Wayward Attraction
Maël Bragan ended the frustrating week with a measured swipe of his employee badge, and decided to check his GTS account before excommunicating from society for the weekend as was his habit. He had preemptively sought out a fairy pokémon, a battle-bred, decent fairy pokémon so he wouldn't be at the mercy of Aurélie Desamarais to complete the dare. He had included the minimal requirements, must have battling spirit, one or more egg moves, and no nickname.
He'd put up the money, allowing for the immediate sale to the first person who produced the fairy. He calculated the training he would put into it would double his considerable investment when it came time to sell.
The 'transaction complete' notification gave him pause, it had only been a day since he'd placed the order. He clicked over to see the package details but it only featured a marked off checklist of his requirements.
He switched over to his PC account and there it was, fluttering around in the two-dimensional storage. He blinked in denial as he watched the tiny thing flying erratically through the digital-forest realm he provided his fraxure.
"Hey, Maël, thought you'd be gone already!" his coworker called, walking up. "'The Grump' doing okay?"
"Mhm..."
"What's that?" the sharp-eyed man asked as he peered unabashedly at his friend's account. "No. Dude, no! Why?"
"Thought she'd screw with us by giving us weak pokémon..."
"Yeah? Well you just played yourself! She's not going to spend her money over a stupid dare, man! That crazy, dirty-mouthed loon probably forgot the whole thing. You know how all they eat is candy, the cavities probably ate their way to her brain by now." Maël frowned at him, he didn't what to let on that he knew the trash-talking fairy lover from another. He also seriously doubted she'd pass up an opportunity to shove her favorite pokémon in anyone's face, whatever the cost.
"Yeah and we only eat raw meat and bone marrow…"
"Whatever man." The towheaded Dragon Tamer scampered off to spread the word. Maël took a long calming breath before hooking a pokéball into the port. He released his kommo-o into a general-use realm so it could battle with others and clicked over to where the fairy was.
He checked her stats before directing her to the pokéball and frowned. He was no expert on fairies but 'Bestow' seemed to be the only egg-move listed under 'mastered attacks.'
There was more information, weight, height, and a special mark above the name. With a sinking suspicion he released the fairy and the sparse sparkle of light confirmed his thoughts before the spec-sized pokémon finished materializing.
He crossed his arms to contain his annoyance and rubbed a hand over his face as the bee-fly pokémon fluttered around his head. She was definitely a shiny; pastel pink where she could have been yellow, and some ability granted her a sugary smell that wafted in a pink-hued veil.
People in the pokécenter cooed and marveled at the precious looking fairy bug until the irony had Maël's shoulders shaking with silent laughter. The cutiefly made happy noises so low as to be confused with the fizz of a carbonated drink.
Finally giving up, the young man chuckled audibly and offered the bug a gauntleted finger to perch on. She immediately accepted his gesture and fluttered down to land on four hair-like legs. What a picture they made, Maël thought and the mental image had him breaking out in laughter again.
Not many could keep their eyes off the unusual pair. It wasn't often one saw a uniformed Dragon Tamer decked out in full professional glory -floor-length cape and all- holding a tiny pink fairy specially bred for a child-princess.
Maël knew the basics of training bug and fairy pokémon but decided to catch the weekly bug-training seminar in Santalune City for expert advice.
It had only taken a night of flying on his hyedragion and half a day of riding Spyk to reach Lumiose City from Ambrette Town. He could have easily driven, but raising dragons required excursions and long hours of exercise.
He had to walk the rest of the way since the law prevented him from riding his tyrantrum down Route 4, as the delicate paths to Santalune City were easily disturbed and the resident florges population didn't tolerate crushed flowers.
The extravagant city was famous for its gardens and alfresco lifestyle, which naturally had it brimming with fairy and bug pokémon. It also hosted the Bug Gym, the Trainer's School, and a route to Victory Road. Needless to say it was popular with Trainers.
"Let's battle!" The Dragon Tamer smiled to himself as he heard the phrase and began reminiscing about his own rookie days. "Hey, Mister!" a boy called, running up and causing Maël to freeze. "I challenged you to a pokémon battle, you can't walk away!"
"Uh..." the hulking, off-duty Dragon Tamer responded. He was caught off guard at being called 'mister' -he wasn't that old- and at being challenged by a rookie. A rookie so fresh he didn't know how to read an opponent yet.
Maël gave him a tolerant smile and because he was the merciful type, decided not throw his weight around. "How about you take a look at my team and decide then?" The boy's blue eyes widen in excitement.
"Okay!" he shouted gleefully and carefully scooted forward on his skates.
"Roland, what are you doing?" a girl's voice piped up as she rolled to a stop next to the deeply tanned boy and dark Dragon Tamer.
"He's showing his hand," the Roller Skater staged-whispered, proud of using a school term. Maël's lips twitched with real amusement as he crouched down with the miniature pokéballs and enlarged them to display the housed pokémon.
The tyrantrum was dozing with his head tucked into his chest on the tip of a cliff. The heliolisk was draped over a boulder, basking in the artificial sun-washed landscape of his pokéball.
The sceptile lounged on a tree branch high in a rainforest canopy, and the hyedragion was barley visible as she slumbered deep in a cave. The intrusive light elicited an alarming snarl.
The kids murmured in excitement as each pokémon was showcased, and looked expectantly at the last two pokéballs. Maël found himself hesitating at revealing the fairy and potentially disturbing his sensitive dragalge, but with an inward sigh he snapped the other capture-balls on his belt and held the last two up. A secret shame had him pressing on the dragalge's pokéball first.
To the unsuspecting eye she resembled a six-foot mass of kelp entangled on coral formation. The camouflage hid a vicious ambush predator, wielding toxins so corrosive as to melt metal and bone.
Weak strands of faux sunbeams illuminated her peacefully sleeping form, her brackish, alga-like fins and the long stalks of lethal polyps on her head. The sunlight flooding into the dragon's deep-ocean enclosure had her caustic eyes snapping open and instantly locking on the children through the wavering water.
Both rookie trainers gasped in amazement and yelped as she drifted closer to the wall of water with malice burning in her blood-shot eyes. "Whoa!" the girl Roller Skater exclaimed when Maël quickly shrunk the pokéball, "so who's the last one?"
The Dragon Tamer gave a weak, self-deprecating laugh and pressed on the cutiefly's ball. The fairy was tucked into a fluffy double-bloom flower that swayed gently under a tree-shaded garden bed of similar flowers. "Of course! You need a dragon slayer for when the others get too rowdy."
The confident observation and the mental image had the man bursting with genuine laughter and quickly jumped on by the girl. "Don't laugh at me!" she whined and beat her fists on his stomach.
"Stop laughing at my sister!" Roland yelled, joining in. With one gentle push the man had the kids rolling away from him. He chuckled as they skated back with insulted red cheeks.
"No, no - that was good," Maël assured and held them off with a large hand on each of their helmets. "Easy. I think that's what I'll call her - Dragonslayer." The rookies stopped their assault but remained suspicious and spoke at the same time.
"You mean it?"
"Promise?"
"Yeah, it's a fitting name," the Dragon Tamer said, wiping the moisture from his eyes. "So, are we battling?" The twins shook their heads as violently as dogs shaking off water. "Good luck then."
The gleaming stone walls of Santalune City became visible at the same time the rich aroma of coffee laced the Sweet Scent in the air.
Maël was walking past the ornate roselia fountain when his holocaster rang for the third time that morning. He checked the caller ID and frowned, his girlfriend knew weekends belonged to his pokémon. To discourage her badgering he tucked the ringing device back in his pocket.
He paid a taxi to reach the Gym at the other end of town, he was already a little late but figured he could make it for some of the battles. There was already a pokémon and a trainer in the outdoor arena but Viola, the Gym Leader, stood talking to a group sitting on bleachers. Her signature pokémon; a masquerain and a vivillon threw shadows as they fluttered above them.
The Dragon Tamer looked around for the source of the hold up.
One of the demonstrators was ushering tiny pokémon off the branches and outcrop of his torterra. He stood on the gnarly roots of the berry tree the colossal grass-type grew on its shell, a dozen feet from the ground.
Flocks of colorful natu were shaken into flight like puffs of confetti in their bright plumage. A shaymin, near invisible in Land Form, hopped off a leaf like a flea and suddenly became visible when it burst into Sky Form. Witnesses gasped and caused Viola to spin around, camera in hand to snap pictures.
Groups of flabébé and their slightly bigger evolutions lifted off in clouds, looking like petals exploding from the tree's canopy. Nocturnal morelull woke from their shaded spots at the base of the tree and groggily drifted down the roots and over the sides, looking like glittery clouds of pollen.
The blue haired trainer was popping off sunkern and chingling like fruit. He tucked them in his pockets instead of tossing them off. Finally he climbed off the knobby roots with a sleepy fomantis clinging on his outstretched arm. He moved slowly but the lovely grass-type was already folding back its leaves and brandishing its sickles.
A low vibration swept across the field from the torterra as it lowered to the ground for its trainer, and the preying mantis leapt off the young man's arm. It took several open-winged jumps for it to make it across the field and into the woods.
Several trainers shot up to dash after it. "Hurry, we're running late!" the gym leader called after them. They returned in the time it took the young man to walk to the edge of the arena and empty his pockets.
"Okay! With the right tactics even super-effective opponents will have to work for knockouts," the beautiful blonde lady began. "Here to demonstrate is Dexter, from Kiloude City, and Quinn, a Bug Maniac from Hoenn!"
The group applauded as Quinn took the field, this promised to be a good battle since he was a specialist and Dexter an obvious League Competitor. The opponents cast their pokémon and surprised the crowd, and delighted the Gym Leader, with a two-on-two battle.
The bugs didn't waste a second upon release. The giant, neon spider lunged forward in a mad rush, his large body bobbed between massive striking legs. His partner darted around him, weaving through his legs expertly with terrible speed. If it wasn't for Viola announcing the attacks and species Maël couldn't have placed the araquanid and ninjask or Liquidation and Agility.
Not liking her odds, the mountainous torterra braced, pressing up a Wide Guard to shield herself from the bugs and her partner against the water-attack. The rhyperior rumbled in protest at his trainer's staying command. He brandished his horned head, flashed his red eyes, and slammed his huge tail in challenge but held his ground.
The ninjask blurred forward to breach the shield with her Infiltrator ability, while her partner pummeled the barrier in disgust. The torterra opened her large beak to snap the cicada, it was the least she could do as she maintained the barrier keeping the larger, nightmarish bug out.
She rumbled a deep groan as X-Scissor sliced along her trunk-like legs, promising to cut her down. Her armor-plated partner cracked down on the ninjask with heavy Rock Wrecker-hits but striking just one opponent -and such a small one at that- meant the massive drill-pokémon missed and beat her instead.
The torterra could usually shrug off rock-attacks but Shell Armor or not, her rapidly dwindling health couldn't afford any additional hits. She roared in protest and her partner stopped in the act of slamming his enormous tail on the towering tree and ridges of rock on her expansive carapace. He joined his resounding voice to hers in a frustrated rock-trembling roar.
"Slow that bug DOWN!" their trainer ordered for the fourth time, pulling at his hair. "Blow it away!" He was maddened at not being heard and was ready to give up and show his hand with the actual command. After watching his rhyperior still not take the hint he howled, "Avalanche!"
The bugs retreated as a portal opened behind the rhyperior. Deadly-cold air blew the seams, revealing a frozen landscape and the killing-force of a landslide. Trusting in her partner's aim the torterra used the opportunity for Synthesis and tried to relax despite the tremors and the horrible cold the avalanche created.
The araquanid seethed with impotence in the few seconds it took the mass of snow, ice, and rock to reach across the dimension. His highly-evolved vision calculated the distance, his partner's velocity, and that of the stampeding snow. He inched forward a careful measure, just enough for the ninjask to reach him, before leaning into a Wide Guard of his own.
The onslaught rampaged around their forcefield and held up to a shattering swing of the rhyperior's tail and an explosive Seed Bomb from the lumbering torterra. With a cunning tilt of his head the araquanid dropped the shield and blasted the drill-pokémon with Liquidation, piercing through Solid Rock like a power-washer.
The rhyperior used Megahorn but it only angered the water spider more. He stabbed four drenched legs into the rhyperior in retaliation and forced his water bubble around the rocky face. The spider clamped fangs on the protruding horn, rendering the head useless and continued drowning him.
The torterra's distressed roar resonated like a warhorn, long, low, and ominous. They had counted on Drill Run to land but the overpowering attack was difficult to execute at the best of times and it had predictably missed. She used Heavy Slam whenever the screeching ninjask flickered into view, but the bug's speed had increased beyond anything she could hope to hit with a direct attack.
It seemed the bug had broken into another time-zone and could now zip around her movements as if she were stationary. The malapert thing was unavoidable even with her trusty shield so she focused on bombing the monstrous araquanid instead. It was a testament to her health that even with lowered defenses, she took several punishing blows before collapsing.
Maël stroked his bristly goatee to cover his grimace, the torterra's forlorn cry seemed to have reached into his soul and reminded him that their pain and fear were real, even if their pokéball bindings prevented them from dying.
Surely Dexter had a better equipped team member he could have switched in. Then again most trainers were fiercely competitive and reveled in tough battles, which is why he wasn't a serious battler.
He liked raising dragons and only took his current job for money, it wasn't a career choice. He studied Viola as she praised the competitors and explained pivotal moments from each team. His eyes narrowed as he picked up on her fiendish enthusiasm, angelic-blonde hair, and sparkly green eyes. Just what did Fairy Tale Girls graduate to once they outgrew their positions?
His musings were interrupted as the next pokémon were released.
A broad-winged bird with a long neck and angled beak materialized. In the sunlight she glowed in resplendent bronze, her scarlet crest was unmarked and impressively spiked.
She was an imposing pokémon and showed it by displaying her twelve-foot wingspan with undeniable pomp. The fearow beat her wings briskly, causing a slight liftoff but flight wasn't her objective. She was using Focus Energy.
Quinn's pokémon was an elespider, bright yellow and energetic. He scrambled erratically upon landing and twitched. Once the fearow began flapping, the hairy spider shot an Electroweb that instantly snared the large bird. Then he hopped over seemingly charging a Thunderbolt while airborne and discharging one with every landing.
The fearow spasmed from the charged chains frying her beloved wings, but kept sane enough to extend her deceptively long neck and beak when he got close. She used Drill Peck and slammed the galvantula off the ground with each impact, beating ringing hisses out of him.
She augured a bloody hole in the large abdomen before the pulsing net weakened her beyond strength. The spider's legs wobbled and collapse as he tried getting up. His broken body couldn't hold enough blood pressure to operate his hydraulic legs.
He fought past a hideous fear, even as his legs began to crumble, curling in tight. His trainer's voice finally made sense in his panicked, primal brain. "Giga Drain!" He focused his many eyes on the trapped bird and directed Giga Drain after Giga Drain to the cheer of the crowd, until the fearow feinted. The stolen energy granted the galvantula movement again and he crawled to his trainer and lifted a hairy leg for a 'handshake.'
"The honor is mine," Quinn said, shaking the furry leg with a short bow, and pouring an activated potion over his pokémon.
"Wow, just goes to show the power of dual-typing!" Viola exclaimed, clapping alongside the spectators. The Bug Maniac's next pokémon bent the stream of light before it finished transforming from the first dimension. Half-formed she resembled a rocket with a tapering red tail, beaming higher into the sky until the lasers finished conjuring the rest of her enormous length.
The ogre-darner-pokémon was a grisly sight, the strumming of her four gigantic wings created microbursts that swayed the trees and flattened the grass. She hovered far above the arena, but like a helicopter in flight, the chuffing of her wings was all-encompassing.
Dexter's pinched expression made him look worried as he waited for his chosen pokémon to coalesce. The mighty Alolan exeggutor was three stories tall and rivaled gyarados in sheer mass. Only seconds later the grass dragon's multifaced-head and fringe of foliage solidified, and his many mouths sang a chorale of trumpet-like roars.
The sound of awe from the audience harmonized with the beautiful complex sounds. None had seen a pokémon so big in person. "Yveltal could nest in that thing!" a local girl exclaimed, raising a chorus of agreement from the group.
The Alolan exeggutor shuddered as his Frisk ability picked up on the dangerous yanmega. Thanks to being taller than most things and having eyes all the way around his head, the coconut-pokémon wasn't used to looking up.
His many eyes flashed purple as he directed a Psyshock to where Frisk had indicated the bug was -not expecting to cause damage but- to get a better sense of the looming creature's exact position. He shuddered again and began preparing Flamethrower by inhaling endlessly from every mouth, stoking the embers in his dragon belly.
All this happened within the span of a minute. The yanmega was already locked-on and accelerating towards her target, creating clashing winds in the airstream coming off her winged tail.
Like a militant turret the Alolan exeggutor unleashed Flamethrower from each mouth, but the Air Slash whipping by manipulated the fire. It bent the flames onto the bark-like scales of the grass dragon where they took hold and began to burn.
The Speed Boost ability surged through the ghastly bug and quickened her movements, allowing her to dodge an unexpected swing from the Alolan exeggutor's long neck. She whizzed around him, using Air Slash with every turn, boosting her speed higher and higher.
After several more attempts to smack her out of the sky he finally calmed down enough to pay attention to his trainer and conjured Draco Meteor. Comets beamed from the atmosphere and through the clear afternoon sky to pelt the arena with dragonfire.
Many hit the yanmega and dropped her lower in the sky. She flew over the bleachers and everyone paled as their blood was affected by the ultrasonic force thrumming from her wings. Some people instinctively shrieked, many were left light-headed. Maël was awed. He'd never thought a bug-type could ever rival a dragon, and let out an exhilarated laugh.
Viola was equally enraptured but conscientious enough to recall her pokémon before their fearless fluttering attracted the prehistoric insect.
The bug was injured and smoldering from the superheated flames, but had speed on her side. She kept moving too fast and her continual super-effective strikes and the clever use of fire were draining the Alolan exeggutor's health. The flames were crawling up his long neck, and in a last ditch effort he used Flamethrower as she sped by, only for Whirlwind to funnel the firestreams safely up and away.
As the gargantuan pokémon neared fainting, tons of sharp leaves blew in to create a fantastic Leaf Storm. The billowing mass rushed past him, igniting on the flames and creating a double-edged barrier. One that protected him from the predatory bug on the outside, and one fiery cell that finished him off on the inside, before Whirlwind could force him back into the first dimension.
The grass dragon was recalled before his great head hit the ground. The yanmega was too after she went after the Gym Leader's masquerain, who'd been asked to douse the fire. With a sheepish grin Quinn bowed to the cheering crowd and missed his opponent's thoughtful frown.
The next two pokémon were cast onto a soaked layer of matted leaves. A crustle used Hone Claws to sharpen his pincers as he assessed his floating opponent, the pillar of rock he proudly carried speared four feet above him in a glimmering tower of minerals. The floating reuniclus extended liquidy arms and made the 'come get some' motion with his peculiar hands.
Used to being patient, the stone home-pokémon made an obviously display of settling in only to be blasted by Flash Cannon from afar. Thanks to instinctual reflexes he was able to duck into his shell to avoid a knock-out, but the super-effective blow chipped off a good portion of his rock shell. If it wasn't for his Shell Armor ability protecting against critical hits he was sure he would have fainted, as it was he could barely crawl to his trainer.
Performing a sarcastic slow-clap at the bug's pathetic retreat, the multiplying-pokémon trailed after it through the air. Before the crab could reach the trainer he took hold of the remaining piece of stone pillar and applied pressure. The crustle's boulder shattered to pieces, filling the air with dust and enraged chittering. Then it was the reuniclus who squealed as X-Scissor punctured through the sack holding his fluid body.
The floating pokémon lifted away, holding both large hands to the deep rips in his liquid belly. Green tears secreted from his painfilled eyes and floated around his gelatin form, only to leak from the opening. The crab jumped after the reuniclus, nimble now without the shelter, and kept him from using Recover. But it wasn't necessary, the might in his thick claws had perforated the liquidly pokémon, puncturing clean through to the other side.
The psychic desperately fled but despite the shrapnel-wounds the crustle kept up a relentless attack. By chance Flash Cannon landed right as the crustle's glowing claws pierced into the reuniclus once more. Once the rock bug was down, the psychic was finally able to use Recover and caught an activated potion from his trainer.
After releasing a wet belch into his restored bubble, the psychic pokémon waved to the audience before being dismissed.
"See! It's all about clever move choices that'll cover a weakness or enhance a strength," Viola chirped in, clearly pleased to have such great examples. "And now for the final demonstration!"
The Dragon Tamer knew all this but couldn't help being inspired, he thought back to the week's battles and clearly saw where he could have trained his pokémon for adaptability. Aurélie sprang to mind for the millionth time and he had a sudden thought of who to train with what.
A loud thud drew his attention to the car-sized ball of steel that had dented the ground and rattled the bleachers. From the other pokéball a silky, red monkey appeared. Her long fine hairs danced in the breeze like wispy flames, and gave off an overpowering stench of campfire.
Few in the bug-savvy crowd struggled to identify the Johto bagworm-pokémon, but those that did mistook it for a type of cloyster. The forretress seemed to sense his opponent and cracked open the slabs of heavy shell enough for two red, barrel-like limbs to poke out.
At first Maël assumed it was the creature's eyes but as the semisear cartwheeled forward, the forretress fired sharp fragments of steel shell like a gatling gun. The lithe monkey pushed off with her hands mid-spin to dodge the deadly projectiles, but with mechanical, heat-sensing precision, the barrels recalibrated with her movements.
Several hit with the force of cannonballs. One shattered her shoulder, the other three that landed ripped through flesh, leaving gaping holes that she immediately cauterized. The fire-monkey fumed in anger and pain, cinders rolled off her mane and blew from her tail in banners of ash.
The huge steel-bug spun for Gyro Ball, and like a giant skidding stone rammed into the simisear, knocking her to the moist ground. She retaliated with several super-effective Fire Punches from her good side before the slow pokémon could use Dig and escape. Her Gluttony ability urged her to eat the smushed berry in her other hand and she popped it into her mouth in a self-soothing gesture. Then regurgitated the whole berry with Recycle.
The forretress erupted underneath her as she considered eating the berry again. She staggered away from the bug after the blow, dazed and aching from the ingrained gravel and dirt. The steel bug's shell was aflame with sticky fire, although he had tamped down the worst of it underground. He hadn't suffered burns on his soft inner flesh, but was being baked alive.
The ember-pokémon anxiously gulped her berry, restoring herself some then threw it up again. The berry was just a runny pile now, dripping from her paw. She faced the giant bug and blew a searing breath, but the bagworm-pokémon was reburying with Dig again. The next eruption was met with another Fire Punch but the forretress's Sturdy ability kept it from fainting.
A whistling sound started coming out of the barrels as steam rushed out from inside the carapace. Two additional appendages poked out from the back of the giant crags also venting heat but it wasn't enough, the forretress was cooking. Desperate to relieve the smothering heat he snapped open his shell and revealed two watering eyes.
The semisear exhaled again, letting the gases in her lungs catch fire and channel out with her breath in an Incinerate-attack. She was too stationary however, and the forretress riddled her with bullets. He kept firing as the sticky flames spread to his mysterious innards, finishing him off.
Maël stayed after to speak with Quinn, waiting in the impromptu line and sloshy leaf litter.
The Bug Maniac took a critical look at the cutiefly's stats through the device and said, "She'll do for battling just don't let her get hit...take advantage of Sweet Veil and her species' natural pollen puffs in multi-battles to rescue pokémon who do get put to sleep. Oh, and give her pokéblocks."
The Dragon Tamer walked away dissatisfied. All of the Bug Maniac's pokémon could take hits and were huge, even the ninjask was of considerable size and had a tough shell carapace. And Hoenn pokéblocks were expensive. Could Dragonslayer really stand up to battling?
He walked to the roselia fountain and sat to think. A tiny blue-flowered flabébé drifted past him and he watched it ride the slight breeze. Of course, he reminded himself, Dragonslayer's edge is fairy typing. He frowned for letting the bug seminar cloud his options.
With an exasperated shake of his head he glanced around, looking for more fairies to observe, and spied a golden shimmer up in the hillside café. He knew it was Aurélie before he got up. As he walked up the hill his holocaster rang again but he ignored it.
He stopped short when he reached the café's patio. Wild fairies circulated through the high open space; spritzee, dedenne, flabébé, floette, and a familiar comfey were dropping off flowers at Aurélie's vase-filled table.
Next to the Fairy Tale Girl stood a stunning, white-maned florges attentively overseeing the human place flowers between the pages of a large book. Rory, the roserade, stood guard at the florges' back. She smirked at Maël when he leaned against a column.
The Dragon Tamer found himself staring at the girl's golden hair as the sun shined on the long curls, causing them to glitter like liquid gold. The bright light illuminated her pale skin and made it look softer and smoother than he thought possible. She's a fairy herself, he mused and felt silly as a chill ran up his spine.
He remembered Spyk's encounter with her wigglytuff and couldn't help thinking she'd make a good one, then remembered her nasty streak and chuckled. "You'd make a good criminal," he said aloud.
Without missing a beat the girl laughed darkly and turned her head to glance at him. The sun turned her sparse freckles into hammered golden flecks and caught her caramel-colored eyes from the side making them blaze gold.
"Yeah, I'm the best at everything I do."
A startled grin broke across Maël's raffish features. "Humble too," he said ironically as he shrugged off the wall.
"Nah, I'm a winner." She gave the flippant response dismissively while accepting a wildflower from a spritzee.
"I thought fairies were sweet," he reproved as he came to a stop, shading the table with his large frame. Rory eyeballed him and scoffed, and the garden-pokémon smiled softy but kept her eyes on the task. "And I thought flowers couldn't be picked here...?" From this angle Aurélie's pert nose and heavily lashed, doll-round-eyes made her look darling and approachable. He wonder how she wasn't made to wear a sign saying otherwise.
"For you that's anywhere." His lips twitched at the poke. "Her mane is full and there's frost tonight," she said as way of explanation. "It's lucky you found me, I have your groups' pokémon." She carefully pressed a flower onto a thin sheet of wax paper, pretending to ignore him.
"Ah, about that...I already got mine. I know those weren't the terms," he said as she raise her honeyed eyes to meet his, brows arched, "but it's done." The florges looked at Maël for the first time, her voluminous tresses and slender leaves stirred with her interest. He flicked his gaze over the large fairy. Just curious, he reassured himself, an irritated florges was no trifle.
"Thought Dragon Tamers were brave," the Fairy Tale Girl mused, and earned an appreciative laugh from Rory and a startled one from him. Perceptive or just making a joke? He wondered as he stared into her eyes, searching for where the pull was coming from.
"I have veto power since the whole point was I got to choose. Let's see it." Maël offered the cutiefly's pokéball wordlessly, wondering what fault she could possibly find after having it certified by a specialist.
She immediately released the tiny fairy and cupped her hands together, offering a landing pad. The pink fairy bug was thrilled at the flowery atmosphere and twirled a bit before noticing the kind gesture. "Hi there, Little One," Aurélie cooed, being careful not to breathe on her too strongly. "What are you calling her?" She looked up, granting him an unobstructed view of amber-limned pupils.
The bulky man hesitated. At a whisper, her shrill voice was actually pleasant. For a second he wondered if this is what she'd sound like laying next to him as they stargazed.
"Dragonslayer," he finally said and fairies everywhere cheered. A relieved smile stretched across his face, he'd been unsure how she'd take the pun. Aurélie's delighted smile matched the florges's and had him grinning fully. The endearing way they looked at him made him believe she could be sweet and he brave.