Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 12
Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7
Archie—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 3
Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1
(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)
{Darnua 19th, 10:20 am}
{Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}
Sam, Gary and Adam were all Pokémon that Blue had had for years, and Saylee knew them well. Seeing the Blastoise, Arcanine and Alakazam again was like another little piece of home, almost as much as Blue himself was.
"Hey, girl! It's great to see you!" Sam said enthusiastically, sweeping Saylee up in a tight hug. "Glad we found you. How are you?"
"Much better for seeing you all," Saylee said, patting Sam's solid underbelly. The huge Blastoise was experienced enough with humans that, despite having armoured arms that could punch through walls, her hugs were gentle and secure. Gary gave Saylee an enthusiastic lick on the cheek and got a scratch behind the ears in return. Adam, as an Alakazam, wasn't big on physical contact, but he stroked his long moustache and smiled warmly in greeting. To Saylee's shock, Star nodded to Sam in a surprisingly amiable greeting, and Sam nodded back.
"Er… hi?" Sally asked, looking warily between her sister and Sam.
"Sar, introduce us," Caelin ordered as Sam set Saylee down. "You are familiar with these warriors?"
"Guys, this is Princess Caelin of Coronet," Saylee explained, gesturing to Caelin, "and that's her steed and primary bodyguard, Star's little sister Sally. The little Turtwig is her handmaid Terra. And the new human is Lady Key Weaves."
"Ahh, the famous Key," Adam said with a slow nod. He tipped his head thoughtfully as he looked from Caelin to Prince.
"A Princess, huh?" Gary said with a grin.
Sam immediately levelled her cannons at the Arcanine. "No establishing dominance," she said flatly.
"Everyone, this is Sam, Gary and Adam," Saylee said, gesturing to each Pokemon in turn and casually stepping in between Gary and Caelin as the princess' eyes narrowed. "And… who are the newcomers?" Saylee asked Blue. Three more Pokemon were standing by the wall next to Blue, watching the introductions curiously. Saylee only recognized the species of two of them and had seen none of them with Blue before.
"Well, first up is Eira," Blue said, pointing a scruffy-looking Electabuzz, who stretched and yawned before sitting down against the wall. "Eira, can you at least say hello before going to sleep? This is my girlfriend Saylee, her friend Key and their Pokémon," Blue said in exasperation. Eira cracked an eye open, waved lazily at Saylee, and then went back to sleep, ignoring Star bristling at her.
"Are you certain that this one is a warrior?" Caelin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Only when she's actually fighting," Prince chuckled.
"I'm surprised that you're letting a Pokémon get away with being that lazy," Saylee commented.
"Yeah, well, she does actually do her training and win her fights, and she really throws herself into it, so…" Blue said with a shrug. "She's kind all or nothing, and completely fearless, as you can see." Star was now growling less than an inch from Eira's face, and Eira was continuing to placidly ignore her. Unlike Sam, Star appeared to have no mutual respect with the other female electric-type. "Girish is a lot more lively, though. And really serious about training..."
The next Pokémon that he introduced was a stout, purple-and-red creature with a dragon-like head and spikes for hands. "Hello," he said. "So, are we training together or-?"
"You are a Gabite!" Caelin said excitedly. "A dragon! Sar Kanto, your mate has powerful allies!"
"I'm not gonna be a Gabite for long," Girish replied seriously. "It's only a matter of time before I'm a Garchomp."
"Definitely much more enthusiastic than Eira," Saylee commented with a laugh. "How did you wind up with these guys anyway?"
"Well, we met Girish while we were moving around underground with your new grandpa," Blue said. Archie suddenly made a choking noise. "Archie, c'mon, I know we covered that Jules is Byron's dad, and that Byron's married to Saylee's mum…"
"I know, I'm just marvelling at how many people in this country that I've run into that are related to you," Archie said sheepishly. "I came to Sinnoh to avoid you and Key, you know."
"And we all applaud your failure," Key chipped in, giggling as Gary sniffed her cheek and gave her a lick in greeting. "Hi, there! You're an Arcanine, right?"
"Yep," Gary said, peering down his nose at her. "I'm the leader of Blue's team!" Sam's shell clicked open, showing her cannons. "Fine… second-in-command."
"Still haven't beaten her, huh?" Saylee laughed.
"One day, I promise you…" Gary muttered under his breath. Sam just rolled her eyes.
"Anyway… last new guy is Rashad," Blue said, indicating the Lucario who, since being released, was staring at Saylee with steadily narrowing eyes.. "I actually got stuck with him as an egg. This guy named Riley—"
"You met Riley too?" Saylee asked in surprise. "Actually, he gave me an egg too…." She looked at Rashad, the phantom wound in her chest aching so sharply that she couldn't help pressing her hand to it, as if it could mute the memory of pain.
"Your aura… it's familiar," he said in surprise. "It's just like…"
"…Your brother's?" Saylee suggested softly, her fist clenching over her collarbone.
"If you were my brother's trainer…" Rashad asked, clenching his paws, "please tell me… what happened to him? I felt it… I felt it when he died. We never met, not physically, but… our eggs were laid at the same time. We were connected…"
"I know," Saylee said quietly. It felt like the temperature of the room had dropped. "I was connected to him too. When Mars killed him, I felt it like she'd killed me." She patted her chest. "Diamondite spear. None of us even knew she was there until she'd fired it. I'm sorry, Rashad. I wish I could've protected it. I'm so sorry…" Blue put an arm around her shoulders gently.
Rashad clenched his teeth, nodding tightly. "What… what was his name?" he asked quietly. "My brother… what was his name?"
"Roar," Saylee replied.
Rashad nodded again. "Roar," he said quietly. "Killed by Mars. I'll remember that."
"Roar was one of our warriors," Caelin said, putting a hand on Rashad's shoulder. "We have sworn to avenge his death. Mars will deeply regret our loss."
"I still haven't managed to convince her that mass murder isn't an acceptable response," Saylee muttered to Blue. "Any suggestions?"
"Not really, but I think I'm gonna keep Rashad away from her," Blue muttered back. "Trust me. As someone who is intimately aware of his feelings, he would be very up for that."
"Okay then, distractions," Saylee suggested, taking a couple of pokeballs out of her pocket. "You guys already know Caelin, Sally and Shanks, so I guess I should introduce Zoe and Ferne."
"They're both female," Sally said warningly to her sister, "and Zoe is my best friend, so be nice."
"No," Star said stubbornly. Sally protectively put herself between her sister and the spot where Zoe and Ferne materialized. The rest of the Pokemon started to fan out, making a rough circle around where the new Pokemon were released, though Saylee couldn't help noticing that Shanks had wandered off and had no idea how to recall the ghost when he was out of sight.
"Oh, wow!" Basil said shyly, staring up at Ferne in awe. "You're a Floatzel! What's that… what's that like?"
"Pretty cool," Ferne said, peering down at the little Buizel. "My name's Ferne. What's yours?"
"Basil," Basil said, sniffing at Ferne's floatation ring. "…How fast can you swim?"
"Faster than anybody else here," she responded with a grin, eying Sam and Prince speculatively. "...I bet. Probably. Is there a river where we can test that?"
Zoe, meanwhile, was looking around at the new Pokemon before making to fly over to Sally. "I really wouldn't do that if I were you," Prince said warningly, intercepting her.
"Why? What's up?" Zoe said, looking at Sally in confusion as she flapped her wings rapidly to hover more-or-less in place.
"Zoe, this is my sister Star, who has issues," Sally said, batting a paw at Star, who was growling. "Star, do not try to eat Zoe. Her prosthetic wings won't taste good."
"Prostheses? My goodness, what happened to you?" Warin asked, fluttering over to Zoe.
"Galactic," Zoe said simply, glancing over her prosthetic left wings.
"That is simply awful," Warin gasped. "If anyone had so defaced my glorious wings… How could they do something so horrible?!"
"Warin, they are culpable for a heartbreaking number of murders," Pegasus pointed out patiently. "She's very lucky to be alive. I'm Pegasus," he introduced himself, "and this vain fool is Warin."
"Oh, yeah, because you never fuss over your beloved mane at all," Warin huffed. "Zoe, is it? Hold still, dear, and allow me to help." He started fluttering in circles around Zoe, shimmering, coloured dust falling from his wings and onto Zoe's in intricate patterns. Zoe fluttered her wings a few times, but the dust didn't come off, remaining in patterns of shimmering colour.
"They're so beautiful!" Zoe said excitedly. "Wow!"
"That's sweet of you, Warin," Saylee said with a smile, taking out her pokegear to take a photo of Zoe's new wings. "Thank you!"
"How did he do that?" Key exclaimed, peering at the new patterns.
"I had no idea that he could do that," Archie admitted. He put a hand over his purple hair. "...it's probably a good thing that he doesn't do that more."
"You look fine indeed, Zoe," Caelin said proudly, holding out her right arm so that the Crobat could roost there instead. She glared at Shanks as he reappeared through a wall, looking thoughtful. "Please, Lady Key, introduce the rest of our entourage, now that we are all here," she said pointedly.
"Oh, good idea," Key said, releasing her Pokémon. "Guys, meet Gareth, Ephraim, Raiden, Maya and Tashigi…"
The Aqua leader choked. "Tashigi?" Shanks repeated incredulously. "As in Tash'? The little fluttery squirt that followed the kiddo all the way from Gone-To-Shit-Land?" Tashigi stared back at him, then at her necklace, then back at Archie, her jaw dropping.
"Archie?!" she gasped. "Little Archie?!"
"You're alive?" Archie asked hoarsely, stepping forward and not quite daring to touch the Togetic despite raising his hand. "I thought that storm had…"
"Just blew me away," Tashigi said, continuing to stare at Archie. "My goodness… little Archie? Is that really you?" With a happy shriek, she flew into the former Aqua leader, hugging him tightly about the neck. Shanks reached towards them briefly, as if to join the hug, but when he touched Archie's back the former Aqua leader shivered involuntarily. Shanks pulled back his hands, still grinning as he watched them hug and hovering and close as he dared.
"Wait… the kid you used to know… was Archie?" Key said in surprise, looking from Archie to Tashigi.
"You don't have that Gameboy that I lost when I was twelve, do you?" Archie said with a choked laugh as he hugged Tashigi tight.
"I mean, apparently you own all of his old Pokemon," Blue said, rolling his eyes.
"Tashigi… is that man the little boy you told us about? The one you knew when you lived in a different country?" Gareth asked, looking thoughtfully at Archie.
"I never thought I'd see you again," Tashigi sniffed happily, hugging Archie. "Small world, huh?"
"Absolutely miniscule," Blue muttered with a sigh, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'm starting to think that a god's getting mixed up with this… wait, I was joking, there isn't a god involved, is there?" he added when he caught Saylee's expression.
"Well, given how we ran into Tashigi… I'll explain later," Saylee said, rubbing her forehead.
"This is my sister, Star, who is going to play nice with my friends," Sally said sternly.
"Your sister, hmmm?" Ephraim said, flicking his tail and grinning. "My my…"
"Is he your friend?" Star asked. Sally shook her head and Star grinned ferally enough that Ephraim's ears flattened nervously.
"If you're feeling ready to start threatening each other," Saylee interrupted, "how about some training?"
{Darnua 19th, 11:35 am}
{Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}
"Oh, hey, Specs, I just remembered what I was gonna tell ya," Shanks said, drifting away from the controlled chaos of the training field. Everyone had settled into sparring pairs, except for Basil-who was apparently nervous of fighting but was raptly watching Ferne bounce a Water Pulse back and forth with Prince-and Tashigi, who was chattering happily with Archie about anything and everything, though the Togetic's eyes were still a little red from her brief crying jag when she'd realized that Shanks was dead, a development that seemed to upset her more than him.
"You were going to tell me something?" Saylee asked, stepping back a little closer to the wall and out of the way of the Pokemon that were training.
"Yeah, but I got kinda distracted by all the tearful reunions," Shanks said with a shrug. "Anyway, I was ghostin' around, and I heard those innkeepers talkin' 'bout Galactic."
"What?" Blue said sharply, looking around from where he was observing Zoe and Warin practicing aerial moves on each other. "What about them?"
"Well, the green-haired one was tellin' the blonde that we're after Galactic, an' the blonde looked pretty freaked," Shanks explained. "Asked if greenie thought we 'knew'. Dunno what about, but they were both lookin' nervous…"
"Well, that's suspicious as hell," Blue muttered.
"Wait, you think they're involved with Galactic?" Archie asked in surprise. "No way. We've been here for days and they haven't done anything suspicious. They're just a nice couple running an inn."
"How do we know they haven't done anything suspicious?" Blue pointed out. "Until Saylee and Key got here, we've been the only guests here. We don't know what they're doing while we're training in here. Hell, even when we're not in here, they're always off repairing ski equipment or whatever. I mean, they said they only married and moved out here pretty recently, so I dunno, I figured that could be a euphemism or something, but if they're Galactic agents—"
"Uh, Blue?" Sam called from across the room. "You're talking about these two, right? The two in the doorway that Star's growling at?"
Mrz and Mrs Trent were standing in the doorway to the hall, both looking tense. Mrs Trent had her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach with a face like she was nursing cramps, and Mrz Trent had one arm wrapped around their wife's shoulders and the other on their hip, a grim expression on their face.
"Hey, no point beatin' around the bush," Shanks said with a shrug. "Let's just ask straight out. You two with Galactic or not?"
"Spying is rude," Mrz Trent growled.
"Hayley…" Mrs Trent sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Look, it's not what it sounds like. We were going to come talk to you, even if your… friend… hadn't come wandering through the walls." She frowned at Shanks, then looked back to Saylee, Key, Blue and Archie, who were moving to stand between their visibly agitated Pokemon and the couple. "If you guys are fighting Team Galactic, we want to help."
"They are part of Galactic!" Pegasus exclaimed. "Only Galactic villains refer to themselves as 'Team'! The rest of the humans call them Galactic Corp!"
"Well, from what we've been seeing on the news, that cover's unravelling faster than a cheap sweater," Mrz Trent snorted, "but that probably means that Cyrus is close to getting what he wants."
"And just what might that be?" Prince pressed. All of the Pokémon had broken off their training and were slowly encroaching on the couple, ringed behind their trainers.
"How do you know this information?" Saylee asked, folding her arms and glaring pointedly at the taller couple. "Are you in Galactic?"
Mrs Trent sighed. "Yes, we were, okay?" she admitted tightly. "We used to be two of Team Galactic's top admins."
Archie grabbed Star as she lunged forwards with a snarl. "CAELIN, YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Saylee bellowed. "FERNE, DOUSE THAT FIRE! THE REST OF YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND THE NEXT POKÉMON TO MAKE A MOVE IS GOING BACK IN THEIR POKEBALL! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
Everybody froze in mid-attack aside from Ferne, who nervously sprayed water at the burning door while Mrz and Mrs Trent climbed back to their feet, having flung themselves out of the way of Caelin's enraged fire blast.
"You heard them, Sar!" Caelin snapped furiously. Sally joined Saylee in standing between the furious princess and the Trents, though the Luxray kept glancing back and forth as if unsure whether to stop Caelin from attacking or join her. "We are not safe here! This is surely a Galactic trap!"
"I'm not sensing any hostile intent," Rashad put in. Blue nodded along with him.
"Nor am I, Princess," Gareth mentioned. "It might be worth not killing them immediately."
"I'm not gonna call your mistrust unwarranted," Mrz Trent said, helping their wife up, "but I am gonna bill you for that door."
"Would you at least hear us out before attempting to murder us?" Mrs Trent asked, edging away from the burning door. "Like I said, we were high-ranked admins. My codename was Neptune, and Hayley's was Uranus. We have a lot to say that you might be interested to hear."
"Where does Galactic come up with these dumbass codenames?" Blue muttered.
"I think we should hear them out," Sam offered diplomatically. "We can always tie 'em to a table and leave 'em for the cops if it sounds like they're talking crap."
"But what if they surprise attack us?" Basil asked nervously.
"There's way more of us than them," Ferne told him, patting her smaller compatriot on the head.
"I'm gonna search the place fer some a' them damn harpoons," Shanks muttered, vanishing into the ceiling.
"We would rather simply kill them," Caelin growled. "We have sworn a vendetta against Galactic and have little patience to suffer their ilk."
"My lady, may I counsel restraint?" Terra offered. "I must agree that their information may be valuable."
"How can we be assured that they are not spying on us or stalling us on Galactic's behalf?" Prince demanded.
"Mrz Trent, you said that you called Snowpoint Gym to tell them that you had guests who'd need a guide up the slope, right?" Saylee asked. Mrz Trent nodded. "So even in this blizzard, you have a working phone, right?"
"Yep," Mrz Trent said with a nod. "It's in the kitchen, next to the main stove."
"What are you going to do, call up Galactic for character references?" Archie asked.
"Sorta," Saylee said, stepping over the smouldering remains of the door. "Nobody kill anybody until I get back, okay?"
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Sorry this is a day late, it needed a lot of editing that I just didn't get time to do this weekend, and juggling all these characters was a LOT of mental gymnastics… this is why you don't put thirty named characters in a room at once, kids XP
SAYLEE
Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar
KEY
Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade
ARCHIE
Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel
BLUE
Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario