. The boy was curled on the ground in a terrifyingly large puddle of blood, clutching his stomach and unmoving.

No, no, god no, please no, Janine thought frantically, moving to Red's side, trying to assess his conditions clearly. He's a kid, he's just a kid, there'll be fucking war over this, if Saylee loses this one too, and Silver, fuck, he could and just might literally burn this country to the ground…

"…!" Red gasped, his eyes flickering open briefly when Janine touched his arm, then sliding closed again. His breathing was shallow but steady. Janine carefully moved his arms aside and tugged his shirt up, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that, despite all the blood, it wasn't deep. Maybe he was one of those people that just bled a lot, even for a papercut, and the shock had caused him to black out, or he'd been knocked unconscious. He would live, that was what mattered.

"Scarlet?" she called, looking around the room for the younger child. It was trashed, just like the main room, with the door entirely torn off of the closet.

Her scope of the room brought her gaze back to her father, and the sight of absolute, agonizing failure in his eyes nearly knocked her flat.

Alice was dead. Red and her father were seriously wounded. And Scarlet was gone.

I am going to find whoever was responsible for us being banned from bringing Pokemon, and I am going to fucking kill them.

…not least so Saylee and Blue don't cause an international incident by doing it themselves…

{}

{}

Hey holy shit wouldja look at that a blue moon rose and I was on it with a new nuzlocke chapter

So, Japanese family registries were explained to me in more detail recently when a coworker whose home I was visiting showed me hers. They're a fairly significant form of record-keeping and tracking family relationships, featuring marriages, births, deaths and adoptions, but are still generally kept on paper books and not digitized in anyway because Japan is… weirdly skeptical of technology for a country with their technological renown. Disowning somebody can involve the legal step of having them removed from your family registry, which is apparently a pretty significant shame if you were part of a prestigious family.

Adoption in Japan also has forms that don't really exist in the West, because "adoption" is really the only translation we have for adding somebody to a family registry without marriage. To adopt somebody in Japan, you need only be one day older than them. In the past, this was most commonly a way for the head of a family who didn't have any kids to designate an heir in a way that couldn't be contested after his death, or if all his kids had already married off into more prestigious families (until the late nineteenth century, only wealthy/significant families had family names, and when a couple married whether the wife took the husband's name or vice versa commonly depended on who was from the "better" family, and this persists in upper-class Japanese circles to this day). These days this still occasionally happens as a way for an aging CEO to designate a successor, but is also, to my personal great amusement, how gay couples circumvent the lack of gay marriage in Japan. If the older partner adopts the younger, they are legally family and have medical rights if one is in hospital, inheritance/life insurance rights if one dies, etc etc etc.

So, the "scandal" around Saylee. Giovanni, her father, was publicly disowned by his father and head of their family, Arthur Pryce, a little while after the end of Blood and Bond. This was generally understood as the Pryce family condemning Giovanni for his many, many, many, many crimes and making it clear he had no safe harbour with them should he ever resurface in the Fairlands. However, they still wanted Giovanni's children—Saylee and Silver—to be part of the family, and since Saylee's mother Johanna has no known family… boom! Helen and Arthur Pryce adult-adopt Johanna, which also ensured that Red qualified as related to them when he came back a couple years later, too. As well as keeping Saylee and her brothers in the family, it was a show of emotional support for Johanna. While adult adoptions generally don't carry the expectation that the adopter and adoptee will genuinely regard each other as parent and child (especially in gay adoptions), Arthur and Helen treated Johanna like their daughter to the end of their days and it meant the world to her.

But Unova, like America, doesn't use family registries the way Japan/The Fairlands does, and to a culture unfamiliar with them, it would be very easy to represent Giovanni's disowning and Johanna's adoption as a scheme to hide the fact that Giovanni was ever part of the family at all, if you wanted to make it look like Saylee was hiding sinister secrets… If you had an agenda that benefited from discrediting her, perhaps…

Warren

Angus the Audino

Carlotta

Owain the Dewott, Loyal the Herdier, Paden the Simisear, Roland the Boldore, Thamina the Gurdurr, Saria the Sewaddle

RIP Pijon the Tranquill, level 8-22

Bianca

Tiberius the Tepig, Wilhelmina the Woobat, Penny the Tranquill

Cheren

Sherlock the Servine, Poncho the Simipour, Rocky the Boldore, Lilli the Petilil