Sorry for the wait! As I said, I'm through with pre-written chapters and am now writing this as I go. And this chapter did not want to be written.
Pokemon: Loxley, braixen; Tobio, pidgey; Delacour, fletchling; Zen, zorua; Levi, azurill, Basil, bulbasaur
Chapter 18: Together
Trevor fidgeted with the language settings on his pokédex. He started reading through, trying to memorize the names of pokémon and basic attacks in Common. It would be useful, he told himself, for when they met up with Gryffin again. Because his best friend was dead set on doing just that, no matter how poorly it was going over with … other members of the group.
"No Tierno," Serena's caustic voice snapped through Trevor's concentration. "And don't ask again!"
Shaking hands opened a new entry on the pokédex, and Trevor tried desperately to focus on the territorial habits of fletchlings instead of one of his oldest friends stomping away from another.
"I thought we were supposed to stay together!" Tierno bellowed after the girl. Trevor didn't look up, didn't hear her respond. He definitely didn't see the normal placid Serena give Tierno a particularly rude gesture with a single finger as she dragged Shauna off. He sighed, his forehead on his pokédex screen, all attempts at focusing abandoned.
Tierno landed next to him on the bench a moment later with an angry huff.
"You knew that wasn't going to work," he chided his friend softly. Serena would be mad for hours now. They probably wouldn't see her again until tomorrow morning.
"It's the principle of the thing!" Tierno insisted hotly. "Serena's just being stubborn."
"She's always been stubborn," Trevor pointed out. "It's why she's our friend."
"Well Gryffin's our friend too!"
"I sure hope so," Trevor murmured. He couldn't imagine she'd be very happy to hear from them again after they hadn't talked to her in so long. He hoped he was wrong
Tierno deflated at the soft comment, clearly sharing the guilty feelings. "Me too," he whispered back.
Trevor watched as the larger boy hunched in on himself. Serena had always made a point to hang out with everyone all together growing up, even when her parents wanted to drag her off for one social function or another. Trevor had known her for years. He'd known Gryffin a week, tops. But she'd clearly had a big impact on Tierno, and Trevor had known him even longer than Serena. He wondered what would have happened if his sister hadn't guilt-tripped him into going home after Santalune Forest, and he'd been able to go with Tierno when he and Gryffin had helped out that other trainer. Tierno had mentioned they'd had some serious discussions while they were out, but hadn't ever actually said what those conversations had been about. What could Gryffin have possible said to put Tierno so out of sorts.
"We should get her a gift," the red head offered.
Tierno perked up at the suggestion. "A gift?" he wondered.
"For when we apologize," Trevor explained, relieved at his friend's brightened expression. "I was reading a little bit online, trying to figure out how to say sorry in Kanjougo." And Trevor had been embarrassed to discover that he couldn't even read the words that had been displayed on the translation tool. How did Gryffin even manage?
"One of the pages on Kanto culture mentioned apology gifts. That they're important."
Tierno sat back up, crossing his arms. "Gryffin doesn't seem like the type to get all fussy like that," he said. "Are you sure?"
"It's less fussy," Trevor fiddled with his pokédex again. "More manners. And Gryffin got kind of formal when she was upset, so…"
Tierno hunched over again. "She was so polite," he mumbled. "It was weird."
Trevor was glad that he wasn't the only one who'd seen it. Seeing Gryffin march into Professor Sycamore's laboratory had been an unpleasant surprise. Not because he wasn't glad to see she was okay, he was, but she'd just been so … Rigid. Trevor had a hard time recognizing the stiff and demure girl who'd defused Serena's tantrum before it could really begin as the same one who'd smashed through walls and faced off against criminals to keep them safe.
Trevor owed her for that alone. Never mind what happened after in the forest.
"The website suggested getting something small, not too fancy," Trevor continued, deciding not to delve too deeply into such a heavy topic, "Like a nice package of biscuits or something."
Tierno hummed thoughtfully, mulling the idea over.
"That doesn't sound really practical," he said eventually. "I don't know what kind of snacks she likes. Maybe we could get her something more useful. She takes training pretty seriously."
"You're not supposed to give permanent stuff," Trevor countered. "It apparently carries bad memories or something. Food was suggested. Or flowers…" he trailed off, cheeks pink.
Tierno nodded, his own face quite red as well. "Yeah, flowers for a girl can be… yeah."
Yeah. Trevor thought. Gryffin was pretty, but they were trying to apologize… But if Tierno thought she'd like something more practical instead… He reached down, gently touching the pokeballs that held his only two pokémon at the moment. The gothita, that he wouldn't have caught without Gryffin and Serena, and his flabébé, which was apparently a fairy type and not a grass type at all. His eyes narrowed, recalling how Tierno had gushed about Gryffin knowing about fairy pokémon from Kanto. He really did want to talk to her about that. It would be nice to have someone else to talk to about science stuff. Well, if pokémon were what Gryffin was interested in...
"I have an idea," he told Tierno.
The grin he shared with Tierno as he explained his plan made this whole mess worth it.
XYXYXY
I carefully unwrapped the package Tierno had handed me, very aware of six hungry pairs of eyes watching my every move.
"You really didn't have to," I repeated.
"Yes, we did," Tierno insisted. "You deserved an apology."
"We really are sorry," Trevor added. "We just … weren't allowed."
I sniffed thoughtfully. Apparently Wikstrom Lapointe had come down hard on his daughter in the wake of the scandal caused by our mothers. Though Tierno and Trevor were uncertain about the details, it was painfully clear that Serena had been ordered to not associate with me on any level. And with her father in charge of her sponsorship, it was going to be legal and financial suicide for my former friend to go against him any time soon. Which, I supposed, made Tierno and Trevor's presence here, with me, pretty darn significant, even if their licenses weren't on the line.
Would Serena have to cut them off if they continued to hang out with me? It wasn't a scenario I really wanted to test. Hopefully the whole situation would blow over, the media would find something new to hyper-focus on, and the Elite Four would cool off and stop hating my guts.
A girl could dream right?
"I wasn't allowed to contact anyone attached to the situation either," I finally allowed. "So I'm sorry too." I slid out a single sleeve of colorful confectionary, peeling away the gilt letters spelling Pofiterole Lux. "But you really didn't have to get me all these poképuffs."
A wave of chitters from my pokémon vehemently disagreed with that statement. Tierno and Trevor openly snickered as Zen and Levi both cuddled into my ankles, mewling piteously. Tobio and Delacour were no better, peeping like baby chicks on the back of the sofa.
I raised an eyebrow as a single thin vine wrapped itself very gently around my wrist.
"Really?" I asked Basil, as the green appendage slithered oh so carefully over a single macaron snack. "You can't wait until actual dinner?"
Loxley scoffed from his cushion. A press of warm pride brushed against my mind, with an afterimage of flapping over-sized butterfly wings. Victory. A reminder of me promising treats.
"Okay, okay," I slumped. It was a lost cause. I was a sucker and all my pokémon knew it. "One," I declared to loud cheering. "One each. That's it."
Shaking my head, I passed out the poképuffs to my pack of gluttonous monsters. Loxley took his carefully in both front paws with a particularly smug expression. He admired the green confectionary for a moment before stuffing it into his mouth whole and chewed with smug satisfaction. The rest of my pokémon quickly followed suit, even if everyone but Basil had to take more than one bite to fit the poképuffs in their mouths. I stared down at the fancy wool carpet as my mob of monsters spewed crumbs everywhere.
"The cleaning lady is going to have a conniption fit," I clucked, shaking my head at the mess. "Everyone say thank you to Tierno and Trevor now."
Six muffled cheers came up from the floor. Rolling my eyes, I stepped over Zen and Levi, who were now licking the carpet, sweet Arceus why, to get back to my friends.
Letting myself breathe deeply as I pulled both boys in for a hug, I reveled in the fact I still had them as friends. I hadn't realized until just this moment how stressed I'd been that the disaster with Grace Gabena would pull me away from these people. Having my pokémon helped. Having Loxley's psychic powers come in really helped. But I was human, and I needed human friends. The holes in my heart were still too raw, and I didn't want to add any more at the moment.
"So have you guys had dinner yet?" I asked. "Because L'Ecrin here at the hotel provides some divine room service."
I smiled widely at the shocked look on their faces. Dad was right. Food was always the answer.
XYXYXY
"Ce soir le spécial de la maison est le confit du cabriolaine avec les legumes et les pommes de terre rôties, mademoiselle,"[1] came the polite tone of the Head Waiter at the hotel's in-house restaurant.
Mentally, I translated the special he offered. Any meat done confit was delicious, and green beans and potatoes were pretty traditional side dishes, even if Kalos cuisine meant they were over-the-top delicious. I ordered three, despite the boys' polite denials it was late and that they needed to go, I knew they hadn't eaten, along with seven bowls of the hotel's homemade pokémon food. Dad could get his own food, I wasn't sure what he'd want from the menu, but no way was I not having dinner ready for Sarge.
"…Et trois crepes au créme du noisette s'il vous plait monsieur,"[2] I finished, hoping my Kalais was up to par.
The staff at Hôtel le Crésus were wonderful, but very few of them spoke Common. Communication had been a challenge, and I'm sure I'd embarrassed a few of the staff with my profuse and overly formal expressions of gratitude. But I'd seen one stringy old lady in the most garish liepard fur coat literally hand the concierge for our floor something pinched between her fingertips. Being Gryffin Higashi was so very different from my last life. Once upon a time, I'd have been lucky to be working at a hotel like this, forget staying in it. And now I was ordering fancy room service for myself, my pokémon, and my friends. The staff were getting nothing but my utmost respect because this place was, in fact, that luxurious.
Trevor and Tierno had thankfully gotten done with their apologies as we ate, as warm and fuzzy as they made me feel, and the banter had gotten much more lighthearted. Tierno had sat back, grinning, as Trevor and I cross referenced different fairy type pokémon we knew about.
"The trouble with jigglypuff and clefairy, if you can even get one, is that both of them only evolve with a moonstone," I emphasized, when Trevor mentioned possibly trading his gothita for one of the Kanto fairies. "And those are not cheap. Keep the gothita."
We all took a moment to bemoan the price of evolution stones and the conversation wound around lighter topics for a few minutes. Eventually though, Serena and Shauna were mentioned again and Tierno and Trevor stumbled over themselves trying to apologize for the missing girls.
"I'm not mad at either of them," I insisted. "Really. I'm upset about the situation, yes. But I don't think Serena is to blame for what our moms did any more than I am."
Trevor seemed to sag in relief, nodding. Tierno, on the other hand, stood straighter and was suddenly much happier.
"She'll come around," he promised with a grin, "She's stubborn, but she's not the type to hold grudges."
Too bad for her, I thought with more than a twinge of bitterness, that I am. I hadn't lied when I told Trevor I wasn't mad at Serena for cutting off contact. That I understood. But her attitude towards me after, and apparently towards the guys as well … My tolerance had limits and there was a very big difference between not talking to someone and being a rude little shit. They way she'd spoken to me at the laboratory was way too close to the latter for me to be comfortable with tolerating. Hopefully Tierno was right, and Serena was just being a bratty teenager and would get over it.
A dull beep and the rattle of the door latch saved me from any more of the awkward conversation. Loxley perked his ears up and Zen scrambled out of my lap and into the suite's entryway.
"Well I guess I'm just chopped liver then?" I huffed with a smile. The little zorua was dancing on her back legs, tiny red paws patting cutely against my dad's brown pants. She trilled in excitement as Patrick reached down to gently rub her ears.
BZZZZZ-CRI-CRACK!
I had a brief vision of every one of my Pokémon, plus Sarge who'd followed my father in at his heels, all fluff out dramatically before a wave of static swept through the room and everything went black.
"Don't panic," Patrick's calm voice cut smoothly through the darkness.
There was a heavy thud to my left, followed by a stream of low muttering in Kalais.
"And don't move," laughed another baritone from behind my father. It was very familiar.
"Lt. Moreau?" I asked, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the lack of light.
"Yup," came the cheerful reply.
A second, much smaller buzz hummed in the background. A single blue light in the suite's entry came on, giving the room a pale glow.
My father strode through the wan light to help Trevor pick Tierno off the floor.
"Are you alright?" he asked the blond boy gently.
"Um." Tierno rubbed his left arm. "Yessir."
"Thank you," Trevor added quietly.
Both of my friends seemed unnerved by my father's presence. As Patrick turned back to nod at Lt. Moreau I could see why. A cool, professional mask had slid over both men's faces.
"Bit of a surprise to see you again," Lt. Moreau said far too casually to Tierno.
All three of us winced. The lieutenant had suffered through my whining while I'd stayed in his flat, so he knew neither Tierno nor Trevor had talked to me that entire time. Both boys stood ramrod straight in front of a double dose of paternal disapproval. The stern expressions of both men were easy to see despite the poor lighting.
"We came to apologize," Tierno gulped out.
My father raised an eyebrow at Tierno, causing the boy to shrink in on himself, before turning the look on me.
"They did," I confirmed. "And considering they were up against their own League's orders…"
My father hummed thoughtfully. He turned a gimlet gaze back on Tierno and Trevor as he considered them, seemingly uncaring as they squirmed.
"And I suppose you've accepted their apology," he said at last, giving me a single nod. "I don't like it, but it's your decision." His eyes softened. "And I'm glad you're making friends again."
Something bittersweet flickered through my memories. Of Gryffin Higashi back in Kanto, during her parent's divorce, before she was me. It was lonely and resigned. I didn't want to dwell on it, and settled for pulling my dad in for a long hug. We stood there for several minutes, ignoring the world.
Outside the hotel windows, sirens blared in the distance. The lights of multiple emergency vehicles pierced the gloom that covered the city, rushing in all directions. A pair of ambulances screamed by on the street below. A squad of police cars quickly followed them up North Avenue, and my father reluctantly loosened his grip as the alarms drew his attention.
Lt. Moreau strode over to the glass to frown down at the mess.
"Probably best if everyone stays put tonight," he said to Patrick. "I don't really want the kids out in that."
"Neither do I," dad agreed. "The boys can stay in my room."
Tierno and Trevor blinked at the sudden declaration.
"Where will you sleep then?" Trevor asked in surprise.
My father gestured dismissively at the sofa Tierno had tumbled over earlier.
"It has a pull out," he explained. "James and I will be fine."
And with that, dad and Lt. Moreau shuffled all three of us off into separate bedrooms as they both made discreet calls to some office or another. If there was a blush on the ranger's cheeks at the thought of sharing a bed with my dad, well, I certainly didn't see it in the darkness, but…
"So it's James now is it?" I clucked cheekily at the man as my father showed my friends where they'd be sleeping. He gave me the most unimpressed expression I'd ever seen on another human being besides my father.
"Enjoy the bed," I couldn't help but add, waggling my eyebrows without any remorse at all.
The friendly ranger swatted my arm with a roll of his eyes, and I cackled as I shut the door in his face.
XYXYXY
The next morning, I walked down with my dad and Lt. Moreau to make sure Trevor and Tierno got out of the hotel without any trouble. We all had to take the stairs, along with several other hotel guests who looked quite disgruntled. Most of the lights were on, and the card readers for the doors were working, but the elevators all had little blue and gold "Out of Service" placards taped delicately over them. Once we were in the lobby I could see several clerks rushing around at the front desk, offering apologies to various guests and taking notes down by hand. The hall leading to the hotel's famous restaurant was dark and empty.
"The hotel must be running on a generator," Trevor guessed as Patrick Higashi ushered us all quietly out the door. No need to bother the hotel staff about unexpected extra people staying the night right now.
"I wonder if something's wrong at the power station," I hedged pointedly at my father. I knew good and well Team Flare was going to mess around with the power plant at some point in the game, and if I could get someone official to check it out before I had to I would. Luckily, my father's expression tightened with suspicion and he shared a nod with Lt. Moreau at my suggestion.
"You boys should head home," Patrick told Trevor and Tierno, who nodded seriously.
"Professor Sycamore wanted me to deliver a package to one of his associates," Trevor told him, "But it's not far from here, at Café Lysandre. It's on the way, and we won't be long."
I perked up at the mention of the café, remembering its importance to the games.
"Is that like the Lysandre Laboratories?" I asked.
"Oh yeah!" Trevor grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he gushed. "The actual labs are north west of the city, almost to Port Tempères, but their business headquarters in here in Lumiose, near Parc de la Tour, and the café is right next door. Sometimes, they even do tech displays there!"
[Quest Alert!]
Safe and Sound: Make sure your friends Trevor and Tierno make it back to Trevor's home safely.
Completion: 500 EXP, +100 to REL with Tierno Lifar and Trevor Cuvier, Random item granted
Failure: 5 EXP, possible death of either or both Tierno or Trevor
Accept? [Y]/[N]
Attention: Choosing to not accept this quest will be the same as Failure
I fixed a grin at my friends through the hovering game screens, mentally cursing whatever fate decided to put my friends on the chopping block the moment I got them back. Someone was going to die for that, I just needed to find out who.
"You said it's near the Tower? That's the gym here in Lumiose right? I could come with you? They might know what's going on," I offered, hoping it sounded like I was just interested in sight-seeing and not about to have another overprotective panic attack. I tapped Yes on the game window even as I looked to my dad for permission. Patrick sighed at the hopeful expression I focused on him, and Lt. Moreau snickered at his consternation.
"Please don't go far," my dad asked gently, "Just to the gym and this café alright? Until we've had a chance to check the power grid. Let me know if the gym has any updates."
"Got it," I nodded. Not that I wanted to do anything more than get this quest over with and go hide anyway. It was daylight. A dungeon crawl would do wonders for my mood.
Tierno and Trevor bounced happily as we walked, oblivious to the danger we were all in. I suppose they were just excited that I wanted to hang out again, and I really did, but it struck me that even here in the largest and arguably safest city in Kalos, we were all still in mortal peril.
All along the Avenue de l'Arche Nord, I could see businesses shuttered, the owners apologizing to frustrated pedestrians through dark shop windows. At the far end of the block, the Pokémon Center across from the Grand Station had power, but the trains and metro had been shut down due to the outage. A single pharmacy was open, but only half lit. The owner of a torkoal was selling baguettes just outside a bakery, not letting customers inside the building; the fire turtle puffing steam over the baskets of bread was clearly the only reason the baker was still open for business. The rest of North Avenue, the bright and bustling heart of Kalos' economic power, was dim and flickering. Orange barricades littered the road.
Thank goodness, I thought, that Trevor lived so close. Getting stuck in the chaos that was emerging as people were trying to begin their day wouldn't be fun, and I hated the Game just a little bit more for sticking me with this nonsense. But the Lumiose Tower shone in the distance, still brightly lit up in a testament to the power of the electric pokémon within. I heaved my new backpack on my shoulders, and followed my friends into the city.
Hopefully my dad and Lt. Moreau would have better luck than me.
XYXYXY
"Excuse me, please," said a boy with green hair trotting down the main steps of the park around the Lumiose Tower as we came up them. He veered around Tierno and Trevor, but brushed against me as he pushed past, despite there being plenty of room in the plaza, nearly causing me to trip over Loxley. I turned to frown after him. My braixen sniffed imperiously from behind my knees as the guy disappeared into the crowd.
"Well he's in a hurry," I snarked, reaching down to rub Loxley's ears in reassurance. Warm steam from the oversized fur tufts contrasted sharply with the cold grumbles Loxley was mentally projecting.
Trevor gave my starter an odd look.
"I didn't realize roussil had such strong physic powers so soon after evolving," he mused.
"Roussil?" I turned to the smaller boy. "Is that the Kalos name for Braixen? And you knew he was going to be a psychic type, so why is it that surprising?"
Trevor just shook his head, swallowing whatever he was going to say as his expression went wide-eyed. Turning the direction he was staring, I could feel my own mouth fall open just a bit.
A massive crowd was writhing around the entrance to the pokémon gym, curling around the edges of Lumiose Tower. A small blond girl stood, on top of an enormous magnezone barricading the front doors.
"Nous sommes férmes!" she called out, blonde pigtails quivering as she waved her arms up and down. Several people let out cries of dismay in response. "Nous n'avons qu'une alimentation de secours!"
"I take it they're closed," I muttered off-hand to my friends as all three of us stood staring at the odd sight.
"They've only got emergency power," Trevor added numbly.
I nodded, appreciating his translation, even if the shock of Kalos' electric gym being taken out of commission by a blackout hit all sort of ironic weirdness. Oddly, there were still a multitude of lights shining all over the tower. But a gym full of electric types probably had a very different definition of 'emergency power' than most places.
"If even the gym is closed," Tierno said softly, "Will the café be open at all?"
We all frowned at each other.
"Only one way to find out," I asserted as I began edging away from the throng of people. "What are we even delivering?"
What could be worth possible death in the middle of the safest city in Kalos, was what I couldn't ask.
Tierno and Trevor grabbed hold of the distraction I offered to tear themselves away from the mass of terrified people, and started babbling about photos with forced cheer.
"And Championne Violette's sister Alexandra is an award winning journalist herself," Trevor babbled as we slid past an arbor rose bushes on our way around the park. "Together they got a huge amount of evidence from Santalune Forest. Professor Sycamore wants us to deliver it to his friend Dr. Lysandre for a second opinion."
"Wait!" I goggled. "What?"
Trevor peeled open a manila envelope and poured pictures into my hands. Several Team Flare grunts with a collection of zubat and gulpin. A blurry shot of the same woman who'd attacked Serena and me with the houndoom, though the hell hound wasn't in the shot, and several photos of an enormous dark bird silhouetted against an explosion in the sky made the vague shape of a 'Y'. A single photo of what looked like glowing tree branches ended the pile of photographs.
Team Flare had somehow found the Kalos legendary pokémon in Santalune Forest, and nearly blown the whole place up trying to get them.
Xerneus and Yveltal. Life and Death.
Two pokémon absolutely no human should ever have command over, especially the madman in charge of Team Flare.
And we were supposed to be taking these photos right to him? Please, thank you, and hell no.
"Trevor…" I swallowed so many curse words. "Why didn't you mention these to Lt. Moreau last night? Or to, oh, I don't know, my father?"
Because he was an internationally terrifying detective. Who specialized in hunting criminal organizations. That I'd just sent out of the city after said criminals completely forgetting that the head of the whole mess was literally right here.
We were walking into a trap, I realized numbly. Literally right into Team Flare's main headquarters with their strongest trainers to deliver information they absolutely should not have. And I had no way to explain any of it to my friends.
Loxley purred up at me, a warm bubble shielding my mind from the ensuing panic before Gamer's Mind had a chance to take affect. I was going to need to give my starter so many poképuffs for that. I'd take psychic therapy over Game induced numbness any day.
Pulling out my phone, I decided to mitigate as much of the damage as possible. I took photos of each image, ignoring Trevor and Tierno's confused outbursts as we walked.
"If Professor Sycamore wants this Lysandre's opinion, that's fine," I grit out. It was not fine. I was not fine. "But Team Flare is a problem. The Rangers need to know. Interpol needs to know. The International League needs to know!"
I stopped to take several deep breaths. Tried not to think about reality bending legendaries, or world-ending weapons, or madmen hell-bent on genocide. I flipped through the photographs again to make sure I hadn't missed any. Immediately emailed the whole collection to both my father and Professor Oak. I clutched the phone to my chest as the notifications chimed that the files had been sent.
"Okay," I choked out, "Let's get this over with."
Tierno and Trevor followed as I marched toward the exit for the Magenta Plaza, silent as I shoved everything haphazardly back into the folder.
Loxley trotted just ahead of me, a fierce expression replacing his normal foxy grin.
XYXYXY
Thanking whatever gods had decided to show mercy, I plastered a grin on my face as I dragged my friends toward the outdoor terrace of Café Lysandre… and the very familiar auburn-haired waiter wiping down tables and putting away chairs.
"Oscar!" I forced a cheerful tone, "So this is where you work!"
"Gry-gryphonne?" Oscar fumbled, nearly dropping his wash bucket on the flagstones.
"Yup!" I chirped, grin still stuck firmly in place. "I wasn't actually expecting you all to be open."
Oscar stared blinking, looking between me, Trevor and Tierno behind me, and the dark windows of the café off to the side.
"Well, you see," he stammered, "Ze electricity…"
"You know this guy?" Tierno cut in with a frown, stepping forward slightly.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
"…I ran into him after Professor Sycamore's lab," I offered, hoping the subtle reminder of …everything would distract my friend from digging deeper. And it was even mostly the truth.
Luckily, Tierno and Trevor both winced, the larger blond pulling back from his protective stance.
Congratulations!
Due to a special action, a new-
Loxley swiped the game window away before I could, disguising his actions as excited arm waiving as he hurtled head first into Oscar's knees. The involuntary member of Team Flare froze, agape at my braixen's uncharacteristic behavior for several moments. Loxley purred loudly, batting crimson eyes up at the man and Oscar had to shake himself roughly.
"The café is not open to the public today," he lamented with a lopsided grin (that did not give me heart flutters, I swear). "It's only making enough to supply the headquarters. We don't have enough power for anything else."
Large shadows moved inside the tinted glass windows, and I didn't need the dark red icons from the game to know something very fishy was going on inside.
"That's alright." I kept grinning. "My friend Trevor just needed to deliver something."
Trevor stood frozen, somehow tuning into the tense atmosphere. I elbowed him roughly.
"R-right!" He held the manila packet out to Oscar. "This needs to be delivered to Dr. Lysandre. I-if he's here."
Oscar barely moved as he glanced furtively at the dark café windows. He took the envelope carefully, turning it over in his hands several times. He stared over the cream-colored paper to give me a very intense look. Looked down at Loxley with the same serious expression.
'Out.' Loxley's mental translation fizzed over the front of my brain.
I was already well aware of the danger, but the sentiment was very appreciated. Almost sweet really.
"We don't want to get in your way," I babbled gamely, moving closer to push the file closer to Oscar's chest. Ignored his blush as my hands covered his. Ignored my own blush. "I hope it's not too much trouble…"
"Non, non!" Oscar stepped back, nodding. "I can give it to him. He is just inside." His eyes went wide as Trevor and Tierno turned to the glass. "But he is very busy, non? With the power and the company and…"
"We don't want to get in the way," I cut in, giving the man a grateful smile as I started to pull the boys back to the edge of the patio. "Everything's a mess right now! I'm sure he's got a lot to do."
Two red icons on the glass turned into three, and I tugged Trevor's shirt hem a little harder. Finally, with a sharp yip from Loxley, the red head got the message and moved to follow me out.
"Thank you, Oscar!" I waved back as I walked as fast as I dared back in the direction of the park. A fourth red icon had appeared on the café's glass front, and I could feel my starter stop himself from baring his teeth at the implied threat. As it was, he kept glancing back, refusing to move from between me and the darkened building.
"Stay safe!" Tierno added just before Oscar slid back inside.
Hiding the sigh of relief as we cleared the plaza, I wondered how Tierno would react if he knew the irony of his cheerful words.
XYXYXY
Lysandre slowly flipped through the photographs Sycamore had sent children to deliver.
"Rather odd behavior for a bunch of teenagers," he drawled at the tense grunt who'd brought the package inside. The way the man very carefully did not react to his words was almost amusing.
"Maybe for a bunch of teenagers," came a bold lilt from behind him, "But not for that fox."
Lysandre turned to regard the pink haired woman who'd gone back to lounging against the counter.
"Do you think it will be problem?" he asked casually.
"Goupelin are psychic, non?" A sharp grin cut across under crimson eyes. "I hope you don't think it won't."
Lysandre spared his friend a benign smile. She would know, after all. Her own starter was one, and she was still fiercely proud of it. Sadly.
"The girl seems like the type to avoid trouble," he countered.
"Mable would tell you differently," she purred back.
Lysandre openly chuckled.
"That was amusing, you must admit." The girl's tenacity back in Aquacorde had been surprising. Less so, however, when they realized who her parents were.
"She bares watching."
"She does."
And here he'd thought Wikstrom's little spawn would be the one he'd have to worry about.
With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the waiting man back to his cleaning duties. He pulled a single photograph loose from the pile, and considered the dark figure it showed.
[1]"The house special tonight is skiddo roasted in oil/fat with green beans and roasted potatoes." (That's right, despite it being one of my favorite pokémon, we're eating skiddo. Because goats are adorable, but they are also delicious)
[2]"And three crepes with hazelnut cream please sir."
Slapshot4073: Thank you so much, I'm really glad you enjoyed it so far. It's been fun trying to imagine real life responses to Gamer and Pokémon world powers.
RokenDarkly: You made me feel so proud, thank you! I'm glad you like all the character development, I really enjoy fleshing them out since the games are so flat in that regard. And yeah, I really wanted to read a pokémon gamer fic too, as I think the genre is perfect for the series, but apparently there just … aren't any? So I decided I wanted one bad enough to do it myself.
22Hodge: Nah, the letter's just game canon. Though the French do tend to have a very laidback opinion of extramarital affairs, that's not what happened here. I just liked starting it off as very much the plot of the game as it is, you know, a Gamer fic. Manga, anime, and just random personal world building plots will intertwine later.
The boys are back! I missed the main characters…
In the manga, Professor Sycamore does actually send the kids to Café Lysandre to deliver the photographs Violet and Alexa took of Team Flare attacking Xerneas and Yveltal. And the kids take them out in the café to look at them right in front of Lysandre. They get rescued in the nick of time by Dianthe, but Lysandre totally tried to feed them to his gyrados. Only Gryffin has her own meta knowledge and the Game screaming 'Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!'