Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 2, Episode 7, Chapter 1
[~][~]
August 18th, 10:00 AM
Route 13 – Lumiose Badlands, Kalos Region
It had been a few hours since Saito, Louise, and Henrietta left the Sky Arena and its accompanying hotel behind. They had managed to get some light practice and exercise in when they first woke up, but otherwise they immediately got back onto the trail. Without a cloud in the sky, the scorching sun bore down on them, with hardly any wind to cool them down. Thanks to their wide-brimmed hats they were spared some of the harsh sunlight, but that didn't make the overall experience pleasant.
"I…don't understand…how people can live like this," Henrietta admitted as she breathed harshly, taking out a water bottle and chugging some sips down her parched throat. "Why is it so hot and dry? It was cool and wet back in the city."
"It's the mountains," Saito explained as he, too, struggled under the pressure. "They block the wet, cool ocean wind while taking most of the moisture, leaving only hot, dry air to enter the badlands. Combine that with thousands of years of soil erosion, you get a desert and badlands."
"…Fantastic," Henrietta muttered, taking another drink before stowing it away.
When she first decided to travel alongside Saito and Louise on their Pokémon Journey, she knew it would be taxing. After all, they were hiking across the entire region with just their Pokémon, only occasionally taking transportation when offered or available. Henrietta was not blind to her sheltered upbringing, which was why she wanted to come in the first place. This was a chance for her to do something that she would've never even thought about doing, nor allowed to in the first. Even now, she could imagine Agnès' horrified reaction to seeing Princess Henrietta in such a state.
But now Henrietta realized her decision was born out of naiveté. She had realized it when they first entered the Badlands really. Simply put, going on an adventure and hiking across an entire region was a lot harder than she could've imagined. Most of the nobility she knew would've given up by now. But Louise didn't. Looking at her friend, Henrietta could tell that Louise was feeling the same effects that Henrietta was, but whereas the Princess felt as though she was about to fall over, Louise kept going.
Her friend inspired Henrietta to keep going as well. It had become apparent that Louise had genuinely grown stronger throughout her Pokémon Journey, in more ways than one. Henrietta had always admired Louise for her strength and conviction, but now those feelings had only amplified. She wanted to follow in Louise's footsteps, hoping that by travelling alongside her, she herself could obtain some of the newfound strength that Louise had found. Even if, by the end, Henrietta had only gained a fraction of it, she would find the entire experience worth it.
That and even walking through the harsh badlands was still a much more welcoming experience than having to deal with petty noble politics. The former was physical exhaustion, whereas the latter made her feel like her soul had left her body by the end.
Still, Henrietta couldn't wait until she was finally out of these heat. By the Founder's grace, relief wasn't too far away as, just a few miles further down the trail, she could see the rising steel and glass pyramid that was the Kalos Power Plant. She was excited to finally see it for herself, both for the prospect of air conditioning and for the chance to see how electricity was gathered and distributed across the entire Kalos region. If there was one thing she had learned since arriving in this world, it was that energy made everyone's lives better and easier. It was something she wanted to bring back home to Tristain, and even if she wouldn't be able to fully understand exactly what was going on, at least she could get the basic ideas.
"Hard to believe that thing was designed by a guy my age," Saito couldn't help but mutter under his breath, catching Henrietta by surprise.
"Wait, really?" she asked, and Saito nodded.
"Yeah," Saito confirmed. "Clemont Lum. He's also the Electric Gym Leader for Lumiose."
"Which means he's our next opponent," Louise added.
"That, too," Saito said, then he smirked as he glanced towards his friend then towards Henrietta. "You know, we actually ran into him the last time we were in Lumiose. Him and his little sister, Bonnie."
Henrietta couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, not quite certain where Saito was going with this, only to notice Louise briefly flinch and trip over her feet. Realizing that this encounter must've been embarrassing to her friend, Henrietta briefly considered letting the matter drop and sparing Louise any teasing that Saito wanted to inflict.
She quickly threw away that notion and cheekily smiled while saying, "Oh, really? What were they like?"
"They seemed nice," Saito continued, ignoring Louise giving him a murderous glare, "but Bonnie really liked Louise."
"Saito…," Louise growled in warning, but Saito ignored her.
"How so?" Henrietta questioned, also ignoring the glare Louise was giving her.
"Bonnie thought that Louise was so beautiful, elegant, and refined that she declared Louise to be 'a keeper' then asked her to marry her brother," Saito revealed. "Took about a minute to come to that decision."
Henrietta couldn't help but snort and laugh, not expecting that response, while Louise chastised, "I told you not to tell her about that!"
"Come on, it's funny!" Saito countered as he laughed and shrugged off Louise's light slaps to his shoulder.
"It was embarrassing!" Louise insisted, giving her best friend one final slap before walking away with a huff.
Saito and Henrietta remained laughing for a few more moments, then they calmed themselves down and went after her. Henrietta, however, couldn't help but joke, "Well, Louise, maybe your fiancé will be at the Power Plant waiting for you."
"Shut up," Louise ordered, and Henrietta gave a faux gasp.
"Louise, is that how you treat a princess?" Henrietta asked, but Louise gave her a half-lidded glare.
"You said not to treat you like a princess," Louise pointed out. "So shut up."
Henrietta once again laughed alongside Saito. After a moment, Louise's expression fell and she, too, joined in on the laugher. As much as she didn't want to admit it, in hindsight a little girl asking someone she just met to marry her brother, much to his embarrassment, was funny. Not to mention harmless. She wondered if Clemont and his sister would be at the Power Plant. Given how he helped design it, it was possible. Hopefully, Bonnie wouldn't ask for Louise's hand again.
[~]
A few hours later, much to the party's relief, they finally found themselves at the Kalos Power Planet's front entrance. Part of Saito had been worried that they wouldn't be allowed to go inside, fears that only amplified when they reached the outer gate. The entire power plant took up dozens of acres across the badlands, all of which was surrounded by an electrified fence, guard posts, and more security cameras than he could count. Given how much Kalos relied upon this facility for its power, the extra security made sense.
Luckily, his fears were for naught as a sign directed them to the visitor entrance. Passing through the gate, they walked along the concrete path towards the glass and steel pyramid. They weren't the only ones, as they could see several groups of people in front of them heading to the same location. To his relief, he saw that many were disembarking from a bus stop, meaning they should be able to simply take the bus back to Lumiose once their tour was over. As much as he enjoyed hiking across Kalos, the prospect of spending a few more days in the badlands was not an appealing one.
When they finally entered the building through its sliding glass automatic doors, they were immediately greeted by a rush of cool air which made all three trainers sigh in relief. Saito heard Henrietta mutter a grateful thanks to the air conditioning under her breath, a sentiment he readily agreed with. He also saw a vending machine filled with water bottles, which he immediately diverted his course to and purchased one for each of them.
Along the way, he took note of his surroundings and saw that there were dozens of people already inside. Some were in line with the front desk, purchasing guest passes that would allow them to have a proper tour of the facility. Others were already wearing their passes on lanyards and mingling among themselves, forming all clumps . Saito didn't give the other guests too much heed, instead focusing his attention on his friends as they took in the scenery around them.
"Hey, have some water," he announced as he rejoined his friends, handing each of them a water bottle which they eagerly took.
After taking a few heavy sips, Louise released a satisfied sigh before replying, "Thanks. Stay here, I'm going to buy us some tickets."
"Sounds good to me," Saito said, giving his friend an affirmative nod as she turned around and began walking towards the front desk. But as she did, she accidentally bumped into a tall, burly man wearing cargo shorts and a tank top that left his arms exposed.
"Sorry, I didn't see you," Louise quickly apologized, only to flinch when the man turned around to give her a harsh glare.
"Watch where you're going," the man growled, then turned around and didn't give her another look.
Saito couldn't help but frown at the man. It appeared that Louise was also annoyed at his response to what was an honest mistake, but instead of doing anything about it she simply shook her head and kept going. She likely figured it wasn't worth making a scene over, something Saito agreed with.
Henrietta, on the other hand, glowered at the man and muttered under her breath, "That was rude. He didn't need to react that way."
"She did bump into him," Derflinger pointed out, but Henrietta shook her head while continuing to glare at the man's back.
"It was just an accident. She didn't see him."
"Which begs the question as to how she didn't see him in the first place," Derflinger couldn't help but joke. "The guy's practically a mountain."
"Yeah, no kidding," Saito whispered while shaking his head. "But we shouldn't talk about people behind their backs. What's done is done. More importantly, it's clear that Louise didn't think it was worth confronting him over, so we should do the same."
Henrietta frowned then, after a moment, released a sigh, shook her head, and admitted, "…I know. Still, it doesn't sit right with me."
"Same for me, but it is what it is," Saito admitted, then glanced over to Louise who was still in line. He smirked slightly and added, "You know, had this happened when Louise and I first met, I guarantee she would've tried to bite his head off."
"Really?" Henrietta asked, and Saito nodded.
"Yep. Pinky's a spitfire when she wants to be," Derflinger confirmed. "You should've seen her when she chewed out Princess Allie. Tore her to shreds."
"To be fair, that was warranted," Saito pointed out, remembering the encounter vividly.
"Louise told me about that. She sounded dreadful," Henrietta said, then frowned and muttered, "and familiar."
Saito recognized the tone in her voice and winced before saying, "Oh yeah, I bet you had to deal with a lot of people like Princess Allie back home."
"You have…no idea," Henrietta confirmed as she hugged her shoulders. Then she shook her head and smiled before saying, "But that's a world away, literally. Until we go home, I don't have to worry about such things, so I won't."
"I hear that," Saito declared as he gave the princess a smile, a gesture she returned.
A few minutes later, they heard Louise return, carrying three guest passes that she handed to her friends. She then announced, "I got us the guest passes. Looks like they're splitting everyone up into different, smaller groups."
"Makes sense. Keeps things more manageable," Saito noted as he, once again, glanced around at all the people in the front lobby. He couldn't imagine who difficult it would be to wrangle everyone together in a large, singular group. It sounded like a nightmare.
"What about me? Do they allow Pokémon?" Derflinger asked, and Louise nodded.
"The receptionist said you're fine so long as you don't go after the equipment," Louise revealed, causing Derflinger to raise an eyebrow.
"Why would I do that?" he asked.
"Apparently some species, mostly Electric-types, are attracted to the electricity being produced," she answered. "You can imagine how that would lead to issues."
"…Yeah, that tracks," Derflinger said. "Speaking of, what your other Pokémon? They're not having you turn them over, are they?"
"No, but they don't them outside of their Pokéballs outside of specified areas," Louise confirmed. "Helps keep things from getting too crowded."
"Fair enough. Wasn't planning on bringing them out, anyway," Saito admitted. "When does our tour start?"
"In about an hour. In the meantime, they want us to wait in the lobby," Louise confirmed.
"That sounds splendid to me," Henrietta said, eagle to let her legs rest after several days of walking. It was a sentiment that all three trainers shared, and so they happily made their way towards an empty bench and sat down.
They fell into conversation, mostly Henrietta asking about basic trivia regarding electric power and the other two doing their best to provide accurate answers. It helped that they finally had good internet connection so they could look up anything they didn't know on their Pokédexes. Occasionally they could catch snippets of other conversations going on around them, but they weren't particularly paying them any attention.
But in the far corner of the room, unbeknownst to the three trainers and the ancient Honedge, the man that Louise had accidentally bumped into was glaring at them. Beside him was a much smaller woman wearing glasses, her red hair tied up in a bun.
"Is that them?" the man whispered to his companion, and the woman nodded.
"Yes, Louise Vallière and Saito Hiraga," she confirmed. "The fact that they're here is…interesting."
The man growled as he crossed his muscular arms over his chest. He then asked, "Who's the other girl with them?"
"I don't know. Not yet, anyway," the woman admitted as she pushed up the rim of her glasses against her nose. "But believe me, I intend to find out."
"I don't like this, Minerva," the man admitted. "They've already interfered with three of our operations so far."
"Technically, Solomon, Carnegie's cell only recently joined up with us," Minerva Arbeit pointed out, but Solomon Anhalt scowled and shook his head.
"And they stopped him in his tracks and made him retreat with nothing to show for his efforts," Solomon rebuked while raising a finger. "Which then caused his subordinates to attempt to coup. The only reason Carnegie's with us now is because Fletcher bailed him out. Speaking of, they also nearly caused his operation at the daycare to fail. Them being here at all is a problem."
"Perhaps," Minerva stoically admitted. "What do you suggest we do about it?"
"Take care of them before they have a chance to interfere."
Minerva shook her head while saying, "You know Fletcher won't allow that. Besides, if my studies on Louise's DNA is correct…this might just be an opportunity."
Solomon frowned and clenched his fist, wanting to rebuke the scientist. But after a few moments, he hung his head, released a sigh, then replied, "Fine. But when things get going and they interfere…I will enjoy breaking them."
"I'm certain you will," Minerva said, then turned away, pressed her finger to her hear, and whispered, "Fletcher, we may have a situation."
[~][~]
Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Outsiders. Special thanks to Darwin Candidate and Yuri Vampire for their help in bringing this chapter to life.
A bit of a shorter chapter, but given how the episodes are meant to be short and easily written/digestible chunks of larger episodes, we figured this was fine. Saito, Louise, and Henrietta have finally arrived at the Power Plant, but unfortunately (and as many of you have guessed), luck is not on their side as members of Team Flare coincidentally have the plant in their sights as well. Needless to say, the rest of the episode will be dealing with that.
Now, in case you guys are not aware, the next update for this story will take a while because I am writing the next three chapters of Dust and Echoes back to back rather than alternating between it, my other stories, and Outsiders. This is because I'm trying to finish a major arc in that story. Once that is over, we will be resuming our regular rotation which will include Outsiders.
Now then, to answer a few questions:
Luckily, Henrietta is being subjected to the same time dilation as Louise, so she wouldn't actually be gone from Tristain for that long for things to really develop into a crisis. As for Siesta and Count Mott, do remember that Count Mott was a purely anime character and didn't exist in the light novel. My stories take after the Light Novel more with a few things taken from the anime, so she doesn't really have to worry about Count Mott.
Henrietta will start to more actively ship Saito and Louise together later when it becomes clearer that they're actually into each other. For now, she's content with trolling her childhood friend.
That's it for now. We hope you guys enjoy. If any of you have a TV Tropes account, any assistance in updating the TV Tropes page would be greatly appreciated. See you all next time!
