Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Among other things, I was volunteering in a Haunted Forest so ... :3
Chapter 13: Progress?
I was being crushed. But it was only moments before powerful hands lifted me above all the noisy people. There was a warm press of lips on the top of my head and suddenly I was perched proudly on strong shoulders.
"There's your mama, sweetheart," rumbled a rich voice. "You should cheer for her."
And I did. My arms waved as I yelled along with the crowd. I couldn't see anything but long arms and big hats, but it didn't matter. Large hands wrapped around my tiny knees, keeping me secure. Right then, right there, I knew I was safe. I knew I was loved.
XYXYXY
I stood happily between my parents. They were so tall and beautiful and proud. And I was the one who'd made them proud. All my studying was finally worth it.
I squeezed their hands even tighter.
"Welcome new students to Pokémon Tech's junior academy!"
Everything was going to be perfect.
XYXYXY
"Mom are you sure?" I held the pink coveralls in front of me cautiously. "Dad said~"
"I'm sure ma chouchette. And if your father wanted to put his foot down he shouldn't have gone off galavanting in Sinnoh after who knows what chaos this time."
"But he~"
"No buts." A finger was pressed gently to my lips. "Don't worry so much, it will be fine."
Rampart rumbled beside her, but the unfamiliar rhyhorn in the paddock in front of her just glared.
XYXYXY
A report card was crumpled in my hands as I held them over my ears. The grades on them only served to fuel the yelling that had been going on for days.
"Grace no! Just no! It's too dangerous!"
"But she could-"
"Samuel Oak has pulled his own grandson back from his journey! I'm not sending our daughter out there with those maniacs on the loose!"
"You always do this! You-"
CRASH!
I wanted to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.
XYXYXY
"Your father seems like a very determined man," Lt. Moreau commented, leaning against the wall to stare across the room.
I gave him an absolutely unimpressed glower, doing my best to ignore what he was looking at. Across the Ranger precinct headquarters main office, behind a window into an interrogation room, were Patrick Higashi and Grace Gabena. Despite obvious soundproofing, and the distance across the room, their screaming was still painfully audible.
Well, I amended to myself as I watched papers fly from a folder my mother hurled at my father's head, my mother's screaming. Patrick Higashi mechanically snatched one paper from the air and slammed it back onto the table. I could read the rage in his rigid posture, even under the ever-present trench coat, but he wasn't yelling. I shivered. It might have been better for my mother if he was. With some of 'my' memories back I recognized the dangers of my father's mood; if he'd still been yelling it meant there was a chance he'd calm down. If he was this cold when he was this angry there wouldn't be anything left when he was done.
"I just can't believe she thought she'd get away with it," Lt. Berger scoffed from his desk, shuffling paperwork. "C'est un désastre complet."
"Et une perte du temps totale," Lt. Moreau drawled. "Sorry, ma cherie," he added, with an apologetic nod to me.
"Don't worry," I frowned, understanding their Kalais all too clearly and eyeing the embarrassing scene across the way with growing trepidation. "I'm a little surprised myself."
A sharp shriek cut through the silence of an office full of people studiously trying to pretend nothing was happening, and I winced as a female ranger in with my parents had to hold my mother back from beating my father in the head with whatever papers he'd put down now. I glanced around the Ranger HQ to see everyone hunch further over their desks. What had started as my own personal bureaucratic nightmare looked poised to become a national scandal. I almost felt bad for my mother.
Almost.
Because my mother, Grace Gabena, the internationally acclaimed rhyhorn racer, only daughter of the apparently very famous and very rich Gabena family, and Kalos' social darling… had forged my signature on nearly every document required to get me both citizenship and my Pokémon trainer's license in Kalos. Not to mention that she'd used her connections to the Kalos League to push all the paperwork through and make me a League sponsored trainer without actually going through Kalos' own regional testing. And that the said connection was Serena Lapointe's mother Clarice. Who was also the wife of Wikstrom Thyméo Lapointe. Who was a member of the elite four.
I grimaced at the memory. Serena's parents had left over an hour ago, her mother sobbing as Mr. Lapointe briskly escorted her out of the building. The towering, intimidating man had said absolutely nothing as they'd left, but he'd taken the time to spare me a withering glare.
A window had popped up stating: -1000 to [REL] with Kalos League. You are now Disliked by the Kalos League.
It wasn't a promising start to my career, but honestly I was appalled at the sheer freaking gall of the man. I did not appreciate getting blamed for crimes other people had committed.
Because she had known what my mother was doing, and had helped her do it, Clarice Lapointe had been arrested for corruption and conspiracy to commit fraud. Which was bad enough for anyone, but Clarice was the wife of such a high-ranking member of the League. More than a simple arrest, it threw the entire family under intense scrutiny; and put Wikstrom's membership in the Elite Four and Serena's own sponsorship in jeopardy. It was no wonder Serena wasn't talking to me; I couldn't blame her family for wanting all the distance they could get from Grace Gabena. It just sucked that said distance included me.
As for my mother, she was also facing a number of additional charges. Most pressing for my father were fraud and contempt of court. My mother had apparently submitted a number of the forged documents in Kalos before the divorce was finalized in Kanto. Dad had agreed to monthly child support and given up pretty much everything they'd gotten while married with the stipulation that it be put in a trust for me, while they both kept their own property according to a pre-nuptial contract. But all of that was because, due to the dangerous nature of my dad's job, mom was supposed to have full custody. Everything they'd earned together as a couple was supposed to go to taking care of their daughter: me.
And then Lt. Moreau had called and let him know I'd been emancipated.
I don't know if she hadn't thought anyone would look or if she genuinely didn't realize the enormity of what she was doing, but the Rangers had found everything fairly easily. It was the amount of what they had found that had kept them digging for so long. That and my dad had needed to travel back to Kanto to get all the court documents before coming to Kalos. There was a League appointed lawyer coming from the Indigo Plateau; there was already a lawyer from my mother's parents in the room with her, though I couldn't make out anything at this distance. It didn't take a genius to realize my mother was in a whole lot of trouble.
The only good thing to come out of this fiasco was my father bringing my actual license application and school transcripts with him from Pewter City. I had, in fact, applied for, and been granted, a license and sponsorship in Kanto, which did not include emancipation over there, but had put off receiving a starter, at first due to the threat of Team Rocket and then because of my parents' divorce. A lot of legal jargon had been thrown around, but the end result was clear. All signatories to the International Pokémon League had to respect the licenses and ranks of all the other signatory regions. My license was valid, despite my mother's tampering, and my record would be officially cleared in the morning.
I looked across the room again, still trying to ignore the yelling and focused on my father's deepening scowl. It was going to take a lot longer to resolve my mother's problems.
XYXYXY
The next morning, the drama continued, with more lawyers, more paperwork, and more yelling.
I'd excused myself to the bathroom when the screaming got particularly bad. Luckily the Ranger's station had more of a human gym's set up, so I was able to tuck myself in on a bench in the shower room rather than sit on a toilet. Taking a deep breath, I called up my game windows again.
"Main Menu, settings please."
I wasted several minutes distracting myself by fiddling with the options for the Game. There was a language setting, with allowed me to change the Game alerts to the same options the Commercial Exchange had offered. I certainly wasn't interested in battling even more Kalais at the moment, and unfortunately the Kanjougo option was exceedingly heavy on the kanji, which got very complicated very quickly, with no option to switch to the purely phonetic kana system, and any plans I had to refresh that language skill were quickly put aside. I would be sticking with Common Pokean for the forseeable future.
There was an option to turn on background music and sound affects that I left off, but I hesitated over an option to provide text bubbles when people were speaking to me. Kalais was not an easy language to learn on your own. I'd grown up with English phonetics and the wonderfully logical pronunciations of Japanese kana. Even Korean hangeul made a certain amount of sense when you read it. Kalais, however, was pronounced far differently than it was written. Or at least, from what I would read. Having text available to look up words could be useful. But it could also be extremely distracting. In the end I left it off. As much potential as it had, it would only make me focus even more on being stuck in a Game. I was having a hard enough time adjusting to this reality, to being Gryffin... I didn't need more reasons to be detached.
Another option further down, however, was one I changed immediately. I had to take several calming breaths as I jabbed the blue boxes with a growl.
Difficult.
My game options had been set to DIFFICULT!
Forget the mess with the tutorial, this was why my life had been one catastrophe after another since I arrived.
I couldn't contain a small scoff as I flipped the option to Easy. I'd switch it back to Normal if I ever got around to getting my gym badge. Maybe. If I remembered. But I decided I'd been through quite enough for now, thank you. I wanted this disaster drama to end. Shaking my head in frustration I quickly made my way through the rest of the short Options menu. I left Auto-save on, though I didn't see if there was an option for multiple save points. The Nintendo games didn't have them, I knew, but most RPGs did. Hopefully it would be available in the future. I didn't mess with volume or camera settings because I didn't feel like playing with them right now. The last thing I did before closing the menu was turn on something called Objective Markers. I had no idea what it did, but it couldn't hurt to try it out.
Looking up, I immediately saw a green glowing diamond icon hovering over the door leading back to the lobby.
Shrugging, I adjusted my clothes and went to poke my head out.
XYXYXY
[Quest Alert!]
A Scientific Delivery!: Deliver Professor Oak's package to the Lumiose Laboratory
Completion: +100 EXP, +€1000, +100 [Rel] with International Pokémon League
Failure: Nothing
Accept? [Y/N]
"…so you'll be doing me a huge favor by taking this case to the Lumiose Laboratory. If it's no trouble," the older man stated, handing me a case.
I nodded mechanically as I took it, trying to control my urge to leap for joy. Even if only for a few minutes, I had been talking with Professor Oak! The Professor Samuel Oak, who had arrived the morning after my father with the lawyer from the International League. It seemed they wanted his political clout behind whatever was happening with my mother. There were whispers around the Ranger Headquarters that morning that her license might get suspended. A grumpy older couple had arrived this morning with another lawyer; my Observe skill had shown their names to be simply Mr. and Mme. Gabena, both only level 8. I briefly wondered if they were my grandparents, but they'd barely sniffed in my direction before heading in to meet Grace. Lt. Moreau had moved to stand between them and my father and I with a terrible frown on his face, and they'd sneered right back at him.
Everything was pointing to a train wreck in the making, but I found it was absolutely impossible to focus on my family drama when THE Pokémon Professor started talking to me. He'd asked a few questions about my time as a trainer before turning to my father. I only managed to swallow the cascade of my own questions because the cheerful man had given me some good reference books to look for with a laugh, but I was bouncing with excitement when he gently sent me on my way with one of his personal business cards.
That's right. I had the email and phone number of the most famous and well-regarded pokémon professor in the world.
Getting sent on an errand was a small price to pay for such a prize.
Lt. Moreau was remaining at HQ, and he didn't look at all upset about having to stick close to my father. I gave him a naughty grin as I scampered out of the station, earning myself a playful swat that didn't come anywhere close to connecting. But as much as I liked the lieutenant, I heaved a sigh of relief as I hit the bottom steps, savoring the cool morning air.
For the first time in almost two weeks, I was free. No suspended license, no ranger escort, no skulking around avoiding crowds… I skipped down the street whistling tunelessly; my feet barely touched the concrete as I spun down the sidewalk.
And almost as good as the physical freedom was the financial. Part of the mounds of legal documents Professor Oak had brought with him was a file folder containing my new bank account information. My old account, which my mother had never given me access to, was currently being held as evidence; and I could only assume she'd dug her hole a little deeper by trying to use it. To remedy this, the professor had given me a shiny new bank card for the Central World Bank, which was guaranteed by the International Pokémon League itself. According to the professor, the Kalos League had 'kindly' agreed to reimburse me for the trouble of a suspended license in addition to the monthly installments sponsored trainers got, and all funds went to my new account.
I had €22725 in cash. I had €375000 on my bank card. €150000 of which was simply my monthly sponsorship. One hundred. And fifty. Thousand. A month. Just for being a League sponsored trainer. I'd been scraping by on €500 prize winnings while Serena and all the others were happily spending their money without a care in the world. It hurt, looking back. It really, really hurt that my mother, willfully keeping everything she did from me, had essentially turned me out of the house with only a purse and a pokémon. It wasn't just the money, of course; the lies about custody, my license, and all the other stuff were just as terrible. But seeing how much she already had, from the pre-nup and her racing and her family, the fact that she still took more money, and from her own teenage daughter…
I didn't like Grace Gabena very much at all at the moment, but I was determined to enjoy my liberation. Resolutely, and with no small amount of help from Gamer's Mind, I stuffed my thoughts about her to the recesses of my mind. I still had a quest to complete after all.
I followed La Rue Méridionale west toward the new green icon that hung on the horizon. The Ranger's HQ was located on banks of the Blue River, which split the inner-city ring of Illumis between the North and South Boulevards, even though it wasn't perfectly aligned with the directions. The laboratory where Professor Sycamore worked was at the southern end of the ring, almost 5 kilometers away. It was a longer distance than I usually liked without public transit, but I was feeling too good to stuff myself in a bus and the city was extremely compact so there was lots of different stores and cafes to look at while I walked. I made special note of a bookstore close to Gate 4, the narrow three-story building had looked stuffed to the gills with all sorts of reading and stationary materials.
I sighed happily, because if there was one good thing about living in this Game, it was the access to my Bag inventory windows. All of the books, none of the weight. I let the cheerful thought propel me the last kilometer and a half to the laboratory.
XYXYXY
"…Et si le veux bien, je peux faire la livraison au professeur pour vous."
I eyed the leering blond teen standing between me and the elevator up and down, making sure to give him my most unimpressed look. I shouldered the briefcase strap more securely, and away from his sweaty hands.
"Thank you, but no," I refused firmly. "Professor Oak asked me to deliver the package personally. If Professor Sycamore isn't available I'll simply go back to the station with it."
I'd nearly been accosted by the teenage boy in white as soon as I walked in the main lobby of the Pokémon Lab. I'd seen him skulking at the desk with another teen, a tan girl with purple hair, through the windows as I walked up. Neither had introduced themselves, but I'd barely spun the pokestop in front of the lab before the boy had immediately blocked my path and gone on a long tangent in Kalais. Some of it had been clearly about the fairy type, and he'd completely ignored me telling him I already knew about it. But this…
"I will absolutely NOT be handing over this package," I growled again as I swatted away his hand from the case. "Is Professor Sycamore in or not?"
"Le professeur estimé est très oocu…."
"Oui ou non?" I snapped, cutting off the smarmy boy. "Ou es-tu stupide?"
He stepped back, shocked, though whether it was at my use of Kalais or the actual accusation, I wasn't sure. Either way I was sick of people talking over me because they thought I couldn't understand them. My Kalais admittedly still needed a long way to go, but a week and a half stuck inside watching local television and scrolling through websites had brought my language skill up to a solid 46%. I wouldn't be slogging through official paperwork anytime soon, but it didn't take language skills to understand that I was being deliberately help up.
Letting the rage of that thought fuel me, I shoved past the boy to press the elevator button. The chimed melody echoed harshly through the tiled lobby, and I gave both startled teens the most mockingly sweet grin I could manage before pressing the 2 and close door buttons as fast as I could.
The second floor was luxuriously decorated for a laboratory, but I had little time to contemplate the fancy furniture. An outraged squawk pierced through air as I exited the elevator, and across the room, standing next to a weedy man who might have been handsome if he wasn't so pale, was Serena. Shauna and the boys stood behind her with wide, sad eyes.
"What are you doing here?" the blonde girl demanded with a snarl, and I felt my eyes go wide as I leaned back. I could understand avoiding me, but the level of fury that had been hurled in my direction…
The red numbers showing -500 above Serena's head were like salt in an open wound.
"Professor Oak came to the station where I was waiting," the explanation felt like acid as I forced it out of my mouth, and I focused on the man standing next to her instead. "He asked me to make a delivery for him while he was busy. Are you Professor Sycamore?"
My question wasn't really necessary, as the man clearly had [Professor A. Sycamore, lvl. 12] listed above his head, but it did send him into a flurry of action and sound. Gingerly, he took the case I offered, clicking it open on his desk to reveal three red and white pokéballs. He was speaking in really technical Kalais too fast for me to really understand but the phrase Mega Evolution was still the same so I could only assume that was what he was talking about. It was nice to know the ability still existed in this game, even if the implications weren't something I wanted to think about right now.
I shut my eyes for a moment; I did not want to think about gyarados right now.
Instead I focused back on the professor. When he said "pas du combat" I took it to mean that we would be skipping the battle I remembered from this part of the game. Probably for the best, considering Serena's mood. And mine. I just stood there, nodding along until Professor Sycamore wound down his explanation by pulling a high-tech lockbox out from a padlock safe next to his desk. I sucked in my breath as three glittering gems were revealed.
[Rare Item Discovered!]
You have discovered [Legendary] Venusaurite! This mysterious stone might help a certain pokémon mega evolve!
You have discovered [Legendary] Blastoisinite! This mysterious stone might help a certain pokémon mega evolve!
You have discovered [Legendary] Charizardite! This mysterious stone might help a certain pokémon mega evolve!
"There is still a great deal we do not know about Mega Evolution," Professor Sycamore continued in Common, "But these stones are a necessary part of the process. I hope you will all help me."
A choke of outrage tore my gaze from the stones, and I looked up to see Serena puffed up and fuming as Professor Sycamore held out the case of pokeballs to me. It hurt to see the girl that had been my friend look at me like that, and I had to shake my head at the man.
"They let me pick my starter first," I told him, deliberately looking away from the sudden confusion in Serena's eyes, and the tears in Shauna's. "They should get to choose first this time."
The tiny green [+10] above Shauna's head alone shouldn't have been that heartbreaking, but it was. I ignored my flashing game screens and watched Serena choose the Charmander, and Shauna the Squirtle, without a word. Serena stormed out, dragging Shauna behind her, as soon as Professor Sycamore had given them their megastones. The boys trailed after them, Tierno giving me a tiny attempt at a grin before he followed the others towards the elevator.
[Quest Update!]
A Scientific Delivery! Complete! +100 EXP, €1000, +100 [Rel] with International League
Hidden Objective 1/3: Deliver the package to Prof. Sycamore yourself +100 EXP, +100 [Rel] with Kalos and Kalos League
Hidden Objective 2/3: NA
Hidden Objective 3/3: avoid a fight with your friends +100 to all [Rel], special pokémon granted, special item granted
LEVEL CAP REACHED. ALL EXP WILL BE DEFERRED UNTIL LEVEL CAP IS LIFTED. ALL MONEY AND ITEMS REWARDED AS NORMAL.
Congratulations! You have received Bulbasaur!
Congratulations! You have obtained a Mega-stone!
You have received a [Legendary] item: Venusaurite!
Congratulations! [Titles] is now available in [Status]!
You have unlocked the title …
The sound of a clearing throat dragged my eyes back to Professor Sycamore.
"Merci encore d'avoir fait tous ce chemin. Eh…" the scientist stumbled, rummaging for something on his desk. "Tiens! La CT Retour!" He nervously held out a small, shiny disk in a clear case. My Observe ability declared it to be the TM Return. "Pour … For you, mademoiselle."
Eyes still stinging, I studiously avoiding looking at either the game screens or Serena's retreating figure as I took the TM from the professor. "Thank you," I said hoarsely.
"Do you have … un étui pour votre CT's?" He asked a little helplessly, and I got the impression his Common was as spotty as my Kalais. Fortunately, I knew the word from hanging around Intermarche.
"Un étui? A case, you mean?" I clarified, and we shared a thin smile at our mutual language issues, "No, do you…" My smile got a little wider as Professor Sycamore pulled a deep blue case out from his desk drawer. It had the League pokeball logo beautifully embossed in gold on one side.
"Merci beaucoup," I thanked him, taking the gift with both hands and bowing formally. I'd spent the previous evening conversing with my father almost purely in Kanjougo, and it had brought out a tendency for more traditional manners in me. I enjoyed the nostalgia the etiquette left me with, but I had a lingering worry it was only going to make me stick out even more in Kalos.
"It's … it's nothing," he stuttered, posture going rigid at my formal display, "C'est ma responsabilité. You are ma dresseuse, oui?"
"Oui," I replied hoarsely. It was nice to know someone in this country still wanted me around.
"You're really something aren't you?" the professor grinned, wider this time. "I have a good feeling about you. Mon intuition ne me trompe jamais."
Not knowing what else to say, I bowed deeply in the Japanese, or Kantonian, style again and retreated back to the elevator. Back on the first floor, I lifted my chin at the pair of scowling lab assistants, and power walked out of the lab as quickly as I could without making it look like I was running away. I spared a look around but the only people on the street were a pair of middle aged women outside a boulangerie; all of my friends were already long gone.
I made it back to the bookstore at Gate 4, ducking upstairs between cramped shelves. Hidden safely between the stacks of books, I let the tears flow freely.
XYXYXY
I picked myself back up after about ten minutes. I simply had too much to do to waste time crying; and my Gamer's Mind ability kicked in. I didn't want to go back to the station with my face all puffy though, so I scrolled through the quest completion update before browsing through the bookstore's Common section. I was sorting a few guide books on Kalos when I found it.
You have discovered [Skill Book] for Kalais! Would you like to use this item?
This [Skill Book] will add +5% to [Skill] Kalais language.
Grinning wildly, I placed it onto the small pile of books I was getting. I didn't want to use the book before I paid for it, in case it followed what I knew of game mechanics and dissolved once I used it. I wasn't a thief. With my mouth so wide it almost hurt, I added a second, slightly higher level language text to the pile, since it promised to be a skill book as well.
Lost in my daydreams of impending fluency, I rounded a corner and walked straight into a body.
We both fell in a pile of limbs and pages, books fallen open every which way. And of course I ended up with my chest on top of the poor man's face.
"Sorry! Sorry!" I clamored, face flaming as I shot backwards from the awkward position. "I didn't mean too…"
I blinked. The man blinked back. My mouth fell open and I blinked again.
No. Still there. A very familiar face mirrored my own expression.
"Oscar?!" I gaped. I hadn't expected to see the red head any time soon, what with his side quest having a time limit of six months. I figured it would take half that to even find him, but apparently fate had other ideas.
Oscar gave me an astonished look in return. "Ah…" He hedged. "…Rebonjour?"
"That means "bonjour" again, right?" I felt a new smile creep onto my face and the urge to tease the stunned man was too much temptation to resist. "Hello again to you too. No more late nights out in the woods I hope."
Oscar grimaced, and flushed as red as his hair. "Non," he denied, "Once was enough."
"But you're not out are you?" I surmised, his guilty expression telling me everything I needed to know. "Are you okay?"
Oscar just shrugged and looked away. I spent several moments admiring his profile. He really was quite handsome, and he looked much healthier now that he wasn't covered in mud, blood, and whatever else had been in Santalune. We spent a few minutes gathering up our respective piles, and I trailed behind him in silence as we both checked out on the first floor.
Out on the street, I watched as he bit his lip and tried to figure out what he could say. It had to be awkward. I was younger than him, and I'd pretty much saved his life even though I knew he was technically a criminal. I spared a brief thought for my dad and Lt. Moreau, and what they'd do if they knew I was hanging out with a member of Team Flare. I'm sure they'd be so mad they'd hit orbit. But I knew, looking at the terrified expression in Oscar's blue, blue eyes, that I couldn't do that. Maybe I really was an idiot, or maybe the Game was getting to me.
"I'm not gonna turn you in, you know," I promised quietly, and got another startled expression in response. "You said you didn't want to be there. And considering how I found you …" We both grimaced at the memory. "How did that happen, by the way?" I couldn't help but ask. "They didn't just leave you there…did they?"
"They said it was a test," he grumbled, shoulders slumped as he curled in on himself. "Ma première mission. J'ai vraiment un QI d'huitre."
I rubbed his back in what I hoped was a comforting manner. "I … did not understand that last part," I admitted, "but it doesn't sound very good. Are you gonna be okay?"
Oscar choked out a laugh, shaking his head. "It means…" he waved one hand around in the air trying to find the words in Common, "I have the brain of small sea animal," he said finally. "That I am an idiot."
He looked so despondent I started patting his back again. "You're not an idiot," I countered. "Idiots don't go to med school."
The flush rose on his cheeks again and he spluttered, nearly dropping his books. "How..." he choked. "How do you know that?!"
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Callbook? I sent you a friend request…"
He gaped for a moment before pulling out his phone. "You are …" He thumbed through the app for a moment before closing his eyes with a terrible frown. "…I don't know your name," he admitted warily.
I froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. Like I bent over, crying laughing because the situation was just that absurd. Oscar stared at me like a deer caught in headlights. Maybe this time I wouldn't crash.
"You're right," I chortled, willing away the dark thoughts. "You're absolutely right. We kinda skipped proper introductions didn't we?" I grinned up at him, and held out my hand. "Gryffin Gabena. Nice to meet you."
I grinned even harder when Oscar blushed, and tentatively reached out to shake it.
A few moments after clasping hands, however, he froze, eyes wide. "Gabena?" he spluttered. "Like Grace Gabena? La rhinocorne coureuse? The one who got arres… ted … by … her police ex… mari…." He trailed off with a dawning look of horror.
"Yeaaaah," I winced, realizing just how badly this could go, "She's my mom."
"Et votre pere est police internationale," Oscar stated blankly, blue eyes still wide.
I attempted to smile, but it felt brittle even to me. I didn't say anything, just gave a shallow nod. No use denying who my father was either.
Slowly, Oscar's eyes came back into focus and with a slight hitch in his breath he asked, "Am I …going to be arrested as well?"
"Geez, no!" I exclaimed, waving my hands frantically in denial. "I said I wasn't going to turn you in. Heck, I didn't even tell the Rangers you exist. And they grilled us all about Santalune for hours. Had to write them reports and everything."
Oscar had a wary expression spreading over his face. "Why would you do that?"
I raised an eyebrow and pulled my hand, that had still been clasping his, away to plant it on my hip. "Would you tell the cops you had technically saved a member of a criminal organization and then just let them go? After they'd blown up a forest? After they'd attacked a city? Stolen pokémon? Killed people?"
Oscar's face, which had gone tight, winced guiltily at each point. Looking at his twisted expression, I suddenly felt very … heavy.
"I felt … I dunno … guilty," I admitted softly, eyes on the ground. "I've got a very good idea of just how dangerous Team Flare is going to be." I looked back at Oscar, who had gone very carefully blank. "Of how dangerous they already are. And I … didn't want to believe you were like that. Because you said you didn't want to be there. And…" I struggled, because stewing in Lt. Moreau's apartment for over a week, I'd had way too much time to think about this. "And because you had the perfect opportunity, if you wanted, to hurt me. To steal my pokémon like other people in Team Flare. You had my fletchling in your hand, in your shirt," I paused, counting carefully to even out my breathing. "And you gave him back. You gave him back and told me to run."
I stared hard into Oscar's eyes, deliberately maintaining eye contact for several long moments.
"So, even though you're caught up with Team Flare, I don't think you're a bad person. I don't know what I'll actually end up doing, but for now, at least, I'm not turning you in."
+500 [Rel] with Oscar Duval. You are now Well Liked with Oscar Duval!
[Quest Update!]
Alluring Enigma! Part 2: Complete! +1000 EXP, +€50000, +500 [Rel] with Oscar Duval
LEVEL CAP REACHED. ALL EXP WILL BE DEFERRED UNTIL LEVEL CAP IS LIFTED. ALL MONEY AND ITEMS REWARDED AS NORMAL.
Alluring Enigma! Part 3: Discover why Oscar Duval joined Team Flare
Completion: +2000 EXP, +€10000, + 500 [Rel] with Oscar Duval
Failure: 100 EXP, -250 [Rel] with Oscar Duval
Accept? [Y]/[N]
Congratulations!
You have unlocked the Side Quest: A Flarey Daring Plan!
Find a way to help Oscar Duval successfully leave Team Flare.
Quest Completion: +10000 EXP, +€100000, +1000 [Rel] with Oscar Duval, special item granted (x3)
This quest will not be complete until Oscar Duval has safely left Team Flare
Quest Failure: Oscar Duval's incarceration and/or possible death
Accept? [Y]/[N]
Attention: Choosing to not accept this quest will be the same as Failure
You have unlocked [Oscar Duval] as a romantic interest.
I fixed my smile, choosing to focus on Oscar's adorably bewildered expression instead of the HUD screens looming in my peripheral vision.
Instead of the burning cold flutters spreading under my skin and threatening to twist my stomach inside out.
I was really starting to hate this Game.
There's the drama, and there's Gryffin noping right out. I've made the mistake of buying games second hand and not checking the settings before I start it up... let me tell you not fun.
Here's the thing about Grace Gabena: she's not anywhere near so awful in the anime or manga as I've written her here (and I promise there's more to this than Gryffin knows right now) but there are a bunch of little things that really bothered me about her character. She's super famous and extremely talented, but she's very wrapped up in her own abilities and doesn't acknowledge her daughter's own desires or skills for a long time, rather trying to force her daughter into following in her footsteps. That smacks of issues. Issues that will be exacerbated in this Game for the sake of Drama, especially since Gryffin is both a tempermental teenager and a grown woman with her own issues.
And since originally, Grace is Serena's mother, I had to give Serena equally awesome and terrifying parents. In the game, your rival (girl or boy) does NOT want to talk about their parents. All we know is that they're famous and strong. Stretch it out a bit and pick from available characters...
Patrick Higashi is also based on an actual Pokemon character as well. B) Guess who?