Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.
Chapter 25: Brothers And Sisters
After an instant trip from the Indigo Plateau to Silver Town, a quick drop-off of her stuff into her room – featuring a thankfully clothed Evan, though Max's cousin didn't look very happy to be up – and a quick discussion about who was going to pay for the extra costs that had been part of Evan having a two-bed room for two days, it was back to familiar ground for Serena. Just her, Danny, and Max, looking for a good place to have lunch.
She resolved to pay for the three of them, if the other two would let her.
"Y'know," Danny said after peeking in another window and seeing the same as they had seen three times before: a completely full restaurant. "How about we use xatu another time and go have lunch elsewhere. Will be faster."
Ten seconds later, it was blissfully silent as the din of the Conference faded away to a rural Johto town. For a moment, anyway: then a young child started a shout for their Mum, but it was still a lot easier on the ears than it had been. "Where are we?" Serena asked as Danny walked up to the kid – a boy, judging by the hair – and his mother to talk about them just appearing like that.
"Enion," Max replied. "Next big town over. Even has a Contest," he added cheekily, grinning at her. "We passed through here twice and stayed a few days." He returned xatu with whispered thanks. "Best place I could think of and not stress xatu too much."
Serena took a look around, spotting two small restaurants on the square, but only one was open. "And you don't mind the quiet yourself, right?"
"Guilty." Danny returned, and they started walking. "Not being accosted for autographs is a good thing."
"Autographs? Here?" Serena was confused. They hadn't saved Johto when she wasn't looking, she was pretty sure. "Because you're famous Trainers?"
"Right in one," Danny confirmed it as they sat down at one of the outdoor tables, out of the stupidly warm sun. They weren't the only ones, but not even a quarter of the tables were occupied. "A bit more because of our family – a lot of them are from Hoenn, and they don't care about what the government said about us – but Kalos helps. Both ways."
"We did an interview too," Max added, to Serena's surprise. "One of the Joys tipped us off. Same reason as in Kalos, really. An ounce of prevention and all that. Still don't get some of the questions, though."
"We're fourteen and travelled with a girl last year," Danny replied, but he seemed unconvinced as well. "And Keith and Jane are our friends. At least they didn't ask if, y'know..."
What? Just what? "They asked what now?" Serena said, nearly spluttering but managing not to. Barely.
"If we were thinking about girlfriends," Max said, looking about as comfortable as Serena felt. "They stopped short of asking if one of us was your boyfriend, but that's about it. And it only got a throw-away line in the write-up."
The words put the briefest thought of either boy and her like that in her mind, before she stopped that train of thought. "Er, don't take this the wrong way, but no."
"Yeah, that." Max took his glasses off to rub his eyes. "And can we talk about something else now? I'd almost rather talk about yveltal in front of an audience."
The other teenagers seconded that, and thankfully, the waiter returned to ask for their lunch choices, bringing water along. Danny and Max went for entirely different things, with the older teen ordering a large lunch and the younger one that could be eaten faster.
Serena felt like seafood, and so she ordered some of that. "Is that going to be enough for you, Max?" she asked.
"He'll steal some of mine. 'swhat he tends to do," Danny said, holding up a hand and grabbing Max's wrist mid-poke. Or stomp. "Can't expect me to not tell her your secrets."
It felt a bit like an old argument, prompting her lips to tug upwards a bit. "Looks like he's still got your number, Max," she said as the sun dimmed from some wispy clouds passing. "Where are you two going next?"
"Unova, without him," Max deadpanned.
"I thought you preferred Prudan?"
"Eh, same difference."
Danny conceded the point, not that Serena thought it mattered. "Max thinks we'll get invited to the Battle Frontier if we don't drop out right now, and he's convincing enough about that." He ran a hand through his hair, making it even more messy. "But even if we don't, Kanto sounds good. Maybe the Orange Islands too. Ash went around in like four months there."
"And I owe Danny going to Kanto at least," Max added. "I wanted to go to Kalos and Johto. Danny wanted Sinnoh and Kanto, but I kinda wore him down." He gulped down half his glass of water. "Where are you going?"
"Johto. The schedule just works out," Serena explained automatically, before realising that they – or Max at least – would probably know that. "Could maybe do Sinnoh, but it'd be close and cold." And even though she hadn't minded the cold snaps in Kanto that much because her knee had been healed, Sinnoh winters were a lot worse and lasted a lot longer to boot. "And it'll be fun to see how Kanto and Johto are different."
Max wanted to reply to that, but some movement from Danny underneath the table stopped that. "And what about your Mum?"
"Already thought of. I'm just going home in December for like three weeks." An idea started to form in her mind, but she stopped herself from mentioning it. "And honestly, going home right now just means getting to help with riding training all the time."
"Because of the holidays?"
"Yeah," Serena confirmed Max's guess. "And most of Kalos goes on holiday in the first half of them if they do, so right now is when everyone can get to camps and stuff like that. I think Mum's home less than a week this month."
"There's not a lot of month left by the time the Conference is over," Danny pointed out as a toddler screamed across the square in pain. Serena craned her head to find out what was going on, seeing a father kneel on the other side. "But yeah, if you don't want to do that..."
Serena shrugged. "This is more fun. And I'm pretty sure Mum agrees, but you know how mothers a..."
They noticed her sudden stop, and not for the first time she cursed their perceptiveness. Other boys she'd talked to – even if there weren't a lot in the Contest circuit – wouldn't have noticed her mistake at all. But they did, and they didn't care. "Some of them," Max said. "Evan's Mum really doesn't like him being here with Dark-types."
"Evan never said anything about that."
"No," Max agreed with Danny. "But it's always his Dad that writes, and the first couple were all like 'your mother says to be careful' and stuff like that." The blue-haired boy made a 'what can you do' face. "I'm pretty sure he's going to have to leave most of his Dark-types at the Professor's if he goes back home for Yule."
"If?" Danny asked, and Serena didn't follow for a second. "You're not sure he would?"
"No. And he'd regret it too," Max answered. "But that's Evan for ya. Talks tough, but is still twelve."
~~§~~§~~
Danny resisted the urge to scratch at the partially healed cut under his nose, instead running a finger over the other cut that he'd sustained that morning, currently hidden behind a small plaster.
He looked a right fool on the television, probably, but it wasn't like he was the only one. His opponent, he'd noticed, also had the same tell-tale marks of shaving gone wrong over his face.
At least Max hadn't teased him about it. More than usual, that was – a raised eyebrow and a quirk of his lips did happen. Chris and Evan had been louder about it, which had prompted Danny to give them a little horror story of what could go wrong if you didn't pay attention while shaving.
Somehow, the older he got, the more he started liking his Dad's theatrics.
The referee called for both of them to release their first Pokémon. Drapion met a Unovan Pokémon that Danny recognised. From earlier in the tournament, in fact – he'd noticed a shiny klang in a fight he'd watched in the preliminaries, and unless there were two, this was probably the same one.
Drapion could deal with that. He wasn't the most agile, but he could Dig to avoid some of the heavy attacks that the genderless Pokémon could throw out.
Even then, opening with a Zap Cannon? That was ballsy, and a statement of intent right from the get-go from Erik. It did nothing except throw up a ton of dust that…
That then were repurposed into a vicious Sandstorm that blocked Danny's sight of the other half of the arena completely.
"Always the weather effects," Danny muttered, loud enough for the microphone to pick up and transmit to the audience. That'd get some of them laughing, probably.
Drapion was still visible, but only barely so. The Protect he threw up stood out vividly, though, as did the orange that enveloped it, washing over the shield and disrupting the entire sandstorm with sheer power.
He'd have to thank Max for the idea of twisting Protect to be a bit more deflecting instead of pure shielding. The Hyper Beam had been diverted just enough that the Protect held easily, and with a location now roughly known, drapion surged forwards, extending his rear stinger, finding the bronze klang and throwing it over his head, onto Danny's half of the field, even as drapion himself dug into the ground.
The Dig missed, but the Pin Missile did not, since drapion came out behind klang and was plain faster at launching the attack, which the Steel-type weathered as it flew back to Erik's half of the field, which was now mostly visible, with a slight brownish tint and general heat haze. "Well countered. Advance, be ready to Dig."
Even if Danny hadn't caught the earlier battles, Zap Cannon was a dead give-away that the klang would know Lock On. It wasn't used, but the Mirror Shot was woefully off-target as drapion skittered forward faster than a Pokémon his size and weight had any right to. All the attack did was to annoy Danny, but he knew his Pokémon could handle himself.
Another grey attack shot out, and this time, drapion took it straight on, tanking through it to wrestle the klang to the ground, and claws went to work. Klang was grabbed by the smaller gear, flung overhead and slammed into the ground, which left it dazed, Danny thought. The electricity that had sparked for just a moment flickered out for sure. "As much as you can."
Erik was probably shouting for klang to get out of the vice-like grip that drapion was exerting, but that wasn't possible. They were known for having some of the stronger grips of any Pokémon, being able to crush some kinds of metal if the situation asked for it. One claw held it to the ground, the other touched the ground itself – a grounding trick against electricity that helped a bit – and a Pin Missile was followed by the scorpion-like Pokémon delivering a solid Night Slash and a throw to the side – straight into the shielding.
Miltank was up next, with Erik sending the traditional Johto Pokémon out almost immediately. The cow hit the ground rolling – literally, and Danny grinned as he remembered the trick that they'd used against Whitney.
Sure, that had been Mega aggron, but the principle was similar, and that miltank was way stronger than this one, probably.
"Catch her."
The pink Pokémon picked up speed, narrowly avoiding drapion's lunge the first time he tried to grab her. The second attempt was a miss as well as she showed good control over her roll and adjusting her path in a way that Danny hadn't thought possible. It left his Pokémon completely off-balance, and only the turning radius was the reason there was no flying Pokémon.
Third time was the charm, though. Even if the miltank had a lot of momentum behind her by now, and was seemingly alright with hitting the prepared drapion, Danny's Pokémon had dug himself into the ground, making sure he wasn't sent flying. Instead, both of them went tumbling, miltank along for the ride and loudly disagreeing about it, and most importantly, ending up underneath drapion.
And from that position, it was an all-out scrap for dominance. Drapion led with an injection of poison through his claws, while miltank tried to Ice Punch her way free. Both connected, but neither seemed to care. A Stomp hit drapion in the midriff afterwards, and he lurched down, a Poison Fang barely connecting in the movement.
Miltank tried to throw drapion off with a heave, but a Night Slash from the tail stinger hit her right near her own tail, prompting a deep moo of pain and anger, and a vague red aura surrounded her. "Move away!"
The Bide was a short one, but a surprising amount of energy shot after drapion as he skittered across the field, circling miltank to interrupt a Rollout restarting. Poison, probably.
Just as Danny was about to order a change in strategy, miltank jumped up, all of the hooves glowing white and aiming downward. "Jump!"
The Earthquake lasted too long to dodge in its entirety, but drapion avoided the worst of it with the jump. Unfortunately, it also left him wide open for the follow-up, which was another Ice Punch that caused slight amounts of trace ice to appear on drapion's chest plates – before the sun melted them anyway.
The retaliation was a simple headbutt, which left both of them dazed for a moment; recovery coming slow to both, but simultaneous as a Night Slash and an Ice Punch clashed; claw knocking hoof just off course.
Erik's Pokémon dropped to the ground, turning around on her back and delivering a solid kick to drapion's exposed lower chest – the Night Slash having dropped his guard – and she followed it up by starting to spin even faster.
Not Rollout – this was Gyro Ball – the axis she was turning around giving it away. It couldn't be good for her, but drapion was too close to not be hit, and he was sent flying left by the attack, where he didn't stick the landing, which caused miltank to cry triumphantly, jumping into the air for another Earthquake.
"Protect!"
The Protect held under the tremors, which wrecked most of the field nearby, but left drapion relatively unscathed. He still didn't look good, and he struggled to get up from his curled-up position, but miltank was pretty badly off herself, heaving visibly as the poison was just wreaking havoc on her system. They had good stamina and recuperative abilities, but that was useless against the slow burn of toxins.
Still, the cow lunged forward, more steadily than Danny was expecting, with another Ice Punch, and drapion brought up his own Night Slash-infused claws. One blocked, the other connected, and both Pokémon cried out in pain as they hit each other.
"Double knock-out," the referee declared, even as miltank flopped over in a futile attempt to get up. "Both Trainers will send out their final Pokémon at the same time."
"Well done drapion," Danny told his burly Poison-type as red energy zipped back into the pokéball. "This one's on you."
He took a moment to remember what Erik had used so far and what was in his arsenal. The miltank suggested there was no Ground-type on the team, which would've been good for helioptile, but the Kalos Pokémon wasn't here.
It was also good for another Pokémon, and with the sun so brilliantly present, how could he resist.
It was bad sportsmanship to laugh or react to your opponent's Pokémon in a way that wasn't respectful, but just seeing the purple-pink musharna float around made Danny feel sorry for Erik, who had probably not expected the double Dark-type treatment.
And houndour had Flash Fire, too. Arceus, the deck was stacked against the Unovan trainer today.
The only thing that could be a factor was the copious amount of debris, and any kind of coverage moves that it had learned. Danny brought out his Pokédex to check those as musharna started – predictably – with pelting houndour. She crouched low to the ground, drawing on her experience as a predator and moving around quickly to the area that was relatively undamaged by the quakes of earlier.
Dazzling Gleam and Signal Beam could be a problem if they connected – they were neutrally typed – but the Charge Beam wasn't, Danny mused as houndour dodged one air-to-ground version of that with a fierce jump, accelerating once she hit the ground again, and looking to take a bite out of the Psychic-type.
Who floated away, predictably, hovering at a height Danny knew houndour could reach, but not easily.
There was more than one way to do this. "Flamethrower!"
The jet of flame was very easily turned around – too easily, in fact – but if their opponents noticed, they only did so after houndour managed to activate her own Flash Fire with the reflected attack, using the fire and heat to launch another Flamethrower – this one more potent than the previous one. It hurled through the air and…
Scorched a red-outlined and vanishing musharna? Say what now?
He caught the sight of the towel just before it landed. "And Erik has thrown in the towel, forfeiting the match! The winner is Danny Birch, from Petalburg."
This was slightly disappointing, but if musharna had nothing to deal with houndour… Danny could understand it. A bit.
~~§~~§~~
The Pokémon Center was pretty empty, but that wasn't surprising. Shima was a standard fishing village that happened to have a Pokémon Contest once every two months. May had stayed there after winning her fourth Ribbon last weekend, wanting to train wartortle and relax on the beaches. Most other Trainers had already left, feeling the crunch of less than three months until the Grand Festival combined with ferries that only came twice a week.
It meant she had the lobby TV for herself, and she'd put it on the Johto Conference. Part of her was looking for strategies, but another part of her just wanted something else.
She wanted to see her brother again, even on the screen.
He looked… She didn't know. Puberty was slow for him, with his face only changed a bit – unlike Danny, who had clearly started shaving – and his height looking the same as November, give or take an inch. The way he went about the battle was also classic Max to some extent, with not a lot of talking and looking to force mistakes. Shelgon had done so pretty well into a jumpluff and a ludicolo, but Max's Dragon had exhausted himself in beating them.
But the easy smiles and grins were gone. And it wasn't just the scare that he'd had in the first round, May thought. People could change that fast, but only with the right push. That wasn't it.
His fleeing Hoenn had been. And something else.
"He thought it was you."
Gary Oak's taunt echoed in her head, but Max sending out a deerling allowed her to focus on the TV. It went to his opponent, who seemed pleased at seeing a Grass-type Pokémon. May wasn't sure if it was because of the type – Christina had sent out a gloom for last, so she clearly liked them – or because of gloom having a good match-up into it.
The Acid was nowhere near deerling, of course, but that was just the opening salvo. A rainbow-coloured aura appeared, and the camera stuck with gloom as it unleashed the Dazzling Gleam.
Deerling blocked it with a just powerful enough Energy Ball that leeched off of the Grassy Terrain, and in the bright explosion, it vanished. "A deft block from Maple's deerling. But does it have any offensive moves good for a gloom's typing?"
"Of course," May muttered herself, uncaring if anyone heard her. She didn't know exactly what deerling could learn, but Max hadn't returned his Pokémon, meaning he had a plan. Even if that plan consisted of deerling kicking gloom about, as happened just as the light of the explosion faded.
That forced the blue Pokémon to start moving for itself, and it was faster than gloom generally waddled. The sun was very much out in Johto, and they were better in heavy sunlight. Deerling would still be able to move faster, but something like Synthesis would cause a lot of issues.
The Pokémon started exchanging attacks without too much effect. Deerling stuck to Energy Balls that slightly sped up the fading of the Grassy Terrain but wouldn't do much against a Grass-Poison Pokémon. Gloom, for her part, stuck with Acid after getting hit on the back of the Dazzling Gleam, but the sprays were far too slow.
It was easy to see how she'd gotten to the Round of 64 on the back of sun-helped Grass-types, but May was pretty sure her brother had this in the bag.
Deerling suddenly feinted left, moving in close and unleashing a couple of seeds at gloom, and it moved out of the way of… Leech Seed? Those didn't work.
Max's Pokémon bounded up, getting in close with gloom. "Christina's Pokémon reacts as its kind does when attacked," the commentator said as cameras caught deerling's body and hooves assault expertly. "But now Maple's order to hold your breath makes sense. Sharp thinking on his part, and now deerling moves away, and yes, it's taking a deep breath."
Gloom very much looked worse for the wear, its orange petals drooping and a close-up revealed a nasty hoof mark or two on the left side.
May saw the Pokémon's stance change in the close-up, and the first speck of light revealed the Synthesis.
But the camera switched back to the overview, and deerling – and Max – were prepared. "Now!" Max ordered sharply, and a sudden Shadow Ball shot out as the fawn turned on its hooves, chasing after the fast-moving orb that gloom couldn't dodge because it was concentrating on the Synthesis.
It hit low, sending up dirt and pebbles as well, and knocking gloom off its feet. Deerling leapt, and a vague brown glow surrounded it mid-air.
Then it landed. Next to gloom. And the earth cracked underneath both Grass-types.
One of them was on its feet and could get away. The other couldn't, and gloom was stuck in the small crack. "Clever use of Nature Power, very localised, but with enough effect to immobilise gloom. And with their short ar – Christina has thrown in the towel! Maple wins this round of 64 battle, losing only one Pokémon!"
Max was surprised, May could tell, but he hid it quickly, instead waving at the audience and returning deerling as the schedule of the Conference popped up on the screen.
May turned away, standing up, stretching once, and heading for her room. She'd got what she wanted, which was to see her brother in good health and all that. It was all she could ask for.
It was all she was going to get.
~~§~~§~~
The detention centre was bland. Alice had no other word for it. She'd been forced to give up all her Pokémon, and the guard that escorted her was kind, but also steely. He hadn't told her anything about Paul, saying that she'd see for herself in a moment, and he stopped in front of a heavy-set iron door. "Your brother's in here, and another guard too. We won't be too close, but we are watching. Got it?"
"Yea..." Alice said, swallowing, but not getting rid of her nerves. "How long d'I have?"
"As long as you need," the guard replied, and he crouched a bit, getting eye level with her. "Some kids who come here can't be saved, but your brother… He can. But he needs to work for it."
The door opened, and Alice entered first into the surprisingly large room. She made an effort to look around first despite immediately spotting what could only be her brother on a bench at the far end. Apart from seeing the other guard in a corner near the other door, there were only benches and a table.
He noticed her as she stepped across a weird line of tiles, getting up swiftly and turning around, freezing when he saw her.
Alice stopped in her tracks and the twins studied each other from thirty feet away. Even from that distance, she could tell Paul was… He looked horrible. His eyes laid hollow in their sockets, and the darkness underneath wasn't smudge – they were bags. His hair was shorter than she'd ever seen it, buzzed, and he looked old. Older than his fifteen. "Happy birthday."
"Happy birthday," Paul returned weakly, looking around. "I… I didn't think ya'd come."
"They didn't tell ya?" Alice asked, curious. "Had ta do a lot of talkin' to get here."
"Didn't believe 'em," her brother said, almost too soft to hear. "Don't… Why're you here? Las..."
Steeling herself, the newly fifteen year old girl took a few steps forward, getting a better look at her brother in the process. He was slouching a bit, and when she tried to meet his gaze, he looked away. "You hurt me, Paul," Alice said, focusing on not slipping into her accent because he would listen that way. She hoped. "You lied to me. You lied to our parents. And why? Because you got angry at trying to hurry through Kanto and losing."
"I..."
"I know you don't like some Pokémon," Alice interrupted her brother's stammering. "And… And that's fine. Can't like everything. But what I don't get is how ya ended up here in a detention centre in Johto!"
She yelled the last words, and she felt tension leave her body with them as she asked the question that had been on her mind for two months. She knew why some people were after Danny and Max, but how her brother got involved, she didn't know.
"Please, Paul, jus' tell me."
Keeping up the insistent glare was hard when tears leaked from your eyes, but Alice managed. If a bit of the old Paul was left…
He closed the distance, swinging weak arms around her in a hug, and he rested his head on hers. He smelled clean, sanitised. "I… I'm sorry, Alice. But I…"
She forced herself out of the familiar hug. "Why… Why not?"
"I… They'd know," her brother whispered, fearfully. "I already… I already said too much. They'd… They'd kill me."
What had he gotten himself mixed up in? And what had those two other teenagers not told her? Had they forgotten or had she not asked the right questions? "There… There's talk of tryin' you 's an adult, Paul," Alice told him. "Kidnappin' is serious, 'n you hurt them too."
"If you tell us everything you can," the guard that had escorted her broke in, and both of them jumped, not having heard the man approach at all. "We can cut a deal. Maybe one that won't be on your record."
"Y… Ya'do that?" Paul said, voice wavering. "But… Danny 'n Max? 'n the other boy?"
"Maybe your sister can convince them. Or your sister and someone else," was the quick addition as Alice let out a scoff. "Look at it this way. You get a chance to maybe get out of this… Pretty okay, all things considered. That's better than the alternative. But you have to tell us everything. Including telling us how you came in contact with the other two."
And even though she hadn't seen her brother in well over a year, Alice could tell Paul wanted to tell them, even if another part wanted to talk him out of that. "Paul… Think of wha' Ma 'n Da would be like."
"Your probation could be with them. Safe hard farming work. Young man like you, you'd do fine with that if you eat well." The guard took one step forward, halting instantly when Paul turned to look at him, confused, afraid. "Back in Hoenn, with your parents. Sounds good, right?"
Something burst inside Paul, Alice could tell, but the way he screwed up his face made her heart plummet. He'd decided. He wasn't going to… "That's where they'd kill me! And Ma 'n Da too!"
Her brother slumped and Alice felt numb.
What had he gotten them into?
~~§~~§~~
Max ran through his mental checklist. Clothes swapped out for something fresh – not that it'd stay like that for long, check. Pokénav that was now recharged instead of running on fumes, check. Wallet so he could pay for some dinner, check. A renewed round of sunscreen just in case, check. He was good to go.
Maybe it was a better idea to try and find a spot inside, he mused as he took the stairs down to the ground floor. Or at least get somewhere to properly sit and eat. Eating a boxed dinner was easy and always fun with the lot of them, but with the way Silver Town was laid out and the sun that had been beating on them for days now, even the ground was warm, dry, and uncomfortable to sit on. Let alone any stone parts or wooden benches – you could probably cook an egg on the pavement at midday anyway.
He entered the lobby, intent on making his way outside to grab some food – shelgon and deerling still with Nurse Joy, but nobody was going to try anything here – when a voice from the side stopped him. "Max Maple. My next opponent."
The voice was familiar, but nothing more – and Max hadn't checked the bracket yet to find out who his next opponent was anyway. Strategising was a late-night thing for them. He turned to his right, seeing a young adult walk up to him. A familiar young… "I know yo… Nicholas?" Max guessed; the blond hair his biggest reason.
"I should be honoured that you remember me," was the reply, alongside a smile that jogged Max's memory of a time he'd been nervous after finding out another opponent. "And do not think I did not notice the pronunciation of my name. Much more Kalosian."
The young adult – older teenager? How old had Nicholas been anyway? – waited patiently as Max tried to make sense of the situation. A part of him was glad that there was no immediate reference to Team Flare, nor had there been the almost hero worship that they'd had that one time back in Goldenrod.
That had been uncomfortable.
"Were you… Were you waiting for me?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Max realised it was a stupid question. There were multiple places Trainers could stay, and it wasn't like you could ask around where people were staying – that was confidential and all. "Non," the Kalosian answered, still smiling, tone suggesting he took no offence whatsoever. "Just my Pokémon being nearly healed," he added, and though the Kalosian accent wasn't as pronounced as Max's memory supplied, the peculiar way that some Kalosians pronounced the letter h was still present.
Serena'd never had that, for some reason, and Max shook his head. Accents were weird.
"Guess you got lucky, huh," the Hoenn-born said, taking a step forward to move out of the way of two girls chattering. "And I thought Kalos's system was pretty restrictive on extensions. Aren't you like eighteen?"
"You are correct. Close enough," Nicholas amended. "That is later this month. And I've been working at the Safari Zone here in Johto for money," he added, sounding happy about that. "A concept I cannot believe has not made it to Kalos." A 'tssk' of disapproval. "Excuse me for a moment."
The seventeen year old picked his Pokémon up, but Max doubted his own had been healed yet. It had only been half an hour, if that. "Was your fight difficult?"
"Fishing for information, I see," the blond observed, amusement clear. "It was harder for me, I think. Unless you swapped a Pokémon out or one didn't need healing." Another set of Trainers – a mixed group this time – passed by. "Shall we go outside? Before one of us is thrown to the ground."
The cool air felt good, but it was also very busy, and it'd only get worse as more people came in. Max kind of wanted to hear himself think and talk. "Sure. And I guess you counted pokéballs?"
"I did indeed." Doors slid open, and it wasn't as bad as Max had been expecting. Maybe he was getting used to it by now. "For someone like you, these early rounds must be easy."
"I lost my first battle here." He made sure to look at Nicholas's face, and though it still hurt to think of how stupid he had been, at least there was something good coming from it. "Toxic trick, bad match-up, well executed plan. I got her back."
"Oh?"
"She was…" Max started, trailing off when he realised Nicholas might not have heard. "She said some things that got me angry. Might have gone overboard a bit after that."
"Overboard? What is it you… Ah," was the reply when Max popped the clasps off his wristband, revealing the Mega Stone underneath and nearly blinding him in the process. "One of your mementos of beautiful Kalos. I admit, I could hardly believe it when I saw what happened." A hand on his shoulder steered Max to the side, so they didn't stop in the middle of everyone. "You must have heard this hundreds of times, but thank you."
He had, and it never had gotten any easier, faint blush included. Which prompted a chuckle from the older boy. "Huh?"
"Still you are the same as you once were," Nicholas replied cryptically. "You wanted to hide in Hoenn, and a world of experiences later, it is the same now. You are a strange Trainer, Max, and I should be honoured to face you tomorrow. Even if the result is known already."
"That's defeatist."
"A Trainer like myself, above average, but nothing more, against a rising star as you? No, Max, the result is not in doubt if you apply yourself." And everything told Max that this was okay by the teenager leaning against whatever building they were right next to. He hadn't seen. "So show me. And let us create beauty then, and a night of catching up now."
Despite the effusive praise, Max couldn't resist a grin himself. Nicholas reminded him of everything that he had come to love in Kalos: their vivid way of living their life if they had the chance. "Lemme call my friends and not tell them to worry."
"Afraid you would be accosted by reporters?"
"That has happened."
~~§~~§~~§~~§~~
The Hoenn government is planning to expand its restrictions on various Pokémon types, insiders have claimed. The extent is unknown, with the coalition torn between those who would prefer a full ban and others who think an increase is enough, but the current legislation, put into place last October, that restricts the possession of Dark, Ghost, and Psychic-types looks to be replaced very soon regardless.
Attacks still terrorise the Hoenn region, and the government has been stuck trying to react ever since it came into power after the last election.
Author's Note: Steadily proceeding in the tournament, and a look at some siblings (not) interacting.