I am going to congratulate myself here and now, because tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of this fanfic! Thank you all for sticking with me and I hope you continue to enjoy the story. I hope you all had a wonderful solstice!
Again, any French will have translations available at the end of the chapter.
Team: Loxley, braixen; Zen, zorua; Basil, bulbasaur; Tobio, pidgey; Delacour, fletchinder; Levi, azurill
Chapter 21: The Trouble with Tyrunts (Part 1)
Despite her best efforts to deny it, Serena knew she was going to have to apologize. To several people.
And she hated how even as she scolded herself for the mistakes she now realized she'd made, another unpleasant part of her mind still nagged about what her parents would think if they knew. About the mistakes or her plans to apologize for them, Serena didn't know. But she tried very hard not to care about it either way, as listening to her parents was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.
She'd listened to her parents and become a pokémon trainer. And even though she shared an interest in contests with her friends, she'd listened to her father's demands and signed up for the gym circuit. She didn't mind battles. She was even rather good at them. It couldn't be that bad.
It had been nothing short of a disaster.
Violent criminals openly attacking trainers. Wild pokémon running amuck. Mysterious explosions ruining centuries old nature reserves.
Oh, yes, and that awful mess her mother and her … friend … had gotten into.
And Grace Gabena had always seemed like such a nice lady whenever she came to visit.
No, she told herself. That wasn't fair. Her own mother was perfectly nice most of the time too.
And mon dieu, why was her father mad at her for making friends with the woman's daughter when he and mom were the ones who suggested it in the first place? Such a strong woman, they said, and from such a good family. Her child has so much potential, they said. Make sure you make the right kind of friends this time. So Serena had listened to them then, too.
But now all of a sudden that friend was the wrong kind? No, Tierno was right about what Gryffin had told him to tell her. That Gryffin wasn't any more at fault than this whole media fiasco than she was.
Serena loved her mother, really she did, but why, why, WHY, had she made such a horrible decision? Why would she do something that would put everyone in the family under a microscope? After years of her father working so hard for both his position, and her and her mother's privacy in spite of it.
She was rather glad to be out of the house at the moment. Her father was probably more high strung than a voltorb right now. And just as explosive. Yeah, she definitely was glad she wasn't home.
Serena knew she was going to have to apologize to all of her friends. Emphasis on all of them, no matter how mad her father was going to be about it. She'd listened the lecture Tierno had given her this morning with ill grace, she knew, but she had listened. Serena knew she had been the one to drag her friends into the mess with Gryffin. Her parents pretty much ordered her to do it, yes, but she had been the one to introduce them all to each other. So she understood why first Tierno, and then Trevor, had gotten upset when she'd told them they couldn't hang out with Gryffin anymore. She did.
But what was she supposed to do? Ignoring her father when he got like this was not an option. She was already going to be pushing it with the apology she'd been trying to come up with all day. Tierno and Trevor mentioned that Gryffin was going to meet another friend in Camphrier soon, so they were going to try to catch up with her there. And Shauna had looked all starry eyed at her when she agreed that she needed to make amends. She just …didn't know how. Her mind was going in circles with no good solutions.
So she'd pick the distraction of a gym leader looking for his missing Pokémon over trying to salvage her personal life any day. Searching Route 5 for Clemont Cugnot's missing dynavolt had seemed so simple. The most dangerous pokémon in the area were only supposed to be pandespiègle and they had the protection of the Lumiose city gym leader traveling with them. It was supposed to be easy enough to do sleepwalking!
And then Team Flare had showed up. Again. This time with another terrible monster hell bent on eating them whole and laughing the entire time. The rotten fossil pokémon had smashed through their group like a battering ram, taking massive chunks out of everything it could fit its teeth around. It had bulldozed through everyone's pokémon in a rabid frenzy, stomping hard enough to shake the ground in its rampage.
And then it had stolen the mega stones Professor Sycamore had entrusted to them. The Team Flare agent had the gall to laugh about how much he'd sell them for, as if money was the only thing those precious stones were worth.
At least Trevor had gotten under the creep's skin when he'd mocked the man for being so petty. Serena was oddly proud of him for that; she hadn't thought Trevor would have it in him.
But then the ensuing fight had gotten out of control almost before Serena could blink. her froakie's water pulse had barely annoyed the prehistoric pokémon they faced, even though the revived creatures were all supposed to be rock based. And one flame filled bite attack from the ptyranidur had knocked Shauna's Chestnut out before it could even attack.
And then the horrible thing had nearly killed Cugnot by slicing down a tree with a single swipe of its tail and…
"Hey asshole!"
Serena turned, wide-eyed at the call. The voice was a familiar one, and Serena never thought she'd be so happy to hear it again.
XYXYXY
Honestly, half the fight was over almost before it began. I had two levels over the Team Flare operative, he wasn't armed, and he was slow. Deciding I didn't feel like committing murder, especially not in front of witnesses (and especially especially not ones I cared about), I'd turned my hwando around and quickly slid too close for him to dodge. One Slam attack with the pommel against his badly dyed head and the man was out cold in moments, his HP bar flashing red in a way that was incredibly satisfying to see on an enemy.
Which unfortunately left me with the issue of the tyrunt. I scanned it using my observe ability.
Tyrunt lvl 24 (f)
HP:512/545 MP: 12/22 ED: 18/25
S: 44
D: 30
V: 19
Dx: 24
I: 28
W: 22
L: 15
Unlike the idiot from Flare, my team and I unfortunately did not have a level advantage over the dinosaur pokémon. I did however have the advantage of numbers, and I was absolutely not ashamed to use it. Fair fights and rules only existed in official matches as far as I was concerned. Outside in the real world, it was anything goes and I considered mobbing an enemy to be a perfectly valid tactic. As I eyed the tyrunt's stats, and admittedly frowned petulantly at the gender symbol, my pokémon quickly surrounded it with snarls.
"Spread out!" I ordered my pokémon. "Loxley! Switch to Psybeam!"
My starter hadn't used the psychic attack very much yet, as his fire abilities had been much more effective in the Infested Forest dungeon. Because of that, it wasn't as developed yet. But for some reason the tyrunt's stats, especially its defensive ones, were much lower than I would expect for its level. Hells, Levi had a higher defense at 32. Speaking of my fairy pokémon …
"Levi, bubble beam!" I continued. "Tobio, Delacour, get up and annoy it." Tyrunt were part rock types, which were always a particularly bad match up for flying types. The delicate bone structure that make birds light enough to fly also made them vulnerable to heavy hitting attacks. And rock types had incredibly dense musculature, making most avian attacks fairly ineffective, so there was no point in putting my birds at risk like that. I also wanted Tobio and Delacour out of range of those fangs. My observe ability hadn't told me the fossil pokémon's special ability, but in the games at least it had almost always been the one to amplify their bite force.
Which the tyrunt proved by immediately rushing to snap its jaws around the nearest opponent. Loxley danced out of the way, leaving only trails of drool hissing behind him. As my pokémon rushed the dinosaur with a series of elemental attacks, including Ember despite my previous order, I focused on the purple slime that trailed from the fossil pokémon's mouth.
This tyrunt knew poison fang. I'd bred enough of them myself on my DS to know. And if someone had taken the time to breed a tyrunt with special moves… Scrambling back to the Team Flare goon I'd knocked out, I quickly searched him for pokeballs. One, two, three, four… Four pokeballs on Milan's belt, and all of them full. For some silly reason, my observe ability labeled all four as Espurr lvl. 20. Why anyone would have four of the exact same pokémon I didn't know. I kept patting down the Flare grunt for anything else.
"What are you looking for?"
Looking up, I found Trevor reaching down with both hands, his flabébé on his shoulder and both looking decidedly worse for wear. I shoved all four pokeballs into his hands and continued to search the operative's pockets.
"The ball for that tyrunt," I explained in a rush. I cast a quick look at the battle behind me. Loxley had retreated several meters to blast the tyrunt with another barrage, this time of pink ripples instead of ineffective flames. Good boy.
"So you can recall it?" Trevor asked, nodding with approval. He tucked the pokeballs I'd given him into his satchel.
"Exactly." The pockets turned up nothing but a fancy flip lighter with a sparkly flame design on it. Trevor and I shared several confused blinks, before I tucked it into my own pocket. A lighter was a lighter, after all. The fancy Team Flare sunglasses disappeared into my vest as well. Trevor and I both rummaged through the man's pockets again, still not finding anything of use.
"I didn't see if he had a bag…" Trevor began.
"SwaaAAAAR!"
The unholy screech ripped through the air, like knives straight into my heart as I twisted in horror. Somehow, the tyrunt, clawed toes dug deep into the dirt on either side of the grass type, had its mouth fully around the bulb on Basil's back, with icy slush dripping from its teeth and mixing with rivulets of my bulbasaur's dark green blood. Basil was clearly in pain, but still trying valiantly to strangle the t-rex on top of him with his vines. Zen had her own fangs clenched into the tyrunt's tail right behind Loxley's claws, both foxes pulling with all their might. My birds were flapping all around its head, clearly nervous about getting too close but still desperate to make it let go, while Levi, and to my surprise Serena's froakie, were jumping all over it spitting bubbles.
The tyrunt briefly opened its jaws a bit under the assault, but quickly clamped back down with another snort of frost. It was like the beast was trying to rip the bulbasaur's bulb clean off. It was an absolutely lethal possibility.
Basil's next wail had me racing over with barely a thought.
My dagger pretty much bounced off the thick scales on the tyrunt's head. I guess part of me had hoped the blade would have some effect against the rock dragon but no such luck. It looked like steel weapons were clearly not the same thing as steel type. The sheer mass of pokémon quickly shoved me off the battling pile, and I hit the ground with a thud, limbs thrashing as I tried to right myself. At least I'd distracted the tyrunt a little. It had relinquished its gnashing hold of Basil, and instead was using one taloned foot to pin the bulbasaur down as it snapped at all the other pokémon writhing around it. Serena's froakie narrowly jumped out of the way as a thunder fang crunched down. Tobio, Delacour, and Levi all scattered in the wake of the electrical attack, leaving Loxley and Zen to pulse psychic and dark energy respectively as they tried to stay behind the dinosaur's massive head. All the while, Basil kept trying to pull with his vines.
Chest heaving as I gulped air, I quickly spun through my inventory screens for the only other thing I could think of while all the pokémon dove in for another try.
Jumping back into the fray, I slammed a blue and red great ball down directly between the tyrunt's eyes. I just needed it off. Pokeballs created a kind of electromagnetic bond with the creatures they stored. Pokémon that already had a ball would dematerialize for a moment, but would pop right back out of a second ball. But that one moment of disruption from the great ball would be just enough to get the prehistoric menace off my bulbasaur.
So I certainly wasn't expecting it when, instead of bursting through the seal, the fossil pokémon was sucked fully into the pokeball.
The pile of pokémon collapsed in all directions as the tyrunt disappeared. Scooping Basil up from the ground with one arm, I pressed the other to the worst of the bleeding wounds. Ice slipped from Basil's bulb, sluicing over the lacerations. Deciding I didn't care about the dinosaur much at all at the moment, I tossed the great ball to Loxley without even considering what else was going on. My starter pounced with a feral snarl, holding the quivering ball to the ground with all four paws and a press of telekinesis. Amazingly, it stopped after only two shivers. Running a now slippery hand over Basil's back again, my face fell as I realized how deep the puncture wounds actually were. Whole fingers could fit inside the torn flesh. I held him still, careful to keep pressure on the bleeding wounds, debating what to do, damning my Gamer's Mind ability for making me think at a time like this but without actually giving me the ability to do so. My friends were too close for me to use my Cure spell without getting noticed. And my backpack was … somewhere. I needed... I needed...
And suddenly Serena was there, handing me a super potion.
I didn't question it. I didn't care. My poor little grass pokémon groaned as I sprayed the entire bottle of medicine all around the base of his bulb, practically pouring the potion into the holes left by the tyrunt's oversized fangs. The rose colored liquid bubbled, and pink and green foam oozed from Basil's wounds. And slowly, far too slowly, his HP bar finally grew from out of the red into yellow.
Wordlessly, Serena handed me another pink vial.
"Thank you," I croaked through blurry eyes and I administered the second bottle of medicine to my Bulbasaur. My fingers, stained from the blood and froth, stuck to melamine.
"Non," she replied hoarsely, "thank you."
Hugging Basil close, I gave the blonde the best smile I could manage under the circumstances.
It probably wasn't a very good one, because Serena actually dropped her bag to hug me.
XYXYXY
It was nearly dusk by the time we'd manage to recover and drag the tree off of the blond boy pinned underneath. It had taken all five of us, plus Loxley's burgeoning telekinetic abilities to pull the massive oak off of the gym leader. I had not been prepared for that one, considering my luck with gym leaders recently. But there he was. Clemont Cugnot, level 28, with his moderate injuries and dread status debuff. And at least, from the happy yapping monster zooming around, I wouldn't need to go searching for the owner of the electrike. Clemont had been openly grateful for everything, almost embarrassingly so. I'd even managed to scoop the Manectite back up while the electrike was distracted.
The young gym leader had been extremely lucky. Clemont had landed both in a divot in the ground and under a bow of the trunk. He was badly bruised, to be sure, and still horribly scraped up despite the protection of his industrial jumpsuit. But nothing was broken. He choked out another thank you as we sat him down with a bottle of lemonade to recover.
And then I had an armful of crying Shauna.
"Desoleeee," (1) she wailed as I rubbed her back.
"It's okay," I soothed, rocking her slightly as she babbled incoherently in Kalais. "It's okay. You're okay."
There was another sniffle, and suddenly Tierno was hugging us both. He didn't say anything, just squeezed us tight around the shoulders. Trevor hovered on the other side for a moment before moving into the embrace as well, his flabébé still curled in his hair without a flower. A rustle behind me, and Serena joined in as well. I stood there, basking in the warmth of the group hug despite all the tears and quiet snuffling.
"I'm sorry," Serena mumbled from where she tucked in between Trevor and Shauna.
I sniffed loudly, unable to help myself. But I did reach over to flick her on the nose. Serena made the best offended expression, nose scrunching as she spluttered and blinked.
"Forgiven," I manage to giggle wetly. Digging into my pocket for a moment I held a small red orb up to her. "I think you dropped this."
Serena choked out a slightly hysterical laugh as I dropped the Charizardite into her hands. A slight rustle of my elbows got me enough room in the hug to place the Blastoisite into Shauna's. My fellow brunette started sobbing again, this time somehow around a massive grin.
"Merci!" She beamed through her tears. "Professor Sycamore would have been so mad!"
I was pressed into another group hug, but this one was much shorter. After a moment we all kind of shook ourselves and moved to pick up what we could around the clearing. It didn't take long for bags to get picked up and battered pokémon to get recalled after a few more rounds of potions from Shauna.
Loxley refused point blank to go back in his pokeball when I pulled the rest of the team in. Instead he stood guard, growling. I stood behind him with my arms crossed, considering the problem.
The Team Flare Operative was still unconscious, but had started to moan and shift just a little. I kicked the man again for good measure.
"What do we do with him?" Tierno wondered with a dreadful frown, looking like he wanted to kick the guy too. There was angry muttering from the rest of the group, including our guest gym leader.
"He has to be arrested," Clemont decided, still hunched over pressing his ribs. "We need to call the police."
"Yeah, I guess we do," I agreed, pulling out my phone with a grimace. "This is going to go so well…"
XYXYXY
I stood at attention in the light of the highbeams, arms tucked neatly behind my back with my hands clasped together as I gave the Pokémon Ranger my brightest, most innocent smile. It wasn't working. Beside me, Loxley was hunched with his ears low trying not to whine. Behind me, my friends weren't doing much better. Even Clemont was rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, and he was legally the highest ranking person here.
Such a small technicality didn't stop Lieutenant Moreau from scowling down at all of us like a dark specter in the waning dusk.
"One. Day." He growled out, pointing sharply to the Team Flare operative being handcuffed and dragged into the back of a police wagon. "Your father has been gone. One. Whole. Day!"
"Um," I leaned back from the near visible wave of concerned fury, deciding suddenly to not bat my eyelashes and play dumb. "Oops?"
The ranger's face briefly contorted in rage before a professional mask slammed down. I gulped as he leaned in, just a little.
"Get in the jeep," the lieutenant ordered. The order felt like getting hit with a sledgehammer.
"Sir, yes sir." I darted toward the armored furfrou waiting at the edge of the clearing with the second vehicle. The chill in his tone left no room for argument.
"C'est une commande por vous tous aussi!" (2) he snapped at the rest of the group. They all scrambled after me, clambering into the back seat and cargo bed. Jeeps weren't really made for six teenagers plus and adult male and his dog, but somehow we squeezed in without any complaints. I'm pretty sure Shauna was in someone's lap, but I was too busy staring at my hands to check.
The drive to Camphrier was slow, as the jeep was forced to navigate the narrow forest trail in the dark. The only noise for the entire trip was Lt. Moreau's angry mutterings.
"I'm sorry," I tried exactly once. The fuming, practically offended glare I got from the ranger had me sinking into my seat.
We were escorted into the Camphrier Pokémon Center in stony silence.
All of our pokémon were checked in with the nurses as Lt. Moreau and the other rangers began taking witness reports from all of us. It was a little worrying just how cold the ranger was being as he stomped around shuffling papers and typing furiously on his phone.
And then he set a mug of cocoa down in front of me.
I looked up at him with a small smile; it seems like I wasn't in trouble after all.
James slumped in the chair across from me with a huff.
"Have you called your father, ma cherie?" he asked.
"Ah…" I hesitated. "No, not yet. Dad told me to call you while he was away…"
The ranger took off his beret and ran a gloved hand through messy curls.
"Well at least you called someone, I suppose," he sighed. "Even if it was after another round of savate (3) with criminals. But you will call your father about this, non? You really do have the worst luck…"
I hummed in agreement, already calculating time zones so I could leave a message on the answering service rather than talk to my father directly. This was not a conversation I wanted to have in person. Taking the pen and legal pad that Lt. Moreau handed me, I started writing out my account of the afternoon.
XYXYXY
Breakfast the next morning was …awkward.
The medical staff had kept everyone's pokémon overnight as a precaution, and I hadn't slept well without my now familiar crush of fluff. I had intended to pick them before I did anything else, but I was intercepted before I could make it to the desk.
"Gryffin-chan!" Shauna waved from across the cafeteria, just as bubbly as ever. "Come sit with us!"
"Us" had meant all four of my friends plus the gym leader Clemont, who I had barely spoken to, despite his profuse thank you's after helping rescue him last night. They were all huddled around a single café table, right in front of the door, smiling nervously. I sighed inwardly to myself, and decided to just get the whole disaster over with. I wanted my pokémon, darn it.
"Good morning," I intoned as politely as I could manage, taking a chocolate pastry from Shauna when she offered it. Sadly, no tea followed. I wanted tea.
I wanted Loxley.
"I want to apologize," Serena said immediately, sitting straight as a rail. "I was wrong and…"
"Serena, stop."
The blonde girl blinked in surprise at my interruption, but sweet goddess I was willing to do a lot of things to get out of whatever conversation she was trying to have right now. I was not in the mood for awkward social stuff this early in the morning.
"I already said I forgive you," I continued. "We're supposed to be friends, okay? I don't need a formal apology, although I do appreciate the thought, really." I sighed, running a hand through my still-tangled hair. "Just don't do it again. Please?"
Serena looked down at her hands clasped in front of her on the table, chewing her lips.
Everyone else was just silent, staring at us both. I deliberately chewed my pain au chocolate as slowly as possible so I didn't have to say anything else.
"You're not mad?" she asked quietly after several long minutes.
I nearly choked trying to stop myself from laughing.
"Oh, rest assured, I'm fucking furious," I snorted once I was certain I wouldn't spray food everywhere. "Just not at you." I'd had way too much time to think about it, and honestly Serena reminded me way too much of myself. Being a teenager stuck a shitty family situation was not fun. "I'm mad at my mom. I'm mad at your mom. I'm kinda ticked off at your dad too. But you? No, I'm not mad at you."
Not after yesterday anyway. Whatever issues Serena had, she'd still jumped into a fight with me without a thought, even when she was outmatched and unsure of whether or not we were still friends. And she'd helped me save Basil. I crammed the last of the bread into my mouth, still desperately wishing for my starter instead as my Gamer's Mind activated again. Even the cold numbness of the ability didn't change how grateful I'd been for those two little pink potions. Whatever resentment I'd been harboring for the blonde was gone.
There was more nervous shuffling for a few minutes before Clemont decided to speak up himself.
"Well, I want to say thank you again for your help last night," he offered with a small bow from his seat. "Both for helping with Team Flare and finding my dynavolt! I was very worried when he ran off during the blackout."
"Ah, you're welcome…" I mumbled, wishing there was still food to eat so I didn't have to speak. I kind of wanted to know how in the world a gym leader lost a pokémon. But then again, technically so had Cornélia… "I didn't really find it though. It kind of found me. Attacked me, actually. Maybe you could teach it to not do that please?"
Clemont's face locked into a comical gasping expression as he blinked in shock. Everyone else clamored in confusion for a moment as I explained.
"It wanted you to chase it?" Clemont spluttered. "Why?"
I eyed the blond teen carefully. He wasn't much older than we were, but he was a gym leader. That implied at least some level of trustworthiness. If the Pokémon League couldn't keep megastones away from Team Flare, no one could. I pretended to rummage in my pockets as I accessed my inventory.
Everyone gasped at the sight of the manectite, leaning over the table to gaze at the lime green gem in my hands.
"C'est un Élecsprite?!" (4) Clemont nearly yelled the question and leaned even closer, adjusting his glasses.
"It's uh…" The sudden lack of personal space was very off-putting and I leaned away reflexively. "It's a megastone. I don't think it works on electrike though. Don't pokémon need to be at their final evolution to mega evolve?"
The light glinted off Clemont's round frames as he shifted his gaze from the stone to me.
"Desole. (1) I did my all studying in Kalais," he explained. "My pokémon is a dynavolt, and it will evolve into élecsprint…"
I nodded in understanding. "Oh! 'Kay, thanks. I barely know any pokémon names in Kalais and it's been a real problem. Electrike and Manectric are the common names, though."
Clemont and I kind of laughed at each other. With the slight language barrier overcome, though, he really did want to see the megastone his pokémon had led me to. Despite my trepidation, I tipped the gem into his hands.
"It's beautiful," he murmured, eyes never leaving the stone.
Trevor had also leaned in once the gem was closer to him. He stared at it for a few moments before gasping unexpectedly.
"That reminds me!" he declared, rummaging through his pockets. "This!" He held a small notepad out to me. I took it gently. Flipping it open, I found a list in messy cursive.
Alakazite
Blizzarite
Branettite
Charminite
Cizayoxite
Démolossite
Élecsprite
Gardevoirite
Kangourite
Léviatorite
Ptérite
Scarabrite
Scarhinite (5)
My eye twitched as I read through it. Despite being in Kalais, it was clearly a list, an actual goddess given list, of megastones.
And it had come from Team Flare. Sure, I knew there were more megastones than just the ones on the list. But I had crazy meta-knowledge or whatever from Earth. No one on Pokea was supposed to have this kind of information yet.
Except apparently Team Flare did.
"Trevor…" I was trying very hard not to scream. "Have you read this?"
He blinked at me, then smiled.
"Yeah!" he cheered. "I already wrote the list out in Common, too. I knew you'd want to know so…"
"Trevor," I interrupted him. The paper was trembling wildly in my grip. "When did you read this?"
"Uhh…." He stammered in confusion. "Last night…?"
Dropping the list onto the table, I rubbed both hands into my temples.
"Please tell me you told the Rangers," I pleaded through closed eyes.
"Uhhhh…."
"Did you at least text Professor Sycamore?"
The silence was deafening.
Grabbing my phone, I held out my other hand to Trevor.
"Other list!" I demanded, curling my fingers in a grasping motion.
The redhead handed over a folded notepaper with wide eyes. I snapped pictures of the two lists side by side. A few taps on the screen and the photo was texted to my dad, Lt. Moreau, and Professor Oak with a note about where it came from. I handed the paper back to Trevor with a sigh.
"Text the Professor. And you have got to stop keeping this stuff to yourself, okay?" I scolded him lightly. "The lieutenant was right there."
Serena had watched the entire interaction with a frown.
"You know," she clucked. "Back in Santalune Forest you warned us against trusting the police."
I could feel my left eyebrow arch into my hair.
"If you didn't know them," I reminded her. "But Lt. Moreau has helped me out a lot. And he's working with my father. I know I can trust him. It's why I called him."
Recognition lit up in Serena's eyes.
"The Ranger who picked us up," she realized. "He was in Santalune too, wasn't he? I remember him."
I nodded with satisfaction. Lt. Moreau had been an absolute lifesaver for me since I got dropped in Kalos. Serena was right to be cautious, but not about him. Not when having a sane, safe, rational adult might be the only thing standing between her, us, and disaster. Considering my own brief encounter with Wikstrom Lapointe, her father wouldn't count.
I was so, so grateful to finally have a stable, loving parent. My dad was awesome.
My phone chimed with a new text message. Looking down I could see that James had wasted no time responding to the photos I'd sent him. The message he'd sent was painfully simple.
'Front Lobby. Now.'
XYXYXY
I leaned against the check-in counter, trying not to wince as Lt. Moreau grilled Trevor in rapid fire Kalais behind me. The rest of us were waiting in line with several other trainers to get our pokémon back as the staff bustled about. One nurse came out and handed Clemont a tray before turning back to the office.
"Il y a maldonne avec ce pokeballs," (6) he called after her. "This one isn't mine."
He held up a single blue pokeball and the nurse that had handed it to him froze in place.
I raised an eyebrow at the great ball. The scuff marks on the top looked vaguely familiar.
"Isn't that the tyrunt?" I asked him.
Clemont turned to me with wide eyes before digging into the many pockets in his coveralls. After several tries, he pulled out a pokedex very similar to the one I'd been given and scanned the great ball he'd been given. Sure enough, the information for the fossil pokémon popped up.
Tyrunt, the Royal Dinosaur Pokémon. This species of pokémon lived over 100 million years ago and has been revived from fossils. Their jaws have so much destructive power, they can easily crush a car. They also have delicate tempers, and will go on an angry rampage if something upsets them. Trainers should take precautions when handling this pokémon, as they can easily injure humans without thinking.
Due to unknown incubation conditions and to damage to their DNA structure from the fossil revival process, only 1 in 10 of these pokémon develop into females.
This tyrunt is female. It knows Poison Fang, Ice Fang, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Ancient Power, Dragon Tail, and Bite.
I whistled appreciatively. When I bred tyrunt in the 3DS games, I usually stopped at Poison Fang and Ice Fang. It was limited to four moves after all, and I usually deleted the other two elemental attacks for better type alignments later. But since this Game didn't enforce those limitations having all four of the Fang moves opened up some powerful possibilities. I was about to take the great ball back from the gym leader when the nurse suddenly reached out to snatch it, yelling at me and then scolding Clemont in fast, angry Kalais.
Clemont and I both jumped back in shock and hunched under the vicious tirade.
The whole front lobby stopped to watch, and I felt myself shrink under so many accusing stares.
"Mets-toi un bouchon!" (7) Tierno yelled back at the nurse, stomping forward to put himself in front of me. He grabbed the great ball back from her hand with such ferocity the woman reared back like she'd been slapped. "Gryffin would never do that!"
Serena and Shauna pushed in on either side of me, pulling me away from the desk. Clemont had regained enough composure to puff up angrily himself. From the other side of the lobby, Lt. Moreau shoved Trevor in my direction and hurried over to join the fray.
"What is going on?!" I demanded with a hiss. Shauna shushed me shaking her head and pulled me even further away as Trevor made his way to us. I turned to Serena with a raised eyebrow instead, while the three males at the desk argued furiously with the nurse.
"The ptyranidur is very sick," Serena explained in hushed tones. "I think she thinks you hurt it."
"What?!" I gasped. "I literally just caught it! How could I-"
"Enough, Gryphonne." Lt. Moreau's voice cut through the lobby like a knife. He took the great ball from Tierno with a long, frigid glare at the nurse. She shrank away from the ranger, escaping to the back room as another woman edged in with more trays of pokeballs. They were set delicately on the counter, and the nurse who brought them quickly found something else to do. James plucked up a tray with a final frown at the retreating nurse and marched it over to me.
I reached for my pokeballs gratefully, immensely relieved to have them all back. I released Basil into my arms, cuddling the bulbasaur carefully as I ran a hand over his back. Shallow puckers of scar tissue still lingered around the base of his bulb, but it was a huge improvement over the injuries from the night before. Basil snuggled into my chest with happy coos as I stroked a few fronds coming loose from the bud. James smiled softly at us as Shauna and Serena shooed several curious onlookers away.
"Anyone who thinks you'd abuse a pokémon is just silly," Shauna declared as she frowned dramatically at another trainer getting herded away by Tierno.
"A completely unfair accusation indeed," added Clemont as he adjusted his glasses. "I'm very sorry for the confusion."
The gym leader's words seemed to satisfy the remaining crowd and everyone either shuffled nervously back into line or slunk away to the cafeteria. My friends picked up their own pokeballs from the counter as the medical staff all hurried to avoid them, and Lt. Moreau moved us all to the side for another talk. He still hadn't given me the great ball.
"I need to be clear," he said to me, holding up the pokeball. "This is the pokémon you took from Team Flare?"
"Uh, yes?" I was so confused about what was going on. "Is something wrong with it? If it was stolen…" I trailed off with a miserable expression. I didn't want to give up the tyrunt. They were one of my favorite pokémon from X and Y and that one in particular was a potential powerhouse with all the special egg moves. But the last thing I needed was to be in more trouble with the League. If Team Flare had stolen it…
"There aren't any alerts from the fossil laboratories about missing or stolen pokémon, ma cherie," the ranger interrupted gently. "But there are other problems with you just taking it." He let out a long sigh and ran a hand over his head. "As far as the League will be concerned, you pretty much stole the ptyranidur, even if it was from Team Flare, and it's horribly malnourished. Add in it being a very rare, expensive, and usually restricted pokémon, they will want to confiscate it, even if I don't." He reached over to ruffle my hair. "I know you are a good trainer Gryphonne, but this…"
"I could sign off on it," Clemont cut in. Everyone, even James, turned to blink at him in surprise. Clemont flushed, clearly embarrassed. "I mean," he spluttered a little. "I am a League Champion, non? And I was there when she caught it so I'm a …what is it in Common, a credible witness?" He smiled at me, still pink. "I owe you that much at least."
I blatantly ignored the little +150 over the gym leader's head as he made the offer. I definitely didn't see the little pink heart next to it. And James certainly didn't give me a smug, knowing grin as he dropped the pokeball into my hands.
"If the Champion de Illumis has no objections," the ranger smirked at me, "then who am I to stop you." A sudden frown cut across his face. "But seriously, Gryphonne, please be careful. I have been on patrol around the laboratories in Roche-sur-Gliffe (8). They can be difficult creatures, non? Don't make me do the paperwork." He pointed sharply to Clemont with that parting shot, and the gym leader nodded obediently.
James had to duck away when his phone rang, and I was left holding my new pokeball in one hand and Basil in the other, with all of the other teenagers in the group showing various levels of discomfort.
"Swar?"
I shifted my one arm to support my Bulbasaur better as he unfurled a vine to poke at the great ball.
"Are you really gonna keep that thing?" Trevor asked, voice thick with what I recognized as both fear and longing. Weird. Maybe he liked fossil Pokémon…
"She can't," Serena cut in shaking her head. "You heard the ranger, it's dangerous and-"
"Serena," I cut her off. Reconciled or not, she did not get to tell me what to do. "He said I could." I clutched the ball tightly. "And so did Clemont. Thank you for that, by the way," I nodded to the bespectacled gym leader. "I'll do my best to take care of it."
Serena deflated with a whine. She chewed her lips a moment, like she wanted to try and argue, but ultimately decided against it.
Clemont adjusted his glasses again and shuffled his feet nervously.
"Well," he started, clearly uncomfortable. "I'll admit to maybe not having …" He turned to Trevor whispering lowly. "…clean reasons?"
I blinked at the two boys. They blinked back with nervous smiles. Looking at the other three teens, all just as confused, I tried to translate what Clemont said.
"…Do you mean 'pure intentions'?" I clarified. "That you helped because you want something?"
Clemont flushed to his ears.
"Ah, yes," he admitted after a bit. "The, uh, the élecsprite…"
I nodded in understanding, adjusting my grip on Basil so I could fish the megastone out of my pocket for him. Clemont eyes widened and he started waving his hands dramatically.
"Non, non, non!" he insisted. "I do not want to just take it! Those are worth a lot of money, I know! I- I just want to study it."
Holding out the green gem, I pressed it firmly into his palm despite his protests.
"I don't care about the money. Take it," I told him. "I have enough problems with the League. Maybe this will be enough to convince them to lay off."
Clemont turned the manectite over in his palm carefully.
"Professor Sycamore and I are both based in Lumiose," he explained in a low voice. "And we work together quite often. There are very few of these stones known worldwide. Even a single one is a priceless research opportunity." He looked back up at me with a determined nod. "On behalf of all of Kalos, thank you."
+500 [REL] with the Kalos League! You are now Neutral with the Kalos League.
Giving up a megastone I would never use was absolutely worth losing every last cent for that Game Alert alone. And I was getting a dinosaur out of the deal too!
"Now, about that paperwork…" I enjoyed the bewildered expressions on all the other teens as I gave them a very pointed grin.
An hour later, the tyrunt was officially registered under my license number, with all the League release forms and special permits properly signed. Clemont was cheerfully waiting to board a shuttle bus back to Lumiose City, already texting Prof. Sycamore over the phone about the mega stone.
We had a little time to chat together before he left, and to my surprise the gym leader was actually a very outgoing conversationalist.
"So, why..." I wondered after he mentioned a little bit about his gym operated, "If the gym is so efficient, why do you limit challengers? I heard that there's a four badge requirement before someone can challenge you in Lumiose. But back in Kanto you can challenge the gyms in any order. The gym leaders have different teams and stuff."
"Ahahaha!" He rubbed the back of his head nervously before explaining. "No, you can challenge the gyms here in Kalos the same way actually! Though, Violette gets the vast majority of first time challengers and that's a little unfair for her..." He trailed off a moment, looking back and forth for the bus. "But I do have a four badge requirement for my gym. It's not that I couldn't take a first time challenger, my little sister Clemille is always finding new pokémon and bringing them home. It's just that if I did, I'd never have any free time at all. There are so many people in Lumiose! I'd be underwater!"
Serena nodded beside me.
"It's true. And it's sort of a decision from the League as well," she added. "They want people to travel around the whole region. I think it has something to do with tourism."
"It does," Clemont agreed. "Lumiose already takes up so many resources in Kalos. The League wants the other gyms and cities to get visitors and funding too, not just Lumiose."
"That actually makes a lot of sense," I admitted. "Plus it provides an incentive to keep the public transit system running."
"Transit..." Clemont's face scrunched for a moment. "Sorry, I think this is my Common being poor again. What is that?"
"Your Common is better than my Kalais," I told him, waving a hand in front of me to down play the language barrier. "It's the busses and trains so we can all travel."
"Oh!" His blue eyes brightened behind his glasses. "Oh, yes! Those are important!" His face fell into a pensive and far-off stare. "I should help with that when I get home."
The bus chose that moment to pull up, and we shared a quick goodbye. Shauna's was a little more tearful than the others for some odd reason, and Clemont had to promise her something in Kalais as he boarded before she'd let go. The whole group waved at the gym leader as the bus pulled away from the stop in front of the Pokémon Center. And then, like the awkward teenagers we were, we stood there for several minutes trying to decide what to do.
Eventually Trevor reminded us that we needed to ensure our rooms were booked for the next few days, as the Rangers had simply shoved us in overnight, and we made our way back inside. To my, admittedly, dark amusement, the staff at the front desk were still too mortified to even look me in the eye.
I tried not to look smug as the clerk manning the computer did her best to stare anywhere but in my direction. Serena, however, kept insisting on asking the woman several very detailed questions in Kalais as she held on to me by the elbow and it absolutely did not help. Neither did Shauna giggling mischievously on the other side of the blonde. Or Trevor and Tierno going over every pamphlet at the desk as loudly as possible. We were all smirking by the time Serena sashayed us away, and I didn't feel the least bit sorry. Not when there were tiny green numbers flashing over my friends heads.
"You'll be in town for a few days, right?" Serena wanted to know. "Tierno and Trevor said you were meeting … another friend?"
"Yes, and yes," I answered. "His name's Louis. Tierno's met him."
She nodded, looking back at Shauna and the others. They'd stopped behind us and were laughing together.
"Do you… want to … get lunch?" Serena shuffled a bit as she asked. "Together. As a group. Because we're friends?"
I laughed a little, warmth filling my chest.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Because we're friends." It was so nice to still have those, after everything, and I shared a relieved smile with Serena. I nudged her in the side with my elbow. "You know you can always bribe me with food."
We laughed a bit longer, and just enjoyed wandering around the small town together; chatting, looking at tourist attractions, and buying knickknacks for each other just because we could. Because we felt like we should.
Neither of us willing to mention our parents or the great ball sitting like a weight in my pocket the entire time.
1- I'm sorry
2- That's an order for you all as well!
3- the French version of kickboxing
4- Is that a manectite?
5- Alakazite, Abomasite, Banettite, Scizorite, Houndoomite, Manectite, Gardevoirite, Gyaradosite, Aerodactylite, Pinsirite, Heracrossite
6- There's been a mix-up with the pokeballs.
7-Put a lid on it you! (basically: shut up!)
8- Ambrette Town
Serena's back! I do actually love her in the manga, she's such a cute and resilient character. She's just going through a rough time.
This is my longest chapter yet! I had so many different characters in it, it became rather dialogue heavy. But I think it was needed.
The French names for Clemont and Bonnie are literally just Lem and Clem. So I expanded them just a little to sound more French. And Clemont's speech is strange on purpose. Being fluent in a language that's not your native one gives you some odd phrases.
FrostyDaHomeboy: Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback. All the positive energy really means a lot to me and I'm glad you're enjoying it. It might take a while to get back to the Home Base feature, but I absolutely intend to work with it.
To Roukoups: Sorry if the French grammar isn't the best! I'm trying! (Is it at least understandable?)
josematos977: She just died? And got Isekai'd into a nerfed plotline? I don't know how else someone with a realistic outlook would respond...
Badgerfrog: I don't expect the complaints to go away. But I'm still not going to spoonfeed everyone everything in English. Cornelia is hard to understand, even if you know French. And there's no way to directly translate that frustration of mostly knowing a language and STILL not being able to understand people without that giant block of intimidating text. It's supposed to be annoying. The fact that you're complaining about it means it has, once again, served its purpose. So thank you.
To everyone else I might have missed, Thank you! Reviews are love!