Chapter XXVIII

"Wake up."

Nova groaned upon hearing Barry's voice, upon feeling his hands pat down her face. "Wha-"

"Wake up."

"Barry, what-"

Her shadow rippled beneath her. "…he said wake up…"

"I heard him the first time."

"…just making sure…"

Barry grinned, gently patting the bed where he thought the shadow was (he was only a few centimetres off, really), adding, "We're going."

"Going?"

"Look at us." He gestured madly at his Prinplup who, in turn, gestured at the five Pokémon who were snoring along the rug. "We've been training for a week, and me muscles are tired from it, and Lucas still hasn't come back. I say we quit staying here like shittin' Psyducks and haul our own rumps to Pastoria."

"…i believe the correct expression is sitting psyducks, not shitting psyducks…"

Barry ignored the Darkrai. "What do ya say, Nova?"

Truth be told, she was exhausted – spending an hour every night flying to Oreburgh and back on top of all the training – both during the day and night – was pinching away her energy.

But there was something about Barry's voice – the way his words seemed to run over one another – that caught her attention.

Nova sat up on her bed and eyed him carefully – the smug grin, the hands that were twirling the scarf around in his fingers, the flush in his cheeks. Then, she said, "I say there's more you're not telling me."

"Fine. By Lake Valour, the pirates are holding a play."

"The pirates are holding a play," Nova repeated blankly.

Barry nodded.

"The pirates," she said again, "are holding a play."

"Aye?"

Nova threw her hands up in the air. "They're pirates! Shouldn't they, ya know, be doing pirate stuff?"

"We're gladiators from Twinleaf. Shouldn't we, ya know, be dead right now?"

"…touché…"

Nova bit back her smile, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

If her friend wanted to see a play held by pirates, she supposed it wouldn't hurt anyone. And, truth be told, she'd missed seeing his grin so bright, his cheeks so flushed. This was good for him.

"Fine, we'll go," Nova finally said.

"Great-"

Before Barry could finish, Nova threw her head back on her pillow. "After five more minutes of sleep."

"I hate you."

"Join the club."

"…please don't. it's far too cramped right now. volkner is taking up the entire place…"

Lake Valour was nothing short of stunning.

The water itself was clear as a mirror, and it was as if time had frozen; there was not a single ripple in the silver-blue lake. Even from the tall pines around the edges, there was no sound – no rustling of branches, no chirping of Starly.

And, sticking out from the water, was a mountain of steel.

Swords, shields, steel poles, bars of iron – all of it was heaped in a single pile that rose from beneath the water. There were even metal railings, chains, and hell, bloody pots and pans.

"It looks like they've all been stolen," Nova whispered to her Pokémon. They all nodded, save for Leila the Roselia, who was trying to describe the lake to Barry by using her rose-hands to draw on his back.

That's when Nova saw the men and women in Murkrow masks, patrolling near the lake, their Zubats and Croagunks lurking close by.

"Galactic Healers," Nova hissed. "Barry, we need to-"

Barry reached out and found her elbow, tugging her hard. "Nova, please don't start a fight now."

"But Barry, they might be the ones who killed Bebe and who nearly hurt Meryl-"

"Please," the boy insisted. "Can we please have fun? Just this once?"

And so, with a sigh, the gladiator let her friend drag her towards the small platform that was away from the lakes and closer to the fields that Nova had trained in over the past week. The pirates had already started their play, and – to Nova's amusement – only the male pirates were onstage, with some wearing long wigs, thin gowns, and raising their voices to sound like girls. All the female pirates were sitting by the front, smoke wheezing from their pipes, laughing and swearing at the men onstage.

Nova had never seen pirates before, and so, as they twirled their daggers onstage, she whispered to Barry – telling him about the swords dangling loosely from the belts, the men with stubbles along their chins, some that were bald and old, some that were missing fingers, some that had their skin kissed brown from the sun.

Then, she stopped to watch the play.

"Oh, my love! My love!" one of the pirates cried out – far too dramatically, really – twirling the long, blonde wig in his hands.

The other pirate scratched at his beard, clutching him tightly. "Please, you mustn't fret, my sweet! We must liketh the nigh. Without the dark, we'd nev'r seeth the stars."

"And so, the Pyroar hath fallen in loveth with the Flaafy…"

They inched closer to one another, and the audience of gladiators and townsfolk alike laughed as the hair from the wig flew into the other pirate's mouth.

"That Flaafy has no more brain than stone," the pirate choked out, ripping the hair out of his mouth. Then, with his hands running down his long dress, he added, "But I must look hence, hiding mine own eyes as I thrill'd to the w'rd!"

Then, he pulled out his dagger, and the pirates onstage all began to fight. It was like a dance – a beautiful, fiery, and quick dance with raised swords and daggers, with leaping and twirling and skipping.

The audience bellowed and roared as a pirate in a dress shoved his dagger into the stomach of another pirate. Blood spluttered out – splashing the audience's faces, cold and smelling like the Veilstone arenas.

"Holy shit," Nova said with a gasp, wiping the blood from her brow. "The actors… the pirates… I think one just killed the other!"

A hand squeezed her shoulder, and she turned to find a big man grinning at her – the same one she had seen with the other Veilstone legionaries, with no shirt veiling his red shoulders and rolls of fat along his belly.

"Don't worry, lass," he said to her. "'Tis all fake. That pirate has a bag o' Bibarel blood hidin' under his shirt."

"Bibarel blood?"

"…pirates don't have class, nova. otherwise they would use kricketune blood…"

The legionary, deaf to Darkrai's whispers, nodded. "Aye. We collect Bibarel blood 'n use it in our plays. Now, pardon me." He pulled out a wig from behind him – long and streaming blue, just like the satin gown he wore – and threw it over his head. "It's my turn."

He ran straight though the audience, shoving them all aside before leaping onto the stage – hands slapping down on his belly like a drumbeat as his fellow pirates cried out, "Crasher Wake!"

"Aye!" Wake answered. "I'm the tidal wave of power to wash you away!"

Then, he yanked out a sword from his belt and stabbed every other actor onstage – careful to angle his blade into their bellies, where the bags of Bibarel blood were waiting to burst beneath the tunics. Each actor held onto their stomachs, making awful grunting sounds as they clutched themselves and pretended to die.

When every other pirate was playing dead on the stage, choking back their laughter, Crasher Wake moved towards the front and grinned.

"The stage is my sea."

And the audience promptly burst into hysterics. All except for Nova and Barry, who were silent, jaw-dropped, as the 'dead pirates' stood back up, dug through their clothes for the emptied bags of blood, and threw it into the audience. Rhys the Luxio even managed to leap up and catch one of the bags, chasing around Leila the Roselia with the blood.

Nova was the first to speak. "That was…"

"Freaking glorious," Barry finished.

"…if you mean, the strangest performance of the nigh is twigh, then yes…"

"And now," Wake was saying, "I believe our next play shall be o' The Dawn that Breaks. Actors, in position-"

"Wake!"

The voice cracked through the wave of people, angry and demanding, and Nova watched in absolute awe as a woman made her way towards the stage – moving like a dart of pink in her gown.

One of the pirates onstage sighed. "Wake, yer missus is here again."

"Lady Spiral?" Wake asked. "Did she lose her keys again?"

The woman reached the stage, and – no surprise – some of the gladiators whistled at her. Wake's wife hardly seemed to notice; with her golden hair, her clear skin, and her startlingly purple eyes, Nova was sure that the poor woman was used to the hooting. Even after seeing the lump that was the woman's belly – no doubt carrying a baby – the gladiators still hooted her on.

"You're in big shits, Wake," she hissed at her husband. "You promised me that my butler would be safe from harm!"

Wake winced and glanced back at his pirates. "Sweets, I be in th' middle o' a play right now-"

"Oh, pardon me." With her lips stretched into a thin smile, she waved at the audience before turning back and ripping Wake's wig from his head. She tossed the hair onto the ground, stomped on it for good measure, then pinched her husband's ear. "Now let's go."

This time, when the gladiators and pirates alike cheered as Lady Spiral dragged her husband away, Nova joined in. In fact, she clapped the loudest.

"I like her a lot," she muttered down to her shadow.

"…why doesn't that surprise me?…"

While Barry's Prinplup and most of Nova's Pokémon rested in one of the Pastoria inns, the two gladiators and Tric the Monferno stood outside a mansion. They had somehow climbed over the creaky iron gates that had been flanked by rows and rows of golden honey trees, swaying gently in the wind. Then, following the winding stone path where ivy and ferns grew through the cracks, they found themselves sneaking around a marble fountain with its soft gurgling water, moving until they were standing by the mansion's windows with their ears pressed against the glass.

Yes, readers and writers, they were eavesdropping.

Tric the Monferno had followed Lady Spiral and Crasher Wake all the way to the Backlot Manor while Nova and Barry had booked themselves a chamber in the inn. Then, with Barry following the scent of Tric's smoke, they found themselves spying through the window – watching as Wake, Lady Spiral, and the lady's father sat for dinner.

"I knew my daughter shouldn't have married you!" Lord Backlot was crying out, slamming his hands down on the table. "You are not only a pirate, Crasher Wake, but a murderer!"

Crasher Wake, who was too busy gnawing on some bread to even glance up, frowned. "I be nay a murderer, by Arceus."

"You are going to kill my own butler!"

"Your butler broke th' rules! He sponsored a gladiator, 'n he was caught sleepin' wit' her. The rules of a legionary state that-"

Lady Spiral threw down her spoon, and Nova winced as she heard the sound of shattering plates. "Screw the rules! Wake, you promised me you would keep Oli and his gladiator safe."

"I was going to," Wake insisted. "But, Spiral, me love, someone spread th' word, 'n now everyone in Pastoria knows about wha' he did, 'n now they be waitin' fer the execution t' happen…"

"You promised!"

Nova and Barry both shuddered as they heard more tinkling of shattered glass, more yelling, more food falling onto the plush rugs.

"Hey!" Wake was crying out. "Don't pour that wine on me, Spiral! Pour it on the arse that tattled about it!"

Spiral dropped the bottle of wine and sagged into her chair, her hand on her belly. "Who would do that to Oli? To poor Roxy? They're so young… my youngest butler. He's hardly twenty! Oh, Arceus, if they die, our baby will never get to meet them…"

"Lady Spiral…"

Lord Backlot cleared his throat, saying, "You must choose, Wake. My daughter, or your position as legionary."

"What?"

"You either save our butler but lose your position, or you kill our butler and keep your position," Lord Backlot explained sharply. "You choose."

Wake scowled. "'Twas ye, ye arsehole, wasn't it? Ye wanted me t' make this decision!"

"That is besides the point."

"Arceus, ole scallywag, when will ye accept that yer daughter chose me – a motherstinkin' pirate – o'er whatever arsehole o' a suitor ye had fer her!"

"You seduced her!"

"Look at me! Look at her! Ye reckon I seduced her?"

Nova felt Darkrai laugh at that. She even saw Tric make a face.

"Enough," Lady Spiral called out. "Both of you, enough. Surely there is a way we can save them. Others have broken the same rule and survived. Prince Volkner, for example."

That caught Nova's attention. She pressed her ear further into the glass, hoping desperately that no one would yank away the curtains on the other side and see her spying.

"Volkner be the brother o' Queen Cynthia," Wake pointed out.

"But she wasn't queen yet!" Spiral countered.

"Aye, but Volkner's patron was th' moterstinkin' daughter of-"

Nova was so close to listening, so close to hearing who Volkner had slept with, when something snapped her attention away from the conversation and back towards Tric. Her Monferno was leaning so close to the glass, and to her absolute horror, she realised that the fire from the tail was beginning to melt the glass.

"Tric, you need to move back," she hissed.

The Monferno frowned and shook his head, gesturing pleadingly towards the window.

"I know you want to hear the gossip, but, by Arceus, your tail-"

"It's just not fair!" Spiral suddenly snapped. "How come folk like Sir Riley and Prince Volkner can get away with shit, but my butler can't?"

Sir Riley?

Despite herself, Nova shoved Tric aside with a yank of his tail and zoned back into the conversation.

"Sir Riley?" Wake was repeating. "Wha' did he do?"

"You didn't hear?" Spiral retorted. "He sponsored a gladiator – no one knows who – even though he is betrothed to the queen, and instead of tattooing his name on the gladiator's back, rumour has it that he tattooed a map of Sinnoh there instead. And- wait, what are you doing, Wake?"

Wake's voice sounded as if his mouth were full of food as he said, "I be starvin'."

"Wake, we are in the middle of an argument."

"I told you he was disrespectful," Lord Backlot snapped.

Wake snapped back, saying, "'Tis disrespectful t' let the grub go cold."

"You are a-"

"Shh. 'Tis also disrespectful t' argue in front o' the grub."

And that's when Nova realised that she, too, could smell the food. In fact, with Tric's tail managing to burn a big bloody hole in the window, the scent of food was wafting into her nose, into Barry's nose, into Tric's nose.

Her stomach rumbled, and she realised that she hadn't had supper. Nor had Barry.

And nor had Tric.

"Tric," she said slowly, "I want you to not-"

Her Monferno wasn't listening to her, though. His eyes were closed, and saliva was dribbling from his mouth as he sniffed longingly at the window.

"Tric, no."

The monkey only grinned wickedly at her.

Then, he was smashing his way through the window, sending embers and shards of glass everywhere.

On the other side, Lord Backlot and Lady Spiral shrieked. Crasher Wake laughed as he offered the Monferno some food.

And Nova couldn't help herself. She grabbed Barry and moved through the broken window, searching for her stupidly hungry Monferno. She tripped over the burning curtains, coughing and choking as she and her friend fell onto the rug.

Upon the sight of them, Lord Backlot raised his knife – a blunt knife for cutting butter – at them. "Thieves!"

"We are not thieves," Nova quickly said, pulling herself to her feet. "We are… Dammit, Tric, really?"

For there her Monferno was, snuggled tightly in Wake's arms, being fed grapes. He even had the audacity to wink at her when she raised her middle finger right at him.

"Aye, I know ye two," Wake said, frowning down at them. "Aren't ye the gladiators from Veilstone? From Twinleaf?"

But it was too late. Lord Backlot was already up on his feet, calling out for guards, while the blasted Monferno munched on grapes.

Barry, too, staggered his way to his feet and ran forwards – slamming into the table, but then scrambling to find himself a weapon. His hand stumbled across a spoon, then some other golden thing that Nova hadn't ever seen before, saying, "Hey, how come they all have three spoons on one plate? And, ow, how come one of the spoons are spiky and- by Arceus, is one of these a knife? Why do you need a knife with supper?"

No one answered him. For, in that second, a guard rushed up to him, leaving poor Barry to duck past a whistling sword with only a golden spoon in his hand.

Nova watched for a second as her friend gritted his teeth and locked his spoon with another guard's dagger. His face was twisted, he was sweating by his brow, his face was flushed red, and his spoon was sinking lower and lower as the guard pushed down on his dagger-

No.

They had left their swords and shields in the inns. And, that aside, Barry could hardly hear the whisper of the guard's blade beneath all the yelling and squealing of broken glass. There was no way they could win this.

Nova darted past the guards approaching her, ducking past their raised swords, before leaping right onto the table – her boot buried firmly into a cake.

"Stop!"

Everyone stopped, though Wake, in particular, gasped as he saw that the cake had been ruined by her boot.

"I… I think I have a plan," Nova quickly said. "I know how to save yer butler."

No one spoke. They all just stared at the wild-haired, wild-eyed girl in her silk blouse and britches.

"Ye're steppin' on th' cake!" Wake finally cried out.

Lady Spiral rolled her eyes. "Shut up. It's disrespectful to yell in front of food."

"Oh, aye, and 'tis not disrespectful to step on the-"

Wake's words were cut short as Nova kicked some of the cake – dough, crumbs, cream and all – right at his face. Some even landed on Tric's head, to Nova's delight.

"Aye, she's daring," Wake mumbled, wiping the cream from his eyes. "Jus' like Maylene said. I like her."

"I don't," Backlot snapped. "Get this filthy thing out of my-"

This time, Lord Backlot's words were snatched away from his mouth as Barry hurled a spoonful of mashed potatoes at his face.

"Did I get him?" the blind boy asked.

Wake laughed. "Ye bloody did! Belay that, thar's also a bunch o' cherries t' yer left. See if ye can throw 'n aim it in me bloody mouth!"

"…children, the lot of them…"

While Barry tossed cherries into Wake's mouth, both of them cheering and hooting every time he aimed it perfectly, and Tric dug away at the rest of the food to Lord Backlot's dismay, Lady Spiral approached Nova and held her hands.

"Ignore them," she said. "I'm listening."

The execution of Butler Oli and Gladiator Roxy started at dawn.

Nova wasn't sure what was more appalling – the fact that dozens of gladiators and townsfolk had woken up just to see it, or the way most of them hooted and swore and cheered as Oli and Roxy walked onto the stage that Wake had performed on just a night ago.

Both the butler and the gladiator were young, perhaps only a few winters older than her. And yet, there they stood, their faces lined with creases, their hands gripping onto one another so tightly that their fingers had turned a ghastly white.

"Oh, Oli… Roxy…" Lady Spiral whispered beside Nova.

Nova reached out with one hand and squeezed the lady's elbow. Then, with her other hand, she held tightly onto Barry's wrist.

"Even on the road to death, they hold hands," Nova pointed out.

Lady Spiral nodded grimly. "As I knew they would. Roxy was the daughter of my old maid, and Oli was the son of my butler. They grew up together, and we always knew Oli loved her. So, when my father wouldn't allow her to be a gladiator because it was not proper for a lady, Oli sponsored her. Even though he knew it meant he couldn't love her."

"He knew the cost, and he still did it?" Barry asked quietly.

The two girls watched and the one boy listened as Wake stepped onto the stage beside the butler and gladiator, his sword drawn. His eyes dimmed as he looked down at his feet and sighed.

"Love is hard like that," Lady Spiral said, her own gaze trained on her husband. "Sometimes, it means breaking all the rules."

"Like you did for Wake?" Nova asked.

Lady Spiral's hand fell to her belly, so big that Nova worried the baby would decide to come out there and then.

They watched Wake raise his sword and plunge it into Butler Oli's stomach – only the tip of the blade sliding through the tunic before the man croaked and fell to his knees, bloody slipping down from his chest and onto the stage.

Within seconds, the blade was out of his stomach and into Gladiator Roxy's instead. Blood spat out, the woman cried out and whimpered, and she fell atop her lover. Both of them lying there, hand in hand, within a puddle of blood.

A few people sighed, muttering how they deserved it beneath their breaths. A few people cried, pointing out that their hands were still limply intertwined. A few people only shrugged before turning on their heel and leaving the slaughter.

But Lady Spiral, Nova, and Barry stood there. Silent. Their lips nothing but a hard, unmoving line.

And, finally, as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky and splayed its orange light across the stage, the only ones that remained with the two bodies were Crasher Wake, his wife, and the two gladiators who had burst into their supper only a night ago.

When they were sure that no one was near – that no one was even within earshot – Butler Oli laughed.

"Arceus," he said, "I hate the smell of Bibarel blood."

Roxy, too, sat up. She grinned at her lover, at the blood splattered across their clothes as she fished out the sack of blood from within her tunic. "More so than you hate being dead?"

"Quiet!" Lady Spiral hissed. "Someone may come back and see you. We need to drag your bodies back to the Backlot Manor."

She instantly raced to Roxy's side, and smiled as Wake asked, "So, shall we celebrate wit' Oran Pie or Kelpsy Pie? Which one do ya prefer, Oli?"

Oli, who was lying back on the stage, ready to be dragged away, snorted. "I thought you said we're dead and that we can't talk?"

"Shut up, will ya?" Wake replied. "Ye're dead. You can't natter."

The two faux-dead bodies laughed at that, holding each other tight. Legionary Wake paused for a second to take one last glance at his Lady Spiral – a gaze that was so tender and raw that Nova found herself turning away.

If someone had asked her a few weeks ago if she had ever seen a gaze like that – a gaze that looked as bright and longing as hope, she would have said no.

But now, glancing at the two couples before her, she realised she had seen that look before. She had seen it aimed right at her, even when she had twigs sticking out of her hair and curses spilling out of her lips.

"I'll be seein' ye two at th' pier tomorrow, aye?" Wake called out suddenly. "For the legionary crystal?"

"Aye, cap'n!" Barry chirped out, looping his arm into Nova's. "We'll be there!"

Then, the two couples were gone, leaving the gladiators by the stage.

"I guess that's the end of Roxy's gladiator life," Barry said with a sigh. "Living in hiding for the rest of their lives… Say, Nova, is me scarf red? Ya know, like love? Like blood?"

Nova didn't answer for a long while. She just watched Lady Spiral and Legionary Wake, Roxy and Oli, Barry and his pink scarf.

And she smiled for a long time after that.

Another one o' those episodic chapters, hey? Not sure how everyone else feels about them, but I quite like them. They may seem completely irrelevant, but I assure ye, these chapters are some o' th' most important ones. Why?

Well, I would tell ye. But that would be spoilin', aye?

Anyways, we've hit some milestones! We've reached the 100K of published words, and we've gone past 200 reviews! Crazy!

To celebrate, I thought I'd share a little song. In all truth, the song was not meant for anyone else to hear except a few dear friends, but these milestones are special, so I thought I'd share anyways. Basically, if you want to hear my voice, search up: "Little Talks [piano + female solo cover]" and there should be something by rheasunshine. That is me, and that is me doing a cover of a song that actually reminds me a bit of this story!

How does the song remind me of the story? Which characters is it relevant to? I'll let you work it out for yourselves.