Savoir-faire – To Know and To Do
XXIII: Débattre – To Debate
Day 54: There was a wedding at the Baa de Mer Ranch. At the same time, the wedding reception was crashed by a wild Pokémon. The Ranch's owner has offered a one-time fifty percent discount on all dairy products should we succeed in capturing and isolating the beast.
Needless to say, I am very keen on the prospect.
The remnants of white lay around us. Tables, formerly laden with food, were strewn about. Flowers were strewn in that mess, and food with it.
I sneaked a Tamato Berry and sat back to watch Dr du Bois. Frogadier and Fletchling were running interference, being fast enough to corral stray Skiddo from spilling out to Fourrage Road.
A ring of blue-black flame hovered, doused by Jelly soon enough. Aegis shifted from the shadows, stabbing onto a clunky spectre of a Pokémon as Crystal set fire to the other orb.
Dr du Bois flung something, made accurate with the use of her sling. As the rope dropped from her fingers, something blue arced through the air and trapped one of the beasts. It beeped once before clicking shut, and the flames died.
"That was anti-climatic," Dr du Bois knelt, picking up the ball as she considered the orange menace left. "Hmm, a Pumpkaboo."
"What?" Serena pulled out her PokéDex. Pumpkaboo, the Pumpkin Pokémon. The pumpkin body is inhabited by a spirit trapped in this world. As the sun sets, it becomes restless and active.
"It's so cute!" Shauna squealed.
The pumpkin bared its tiny fangs before spitting seeds at us, and thus we realised that yes, Leech Seed works on humans too. The argument over who would take what ended when Crystal and Fletchinder set it on fire, where is vanished under a table and disappeared.
"Shadow Sneak," Dr du Bois identified. "It's gone, at least. Now, let's have a look at what I caught."
We leaned over as the ball opened, and from a beam of light appeared... a haunted stump. It was... kinda cute. Dr du Bois immediately gave him an Oran Berry, and the way it ate the berry was endearing. Like seeing a Glameow or a Purrloin chow down.
"So cute..." Shauna cooed.
"Eh?" I produced my own PokéDex. Phantump, the Stump Pokémon. According to old tales, these Pokémon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest.
Shauna gasped.
"No way..." Serena mouthed.
Wordlessly, Dr du Bois petted the creature. It squealed, offering her a Berry that she accepted and bit into. "The Coumarine Gym specialises in the care of Grass-type Pokémon. We can put him there."
The stump wilted, quite visibly.
"Doctor..." I groaned.
"Tump, stump," the tiny haunted stump moaned, offering her an Oran Berry that appeared out of nowhere.
"...merci, petit môme," Dr du Bois commented, accepting the Berry again before turning to the ranch folks. "What do you think, Monsieur?"
" Partez avec lui ! "
The ranch owner was happy enough that the Ghosts were off the property, rushing us – and the Phantump – back onto the road in short order once Dr du Bois completed her discounted purchases. We were munching on Berries as Dr du Bois kept glowering at the clingy Phantump.
"Where do you get all these Berries, anyway?!" Dr du Bois exclaimed as her arms were bogged down with Oran Berries.
"I think she's happy," Shauna confessed to me.
"Really?" I blinked. Sure, Dr du Bois was more casual with the Phantump than I had ever seen; then again, this was the woman who also read aloud to a phantom of the night regularly.
"It's almost like you have-" Dr du Bois stopped. "Récolte."
"Hmm?" Noël paused, half a carton of yoghurt smeared on his face and the other half in his hands, still in its carton. "Damn, this is good yoghurt. But, Phantump and Pumpkaboo linger around Route 16, right?"
"Mélancolie Path, yes," Dr du Bois agreed, still distracted. "I discussed it with the ranch head before, and he said that they might have been left behind by protesters from the ongoing protest about AOC deregulation."
"Erm, that's something about certifying cheeses, right?" I blinked.
"Wine, cheeses, butters and other agricultural products come under AOC as well," she explained. "The underlying basis is terroir , a 'sense of the land' used to address the special geological, geographical and climatic circumstances of a given land. For example, the Lava Cookie of Lavaridge Town in the Hoenn region is famous and cannot be duplicated, similar to the Old Gateau, the Casteliacone and the Lumiose Galette. With AOC certification, such products are non-fungible, and are thus marketed as municipal specialities. It's possible to construct entire courses around local cities' specialities in Kalos. However, since such goods become non-fungible, there is no fixed market rate for, say, an average bottle of wine, so there's no baseline for marking of price to sell along the supply chain."
"Supply chain?" Shauna echoed in confusion.
"Let's say that a ranch like the Baa de Mer produces a thousand pats of butter a year," Dr du Bois explained. "Most of the butter is sold to a wholesaler, or a general food store. The wholesaler sells the butter at a higher price to retailers such as the PokéMart or the various dairies around Kalos. The retailers sell the butter to us, the consumers, at an even higher price to make a profit. The chain of people from producer to consumer is thus called a supply chain, and the longer the chain, the final price of the products usually increase. Without a baseline, the middlemen tend to profit more, and the consumers pay more for food."
"So... if the butter we bought was a hundred Poké, it could be cheaper?" Donar's eyes bugged out.
"We bought the butter at factory price, with added fifty percent discount," Dr du Bois pointed out. "But the point is made. Furthermore, AOC also tends to place a higher taxation on foreign goods such as Kanto sake, which is detrimental to large chain-stores such as PokéMart looking to break into the Kalos market."
"So... AOC is bad, right?" Shauna asked.
"The AOC policy is meant to ensure that farmers get paid more," Dr du Bois pointed out. "After all, do you think they can afford the upkeep of themselves and their Pokémon on two hundred Poké per plaquette ?"
"Oh..."
Dr du Bois had barely taken another step before vines shot out of the ground and, fangs bared, the little Pumpkaboo was back. The Pumpkaboo's eyes glowed as white spectres surrounding us-
"Trick-or-Treat," Dr du Bois muttered.
"You don't say," I commented.
"Wrong. I meant this move," Dr du Bois pointed out, quite reasonably. "The signature move of the Pumpkaboo line, Trick-or-Treat. It adds a Ghost-typing to any Pokémon."
"A Ghost-typing?" Serena yelled, backing away.
"Crystal," Dr du Bois summoned the Chandelure. "Incinerate!"
Fire flared as the Pumpkaboo backed away, screeching with glowing eyes before a Pokéball sailed to land on it. It stopped, beeping once, twice, thrice... and lay still with a final click.
Stiffly, Dr du Bois picked up the Quick Ball containing the little monster, a truly formidable and icy expression on her face.
"Both of you," her expression was halfway evil. "The Coumarine Gym."
On any other day, I liked Coumarine City. Set where land met sky and sea, Coumarine City was the largest of Kalos's ports, and also the most cosmopolitan of nearly all cities short of Lumiose. Its mild climate was soothing, its casinos easy to extract from, and the multiple stands of its marché par la mer filled with goods shipped in from the five regions and across the globe, from rare Berries to Incenses to ribbons and TMs, at near half-prices.
...I like Coumarine. Let's just leave it at that, and thus lead to the reason why I could not do the activities that I would have usually embarked upon in Coumarine.
The first stop for all of us was the Pokémon Centre, of course. I set up Crystal and Jelly for a check-up, planning to return after I dropped the two imps at the Gym. I could have turned them over to Nurse Joy, but Pokémon adoption agencies did not take well to Ghost-type Pokémon. The Gym, at least, could cater specifically to Grass-type Pokémon.
The two imps, as I had dubbed them, were halfway between begging and contrite and repenting. It was not even amusing since I had to march to the monorail station with both locked Pokéballs from the Coumarine Hotel, and leave Crystal for her check-up at the Pokémon Centre.
"Dr du Bois..." Donar tried to hold me back as I marched up the steps of the Coumarine Gym.
I walked in, ignored the Rangers in mid-Training and marched up to Ramos. "Leader Amaro?"
The old man smirked. There was a telling twinkle in his eyes, as expected of one of Kalos's oldest Champions. " Bonjour, Madame. Why, you're a bit taller than the young sprouts-"
"I have a rogue Pumpkaboo and Phantump to submit to the Gym," I interrupted, placing both Quick Balls down. "They were haunting the Baa de Mer Ranch, and crashed the Mer wedding."
"Good riddance, that," Ramos muttered to himself, almost inaudibly, before turning his attention to the two Quick Balls. "You're submitting these two for adoption, madame?"
"Doctor, this is a bad idea," Donar had caught up to me, panting. "I mean... you like them, right?"
"Precisely!" a girl spoke up behind me, her dark flyaway hair and dark clothes marking her as a Hex Maniac of a sort. "They're so cute!"
"My preference does not equal the fact that I have no facilities to care for them," I argued, trying to push away the Pokéballs Ramos kept placing into my hands. "Pumpkaboo and Phantump are children. I cannot afford to babysit one more child on my work, since I already have full-time care of one."
"Then give me one of them!" the girl continued. "I'll take care of him, promise!"
"Hey!" Donar protested.
"You are a child!" I told him.
"Hmm," Ramos considered. "Can I open them?"
I waved with the universal signal for go ahead.
He opened both balls.
Phantump slammed into me – not bad, for a hunk of wood – and was followed by Pumpkaboo whining.
"Stump! Boo! Stump! Boo!"
I fed them some of the candied peel I'd made earlier on the Ranch to shut them up.
"He's so cute!" the girl squealed, clinging onto Pumpkaboo.
"You break it, you buy it, sprout!" Ramos cheerily said. "'Sides, you just need to go buy some stuff at the PokéMart, right? Now, one of you whipper-snappers escort the lady out."
I felt one of the balls being removed from my hand, and then I was bodily escorted out of the Coumarine Gym. I stared at the one Pokéball in my hand, before turning back to see a lock of midnight hair running away into the distance, a Quick Ball nestled in her hand.
"Darkrai, stop her!" I roared as my shadow rippled. "She's stolen a Pokémon!"
The girl in question turned back, legs apart despite the skirt she wore, and stuck her tongue out as Pumpkaboo was summoned. Behind her, Darkrai appeared, malevolently intimidating. "Pumpkaboo, I choose you! Bullet Seed!"
In any other day, I would have dispatched her immediately. Unfortunately, today was a really bad day.
"Aegis!" I roared, sending my strongest Ghost out in a near-literal throw. "Shadow Sneak!"
" Merde! " She started as the sword went hurtling for her, blade gleaming. "Pumpkaboo!"
Dr du Bois, when cold, was utterly remote.
When hot, she was incandescent as a forest fire.
...wonder if this is going to end up like when she was yelling at the Ambrette people a month ago.
… Hmm... best not to say.
" Comment... vous... vous appelez? " I suffered through my basic Kalosian. In the wake of where Dr du Bois and Aegis tore up the foyer of the Coumarine Gym, we were currently somewhere around the Hillcrest station of the Coumarine monorail, with me and my Pokémon sitting between a Pokémon thief and the utterly murderous Pokémon sociology professor.
" Je m'appelle Léa, " our black-haired thief offered. She was wearing a rather short denim skirt and a black tank top, with high-cut stockings and purple high-tops. "You're a cutie, right, little boo-boo?"
"You have one minute before I turn you in with Officer Jenny for Pokémon theft," Dr du Bois snarled. "Fifty-nine seconds."
"Sheesh," Léa huffed. "Fine, I needed a Pokémon. You had two you didn't want. I just... borrowed one, I was going to release him after, honest. I just need one more badge."
"What happened to the rest of your Pokémon?" I asked, curious.
Léa shifted from side to side, almost showing off her assets.
"Forty-five seconds," Dr du Bois said, her voice flat. Beside her, Aegis clanked.
"I... didn't have any," Léa admitted.
"You stole badges?!" I nearly shouted.
"No, I won them!" Léa fidgeted, almost kissing Pumpkaboo for comfort. "I... I asked the Pokémon in the wild to lend a hand, usually..."
At this, Dr du Bois perked, staring hard at Léa. Green met almost-clear eyes, and Léa shifted defensively. "What?"
Dr du Bois twitched. Clearly, her rage was simmering. I didn't blame her. There were so many plot holes in that story you couldn't use it for clothing. However, what came out of Dr du Bois wasn't an accusation. "Natural gift of communication, or atavistic properties?"
Léa considered, before dipping her head in a sharp nod. "Natural... gift."
"Be honest. The fate of that Pumpkaboo still rests in my hands."
"Fine," Léa scowled. "I... I'm like them, the Pokémon. Happy now?"
"Father or mother?"
Léa nodded, again sharp. "Father."
"What are you talking about?" I blinked.
Dr du Bois resolutely ignored me. "You ran away from home?"
Léa sniffed. "I wanted to become a Trainer, like Maman never managed before she married that putain. That putainis the bane of my life, and we both know I'm not his biological daughter. He made sure to note that there was no way I could become a Trainer in Unova without parental consent. He was going to leave me cooped up at home, in the village... I overheard him arranging a deal in exchange for me. I... I made my way to Opelucid and snuck onto a ship headed to Kalos. It docked at Aquacorde."
"I understand," Dr du Bois still looked cold in the face of what I realised to be a very sad story. "You won't be the first sob story to have flocked to any other region for a better chance at life. I suppose you're on an independence run?"
Léa nodded. "It was hard, and scary, but... I need one more badge. Just one more, then I don't ever need to look back."
"What is your name?" I asked quickly.
"Morelle," Léa whispered. "Léa Morelle."
Morelle? Where have I heard that before?
Dr du Bois started. "Did you register for all your matches with that name?"
" Oui? " Léa hazarded, confused. "It's my mother's maiden name."
"Dr du Bois?" I asked as she seemed to pale. "Doctor? Do you... remember the name?"
"... I don't know," Dr du Bois simply replied, standing up. "However, Mademoiselle Morelle, I cannot entrust this Pumpkaboo to you without knowing his eventual fate. Assuming that this lone Pumpkaboo can even win against the Coumarine Gym, what will you do?"
"What will I- I don't want to keep any Pokémon with me," Léa replied, confusion evident in her grey eyes. "I... when I'm emancipated, I will make my way to Anistar City. I will beg Olympia for help."
"Beg? Why?" I asked.
"Well..." Léa clasped her hands together. They parted, to form a ring of purplish-blue flames.
The miniature conflagration flared before winking out, leaving us silent.
"Léa Morelle and others like her, they are like Pokémon," Dr du Bois explained to my thunderstruck expression. "We call them Pocket Monsters Morphology-Exhibiting Individuals, or Pokémorphs. Saule's theory of divergent evolution suggests that Pokémon and humans originate from the same root of binary life form, and developed interdependently into the truly divergent species we see today, but are genetically similar enough to procreate with Pokémon to give rise to a viable, fertile hybrid species. Elm and Rowan have submitted works that counter this theory, but on basis of evidence alone, Saule is the current theory in the field of Pokémon evolution."
"What?" I shook my head. "Wait, go back to the bit where you skip the thing about Saule and divergent evolution. She's part Pokémon?"
"Actually, she's an inheritor of certain atavistic properties gifted from a union born between a human and a Pokémon," Dr du Bois considered Léa, who bristled.
"Actually..." Léa sighed. "Can we... not talk about this? Look, I... really should leave. Now."
"Certainly," Dr du Bois agreed as Léa stood. "Yet the more you talk, the less I shall be inclined to submit you to Officer Jenny for Pokémon theft, assault and battery in broad daylight, and disturbing the peace."
Most of the colour drained from Léa's face, leaving her grey eyes levelling at Dr du Bois. "You... that's blackmail."
"And so is your treatment of the local Pokémon, most of which have never faced a regulated, regimented Pokémon battle in their lives before you threw them in an all-or-nothing melee against Gym Leaders." Her expression was even more sadistic than when she dealt with Serena as she held up her Holo Caster. A tiny flash indicated a photograph taken. "I think Professor Sycamore shall be very interested in your case; enough to involve the Sûreté. It may involve badge confiscation as well as suspension of your Trainer license, pending regional investigation. Oh, and deportation, perhaps. That is, if the International Police don't just decide to prosecute right here and now."
"Wait, what?" Léa was in a full-blown panic. "Y- You can't do this to me. I- I had that Trainer license, I... we won those badges, and they... the Pokémon, they helped. It's not fair!"
"Dr du Bois," I whispered. "Maybe you should- I mean, it's-"
"Those Pokémon risked life, limb and long-term injury," Dr du Bois spat, "for an ungrateful girl who won badges in battles she didn't take the time or effort to train her companions with, or feed them a hot meal, or even show gratitude to them. There are Trainers who slog their whole lives without gaining a badge. You picked the wrong person to discuss fairness with, Mademoiselle Morelle."
Yes, I decided. Dr du Bois was truly and heroically cheesed off for no reason today.
"I was going to thank Pumpkaboo!" Léa complained. "...after he won. B- But you were going to abandon him!"
Right. Léa Morelle and one lone Pumpkaboo was going to win against Ramos. For a fourth Gym battle. One against three, all Grass-types.
...Not going to happen.
Dr du Bois knew that too, because she leaned forward, and whatever Léa saw was enough to send her skidding back. I knew that look. We've met.
"I realise that responsibility is a foreign concept to you, Mlle," Dr du Bois silkily answered in a way that implied pretty much complete contempt, even lower than Serena. "Thirty percent of Pokémon released into the wild after human captivity don't tend to survive longer than a year, even though the law specifies that we can simply release captured Pokémon into the wild. Yet, I decided to leave him at the only place in Kalos that could cater specifically to Grass-type Pokémon like Pumpkaboo, instead of with the Global Trade System. It's not fun, the Global Trade System, but some Trainers do use it to find their Pokémon good homes. Something which you seem to have entirely overlooked. Let's add endangerment of welfare to those charges. So... in a fair world, this ends with you either: in jail, on a plane to Mistralton City, or facing complete barring from Trainer licensing as well as criminal charges, as well as being deported and in jail."
Léa turned around.
"Shall we discuss about angels?" Dr du Bois proposed. "I know two very interesting facts about them. One, that sometimes, very rarely, at a point in an individual's career where he has made such a foul and tangled mess of their life that death appears to be the only sensible option, an angel appears to them, or, I should say, unto them, and offers a chance to go back to the moment when it all went wrong, and this time do it right. I should like you to think of me as… an angel."
Léa ran. She dropped down, down, down...
… and onto the bench next to Dr du Bois, followed by a cackling Phantump and Pumpkaboo.
Dr du Bois examined her nails, standing up. In the harsh light of Coumarine City, her dark hair spilled out in a sea breeze, and her face was even scarier in its serenity. "The second thing, mademoiselle, about angels. Don't you know? You only get one."
I have a bad feeling about Léa Morelle. It is just as well that I keep my enemy close.
– Marguerite Linden du Bois.
Also on a note: French terms are from Bulbapedia. So, Gym Leaders = Champions, Elite Four = Conseils Quatre, and Champion = Maître/Maîtresse. It is not a mistake; Ramos is the Coumarine Gym Leader, le Champion de Gym à Port Tempères.
Critiquez, s'il vous plaît!