Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 2, Episode 8, Chapter 1

[~][~]

August 21st, 8:30 AM

Lumiose City, Kalos Region

With Team Flare's attack on the Kalos Power Plant behind them, along with necessary debriefs to the authorities, Saito, Louise, and Henrietta continued their journey through Route 13 on towards Lumiose City. It was a relatively uneventful hike, with the most excitement they got being the occasional battle against a wild Pokémon and a few traveling trainers they came across. It was a welcome return to form.

Their progress was impeded somewhat by Henrietta, however. Not due to her running off on her own like at the Power Plant, something Louise had vowed Henrietta would never live down, but the simple fact that out of the three of them the Princess of Tristain had the least physical endurance. It seemed that the days of constant traveling and walking through the hot, dry desert was finally leaving its mark on the young woman. They had to stop frequently for breaks so that Henrietta could recover her strength or rest her sore feet. Admittedly, their walk through the badlands was getting to Saito and Louise as well, but compared to the Princess they were fine.

Eventually, after two days of walking, the trio finally entered sight of Lumiose City itself. They had entered the city as the sun was setting, and the lights began to shine across the twilight sky. It was a breathtaking display, one that more than lived up to the City of Lights' reputation. But they were so tired that they didn't enjoy the view for too long. Instead, they went straight to Professor Sycamore's lab and, after saying hello to their gracious host, briefly catching up and eating a quick dinner, practically collapsed onto the beds he and his assistants had already made for them.

But all that was in the past. Right now, all Henrietta wanted to do was simply eat her breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast in peace. If only her legs stopped screaming at her every time she sat down.

"Still sore?" Saito asked her as he sat down across from her, with Louise already seated beside the princess.

Henrietta winced in discomfort, then nodded as she replied, "Yes, but it does feel better than last night at least. When will it stop?"

"Depends on the person. Could be a few hours from now, could be tomorrow," Saito answered as he fed a forkful of eggs into his mouth. After chewing and swallowing, he added, "In my experience, moving around a bit actually helps."

"How does moving around help?" Henrietta asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "Moving around is what got me into this."

"It's lactic acid buildup," Professor Sycamore helpfully called out as he read the daily gazette from his seat at the other end of the room. "When you perform strenuous exercise, such as constantly walking for days on end, your muscles release lactic acid as they stretch and tear. This makes your muscles sore, and as Saito said, one of the ways to help speed recovery along is to be active."

Henrietta wanted to dispute that as her sore muscles screamed at her, but she thought against it. Professor Sycamore knew far more about biology, both human and Pokémon, than she did after all, and he had given her no reason to doubt his expertise. He wasn't like many of the advisors she had to deal with at court. Sure, their advice and expertise were invaluable, but in her opinion, Henrietta found that many had their words colored by self-interest, bias, or even corruption in the worst cases.

Shaking her head, Henrietta then complained, "You know, I wouldn't be complaining about this if I could use my wand and cast healing magic."

"Using healing magic would cancel out any gains you've made, meaning this'll happen again. Besides, you're still grounded," Louise calmly declared as she wiped some crumbs away from her lips with a napkin.

"You do realize, Louise, that as the Princess, you don't actually have authority over me," Henrietta rebuked as she narrowed her eyes, only for Louise to continue eating while keeping hers closed.

"Normally, you'd be correct," she agreed. "But when you joined us, you insisted that we don't treat you like a Princess until we return to Tristain. As we are not in Tristain, you are not currently a princess. Meaning, you are still grounded until I can trust you to not run off again and do something stupid with your magic, so suck it up."

Henrietta puffed up her cheeks petulantly at being treated like a child, but she supposed there wasn't much she could do at the moment. She had, indeed, told them several times to just treat her as a normal girl and not royalty. Admittedly, she hadn't foreseen getting her wand confiscated by her best friend as a consequence to that decision. Then again, she had gotten them involved in a terrorist plot after a foolish attempt at heroics. One that could've gotten them all killed, and did result in her getting briefly kidnapped. Looking back, running in like that was the dumbest thing she had ever done. She could only imagine that Agnès would've done had she been here.

In that case, she supposed that not being allowed to use magic for a while was more than appropriate. Didn't mean she had to like it.

Shaking her head, she decided to shift the conversation to more productive matters and asked, "So, what's the plan now? Saito, Louise, you two are going to battle the Gym Leader, right?"

"Yes. I already scheduled the match with Clemont this morning, as a matter of fact," Saito confirmed. "We're actually in luck. When I mentioned we were in party together, he offered to make it a double battle between us and him with his assistant robot. Or Clembot, as he called it."

"A double battle," Louise muttered as she rubbed her chin and looked at the marked date on the calendar, then nodded. "Yes, that will be convenient and certainly save some time. When is going to happen?"

"At the end of the week," Saito revealed. "We can train until then."

"I was going to suggest that as well," Louise admitted, then looked at Henrietta. "Henrietta, if I'm reading this right, your first Pokémon Showcase should be the next day."

"Really?" Henrietta asked, then quickly looked at the calendar. "Oh, it is! That's good."

"Yeah, I made sure our schedules wouldn't interfere with each other. How's your routine coming along, by the way?" Saito asked while leaning forward, and Henrietta smiled.

"Fleur and I are making good progress. We should be ready by the time the showcase begins."

"That's good."

"Henrietta, if you need to use magic for your showcase, I'll allow that," Louise offered, but surprisingly Henrietta shook her head.

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. Fleur and I's routine doesn't involve magic," Henrietta revealed, causing Louise to raise an eyebrow.

"Really? I thought you would've used it. You're very skilled in magic, Henrietta. It seems foolish to discard it," Louise pointed out, only for Saito to raise up his palm.

"I actually think she's doing the right thing here," Saito countered. "No one else can use magic, so her trying to use it might be considered an unfair advantage."

"Why would it be unfair?" Louise calmly asked as she focused all of her attention on Saito. "It's not as though magic is a performance-enhancing drug like R. She was born with the potential to use magic, and it was a skill that she cultivated for years to master. It's no different than someone who knows how to dance or sing and using it in their performance. Why aren't you saying they shouldn't do that?"

"I think there's a difference between someone learning how to dance or sing versus someone using magic. Yes, Henrietta is very good at using magic, but the only reason why she can cast it in the first place is because she won the genetic lottery. No offense."

"None taken. I see your point," Henrietta replied.

"While that is true, Saito, it's not as though esoteric powers are unheard of," Louise pointed out. "There are people with psychic abilities all over the world, and I've heard that some can even manipulate aura like Riolus and Lucarios. I don't see them being excluded from competition, so long as they aren't being used directly on their opponents like reading their minds. That would be an unfair advantage. But simply using what you were born with isn't wrong, and trying to act otherwise is unfair."

Saito hummed to himself, then admitted, "I honestly hadn't considered that. You do have a point, but I can't help but think how I would feel if I did one of these showcases or contests, performed really well, only to lose to someone who had something impossible for me to replicate. If that happened to me, I'd be pissed."

As the two friends continued their debate, Henrietta calmly listened to them both before saying, "Saito, Lousie, both of you are right, and I did look through the rules before signing up. According to them, esoteric abilities are allowed so long as they don't affect a competitor's performance. They used psychics abilities as the main example, but I see no reason why magic wouldn't fall under the same lines. So, if I wanted to use magic, I could."

"Then why aren't you?" Louise asked, genuinely curious.

"Because I don't want this performance to be about me," she admitted. "It's supposed to be about Fleur as well. If I used magic, all eyes would be on me, not her. So, at least for this one, I don't want to use magic."

Saito and Louise were quiet for a moment, then the pair nodded as Louise replied, "I suppose that makes sense. I still think you're handicapping yourself, but it's your decision."

Henrietta nodded towards Louise as Saito finished his meal then sighed. Standing up from his chair, he said, "Well, can't put this off any longer."

"Put what… Oh, right," Henrietta muttered, remembering the deal that Saito had made with Maindo to release him once they got back to Lumiose. Seeing as how they had returned, it was time to fulfill his end of the bargain.

"I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of it," Louise pointed out, clearly happy to finally have the male Kirlia out of her hair. "Just release him out back and be done with him."

"I escorted him this far. I can take him the rest of the way," Saito countered. "Besides, apparently his family live in an abandoned plantation home in Laverre Swamp just outside Lumiose, so I don't have to go too far."

"Make sure you wear clothes you don't care about if you go into Route 14," Sycamore advised. "Can't tell you how many boots I've lost going through that muck."

"Already taken care of, but thanks," Saito said.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Henrietta asked, recognizing the mixed feelings on Saito's face, but he shook his head.

"Nah, I think this something I gotta do on my own," he admitted.

"I understand," Henrietta admitted, then continued, "Still, I do actually want to go out into the swamp."

That caused Louise to raise an eyebrow asked, "Okay, but why?"

"I want to try my hand at crafting more things," Henrietta answered as she pulled out a small book from her bag, "and according to this guide, there's a lot of resources I can use there. Berries, herbs, stones, it's a treasure trove."

While Saito nodded in understanding, Lousie released a sigh and hung her head before saying, "Ah, Founder. I'd been hoping to put going through that swamp until after the Gym, but if you really want to go out there, I'll go with you."

"Really? Thanks, Louise!"

"Don't thank me. I'm only going to make sure you don't do something stupid again. And we're leaving your wand here," Louise replied as she gave Henrietta a half-lidded stare, which caused the Princess' face to fall and the men in the room to chuckle.

[~]

Once the party finished eating their breakfast and changing into the appropriate clothes, they made their way towards Route 14. If he was being honest with himself, part of Saito wanted to put actually going through the swamp off for at least a few more days. But the rest knew this had to be done, and it was better to get it over and done with. It helped if he thought of this brief excursion as a trial run. That way, when they have to go through the swamp again, they'd know what not to do.

Once they left the gate, they continued down the path towards the Laverre Swamp, passing by a sign that mentioned it was part of the larger Laverre Nature Reserve. Dozens of rare and powerful species of Pokémon called the reserve home, including several Dragon-types like the Goodra and Dragonite families, providing ample motivation to trainers hoping to add members to their teams. Already he could see several trainers walking the same path they were. Some looked like they were fully prepared to traverse the swamp, while others looked even less prepared than he, Louise, and Henrietta were.

In any case, the grassy plain they were walking through was, slowly but surely, beginning to transition into swampy wetlands. The ground grew wetter, the dirt trail got more and more muddy, and the grass grew higher. Each step was accompanied by a wet squelch, and it was growing harder and harder to avoid patches of mud. But the most telling sign that they were approaching the swamp was the presence of a pungent odor that burned his nostrils, even as he tried to ignore it.

"Ugh, that stench!" Louise complained, a sentiment that Saito and Henrietta shared.

Instinctively taking a quick sniff, Saito recoiled and balked as the smell of swamp gas filled his nostrils. He tried waving it away while coughing and saying, "Oof! That is…yeah, that is something. It smells like dirty gym socks."

"It is times like these where I am glad I don't have a nose," Derflinger admitted, ignoring the sideways glares the humans were giving him.

"Lucky you…," Henrietta muttered, but otherwise kept going before she and the others came to a stop right at the edge of the trail.

Shuddering in discomfort, Saito turned to look at the girls beside him, both of whom were trying their best to ignore just how badly the swamp smelled to little avail. For his part, Saito resigned himself to having to deal with it, hoping it would be over and done with soon. But before he could express that sentiment to his friends, Maindo's Pokéball on his belt opened on its own, releasing the Kirlia who immediately smiled and took a deep breath in through his nostrils.

'Ah, smells like home. It's been so long, I'd almost forgotten,' Maindo announced as he took it all in, resting his hands on his hips. He then looked over his shoulder towards Henrietta and Louise before saying, 'Oh, don't tell me you two are backing out now, are you? Afraid of getting a little wet?'

"No, of course not!" Henrietta immediately replied, which only caused Maindo's smile to grow.

'Look at it this way… The spas in the city charge top dollar to cover your faces in mud. You'll be getting that treatment for free!' he teased.

Henrietta's eyes flashed back towards the swamp, then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then said, "Wel then, I look forward to the experience. Come on, Louise. Let's go."

The Princess of Tristain took a long, confident stride forward, only for her foot to immediately get stuck in the mud. She whelped in surprise before trying to free herself, with Louise trying to help. But when she tried, she got stuck as well, leaving both cemented in place.

"You, uh, you girls need some help?" Saito asked while Maindo openly smiled at the admittedly amusing sight of the girls trying to wrench their legs free from the swamp, causing mud and water to splash all over their arms and legs.

"No! We're fine!" Louise insisted while grunting in exertion, finally managing to free herself from her swampy prison. A moment later, Henrietta was able to free herself as well, and the pair momentarily basked in their victory.

'Congratulations, you made it made one foot into the swamp. Well done,' Maindo mocked, interrupting their glory and nearly making them double over.

Saito was barely able to hold back his laughter while Louise and Henrietta silently glared at the smiling Kirlia before huffing and turning around. He and Maindo watched the girls trudge their way through the swamp, each taking heavy steps and intermittently having to free themselves before moving on.

As the pair moved past some mangrove trees, Maindo said, 'Yeah, two rich girls walking through a swamp. Absolutely nothing can go wrong there.'

Saito couldn't help but nod in agreement before replying, "This is what Henrietta wanted."

'So the future Queen of Tristain is making another glorious decision. Well, at least Pinky's there to hold her hand.'

Almost as soon as the words left his telepathic mouth, they heard Louise let out a scream followed by a loud splash of water. A moment later, they heard Louise begin to complain as Henrietta tried to pull her free from the mud she had completely fallen into, only for another splash to ensue.

Saito, Maindo, and Derflinger stared out towards them for a moment, then Derflinger began floating forward after them and said, "Yeah, I'm just going to watch over them."

"Good call," Saito replied, waving the ancient Honedge off who responded with a wave of his sash without turning back to look at him.

Confident that his friends have at least someone among them who knew what they were doing, Saito turned to look at Maindo before asking, "Well, Maindo, I suppose this is it."

Maindo adopted a stoic expression as he looked up at Saito and replied, 'Yeah…I suppose it is.'

The two were silent for a moment, then Maindo glanced upward at Saito one last time and, for some reason, adopted a mischievous smirk. Before a suspicious Saito could ask him what he was planning, the world suddenly disappeared in a flash of bright light. When his vision returned, he was no longer standing at the edge of the swamp. Instead, he was now shin-deep in the muck, surrounded by tall, dark trees, thick bushes, and seemingly an endless amount of swamp water.

"What the hell?!" Saito shouted once he finally regained his bearings and realized that Maindo had teleported him deep into the swamp. "MAINDO!"

'What? You said you were going to take me home,' Maindo cheekily pointed out from his perch atop a dry branch. 'Don't tell me you were planning on leaving the job half done? Besides, now you get to enjoy an enthusiastic walk back to town!'

Saito ground his teeth together in frustration while clenching his fists tightly together. He had half a mind to rant at the stunt Maindo just pulled. But judging by the look on the Kirlia's face, that was the reaction he wanted. Instead, Saito released a heavy sigh to calm himself, then started looking around his immediate area. At first, all he could see was that they were just deep in the Laverre Swamp, surrounded by thick trees covered in vines, some of which had Burmy and Wormadam hanging off branches. But hidden among the bushes, barely able to be seen, were the rusted remains of an old cast-iron gate. The brick columns it was built around had long since been overgrown, but if he focused he was able to see a faint trail going in both directions.

Pursing his lips together, Saito realized that Maindo had teleported them right to the edge of his family's home. Likely for a reason. The Kirlia could've teleported them right to his front door, but instead he deposited them at the outer edge. Saito couldn't see the old plantation house yet through all the brush and trees, but it stood to reason that it wouldn't be too far away. This left him in a bit of a dilemma, which he knew for a fact was exactly what Maindo wanted. One last prank for the road, as it were. He could turn around and try walking back through the swamp towards Lumiose City. A quick check of his Pokédex showed that he still had service, so he wouldn't get lost thanks to the GPS. But that look at the map also showed that they were miles deep into the swamplands, and the last thing he wanted was to trudge all the way though it. Even if he wore clothes he didn't particularly care about in anticipation of something like this happening, he didn't want to have to take an hour-long shower when he got back just to feel clean.

After a few more moments of thought, he made a decision then said, "Fine. Lead the way, Maindo. Ugh, I can feel it seeping into my socks…."

Maindo simply smiled, then replied, 'Right this way, Idiot.'

The Kirlia teleported to the next branch, and Saito dutifully followed, albeit at a slowed pace. Each step required quite a bit of effort to relieve his foot from its muddy confines, only to get locked into place as soon as he broke the surface of the water. He could just tell that Maindo was having an absolute blast watching him trudge through the swamp, and a quick glance upward showed that the Kirlia was indeed giving him a mocking smirk. But Saito put up with it, figuring that the sooner they got to his family's house, the sooner he'd get home. One of his parents or siblings had to know Teleport, and hopefully the apple fell far from the tree and they'd be willing to teleport him back to the city.

As he continued to follow Maindo through the swampy grounds, more of the old plantation that once dominated this place made itself known. Overgrown hedges that had long since been left untended, broken and bent lamp posts on cracked brick podiums. Even a few statues of Pokémon in a variety of different poses and condition. Whoever once lived here clearly had quite a bit of money, but its current state left quite a few questions as to what happened to them. It ultimately didn't really matter, Saito supposed, as he instead tried to find a firmer and drier path to walk on.

At the same time, he continued to follow Maindo as he teleported from perch to perch, trusting that he'd know his way around his family's home and get them to where they needed to go. With each step closer, Saito knew they were also taking a step closer to their inevitable farewell. His mind was a swirling mixture of conflicting emotions towards that, the most prominent of which was regret that it had come to this in the first place. Even if his patience for Maindo's antics had run out months ago, the fact remained that he was his Pokémon, and he was Maindo's trainer. They were supposed to be partners, build each other up to become stronger together than they were apart. So the fact that their relationship had broken down so badly that the only way forward for either of them was to completely separate represented an abject failure on his part.

Part of him found it funny that only now, when they were at the finish line, was he starting to feel this way. Had it happened months ago when Maindo cruelly reduced Louise to tears, he probably wouldn't have even cared. But a lot has happened since then, events that made things so much more complicated between the two of them. Part of Saito wished that things could've gone differently, that they could've made it work if they had just communicated better. But that was impossible, so all he could do was simply roll with it.

[~]

For his part, behind the joy Maindo had been feeling all day, both at the prospect at finally getting home and the fact that Pinky and the Royal Dumbass were stupid enough to barge straight through the swamp instead of using the dry paths (which the Idiot also seemed to not realize was there), his gut kept feeling like it was swarming with Butterfree. Each time he teleported closer to his family's home, he should be getting happier that he was finally going to be free of Saito and his friends. But instead it just kept getting worse. At least watching Saito trudge through the flooded grounds like a hillbilly was entertaining, but that still didn't help much. In fact, his very presence seemed to be making him feel worse, and Maindo had no idea why. After months of traveling against his will across the Kalos region, forced into life-or-death battles against Team Flare, his own evil doppelgänger from another timeline, and a bunch of other frustrations he didn't sign up for at all, he should be ecstatic. He was finally getting everything he wanted, so why wasn't he jumping over the moon?

The storm of emotions Maindo was feeling frustrated him to no end. Clearly taking his ex-trainer along for the ride as one last prank wasn't the right move in hindsight. He had only done it on a whim to begin with, one last bit of fun before he could finally kick him to the curb and be done with him. But keeping Saito along only seemed to make things worse. Part of him figured he could just teleport him back to town and be done with it, but his pride refused to let him seriously consider it. Doing that would've been an admission of defeat, and he was not going to give Saito any bit of satisfaction.

Still, it was nice seeing his family's home. Even after months away, it hadn't changed much. He remembered it like the back of his hand. The trees he and his siblings would climb, the little nooks and crannies they'd play hide and seek in. Even the shattered remains of a statue from when he was first practicing his moves was still there. Each familiar sight made him smile softly and made him wonder where his family was. He imagined they were probably inside the house somewhere, waiting for him to finally come home.

[~]

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they came in sight of the plantation house. It was a three-story building with a grand entrance surrounded by columns, partially listing to the side as the swamp slowly but surely reclaimed it over the years. What once was painted a pristine white had long since faded away into nothing more than a chipped exterior, exposing the wooden planks and red brick underneath the façade. All of the windows had become faded, several of which were shattered. Maindo's jubilation at finally seeing it was radiating out from his diminutive body for all to see, standing in stark contrast to his usual behavior.

Saito, however, merely winced and admitted, "Wow, what a dump."

Maindo's smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown as he turned to look at the human and said, 'That's my home.'

"Certainly explains a lot if this is where you grew up," Saito immediately shot back, then started walking forward towards the entrance. While Maindo's younger siblings probably wouldn't be able to teleport him back, at least one of his parents or an older sibling should be able to, assuming they were nice enough to consider it.

But before he could reach the thick double doors at the mansion's entrance, they suddenly swung open from the inside with a large gust of heavy wind that ruffled Saito's hair and his clothes. The boy stopped in his tracks as he gazed into the dark interior of the seemingly abandoned mansion, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He couldn't help but try to take a step back, but his feet were still stuck in the mud so all he could do was lean.

That was when Maindo teleported to the bottom of the stairs in front of him and announced, 'Hi, Dad, I'm home!'

It was then that, emerging from the shadows, a large shape came into view. Rather than a Gardevoir or Gallade as Saito expected, the Pokémon appeared to be floating in mid-air. It was about the size of his chest, with short, stubby legs, thin and wide arms, and a hair-like appendage that stretched out the back of its head. Its slit eyes glowed red, and its mouth was zipped shut.

Although Saito recognized the Banette for what it was, he still pulled out his Pokédex and scanned it on pure instinct, and the device said, "Banette, the Marionette Pokémon, and the evolved form of Shuppet. A Ghost-type Pokémon native to the Johto region, Banettes were originally inanimate dolls that were driven to life by powerful grudges. It is said that they constantly scour the land, searching for the one who abandoned them to exact their vengeance."

As Saito slowly pocketed the Pokédex, a quartet of Shuppets emerged from inside the mansion and started to happily swarm around a now laughing Maindo. It wasn't hard for him to realize they were his siblings, meaning Maindo's family were made up almost entirely of Ghost-type Pokémon. In hindsight, he should've realized that. After all, Maindo made frequent use of Shadow Ball and Shadow Sneak, two Ghost-type moves. His mother must've been a Gardevoir, otherwise he'd be a Shuppet as well, but the only thing he knew about Maindo's family up until his point was that his mother had died years ago. That meant his plan to get home had completely gone up in smoke.

Hanging in his head in frustration, he tried to figure out what he was going to do next, only for the Banette, Maindo's father, to suddenly float up to him. Taken aback by the Ghost-type Pokémon suddenly in his face, he awkwardly smiled and introduced himself, "Uh, hello there. I'm Saito, Maindo's…ex-trainer. He decided he didn't want to travel with us, so I promised to bring him home."

The Banette was completely silent at first, then he looked at Maindo and made a strange grunting sound that he couldn't quite describe. Maindo clearly understood him, though, and gave his father an almost scandalous look. When the Banette repeated himself, Maindo released a heavy sigh then turned to look at Saito.

'My father says hello, and thanks you for returning me home,' Maindo translated. He went silent again for a moment, but when his father made another grunt, Maindo reluctantly added, 'He also, ugh…apologizes for any inconvenience you may have faced coming here, and invites you to lunch.'

"Oh! Uh, well, thank you but that's not necessary," Saito tried to say, only for the quartet of Shuppets that had crowded around Maindo to suddenly shift over to him. They were looking up at the human with wide, excited eyes, and in the face of such an unrelenting assault, Saito's resistance crumbled. He sighed, then said, "Alright, I'll stay for a bit."

The Banette grunted in acknowledgement, then turned around and floated back into the mansion. Maindo and his siblings came after him, and after freeing himself from the muck, Saito walked up the stairs as well. He was about to take off his shoes so as to not drag mud inside, but a quick shake from the Banette's head told him not to bother. As the doors closed behind him, he wondered how, exactly, he got roped into this, but his grumbling stomach convinced him to not worry about it for now. Some food sounded nice, even if it was going to most likely just be some berries. Hopefully, Louise and Henrietta were having a good time.

[~]

Louise was not having a good time. While she knew walking through the swamp would be difficult, she had underestimated just how disgusting it actually was. She was completely drenched from head to toe in water, mud splattered all over her clothes and seeping into her socks and shoes. Each step took an eternity it felt like just to free her foot from the muck, and a few times she lost her shoe in the process. She had long since given up on the salvageability of her current outfit and resolved to burn it when she got back to the lab. Part of her considered simply turning around and going back, but doing so would've been an admission of defeat, and Louise refused to let that happen.

Henrietta wasn't having it any better. In fact, in many ways it was worse for her than it was for Louise. At least Louise was somewhat experienced with hiking through the wilderness, even if she had never gone through a swamp before. Henrietta only had a few weeks of cross-country traveling under her belt, and nothing as arduous as a swamp. The perfume she had put on herself in an effort to block out the smell had only served to attract scores of flies, drawn to her like honey. A constant, buzzing cloud surrounded her head, and even her attempts to wave them off only temporarily dissipated them. Like Louise's outfit, hers was completely ruined, and worst of all they hadn't even found what they came out here for.

Futilely waving off the flies for the umpteenth time, Henrietta glanced upward at a nearby tree and gasped. She then pointed towards it and called out, "Louise, look! Apricorns!"

Following Henrietta's outstretched hand, sure enough Louise was able to see apricorns growing atop a nearby tree. The Princess was already on it, trudging through the swamp towards the base of the tree. After finding some handholds, she started to scale it as fast as she could. It reminded Louise of the days when they were young and they climbed the trees around the Vallière estate, which brought a smile to her face.

At least until a branch that Henrietta was holding onto snapped, causing her to slip and fall with a yelp into the swamp water below. A large splash ensued, some of it splattering onto a stone-faced Louise. A moment later, Henrietta managed to pull herself out of the muck, still holding onto the broken branch. She was quiet at first then, giving into her childish frustration, slammed the branch against the tree's trunk.

As though the universe itself was mocking the noblewomen for their arrogance, Henrietta's blow revealed that the tree was partially hollow, and the dull echo was soon followed up by a buzzing noise. A moment later, a very angry Beedrill that had been sleeping in the tree emerged to glare at the two women, its stingers pointed right towards them.

The trio stared at each other for a moment, then both girls screamed as the Beedrill flew down towards them, only for Louise to promptly drive it off with a small explosion. While that did the trick, it also loosened the apricorns growing on the tree, causing many to fall right on top of Henrietta who had been unable to get out in time.

"Ah! Louise, help me!" Henrietta wailed beneath the pile of apricorns, and all Louise could do was sigh before trudging her way forward to free her friend.

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here's the latest chapter of Outsiders! Special thanks to Darwin Candidate and Yuri Vampire for their help bringing this chapter to life.

Saito, Louise, and Henrietta have finally returned to Lumiose City, and with that comes the agreed to end of Saito and Maindo's relationship. But while the two of them have to deal with conflicted feelings, even if Maindo is in denial about it, the girls decide to hike through the swamp as well. As you guys can see, throwing two rich girls into a swamp hasn't gone well.

Anyway, to answer your guys' questions:

Glad you guys have been enjoying the latest OVA! We put a lot of work into it. One of the things we try to do with the OVAs is to make them standalone and centered around an emotional core. For the Kanto OVA, it was Louise and her Magikarp. For the Alola OVA, it was the relationship between Louise and her Family. For Johto, it was her and her Togepi. Depicting Louise as a mother hen just felt natural to us.

Regarding who would come over, that would be answered if I ever do a follow up to the Johto OVA-verse.

Yeah, Legends Z-A came out of left field, and I'm all here for it. Legends Arceus was the best mainline Pokemon game in years, so I'm excited to see how they improve upon the original formula.

That's it for this time. We hope you guys enjoy this chapter! If any of you have a TV Tropes account, any assistance in updating the page would be greatly appreciated. Let us know what you all think and we hope you enjoy!