Category: Pokémon
Rating: M
Couples: ?/OC
Warnings: AU, hint of rape/character death
Chapter: 23
Copyright: Characters & places © By Game Freak, Plot © by me
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Around them, the past-view peeled back slowly, revealing the present building. "She's right, we ought to leave." Cynthia approached Diantha, recalling her Spiritomb now that she didn't need to keep touching it. "Before we find that the floor around here is gone in the present as well."
"Good point." Diantha looked up at the Hydreigon already out of her Pokéball. "Could you carry some of us?" The dragon rumbled softly, snapping her heads three times. "Three people?" The central head inclined lightly in confirmation.
"I'll take Metagross." Steven assured her. "Climb on and I'll lift her up to you."
Only reluctantly did Diantha leave her Gym Leader in his arms. She had never seen Olympia this frail, this weak. It was as if everything had been drained from her. Recalling Malva's Houndoom, she slowly stepped up to the dragon.
The large Dark-type lowered herself almost fully to the ground, allowing Diantha and Cynthia to easily get on. Steven lifted the unconscious woman carefully, helping them to arrange her between them. Once he was certain the three women were secure, he called out Metagross to ferry him down to solid earth.
"Well, there went the window." Cynthia mused, referring to the far wall peeling away fully. Apparently, whatever had been going on here back then had resulted in the wall having been blown out, something which had been hidden by Olympia's Mind Break.
"What happened here?" Diantha tightened her hold on the woman in her arms.
"Bad things." Steven led the way outside, where they appeared over the calmed back-gardens. Looping around the building, the two Pokémon approached the moving group of people on a glide.
Fantina was in the near-front, together with a man Diantha recognized as the very same that had invaded the League Castle to argue with her several weeks ago.
"Olympia!?" Fantina's face was utter panic when she saw the bloody form between Cynthia and Olympia. The moment the dragon was low enough, she reached for the unconscious woman.
"She'll be fine." Cynthia assured her Gym Leader, sliding down carefully while Wulfric took the dark-skinned form from his Champion. "Her brother will come by to pick her up… for treatment, I suppose?"
"What happened?" Wikstrom demanded.
"Some ghost aggravated the Mind Break to those proportions." Steven recalled his Metagross, assisting Diantha down from the dragon before recalling that as well.
"What ghost?" Fantina looked at them, hands cradling Olympia's face.
"Olympia's mother called her Antoinette." Diantha joined the other.
"Oh, that would do it." The purple-haired male muttered darkly, one hand still on the Hearthome Gym Leader's shoulder. "She had lingered then."
Fantina just made a sound between groan and moan, looking up at the building. "What are the odds?"
"Therese won't be happy with that news." He mused, one hand on a Pokéball at his side.
"I think she'll be unhappy anyway." Fantina whispered, only relaxing a touch when another purple-haired man appeared, a Sigilyph at his side. "Kaion..."
"I come for my sister." The middle-aged man stepped up to the group, eyes the same shining purple Olympia's were when she used her powers. The worry was palpable on his face as he reached for the woman still in Wulfric's arms.
"We're coming as well." Diantha spoke up, feeling a desperate need for some explanations.
"I am afraid that is not possible as such." He gently arranged her in his arms. "I am too weak to teleport several people. Myself and my sister is already pushing my power to its' limit."
"Between my car and this SUV, there's enough space for simply driving there." Fantina's brother pointed out, even as Olympia and her brother disappeared into nothing. "It'll be ten minutes at most, and that's assuming the traffic is bad."
"The key's still in here." Malva opened the door of the car. "I'll drive this one, you lead the way."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The drive was done in near complete silence, Fantina sitting beside her brother. The only time there was any talking was when they briefly stopped at the destroyed SUVs to pick up Drasna and Valerie, who informed them that the unconscious men had been identified as paramilitary mercenaries from Orre.
"I am not even surprised anymore." Diantha muttered darkly, glaring out of the window she was sitting beside. This was certainly not how she ever imagined her introduction to Olympia's family to be going. She had expected something like a celebration of some kind, not delivering them a half-dead family-member.
The car looped around the northern bit of Anistar, heading from one large estate to the next. This one was well-kept, lush flower-fields spread over nearly the entire grounds she could see.
"Mother Palkia wants to speak with you." They were greeted by one of the members of the Hearthome Delegation.
"After I checked up on Olympia." Diantha countered, looking up at the luxurious house.
"Lady Olympia is still being attended." The delegate smiled apologetically, her orange-and-black outfit standing out from the greens and whitish-pink of the flower-fields surrounding them. "No visitors are allowed until they are finished." She offered them an apologetic smile.
"She can give you the explanation you want." Fantina leaned forward lightly, clutching her blood-tainted gloves in one hand. "Sister, lead the way, s'il vous plaît."
"She is in the back-gardens." The Sister gestured to the decorative path that looped around the building. Following her, Diantha took the opportunity to look around the Gojika-estate. The gardens were filled with wild Pokémon, though they were nearly all Psychic-types, which was a bit strange. Several were fully-evolved, so she imagined those were actually those of the family-members.
Their target seemed to be a large bonfire-area, several overturned trees acting as seats. She had not expected this either. Allortan and Mother Palkia were waiting for them, a Kingdra floating around them.
"That's Mother Palkia's I bet. Members of the church have their names as companions, unless they have Legendary-names, then they have Pokémon with the same type." Cynthia stage-whispered to her two colleagues. "For obvious reasons."
"I see." Diantha noticed how Allortan looked at them when they approached.
"Welcome back." He greeted them, but his smile was strained. Considering everything that happened, she couldn't blame him. The church-member peeled off from their group, heading back to the building and going inside.
"Thank you for loaning your Pokémon." Steven handed over the Luxury Ball.
"A pity it was necessary." Allortan accepted it, returning the shape to his pocket. "I have been told Lady Olympia will recover."
"Thank Arceus." Diantha sat down on the nearest log, looking over at the woman beside him. The grey-and-pink clad woman had not even looked them as such. Fantina had joined her, arms crossed as she sat down beside the other Hearthome-resident. "You wished to speak with us, Mother?"
"I figured it'd be necessary after this." Mother Palkia offered a tired, sad smile. "Olympia's mother told me it was Antoinette that caused the trouble at the estate."
"So she claimed." Cynthia sat down as well, crossing her legs. Around them, most others also sat down. "Of course, we did not recognize her ourselves, so we'll have to trust her word on it."
"A woman roughly my age, dressed in green and a hole in her chest?" The smile lingered, the Kingdra vocalizing softly in its' worry. At their wordless nods, she continued. "Yes, that was Antoinette. My mother."
"Your mother?" Wikstrom echoed softly.
"Yes..." She turned away from them, looking up at the building. "Had I not twice changed my name; once to my mother's maiden-name and another time to Mother Palkia, had we met under different circumstances… I would have introduced myself as Therese… Therese Lombardt."
"As in?"
"Monsieur Lombardt is my father."