Chapter 26: Fairy Dance
I was hoping to get my plans together quickly. Serena had told me that Lysandre planned on five years more and one of those was mostly by me when my fifth year of school ended. While I knew it would be tough, I wanted to get three more proofs during that summer. Three more gyms would give me extra challenge, although one had to wait for last. With that in mind, I requested to challenge Valerie on the first day of summer break.
It happened to be raining when he arrived at the train station in Laverre. But even with the rain, this town had a way of being bright all the same. The weather seemed to make the colors more vibrant, especially in the flower gardens and mushroom patches. Many people walked the quaint streets, almost all of them with fanciful umbrellas to keep dry. As usual, Calem chose not to use one and walked to the gym while enjoying the weather.
Valerie met him in the entrance room. This time, she was dressed in Japanese fashion; Calem wasn't sure what to call it, but it was a nice purple with red flowers, and wide arms that almost looked like wings along with her usual wing accessory. She smiled as she curtsied to him. "Hello Calem, wonderful to see you again. You've grown nicely, although it's a shame to hear what's come to afflict you."
"I'm doing this to prove I won't fall victim to it," he said. "Thanks for accepting my challenge."
She nodded. "I'm glad to help, especially with someone who did so nicely in helping me. About this challenge, you may remember a bit of it but not all. As your third proof challenge, you may pick two of your Pokemon to accompany you through it, no more and no less. You will find me in my usual room, although the teleporters are arranged differently than when you were here."
"I was expecting that," Calem said. It didn't make sense for them to keep the layout exactly the same every year, as people would hear about it from others. And two of his Pokemon… it didn't take him long to decide to call on Starlet and Yorick. The Mawile smiled at Valerie, a touch glad to see her again and a touch proud to be chosen for this. The Gengar quickly sunk into the shadows, observing.
"There's something else to the challenge," Valerie said, after giving a wave to Starlet. "When you face me, I will have a barrier on me that will reduce any damage I take. It has several layers and once you enter battle, there will be no way to take out the barrier. But you have thirty minutes to reach me, so there might be something you could do about it before then." She smiled. "Normally I'd give a couple extra hints, but in your case, you have to figure it out yourself."
"All right, I'll do my best."
With that, she clapped her hands to summon a spirit orb for both of them. "Good, then I'll be seeing you. The clocks will be keeping track of your time." She curtsied again, then teleported out of the room on her own.
Thirty minutes. There were nine rooms to the Gym itself, not counting the ones not open to the public but counting this entrance. While it shouldn't take too much time to search nine rooms, there were also the teleporters to figure out plus whatever would affect her barrier. Due to the rain, his senses were sharp but he cast the heightened senses spell just in cast. Nothing stood out to him in the entrance, but he could tell which room the two active teleport pads would send him to. One would send him to another first floor room, while another would send him to the second floor. He took the former, waving for Starlet to follow him. Yorick should find him, if he wanted. If he didn't, the Gengar would respond to his name.
The teleporter sent him to the sewing room: it held a sewing machine, a loom, a basket of yarn, a drawer of supplies, and a number of colorful cloths hanging on the wall. Much of it had signs of being used. However, only the teleporters and one item had active magic on them. The one item was a small painting among a group of photographs. Even without a sense for aura, it might stand out for not being a photo. The photos were all of looms, some with people and some without. The painting also had a loom with a vibrant cloth in it, but the difference in medium was enough.
Checking the painting, the spell seemed to be an illusion activated on touch. He wasn't sure if breaking the enchantment would break the barrier right off, so he touched the frame. The room shimmered and after a moment, he and Starlet was in a different room. It looked much like the sewing room, but with a larger loom instead of a sewing machine. On it, there was the cloth that had been on the painting's loom. There was even a basket of threads used for the cloth next to it.
The illusion aura was everywhere as this wasn't a real space. Something in here should affect the barrier, but what? It was masterful magic, as he couldn't be sure. Maybe if he focused with the dagger… no, he'd take a look around first. What had the painting looked like? He looked back at the wall, only to find that the painting now showed the real sewing room. It was nearly identical to this illusionary room, aside from the big sewing machine being a loom and the yarn balls in the basket. Maybe those.
He looked over the yarn, then the cloth in the loom. There, he found something inconsistent: the cloth had a floral pattern, but there was a noticeable patch where the flower in the design was red instead of blue. It was the only red one in the cloth so far. Hopefully he wouldn't have to remake it, since he wasn't sure how to weave. But the illusion was touched based, so he touched the red flower.
It glowed briefly and summoned a trio of Floettes, two with red flowers and one with a blue flower. But they were all illusions, just like this room. After a cheery greeting, they wrapped themselves in energy and bounded around the room. Calem quickly figured out that he had to capture the blue flower Floette, so he did his best to follow that one. After half a minute, the three Floettes returned, still wrapped in energy. The shell game was simple; he picked out the blue one and Starlet quickly had it defeated in battle. That allowed the flower on the fabric to turn blue; a distant feeling seemed like one of the barriers had been broken.
Returning to the sewing room, they found Yorick waiting on them, grinning wide. "We've got it, but you need to keep up so you can help too," Calem said, patting him on the head. All of the teleporters in this room, save the one he came in, went to the second floor. He picked the room above this one.
This brought him into a lovely kitchen, one that he knew was functional but was kept immaculately clean. But nothing in the room stood out like the painting before, so he took a teleporter down to the other first floor room. This was a parlor, complete with an antique Victrola record player and a grandfather clock; there was a record playing what seemed to be Japanese music, a little at odds with the decor. This room did have a number of paintings on the wall, with one having the illusion magic on it. Knowing what might come, Calem took a careful look at the painting before touching it. It looked like an exact replica of this room, except instead of a red and gold color scheme, the room in the painting was done in blue and silver.
"Yorick, why don't you try touching it?" Calem suggested.
The Gengar chuckled and stretched up to tap it with a clawed hand. Like before, he and Yorick were transported into the illusionary room, but without Starlet this time. It didn't take long to find another difference: this room was silent aside from the ticking of the grandfather clock. Calem went over and found that there was a record in the Victrola, with a label that looked like it might have Japanese on it. Or another Asian language, he wasn't sure. He set it to play.
At least two dozen Cleffa appeared in the room: bouncing on the sofa, dancing on the tables, scurrying around the floor. There were in an entire spectrum of colors too, even a pair in silver and gold twirling around in front of a mirror. One pale green one ran right into Calem's foot and vanished; this did nothing to break a barrier or the illusion. Not only that, but a few of them were squealing in a manner that made an unpleasant feeling in his mind. Maybe some Fairy aura spell?
Trying to ignore the mild pain, he put his hand on his head. "Okay… Cleffa are supposed to be…"
He was about to say pink when Yorick raised a fist and launched himself across the room to punch the sole pink Cleffa hiding underneath a chair. Yorick then raised both fists in a victory pose as the Cleffas, the illusion room, and the barrier layer vanished. Reappearing in the actual parlor, Starlet glanced at them, raising an eyebrow at Yorick.
"How did you do that so quickly?" Calem asked. But then a bit of thought came to him. "Wait, that was Sucker Punch, right? It always hits as long as… oh, so it would send you right at the right Cleffa because it was attacking. Guess I could have done the same with Shock Wave. Nice work there."
"Gwa hah," Yorick replied, proud of himself.
Two barriers seemed right for a third badge challenge, but Calem knew she might be giving him a tougher challenge due to his extra skills. For that reason, he made sure to check on the four other rooms. They next found the bathroom, which was clearly labeled as being unusable. No illusions were there, so they moved on through the teleporter to the study. It had been a nice room to work in, with the books kept behind protective glass that would hold up to any stray energy flying around in battle. In there, he found a teleporter to Valerie's battle room (provided it was still the central room on the top floor), but no illusions. He skipped the battle room for the dining room instead.
There were paintings on the wall, but no illusions. However, hovering over the elegantly set table, there was a Klefki holding a small glass orb on a chain among its collection of keys. The orb held Valerie's magic, so it was something she had made. In the center of the table, there was a covered dish that she'd also enchanted, but not with the illusion or barrier magic. The Klefki clinked its keys and looked right at him.
"Is this for something or a distraction?" Calem wondered aloud. The Klefki squeaked, then tried to knock the cover to the dish over. It couldn't do so, but it seemed oddly interested in uncovering it. Glancing over the table, he noticed something didn't quite look right: the silverware. "Wait, I don't think this is right. I had to learn table setting when I worked here for this room. It was, er,"
It had been a while ago, but he tried swapping a fork and spoon. That undid some of the dish's enchantment, so he went around the table and checked on the settings. At one corner, there was a plate missing a napkin. At one in the center of a side, there was an extra knife that belonged at the plate to the left. The dish was no longer enchanted shut, so Calem lifted the lid to reveal a silver key formed like the silverware. The Klefki jangled in excitement, happily giving him the orb on its ring in exchange for the silver key.
"Maaa wi," Starlet called, pointing out one of the paintings on the wall. It showed what a proper table setting was, with silverware and dishes that matched what was on the table.
"Oh, so there was a guide here," Calem said. "Not sure what the orb is for, but I'm glad we made the little guy happy."
The Klefki was still dancing around in the air with the silver key, so they moved on to the bedroom. It was a lavish room, like a fairy tale princess' room. Taking up a fair portion of the room was a canopy bed with rich purple drapes. A vanity sat on one side of the bed while a wardrobe carved with flowers and flower Pokemon sat on the other. Like the dining room and sewing room, this had been a tough room to battle in due to the layout. That was one advantage to challenging the gyms in the way he was.
There were a number of paintings on the wall, including one with the illusion and barrier magic. So she did have an extra barrier layer. Looking at it, there didn't seem to be a difference between that room and this one. Calem looked back over the real room, then down at his Pokemon. "You both coming this time?"
They both agreed, with Starlet nodding and Yorick grinning wider. Calem touched the frame and sent them all into the illusion room. Again, it looked no different than the normal room. The aura was definitely full of illusions, so full that it was difficult to read anything but illusion. Something should give a clue of how to undo it. Watching the way aura moved, he tried to find an end or beginning to it. But it was such a hazy tangle.
"Huh, looks like this one means to mess up anyone who has an aura sense," Calem said, looking around. "You two are gonna have to help me figure this out; it's confusing to me."
Yorick sank down into the floor and began sniffing around, while Starlet walked around near him to look over things. Calem tried opening up the wardrobe, but its door would not budge. Near the knob, there was a small keyhole. Maybe that had something to do with it? Yorick emerged from the middle of the bed, muttering. Since this might take a key, he walked around the bed while Starlet peered under it for some reason. The vanity seemed like the obvious place to put a key, so he tried the drawer and found that it did have a key, a silver one like the Klefki had taken. Yorick then called in triumph, pulling a key from under one of the pillows, while Starlet crawled out from under the bed with a third key.
"Looks like we have to figure out the key now," Calem said, kneeling down to take the key from Starlet as well as check her for any dust from crawling under there. It was a surprise that she'd done so, but with no dust it must have been clean. She had an iron key with a flower design on it, while Yorick had white key with an ornate handle. the wall, including one with the illusion and barrier magic. so n the other. like on of
But the wardrobe had a pattern of flowers on it. He took the keys back over and put in the iron key, as its design matched the wardrobe. Clicking in place easily, it opened up the door to release a Dedenne illusion. Possible trouble for Calem, but none for his two Pokemon, allowing them to get back to the normal room. From there, they backtracked to the study in order to reach Valerie's room.
Compared to the other rooms, this one was simple. There was a large sculpture on the wall, matching the design of the gym's badge and proof. On the floor, there were a couple of teleport pads. That was all; it had been left clear for the more challenging battles that took place here. In the back of the room, Valerie was waiting with a Mr. Mime and a Sylveon. "Are you done?" she asked. "There's still a few minutes."
"I'm sure," Calem said, as he didn't sense any barriers in the room. However, the Mr. Mime excelled at barriers. It might be a good idea to take it out quickly once the battle begun, just so it didn't start blocking damage.
She took a few steps closer to get in place with her Pokemon. "As you might have guessed, this challenge was to test your perception." She snapped her fingers, causing the Klefki's orb to float away from him before shattering. It decreased the amount of damage her spirit orb could take. "And your kindness has even given you a small bonus. But you still must win this battle. Three against three, the Trainer and two Pokemon each. The first side to lose all three members loses. Is your side ready to begin?"
He glanced at his two Pokemon. Yorick winked while Starlet nodded solemnly, watching Valerie. "Yes, we are."
Bringing a red orb into existence, Valerie said. "All right, then when the light goes green, we begin." It flashed red a few times, then yellow, and finally green.
"After the Mime," Calem commanded, using Shock Wave to make sure he hit him.
Yorick followed up by firing a venomous spike in Poison Jab at the shocked Mr. Mime, knocking him out before he could do anything. Starlet was still preparing, so she switched her target to Valerie to bash her steel jaw into the Leader's side. Valerie had already cast a spell that turned the floor into a grassy field. However, this wasn't an illusion; it was an enchantment that seemed to have a healing effect attached to it. At her side, the Sylveon was tapping its front paws, charging up some spell aimed at him. Calem warped out of the way to Yorick's other side, quickly weighing the choices.
"Confuse Valerie, then focus on the Sylveon," Calem said, preparing his own Water Pulse spell to use against the latter. That status effect would help them immensely.
Then a glint like moonlight appeared around the Sylveon and before he could warp again, the pink and white Pokemon blasted him with a beam of Fairy energy. His spirit orb shattered immediately, although the aftereffects of the attack left him lightheaded. Since he was out of the fight, he warped back into one of the corners to keep out of the way. Yorick and Starlet were on their own now. He trusted both of them to hold their own, but would they work together?
After a brief moment of concern, Yorick used Confuse Ray on Valerie. That should make it harder for her to cast properly, as one of the big dangers was Valerie using a Psychic spell on the Gengar. Since this gym had once been classified as Psychic, she had to know several. Would the Sylveon know Psychic skills too? He hadn't worked much with them.
Starlet pulled her steel jaw over her head, calling something to Yorick before dancing aside and striking the Sylveon with her jaw. With the Steel aura she'd gathered, it should hurt the Sylveon a lot. Yorick slipped into the floor, then used Poison Jab against the Sylveon as well, almost taking it out of the fight too. Calem smiled, relieved that the two were cooperating in order to win the battle for him.
Without warning, anger clutched at his thoughts and tinged his vision. Calem dug his nails into his palms and closed his eyes. 'I am not killing anyone here.'
Why are you being a coward and keeping out of the fight? For that matter, why be so stupid as to start a battle face to face with your opponent? That's not what our skills are for.
"This isn't a battle for our skills," Calem said quietly. "And I'm not breaking the rules."
Battles should not have rules. It's a violent means to prove your strength, so it's naïve to cover it up by making sure everyone survives unharmed.
"You don't understand," Calem started to say, but then things like memories appeared in his thoughts. Not his memories, though. These were memories of the Asari, many rapid short fights with others that ended in the death of the opponent. Even some of his family's final moments, against powerful foes they willingly sought out and lost against in order not to grow old and weak. Or a son against a father, proving his deadly skill by slaying the one who taught him. That was how they expected his battle against Heinrich to go.
"Calem?" Valerie called to him, as the battle seemed to be over. She was there without her spirit orb, but her Sylveon wasn't around. Already by his side, Starlet didn't seem too hurt while Yorick was pushing himself to remain conscious.
Before he realized it, he'd summoned the dagger to his right hand and was trying to straighten up from leaning on the wall. Calem clenched the dagger, but forced himself to keep it down and caused his hand to tremble. The eldest Asari still had a connection to him. You have no choice, boy, and I'll take you over if I have to make you join us.
Valerie seemed remarkably calm as she studied him, especially how he held the dagger. She gave him a smile that looked a little sad, then lifted her hands and started to dance. Why dance when he was struggling to keep control of himself? Then her aura intensified, pulling strongly on the Fairy type. It had to be some kind of attack. Perhaps the official battle was over, but she was going to defend herself.
Just behind her, the green circle of a warp position appeared. ******, move before she hits you!
No. Calem was certain that this was going to hurt, but it'd hurt the Asari more. Not able to send the dagger away quite yet, he stood his ground. At the last moment, he thought to mentally reach out and force the connection to remain active, just in case the spirit tried to escape. Thoughts of curses filled his mind as Valerie's spell hit him like a twirling dance of many Clefairies. That was a pleasant thought, but this was a sickening feeling through his body. But it was far worse for the Asari spirit, who wrenched himself out of Calem's aura and cut the connection to get away from it.
Valerie immediately stopped dancing and changed to a neutral healing spell instead. "I'm sorry, but it was necessary," she said.
Even with the healing, his legs felt weak. Calem sunk to the floor, clasping Starlet's hand for reassurance. "It's okay… you did a lot worse to him, thank you."
"Kuuur," Starlet cooed, making sure her steel jaw was out of the way to hug him.
"It's not often I get thanked for attacking someone," Vlaerie said in amusement. "Well your darling Pokemon have won the match for you. They coordinated with each other wonderfully once you had to step back; I should let you borrow a tape of it so you can see. Especially Starlet." She smiled warmly at the Mawile and patted her steel jaw. "You've become a wonderful little lady, and I'm proud to see you come so far."
Starlet blushed at the praise, but smiled all the same.
Since he'd been unable to pay attention to half the battle, Calem and Valerie had to discuss what spell she'd teach him in honor of his win. He thought that casting illusions would be fun, but technically that hadn't happened during the battle. In the end, he went with the one spell he'd seen her use, Grassy Terrain. Mortan knew it too, but for these days when the Floette wasn't around, it'd be useful if he knew it too. Thinking on how the battle went, it might end up being something he would start off with in case he got knocked out quickly, to continue supporting his Pokemon. It seemed like any time he actually got hit, he'd be out of the battle before long. Then should he work on trying to better his defense or continue on with the swiftstep to avoid being hit at all?
Calem thought over that while walking through the Laverre streets. The morning rain had ended, so he could go ahead with his plan to have a picnic lunch with his Pokemon. And since Yorick and Starlet had won even when he'd been defeated, it'd be nice to buy some treats for them in one of the local shops. Would he stay later on? Valerie had mentioned that since the rains would only last in the morning, this might be a good night to hike out to where a group of Clefairies would appear on nights of the full moon to dance. Other Fairy Pokemon might join them and he'd never managed to see it while he'd been working at her Gym. But then again, considering how her dance had affected him, maybe it wasn't a good idea. The picnic was a good idea because they'd enjoy it and…
His thoughts were immediately disrupted when he spotted Team Flare's bright red moving through the people ahead of him. It was a man in their signature uniform: ruby-red sunglasses, brightly dyed hairstyle, and all. What were they doing here? Calem started trailing him, pausing by a large sign when the man stopped to talk with some others. He had some pamphlets and a heavy bag over his shoulder, so it might just be one of them out to get new members. But even that was trouble.
"Careful Calem," a quiet but familiar voice said just behind him.
But there wasn't anyone behind him… Calem turned and saw that he was standing by a fenced in garden. There wasn't a human in the garden, but his Phantump was hovering in the air there, looking at him in concern. "Heinrich?" he asked quietly. "You can talk?"
He nodded with the sound of dry wood. "It's hard to put sounds together, but I remember the words. Didn't want to speak until I had a better grasp on it." He floated over to the signpost. "Might be useful to speak to him, but keep your temper. He's not your target."
"Right," Calem said, looking back over to the recruiter. He seemed to be losing the interest of the pair he stopped.
"Relax your body," Heinrich said. "Don't give away your alertness to him and don't try to argue with him here. There are times when this is far more useful than just jumping in."
He nodded, then smiled at the Phantump. "I know. Time to make up for being an awful teacher?"
He laughed at that, shaking some of his branches. "I'll be awful if it gets what I want; it worked with you and the other two."
With the joking around lifting his spirits, Calem stretched his arms and soon had himself relaxed as if this were any other day. He walked over to the Flare recruiter with Heinrich following close by, pausing a few feet away. The recruiter must have seen him, but didn't speak to him immediately. Because of that, he started the conversation with, "Hey, what's going on with the costume?"
"It's no costume," the recruiter said. If he was insulted by that, he didn't show it. "It's the daring and unique style of Team Flare. Got your attention, didn't it?"
"I guess, but it reminds me a stop sign," he said, causing Heinrich to snicker. "You'd have to be pretty confident to go out like that."
That made the recruiter smile. "Well of course, and we have every reason for confidence. Ever worry about the future of the world in the state it's in? We don't have to worry, as we're going to fix things up proper. But it could be dangerous times ahead anyhow. Say boy, how old are you?"
"I'll be seventeen in a couple of weeks," he said. Since Serena had taken off to join Flare on her seventeenth birthday, he had a feeling that might be more tempting to the recruiter than simply saying that he was sixteen.
"I was wondering because we have an age limit on joining, but you're close enough that you might get in," the recruiter said. "And you really should consider doing so; the next few years are going to get tumultuous, and being with Flare will make sure that you're safe."
"Why do you think there's going to be trouble?" Calem asked, trying to sound innocently curious. "Things are peaceful now; haven't heard of much trouble being around."
"We're in the calm before the storm, so to speak. But the world's reached a threshold it's never hit before. There are so many people and Pokemon around that competition is heating up for space and resources. It might not seem so bad here, but we're in an advanced region where people tend to share. In many other regions of the world, widespread violence comes out every day, in conflicts over resources, land, and ideas. There is not a lot we can do immediately about the last issue, but if we work towards fixing the first two deficiencies, then the last problem will be closer to resolving itself as there's less triggers for arguments and conflicts."
"I don't think there's that much violence in the world," Calem said. "You hear about it occasionally, not every day."
The recruiter shook his head. "You won't be hearing about all of the conflicts, believe me. A lot of people try covering them up and pretending they don't exist, since then they don't have to do anything to help. But we in Team Flare have plans to fix these basic problems before long, thus helping to fix other problems over time."
"What do you mean to do about such problems, though?" Calem asked. "They're rather large things to tackle."
"Doesn't mean we shouldn't try. We can't reveal all of our plans to the general public right away, but if you join us in the next few months, you'll definitely be hearing about them straight from our leaders. And it's nothing big to the individual either. We all do our parts, no matter how small, to make a series of events that's greater than what any one of us does on our own. After all, any problem is solvable when you get smooth teamwork to tackle it, where everyone is cooperating in purpose, spirit, and action. That's the way to get anything done."
As much as he didn't like agreeing with them, he had to admit that this sounded perfectly fine. Teamwork was essential. But, did each of the small parts know what the overall plan would lead to? Serena didn't know everything and she was supposedly a vital part in awakening the legends. "Well if I don't know what you're doing, it's hard to agree to go along with you," Calem said.
"We're fixing global problems, that's what we're doing," the recruiter said, giving him a pamphlet. "There's still a lot of bad in the world and we're making it good instead. That has some more information than what I'm allowed to say, you really should read it."
"I guess, thank you," Calem said, taking it. He then moved on down the road, towards a large fence that surrounded what seemed to be a factory.
"He seems to believe it," Heinrich said.
"So did Serena," Calem said, opening up the pamphlet and skimming through it. It had some short horror piece based on the problem of overpopulation and finding the resources to support everyone, as well as bits against people saying 'not my problem since it doesn't affect me' by aiming to prove that these issues affected everyone. Other paragraphs repeated that Team Flare would make sure its own people were safe and taken care of even with the coming years of turbulence they were predicting. This had been going on for months, but this pamphlet claimed that there would come signs from nature and the gods of the dangers approaching. Flare had Xerneas and Yveltal, though. Did they mean to force the two gods to talk for them? But how?
"Something's going on back there," Heinrich said, from past the fence he had drifted through.
"Is there?" Calem asked, turning from the silly pamphlet to the factory behind him. He made sure to refresh his heightened senses and noticed a lot of people there. That wouldn't be out of the ordinary. "What are you sensing?"
"Tension, aggression, fear," the Phantump said. "While we've not been around this factory much, that doesn't seem normal for any factory."
"You're right about that," he said, trying to find those feelings. Before then, he noticed an unremarkable white truck lumbering down the road towards the gate. It looked normal, but Calem saw the red sunglasses on the driver and passenger as they came by. "They are up to something. Should we go in and take a look?"
"Do you feel confident in your stealth?" he asked, moving forward. Calem glanced around, making sure no one was paying particular attention to him. Then he activated the cowl and warped past the fence, sneaking around with Heinrich in the shadows.
Using swiftstep through a wall was something he hadn't tried, although he had passed trees in that manner. The walls of this factory were thick, not easy to sense through. Eventually, he found some vents that one could peek into the main building through. That was easier to sense past and send a warp target through, so they entered there. Inside, it was strangely quiet. There were a lot of massive machines, some like huge bins and others holding lots of precision arms for the process of manufacturing. But whatever they made, there wasn't a lot around. He did spot a defect bin, where he discovered a collection of problematic Pokeballs.
There was a group by one of the doors, their conversation hard to hear over this distance even with enhanced hearing. Calem warped over and ducked behind some conveyor belt machinery to listen in; Heinrich followed after, but sneaked to another location for a different view. In the group, he noticed a few people in work clothes, including one who seemed to be a supervisor over the rest. They were talking to three of the Team Flare scientists, including the pair he ran into in Winding Woods and the one he'd seen with Mabel and Lysandre when Serena died. A flicker of anger came to his mind on recognizing her, but he tried to clamp down on it and listen.
"Good, you've finally gotten a suitable amount for us," the red-haired scientist said. "But with the margin of error on your products, this may not be the last time we need to get your assistance."
"Are you going to let the workers go now?" the supervisor asked, nervous and ashamed.
"Sure, since you've finally come around to seeing the advantages to working with us instead of overcharging," she said. "And you will cut costs for us again if we return?"
"You didn't give us anything for our entire stock," the supervisor said, like he could be outraged by this implied theft but something made him afraid of these women.
"We didn't hurt anyone," the scientist said in an unnecessarily harsh tone. "That could still change."
"At-cost, possibly," the supervisor said. "Okay, it will be at cost and we'll make sure to reserve at least one crate in case your group comes back."
"It had better be a fair price when the future of the world is at stake," she said, then departed.
"What about our workers?" the supervisor said.
"The guys watching over them will be last to leave," she said, just before leaving the building.
Heinrich appeared by Calem's side. "Not sure if there's anything we could do. If we came earlier, we might have intervened."
He didn't like it, but nodded and held a hand up to wait. After making sure that the factory workers were released unharmed, Calem decided to leave the building and grounds before he was spotted. Back in Laverre, he told his great-grandfather, "It's terrible that we were too late, but it seems they took the factory's entire supply of Pokeballs by holding the workers hostage."
"Right, but why?" That puzzled him.
"I'm not sure either." And since he'd seen the end of it, what did he do about knowing it?
I ended up telling Professor Sycamore, since that made most sense to me. The Pokeball Factory in Laverre adamantly denied that the hostage situation and theft had occurred, even when Sycamore asked directly about it. Team Flare still had something over them to keep them quiet, even now. However, news did get out about a Pokeball shortage in Kalos and surrounding regions for that summer, and part of that autumn. Official word said that it was a major problem forcing them to recycle their entire stock.
And I could have guessed what they wanted all those Pokeballs for, since I already knew it. It would be a while before I finally made that connection.
A/N: This event with the Pokeball Factory is one of the references back to the original Pokémon games, mirroring the Silph headquarters take-over. But, I don't like it as well. The Factory conveyor belt maze is easier than the headquarters' multi-story teleporter and conveyor tile maze, but that has to be weighed against the results of the event. In the original Pokémon games, you beat the antagonist team boss and get Rocket to stop harassing people, which is a satisfying victory after getting through the building. But here in X and Y, your intervention doesn't really amount to anything as Flare gets what they wanted and keep making trouble. The two scientists you battle here don't even remember you later on. So it ends up being an empty victory; getting the Masterball here doesn't even feel like an appropriate award.
But I still love Laverre; I'd probably want to live there if I was in Kalos.