[Warning: Post game spoilers]
Morning had came and went. In fact, the time had hit 1:30pm by the time the mysterious 'Essentia' had arrived.
"Are you Clemont?" she asked, making the boy jump and hit his head against the top of the wiring compartment, which he had began to clean up as he waited. Rubbing his head as he removed himself from the compartment, he stammered, "A-ah, yes, that's m-" He stopped, flabbergasted as he caught sight of the woman that'd come to meet him. Tall with graying blonde hair and surprisingly familiar blue eyes, she held out a hand to him.
"I'm Essentia. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," she said, helping the gym leader to his feet. Clemont nodded.
"Ah, it's no problem. You must've been busy," he chuckled nervously. Essentia smiled, releasing his hand and asking, "Shall we get to work? Emma told me what you told her last night, but I'm afraid I can't do much without more details." The younger boy nodded again, "That makes sense. Alright, uh, what do you want to know?" The woman's eyebrow twitched up, though her smile had turned into an amused one.
"What had happened last night and what your trainers told you had happened would be nice. Pardon me for asking, but are you nervous?" The boy turned bright red, making the woman laugh.
"Oh don't be, just relax. Now, tell me what happened," she said. Clemont took off his glasses and began to clean them with a cloth he kept in his pocket. He purposefully kept his eyes away from the woman as he did this, telling her, "W-well, it happened during a gym battle I was having against a trainer..."
"I see." Essentia began to think over what she'd just been told. The gym leader pushed up his glasses and asked, "So do you think you can help?" She didn't answer immediatly, still thinking over the situation. Then she smiled.
"I think I can. Just leave this to me. Unless you want to help yourself?" she said, mouth curling up into a sly smile. Clemont chuckled nervously, shaking his head.
"No, it's okay. I think I'll leave it to you, since you're the expert an' all. Besides, I still need to work on repairing the tower's wiring." Essentia nodded, blue eyes understanding. She shrugged, "That makes sense. I wish you luck on that then, though I will keep you informed." She turned and began to walk away until she stopped and asked, "Actually, would you mind if Emma gave you any updates in person?" Though confused, the blond nodded.
"That shouldn't be a problem," he said, to which Essentia smiled. Nodding her head, she said, "Then I shall make this my leave then. Look out for Emma." This time, she turned and walked away, never turning back. She disappeared down an alley. Clemont scratched his head, curious about the woman and whether she could really get the job done.
"That was an...interesting meeting," he muttered, his cheeks turning a faint pink colour as he recalled what had happened. He didn't hear the quiet giggling coming from behind him, until Bonnie asked suddenly, "So what was that about?" This caused her brother to jump in surprise. Recovering from the shock he'd received, he frowned at his sister.
"You don't need to worry about that. Where's Shauna? Didn't I leave you with her while I worked on the tower?" Bonnie's cheeky little smile didn't fade as she answered, "She and her friend went to go get some galettes. Since Jaune Plaza is near to the tower, they let me come here to see you while they went to the stand. So, who was that?" Her partner Dedenne's head appeared out of her satchel and squeaked, "Dene ne~?", as though asking alongside the young girl.
"That's none of your concern," Clemont said, folding his arms and trying to appear the part of a serious older brother. However Bonnie wasn't phased. She giggled again and said, as Dedenne climbed out of her satchel and crawled up her clothing to perch on her head, "I think it is~. Especially if she can make you go all red faced like you did." Now aware that he'd been caught, his face once again turned a deep shade of red, making the smaller blonde laugh, Dedenne chattering along with her.
"This is so cute! You've got a crush on someone~!" Bonnie laughed as her poor brother tried to cover his face.
"When's Shauna gonna get here?" he muttered, hoping for the girl's swift return so she could take his sister off his hands. He still had to get back to work on the tower and he didn't need this sort of abuse. Then Bonnie asked, "So, do you think you'll meet he again? Will this become a serious thing?"
Never before had Clemont been so glad to have someone else take care of Bonnie, as much as he loved her. Therefore, the minute he saw Shauna and a ginger haired boy he could only assume was the friend Bonnie kept on mentioning coming up Autumnal Avenue, galettes in hand, he grabbed Bonnie's hand and dragged her over to the two, handing her over and telling Shauna, "Please just keep her for the rest of the day. I beg, please." And with that, he left a pouting Bonnie with the two, who stood confused at the request.
The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a variety of pastel shades, when she showed up, just as he had decided to call it a day. He closed the compartment door, sighing at the amount of work he'd gotten through while also thinking of what still remained to be done, until he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, making him look up. Emma smiled down at him, hands behind her back.
"Been working hard?" she asked, holding out a hand to help him stand while keeping the other out of sight. The gym leader nodded, sighing again as he said, "It's taking a while, but I'm getting there. I may need help to fix the actual wiring though." Emma nodded, then asked, "Are you hungry? You must've stuck at your work all day." Clemont opened his mouth to answer, only for his stomach to answer for him, making him blush and scratch the back of his neck with embarrassment.
"Yeah, I uh...didn't really take a break." The girl giggled at his response, then produced a galette from behind her back, holding it out to the boy. He blinked, surprised at the gesture, then took it, nodded his thanks as he took a bite out of the pastry. Emma waited for him to finish before she spoke again.
"You know why I'm here. Other than to feed you, of course," she snickered. Rolling his eyes and adjusting his glasses, Clemont said, "Yeah, Essentia said you would give me updates on how her search for the missing pokémon is going." The dark haired girl nodded and said, "That's right. In fact, she wanted me to tell you that she may have found out who took the pokémon and where they're hiding." This made the boy blink, shocked.
"Really? That was fast." Emma shrugged, still smiling.
"What can I say, she works fast. That's how she's always been. I would like to say that she'll have the pokémon back by tomorrow, but knowing her, she may want to scope the place out tomorrow to check, then work either the day after tomorrow or overnight. Is that okay?" she asked. The gym leader nodded, surprisingly pleased with how this was turning out.
"That would be great. So long as the pokémon are returned safe and sound. I'm simply amazed she got this far progress-wise in just one day." This caused Emma to blush slightly, though the extra colour was gone from her face as soon as it had appeared. Instead, she said, "I'll let her know you're satisfied then. She likes hearing she's done a good job." Clemont chuckled, saying as he did, "A good job? No offence to Officer Jenny or her team, but this is a better job than they could ever do." The girl chuckled as well.
"I'll let her know you said that then. She hasn't got a problem with the police, but praise like that is nice every now and then." The two fell silent, unsure of what to say. She'd already passed on the news and he'd already thanked her. What more needed to be said? Emma coughed, curious about something, to which she asked, "Actually, where is your sister? Back home again tonight?" The boy shook his head, saying, "No, uh, I had a friend watch her today. And she herself actually got a friend of her own to help her watch Bonnie. Which is a relief, cause she would've gotten in the way of me working, as much as I know she only want to help. Plus..." He trailed off, cheeks turning bright pink as he recalled their encounter that afternoon.
"What? What happened?" The dark haired girl asked, blue eyes glittering with curiosity. His cheeks turned a little darker as he muttered something Emma couldn't catch.
"Huh? Come on, tell me! Who will I tell? Them lousy hooligans working back at the Bureau? Essentia? Come on!" The gym leader groaned as he sighed, "It's nothing really. Bonnie's just got it into her head that...well, me and Essentia could be a thing. I don't know what's up with her, but she's gotten into this weird habit of..." He trailed off as Emma burst out laughing.
"Aw, that sounds cute! Your sister's trying to hook you up!" Her laughter grew harder, until she was nearly doubled over, clutching her stomach. Clemont's face went from bright pink to bright red as he frowned, almost pouted even, and said, arms folded and face turned away, "It's not funny!" Emma's laughter faded into giggles as she asked, smirking, "What? Don't you think Essentia's cute?"
"She's too old for me! I-I'm not saying she isn't nice looking but..." He once again stopped as Emma began laughing again, actually beginning to become breathless from laughing. He sighed, rubbing his forehead and muttering, "I give up." It was at that moment that he saw Shauna and her friend approaching with a tired looking Bonnie on the latter's back. Emma also saw the trio approaching, and thus tried to calm herself down, reducing herself to quiet giggling and panting. Shauna ran up to the two.
"Hey, you done up here?" She asked, giving Emma a quick wave to acknowledge her presence before asking. Clemont nodded, saying, "I've done as much as I could for today. Thanks for looking after Bonnie. What did you do for the day?" The brunette nodded to her friend, who'd joined them by now, and said, "Me and Trevor took her to that skate park on Route 5 and I let her use my skates and we had some fun. Don't worry though we watched her the entire time, so she didn't get hurt." Trevor handed the girl, who was bordering on falling asleep, to her brother, who nodded his thanks. Then he turned to Emma.
"I should probably introduce you all. You guys, this is Emma. Emma, this is Shauna and her friend, who I'm afraid I don't know as well." The smaller boy took over his own introduction; "I'm Trevor." Emma simply waved as way of acknowledging the introductions. She smiled as she said, motioning to the now asleep girl in the blond's arms, "So this must be the little matchmaker, Bonnie." Clemont's response was a deadpanned, "You're not gonna drop that now are you?" with Emma's own response simply being a snicker. Shauna and Trevor shared a confused look, before Trevor looked to the time on his Holo Caster.
"It's getting late. I should head home," he said. Turning to Shauna again, he asked, "Will you be alright getting back to Vaniville Town?" The tanned girl shrugged, and said, "I should be, though I might have to get in touch with either Calem or Serena and hope they'll give me a lift." With that, the two began to walk away, with Shauna waving back and shouting over her shoulder, "See you tomorrow then! You too Emma!"
"We'll see!" Emma shouted back. With them out of sight, the gym leader said, "I should probably get this one home too." He turned and shifted Bonnie's position so he could pick up his backpack, only for Emma to beat him to it.
"I'll walk you there. I mean, you know where your house is and I don't, but I'll walk with you. Save you the trouble of carrying both your sister and your bag. Which by the way," she huffed, heaving the bag over her shoulder, "is really heavy."
"If you're insisting," the boy smiled, and the two walked off together, the still un-illuminated tower at their backs as they departed Centrico Plaza.
The next day passed with no news about Essentia's duties, though Emma did show up again, another galette in hand. This time, the boy was still working, so she helped him out, after pleading to offer her services - while also joking that it wouldn't be included in the end bill once Essentia had saved the pokémon.
The day after this, she returned with yet another galette, plus Mimi the Espurr, and some news.
"Essentia got the pokémon?" Clemont said with surprise, and with his mouth full, causing Emma to give him an unamused look. Noticing her frown and raised eyebrow, the boy quickly swallowed, muttering a quick "Sorry". The girl rolled her eyes and said, holding Mimi on her lap and giving the Espurr a light scratch by her neck, "Yep. Got 'em sitting in the Bureau. You can either bring your trainers to come pick 'em themselves, or I can get Nix and the girls to bring 'em to the tower."
"I think it'd be best to bring them here, if that's okay," he said, finishing his galette and turning to inspect the inner workings of the tower. He almost had it working now, he just had a few more wires to untangle and out back into their correct places. However, when Emma didn't respond, he couldn't help but glance her way. He was surprised to see her looking a bit down. Even Mimi could tell her friend wasn't quite herself, as the tiny creature squirmed in her lap.
"You alright?" Emma jumped slightly, snapped out of her minor funk. She just stared at the blond, making him a little nervous, until she smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm good. So, we'll bring the pokémon tomorrow?" While the boy couldn't help but feel her smile was a little forced, he nodded.
"I'll gather up the gym trainers and bring them here tomorrow. In fact, I might be able to finish the wiring issues tomorrow too. We'll be back in business sooner than I thought, which is a relief." He wanted to ignore that pained look in her eye, but it was hard. They didn't even know each other that well, but he couldn't help but feel as though they'd become decent enough friends within the span of the past four days.
"Yeah, you must have a fair few trainers waiting to challenge you. Including that one boy that led you to the Bureau in the first place. I wouldn't mind thanking him for doing that actually, it gave us a little business," Emma smiled. Clemont smiled as well, saying, "Same here. I wouldn't have found out about Essentia and the Bureau" - he wanted to add "and you, Emma" but he decided against that - "and I probably would've waited ages for the police to find the missing pokémon." Recalling his first, and only, meeting with Essentia, the boy remembered something, which he felt he needed to ask the girl sitting next to him.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Emma nodded, releasing Mimi as she became even more restless. The Espurr cast a glance at the gym leader, making him feel uncomfortable again, before she ran off, yet not too far away from her partner.
"It's nothing important, just something that came to mind the other day when I first met Essentia. Are you two...related in some way?" he asked, looking a bit sheepish as he asked the question. Emma blinked, and for a moment he could've sworn he saw panic in her eyes, however he couldn't be sure, as she blinked once more and it was gone.
"No, not at all. She's just my employer. Why?" she asked, her expression neutral. Clemont could vaguely hear his sister nearby, and from what he could hear, she'd encountered Mimi. He ignored this however as he said, shrugging, "No reason. I just...it sounds stupid but your eyes look similar. That's it really." He coughed, looking away. Before Emma could say anything on the subject, Mimi rounded the corner, running straight for the girl. Following behind her was Bonnie.
"Ah," the girl said, coming to a stop by her brother and his new friend, who both got to their feet. She doubled over, panting, "I...I thought it was...a wild Espurr." Emma chuckled, "Nope. Mimi's my friend. She's not used to strangers though." Bonnie straightened up, her cheeks red from running after the Espurr.
"Where's Shauna? Wasn't she watching you? Or did she go and get another galette?" Clemont asked, to which Bonnie shook her head.
"Shauna's friend called her on her Holo Caster, so she had to go meet up with them. I told her I could come here on my own." Her brother sighed, "You shouldn't decide things like that. I'd rather if Shauna brought you here first then left to meet her friend." Bonnie pouted, rolling her eyes. Emma giggled.
"You can really tell you two are siblings," she laughed. This made the two blush slightly. Emma then bent down to Bonnie's level and said, "Actually, I have good news; my employer, who your brother asked to help you guys, found the missing pokémon." Bonnie gasped, face lighting up.
"Really? That's great!" Her brother smiled, and added, "Plus, I'm almost done with the wiring." Bonnie cheered, jumping in a circle around the two teens. Dedenne, who'd been sleeping in her satchel, poked its head out, confused.
"That's even better! We can re-open the gym now!" She laughed, taking the still confused pokémon out of her bag and spinning with it. The elder two watched the scene with amusement, until Emma said, "I should probably head back. Them lot'll be back from their patrol and they might spook your pokémon. I'll bring 'em round tomorrow." She started to walk away, but a call from the gym leader made her stop.
"Do you ever have a day off? Cause I wouldn't mind hanging out again." The girl paused, then smiled. Turning round, she called back, "I wouldn't mind either. I'm free weekends. But that could change at any time, being a detective's assistant an' all." The boy chuckled, before responding, "Fair enough. I'll meet you by the galette stand at 3 this Saturday."
"It's a date!" she shouted back, breaking out into a run. Such a response was on purpose, because when she glanced back, she couldn't help but laugh at his red face. And as she turned a corner and down an alleyway, she smiled as she heard him shout, "She is not my girlfriend!"
Here, have some ship tease- I mean a drabble!
I'm so sorry, I didn't mean the ship tease. I swear! It just happened!
If it's any consolation, I now ship it, which sucks cause this pairing most likely doesn't exist yet. Like at all. So there will be jack on it.
Still, hope you all enjoyed.
Fun fact: The 'model', so to speak, that I used to represent Essentia is the Veteran (Female) model, except with blue eyes.
Thank you all for reading, and putting up with the ship tease. Please do fave, follow, review and suggest more things~!
Angel-chan x
Ps. Yes, I did include some anime things, like Bonnie's matchmaker tendencies. Because I like the XY anime. It helped further my love for the precious dorky siblings. -3-