Savoir-Faire

To FanOfStories: Hearthome is in Sinnoh, not Unova. There's no confusion about that. So what's with the Unovan Elite Four member, you ask? It's a point for reference later, but the reason is pretty much international in scope. Such accidents happening anytime close to before or after such events, especially when the victim was a part of any delegation, tends to attract attention, and since Unova was described earlier as a historic and diplomatic ally of Unova, Unova gets involved, especially since they have a pretext to send a Dark-type Master like Grimsley.

LLS

A: Torsades de pointes

For a long time, I have not went to bed early. I could wax poetic about the process, but the long and the short of it began and ended with this woman, called my Trainer and mistress and non-romantic life partner, because the human lexicon is not so obvious as to refer to someone one would devote their life to without romantic connotations being involved.

"Because I shot a Tyranitar in the face, we are going to be staying for longer than expected," she broke the news to us, matter-of-fact. On her lap lay a copy of « La Voix de Kalos ». "Most of that time will be spent with me in hospital. If needed, Donar will be taking all of you out for training."

Jelly grumbled; Crystal disagreed vociferously. Aegis remained silent while Liz began an argument with the Chandelure and the Jellicent. The fact that no one else acknowledged them spoke of a comfort, a ripple in the collective aura of our new team.

Our mistress closed her eyes, opened them, and then motioned towards the leashes I held. "Oh, come on. I can't just throw you guys out to Shalour City. Wikstrom and that Grimsley are here, and the Kalos league can't afford a screw-up this fast after Julia of Hearthome was discovered. « Le Monde » would be all over it comme « Les Oreilles »."

I wish you could, Crystal hissed.

Come now, Liz persuaded, that's no way to treat our trainer.

You only say that 'cause you can't chase me away, Liz!

Mistress clicked her tongue, drawing attention to her once again. "Altair, did the hospital say anything?"

You will be discharged in three days, and no later, I answered. Doctors made their worst patients, and my Mistress was no exception to the rule. Neither was I, come to think of it, though I had not visited the hospital for work or otherwise for some time already.

I felt Crystal got bored and start to prey on Darkrai. A heartbeat after I sensed the irregular tachycardia, Mistress smiled and grabbed Crystal with her bare hands. Aegis clattered.

" Écoutez-moi, Crystal," Mistress started, smiling at Crystal in a manner seen only when my unhinged mistress had melted the traitor's face with her own Chandelure.

The Chandelure trembled, and even Jelly had the sense to stop.

Satisfied that she was the centre of our attention, Mistress gave us a benevolent smile, a shadow of her former self. "Altair will be in charge of all of you. During this time, you have free run of Shalour. You are not to haunt anywhere else except my room after dark. You will not stalk Trainers, Donar included. If there are injuries that are not a result of self-defence as defined by Altair, I will be disappointed, and that disappointment shall manifest itself in unpleasant ways."

She then let go of Crystal, uncaring of the burn on her hand. "With that said, I leave you to enjoy Yantreizh."

What does she want us to do? Burbled Jelly as we five left the Pokémon Centre.

Entertain ourselves, likely, Crystal hissed.

Both of you irritate me, Liz grumbled, floating somewhere about my head. Altair, where are we headed?

Aegis remained silent. I am aware of a certain comradeship with the Royal Sword at the moment. Another presence intruding was fast approaching.

Fighter.

The nightmare-bringer cannot help himself, I know. What I could not help was the feeling of wariness when I faced him. What's wrong, Darkrai?

He shifted. Marguerite told me to go out for some air.

It's about your Ability? I guessed. Years as a paramedic and in Lumiose A&E had given me experience in such matters, particularly when it came time to treat a Ninetales with Drought or a Politoed with Drizzle. Few, if any, Trainers ever pondered about the real-life implications of such a team, especially new Trainers.

It looks fun, Darkrai commented. Marguerite... she told me to find you and then an Audino nurse. I don't know why, I'm quite healthy, but she said that you would know the answer.

I nodded. It might not be a familiar technique in Sinnoh, but an alternative method for the suppression of Abilities was found in Unova and is being refined here. There are moves that would allow for the temporary suppression of... troublesome Abilities. An Audino can perform either Entrainment or Simple Beam, which replaces Bad Dreams with... another Ability. Temporarily.

Darkrai gasped. Oh. Why did Marguerite not tell me herself?

Bad Dreams is an Ability evolved from a self-defence mechanism, I replied. It would be like her asking me to give up any ability to sense Aura, or for her to impose upon me to become human. I presume that she did not know how to broach the subject. It has been... rather sensitive.

I refrained from touching the spot where a Vulpix with Drought had once attacked with Fire Blast.

Darkrai did not even hesitate. I do not mind.

...I understand. I turned back to the Pokémon Centre. Follow me.

I am aware, most believe a walk to be restricted to the street level. They would also be wimps, in common parlance. Fighting-types might prefer flat ground, but any fighter who could not adapt to the terrain was pointless as anything other than infantry. The Pokémon of Shalour Gym learnt this earlier than most; barely before we had begun rounds of shadow-tag that I sensed him.

I dodged the Force Palm, skidding back as the tiny pup growled, placing one palm over its chest in acknowledgement. He had manners; a Gym Riolu, then. Not that the Riolu of Dernière Way were any less mannered, simply as a matter of semantics.

This place is ours, the Riolu stated. Who are you?

There is no harm to be gained by sharing for a brief moment, I answered. Where is your sire?

Madame Korrina needed him. He tilted his head to look at the rest of us, instinctively shying from the three Ghosts. Who is that?

He is Darkrai, I answered him. You have excellent control over the Aura, young one.

Thank you. I cannot wait for evolution.

Neither could I, I recalled. Evolution as a result of bonds required a bond to begin with, and the only one I could relate to, out of necessity, had been Madame Korrina. It was only when I had discovered exactly how unpalatable I found the prospect of staying as a Gym fighter for the rest of life that I sought to escape.

I communicated that to him, still keeping an eye over a team involved in shadow tag.

That sounds exciting,he barked. Physical communication came to him in a way more natural than one versed in the arts of aura or telepathy. Elder, you must be very different from all of us with Madame Korrina.

No, I gave him my answer. I was part of the Gym, as you are. With Madame Korrina.

But you're so cool! All the other Lucario are boring. It's training, fun, the same old routine!

Yes, I thought. The oddball of the Shalour Gym, cool. While I exerted my fair share of work, befriending Madame Korrina, training and evolving, my tendency to reach for an Aura Sphere before a punch had been a large handicap, and so had been a tendency to over-analyse situations. While she had taught me that it was not bad – as well as how to process information quickly in high-stress situations – I had been an effective fighter, but not then. I evolved at the same time as a pack-brother; Madame Korrina preferred him to me. It had been fine, and I had determined to leave Shalour the moment I came across a kind or foolish Trainer.

As it happened, I found a kind and smart Trainer.

Matters came to a head when Jelly set off a Water Spout to Crystal, who retaliated with Dark Pulse.

Excuse me, I told the Riolu, rueful that I missed this chance as I leapt for the roofs of Shalour City, engaging both of them in combat at once. What are you doing?

She started it! Crystal screeched.

Jelly burbled.

This is everyone's time. Darkrai glared. The force of the glare was such that both recalcitrant Ghost-types retreated, grumbling. Liz fluttered, pecking Darkrai on the cheek before the tag game resumed, albeit when Aegis picked up a fallen satellite dish to use as a discus.

Darkrai was a good influence.

It hit me, a vague guilt that I thought was long banished. The prankster Banette would have loved his tag games. He would have used Shadow Sneak several times over to retreat from Delphi, my oracle, and then Sealeo would have had to tag in, before Delphi set everything on fire in a fit of pique and Deneb would have loved to paint this. Non-coded iconography, she would have called it...

Sometime during the quarrel, the Riolu had left. I found him with little trouble, only that the Riolu was no longer alone. An older Lucario, one I still recognised, was gearing up to fight.

We will leave peacefully, I offered to them.

Strange one, my former pack-brother was shielding him from me, not even caring to hide his distaste via Aura. Why are you here?

Obligations, I replied, a touch insulted. My mistress has returned to Shalour. We will leave when she has left the hospital.

You will not corrupt my son, he answered, before taking the Riolu to leap away from me amidst the tiled roofs of Shalour.

I don't have to, I forbore to mention, watching the Riolu watch me as they left. If this is a corruption, then it has always been here.

Are you alright? Darkrai lingered beside me. You are rather stressed. Would you like a croque-madame?

Why a croque-madame? I could not help but ask despite myself.

It is crunchy and warm, Darkrai replied. And the yellow looks rather like Marguerite's hat.

...she doesn't wear yellow, I replied, but I got the rough idea of Darkrai's sudden attachment to sandwiches wearing my Trainer's headgear. I had been fortunate, finding a mistress who was kind and yet studious, who could appreciate the idea of a sentient Pokémon.

On the third day, I was present as a witness when the boy won against Madame Korrina.

It had been a simple move, even against Machoke and its Rock Tomb. Ivysaur was well enough to place a decent fight, Bagon set more things on fire with its enhanced Ember, and Fletchinder dominated the rest, even Hawlucha.

The girl placed a decent showing as well, with her Delphox; I felt a pang at the sight of the beautiful Fox in motion. Delphi's fur had always sparked with power, the tricky one impressive with his mastery of magic and fire-

"Altair?" Madame Korrina smiled as I entered. "So you're the Lucario attached to Dr du Bois."

Bonjour, Madame Korrina.

"No need for the formalities. How is she?" Madame Korrina gushed. "Donar just told me that she's rather terrifying!"

She is cautious. I have become a doctor. I work at the surgery department of the Hôpital Quatre Points in Lumiose.

"You're a medic?" Madame Korrina smiled at me. "I'm so proud of you."

I am a surgeon. Mademoiselle Daisy was kind enough to act as guarantor.

"That's even better!" Madame Korrina exclaimed. "One of our Lucario is a surgeon! What do you do?"

As I explained, I felt that I am very fortunate. I have no reason to cry, being here and actually thinking of it. Vega and I are alive.

Yet, I am alone and alive.

My friends, it is so hard sometimes.

Okay, here you might have had difficulties understanding speech breaks. That is not a formatting error; here Altair is making a distinction between human speech (quotation marks), telepathy (italics) and Pokémon communication (no marks). Here Pokémon communication take more than just repeating a name or a sound; it also involves a complex series of gestures. Since all languages communicate ideas at its very basic, Altair's interpretation of all three means of communication becomes one that blends Pokémon speech as a continuous action rather than a distinct ideal.

There's a fic on AO3: Chance Encounters by Woofemus, that discusses the attitude of the Lucario that joins the character in X and Y. The Pokémon animé and manga do also discuss the spirit of Pokémon, that they are sentient beings to some extent like us.

Here I took it further with Altair: Considering that the Shalour Gym is a rather physically-oriented Gym, I think anyone who used special moves would have been treated like how Thor treated Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I made Altair a rather special-oriented Pokémon, although it's clear that Altair isn't afraid to get his paws dirty – see what happened to an unfortunate Braixen. Lucario are actually very nice mixed attackers, but here I illustrate my point as a social one. Homosexuality also might not be as stigmatised as I discussed, but Altair might have been termed as 'odd', being a loner Lucario with a very family-oriented person as Korrina. That, plus his tendency to think before moving, might be a detriment in a physical-oriented Fighting-type Gym. I'm sure that Korrina must have understood Altair on some level – Lucario do evolve only with friendship – but that doesn't mean that friends don't drift apart, or Korrina might have understood Altair's need for a different Trainer, one who thinks before leaping. Even a Gym Leader needs help, and here Korrina might have recognised something in her Lucario that she could not help him, but Marguerite could.

There may have been a few references to the French novelist Marcel Proust here, too.

Here, I mentioned a few journals: « La Voix de Kalos », « Le Monde » and « Les Oreilles ». They are all Kalosian newspapers. « Le Monde » deals more with international affairs, « Les Oreilles » would be more centre-right, and « La Voix de Kalos » would be the leftist view.

On hindsight, it might be unsurprising that Marguerite reads leftist radical newspapers.

Critique, s'il vous plaît!