Herri moved from rack to rack, plucking a selection of caps from displays in a spin, before tossing them into Kuzey's lap. "Hold these," she insisted even as a few spilled to the floor. Crest scrambled to reorganize the bequeathed coifs as Herri snaked a scarf around her arm before throwing it around her neck. The garish thing clashed with her dress, but she didn't seem to care as her fingers ran down its length, admiring the soft-spun fabric. She leaned back down to Kuzey to collect a high-profile cap and a sunvisor, sticking both on her head at once before alternating between them both as she gazed into a mirror.
Just who, Kuzey pondered, was this girl?
The remainder of their trip to Lumiose had been uneventful, with no sign of the Liepard still tailing them. But their mortal perils had been replaced by perplexion as the even-tempered girl had shoved him into a boutique nearly the moment they passed through the city's northeastern gate.
Two dresses, four bottoms, three pairs of shoes, an Ultra Ball hairclip that now bundled up a clutch of her bangs. Even her Yamask had a spiffy little yellow necktie tightened up around its clay slab. Now she'd moved onto hats, and as she examined herself with that ever-present blank expression, Kuzey felt an itch. An itch in his wallet. Aunt Vi was well off, he knew that, but when she sent him off with a card to spend to his heart's content, there's no way this was what she had in—
"Oh my GOSH! Look at this lovely lady! Good on you, little stud!"
As the Bounvialle in his imagination gave Kuzey a thumbs-up, he shook the thought away with a groan. No no, this was probably beyond her highest hopes now that he thought about it. The two must never meet.
"Coward," Herri said.
"It's Kuzey," he shot back.
"Which do you think?" she asked, ignoring his protest. With an affected pose that must have been meant to be cool, leaning to the side with one arm out to her side, she pulled the brim of the cap down over one eye to give him an unsurprisingly disaffected stare. "Hat?" The outstretched hand pulled a sly move and replaced it with the visor. "Or visor?"
"…Hat."
"Thank you, come by again!"
They departed the boutique, heavy shopping bags emblazoned with its logo of a stylized Toucannon in tow. Crest and Yaya combined their strength to keep the hat bag aloft, making a mismatched patchwork of hops and steps to keep up with their trainers, while Herri managed to keep the rest's handles intertwined between her fingers. She wasn't smiling, but the way her eyes had opened a little wider made her seem as pleased as Kuzey'd seen her thus far.
"So, listen," Kuzey began, trying to ease into the topic that had been on his mind for most of their shopping spree. "My aunt's got a concert here in the city tonight. I think you should come with."
Herri stopped mid-step and locked her feet together, doing a single push off her heels before craning her neck around to stare at him listlessly. "…I'm not really interested in dating."
To his credit, Kuzey didn't rise to that. "I mean, for your safety. You said that Liepard has been chasing you for a while, right? A wild Pokemon wouldn't do that for no reason. So that means…"
She was waiting for his conclusion. He could see the smallest twitch in those misty eyes. He'd been so sure she was an idiot, he hadn't even considered she might have been hiding something on purpose. A sharp, quick breath went up his nose.
"Who's after you?"
Herri's head tilted a little further. "Buy me a coffee and I'll tell."
His brow arched a little. "Thought you weren't interested in a date?"
"I'm interested in a date if I get free food."
Her head turned back around, and with a pivot she cut a straight line toward the nearest café, leaving Kuzey lagging a few steps behind as he hesitated. Maybe he'd been the idiot this whole time.
Thirty minutes later, the two were a ways down Estival Avenue, perched on the third-floor balcony of a bustling café. Cars and riding Pokemon moved by in an endless bustle on the street below, and from his chair Kuzey could make out Prism Tower rising above the center of the cityscape, dazzling the afternoon skyline. Herri sat across from him, taking turns with her Yamask sipping a cup of the darkest roast they had available. Her face was as inscrutable as before, but the deep sigh after every taste gave away how engrossed she was by the drink.
"You've got your coffee," Kuzey stated, scratching Crest's head as he nibbled on a cinnamon poffin. "So tell me what this is all about. You've known the whole time that wasn't a wild Pokemon; am I right?"
Herri affirmed the question with an "mm" as she sneaked one last greedy sip before getting into things. "Few days ago, I woke up in a weird place. Operating table, white walls. No memory of how I'd gotten there. All by myself, though. None of the doors were locked, and there was a bag with clothes that fit me – nametag embroidered on it said 'Herri'. So I took 'em and left."
"And the Liepard?"
"Showed up that night, when I was trying to sleep under a tree." Her eyes had stopped looking Kuzey's way at all, fixated on her coffee as she stirred a stick round and round, counter-clockwise in the inky brew. "Almost got me, but I jumped into the river. The current pulled me off faster than it could keep up. After I was out of sight, around a bend, I heard a voice calling out to it."
It had a trainer then. "Was Yamask with you then?"
"Yayamaskaa? No." She took a spoon and scooped a bit of her coffee out, passing it to her partner as it lapped up the bitter drink eagerly. "That was the next day. My clothes were soaking, so I hung them up and collected rocks on the riverbank while I waited for them to dry." She tapped on the chunk of clay the Pokemon seemed to sprout out of. "When I pulled this bit out of some silt, he popped out of it. Been following me since."
Something suddenly clicked. "Herri," Kuzey started. "Does your Yamask not have a Pokeball?"
She and the Yamask shared a nonplussed glance, then turned back to him. "Should he?"
"L-Let's table that for now. So after that?"
"Probably what you're imagining," she shrugged. "Following the river. Liepard attacks." She leaned forward and poked Kuzey just between his eyebrows. "Stop thinking about me drying my clothes out."
"I-guh-I wasn't!" He slapped her hand away with a flustered grimace – and she laughed. Barely more than a "heh", but her lips curled up just a tad and her pearly teeth peeked out from behind her lips. An honest laugh. That was what made him blush. Kuzey took a deep breath and settled back into his seat. "I just… this is a weird story, and I'm concerned about what you've been through."
"I know," she replied frankly. Her focus was back on him now, calmly evaluating him with that expression he'd pierced a moment before. "You're thinking a lot about someone you just met. You're a kind coward."
"That's starting to sound like a compliment," he whispered. Kuzey shook his head, and recentered. "That lab you mentioned, was there anything distinguishing about it? Do you still remember where it was?"
Herri scritched her forehead, trailing the hand off to itch its way down one of her ponytails as she thought back. "Might be able to retrace my steps. Be tough though; I was in the river for a while, not sure how far I went. But the weird place…" she trailed off, and then formed an odd shape with her hands, index finger on her left hand stretched up, perpendicular to the index and middle fingers of her right, arrayed behind it to look vaguely like…
"There was a big, silver F on the wall."
"An F?" Kuzey asked, and Herri nodded. Yaya nodded in tandem to mimic its trainer.
"F. Big. Silver," she finished with razzle-dazzle hand gestures to emphasize.
"That's it, huh?" Kuzey sighed, finally deigning to sip at his own drink – a mocha fluffed up with the softest whipped cream he'd ever seen. He lifted out the bit of tiramisu that came with, and bit off the end soaked in the mocha. "Well, when we meet Aunt Vi, we can take this to the police. It's not a lot to go on, but at least you'll be safe from whoever's" CRASH
A sudden cacophony drew Herri and Kuzey's attention back into the café's interior, where something was dashing up the stairs from the floor below. Across the top floor's airy and welcoming décor, a woman was dashing forward. Wild pink hair fluttered around her in a chaotic whirl, and a big green tote flopped against her side, strapped around the shoulder over her thigh-length parka. "Gangway!" she hollered, waitresses scrambling out her path; the girl's teeth grit shut as she took a running leap onto the balcony, landing directly on Kuzey and Herri's table. For a single frozen moment she was there, crouched in front of them with a frantic expression as her eyes scanned the street below. Kuzey's hands smacked the table, jaws slack as he stared at the manic face before him. She looked just…
And in just as short an instant she was moving again, extending her legs to a spinning leap that cast her off of the balcony and faced her back to where she'd come. And just before she fell, she pointed back before pulling an eyelid down with the finger of her free hand.
"BLEGH!"
With a taunt, she somersaulted down, pursued by – pursued?! Kuzey leaned back near out of his chair as three more figures bowled through their table to the balcony's railing. Three figures dressed in sleek jumpsuits, bright white hoods drawn over their heads that obscured all but their chins in rigid beaks, and connected to short capes draping across their shoulders. They weren't half as agile as the girl a step ahead of them, though, and by now she had reached the ground, catching a lamp pole to flip without harm onto the sidewalk before dashing across the road.
"After her!" hollered the biggest of the trio, tossing aside the table and its contents before they all jumped after her. Mid-descent, Herri pointed down at them.
"Kuzey." He followed her finger and caught sight of bright silver Fs emblazoned on each of the trio's capes as they fell.
"Are those?—"
"Yeah," she confirmed. "Let's go." She scooped up Yaya in her arms and ran inside, making for the stairs. Kuzey had but a moment to sputter in confusion at the decision to chase after these clearly dangerous people, but he was dashing after her before he had come to any concrete decision.
The trio was already on the far side of the avenue by the time they'd gotten to street level, and the girl they were chasing was out of sight entirely, but Herri was thinking quickly – and as Kuzey was now realizing, had swiped his credit card at some point. She swiped it on a rental kiosk at the street corner, and a special yellow Taxi Ball rolled into her waiting hand. With a toss, the proud form of a Gogoat was standing on the sidewalk, grunting for her to get on. She hopped up, and as Kuzey made his far less graceful ascent up the riding Pokemon's rear, she pointed out the trio just before they slipped out of sight. "Follow them, please."
The Gogoat snorted an affirmative, and bounded into the traffic. Kuzey hollered in pain and shock as the sudden impacts nearly shook him straight off the grass-type's hips, and he reflexively clamped his eyes shut and his arms tight around Herri's waist, feeling a similar sensation as Crest held on for dear life around his own. Two, three, four shocks later, the panic began to subside, and he was able to crack his eyelids open. They were moving at a steady pace down the street, their courier easily keeping apace with the motor vehicles all around it. But that didn't assuage him.
"Where's it going?!" he wondered. "We're gonna lose them, aren't we?"
"It knows where it's going," Herri assured him. "Probably."
Down the far side of Estival Avenue, the three becloaked pursuers barreled their way past pedestrians, the unsuspecting citizens scooting wherever they could to avoid the troublemakers as they plowed their way after the girl in their sights. The skinniest of the bunch, cackling in a wheezy voice, was the most aggressive in shoving bystanders out of the way, elbowing and shoving his way through with glee. Behind him came the largest of the trio, managing incredible speed despite his bulk and the fact he turned his head to nod at every poor tourist getting battered by his comrade.
"Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry! Important business!" He called in his booming bass voice, an uncomfortable grimace visible under his beaked hood.
The shortest of the three, and the only woman, came up the rear, hopping as she ran to get a clear view over the crowds – to little success. With a ttch under her breath, she scooped a Pokeball from the inside of her cloak and released her Pokemon. "Murkrow!" she called. "Find the meat!"
"KROW!" the black bird replied, taking ten meters above the skies to scan ahead before pointing with its foot to a figure just a few seconds ahead of them. The girl in question pivoted on her foot to see she'd been spotted, and yelped in fright before spinning further still and sprinting down an alleyway. Murkrow returned to the short woman's shoulder, getting a treat tossed into its beak for the effort.
"Trick's gone down that alley!" she called to the other two, pointing out her escape route. "We'll corner her there!"
"On it!" called the pointman, shoulder-checking a passing woman with long dark hair and knocking her flat on her rear as they raced past her.
"HEY!" she cried out after them, her Espurr pawing over the spot she'd been struck in concern. The big lug in their middle turned around and ran backwards as he clasped his hands together and bowed to her.
"Terribly sorry, miss!"
Whatever outraged obscenities were being hurled their way, the three could not longer hear as they slipped into the alleyways. Their target was unfortunate; she'd picked a dead end to make her escape, and after a left, a right, a loop de loop or three, she figured it out as she finally came to a halt at a dumpster fifty feet down a brickmade passage with no exit. A fire escape led up to the top of a restaurant, but it was pulled too high up for her to reach. She could only clutch her bag and slowly edge up against the dumpster as her assailants formed up in a line.
"No room left to squirm," the lanky one trilled, leaning forward in anticipation as a Great Ball rolled around his palm.
"But please do!" the girl squealed, her Murkrow flapping its wings to menace. "I love it when they try to—"
Bonk. Bonk. Two big, meaty fists met two thick skulls, and the other masked attackers crouched down in pain after the biggest rapped them. "Lenny, Libby, cut the crap!" the big one yelled. "You keep making it weird."
"Ow ow OWWWW!" While the lanky one, Lenny, merely yelled and cursed, Libby as she was apparently known hissed back at her hulking compatriot. "Lonnie! That really freaking HURT! Watch where you swing those bricks y'call hands!"
"Then don't make me swing them!" he scolded, turning his attention back to the girl. Lonnie extended a friendly hand to her, and a wide smile was visible under his hood. "Look, kid, we ain't gonna hurt you. You just gotta come with us, okay? I don't wanna force it, but boss-man's orders. Don't fight."
A nervous grin split the face of the cornered girl, her dazzling violet eyes darting between each of the three strangers. Her breathing was still ragged from the chase, but Lonnie noticed when it got just a touch more strained while she slowly unzipped her bag. "A fight?" she asked. "Oh, I'm gonna fight."
The bickering from the other two stopped, and they both took battle-ready stances. "She's got a Pokemon?!" Lenny questioned. "When did she even find it?"
"Heh." With a skid and a trail of dust, the pink-haired girl's left leg shot straight up into the air as her hand clutched something inside of her bag. Lonnie readied his Pokeball: that was a pitching stance.
"Go!" she cried, and her leg swung down with the momentum of a swinging axe. Her hand departed the bag, and over her immaculate pitching stance she flung –
"BIG ROCK I FOUND!"
"Bwah!" Lonnie hit the dirt in shock, narrowly avoiding the giant lump of stone that hurtled his way. Even a professional pitcher couldn't have tossed a baseball with the speed or the force that this girl had just flung a torso-sized stone. Directly into Lenny's chest.
A sound somewhere between a dying Raticate, a deflating accordion, and the shriek of a theater full of girls watching their first horror movie flung itself straight out of Lenny's lungs as he hit the ground with force enough to fling debris into the air all around him.
"Holy CRAP!" went Libby, eyes almost bugging out from beneath her hood as Lenny flattened into the stone. She scrambled to his side and tried to wrap her arms around the rock, a giant sculpted thing with a downward cracked pattern framed by a pair of dots. Try as she might, the thing wouldn't budge. "Yeesh, this thing's gotta be like sixty pounds! You okay, Lenny?"
"uuuUaUgh… my… lungs… went home…"
Lonnie pushed himself back onto his feet, reaching under his hood to wipe the cold sweat off his face. "Nice arm, kid. But that's enough kidding around." He stepped toward the girl, inching closer as she recoiled away with what precious space she had left. She looked like she was about to scream until the shadow above passed over them both.
"Creeps stay away," called a dry a voice, and when Lonnie looked up he saw two strangers on the roof high above, astride a Gogoat.
"Hup, hup." Herri instructed, and the Gogoat obliged, leaping into the alleyway below. The biggest of the strangers wearing the F on their clothing tumbled backwards to get out of the hefty Pokemon's landing, loud enough to echo through the alleyway like a detonating bomb. The instant they'd hit ground Herri slipped off the Gogoat's saddle to stand beside it, and behind her Kuzey slid off more like a spilled cup of gelatin. She pointed at the assailants, be they standing or pinned under a massive rock and declared "You three: quit being creeps, and tell me what that F stands for."
The big one, Lonnie, tilted his head for a second. "F? What do you know about—"
"Lonnie!" exclaimed Libby. "Hold a mo'; I think that's the other chick! The one boss man was after!"
"help me" Lenny concurred. Lonnie took another look at Herri, and nodded slowly. "Hey, yeah, I think you two're right. She must have given Celot the slip. Yeah, this is great! We can bring 'em both back and take twice the credit!"
He pointed a finger to Herri, and in an apologetic tone began, "Really sorry 'bout this, miss, but we're on strict orders to get both you girls back home ASAP. Why don't ya come along with me?"
Herri's eyes narrowed, and she reached back to grab the still-wobbly Kuzey's sleeve. "You're too old for me. And this one buys me things. And coffee – which you spilled."
Lonnie chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, crud, was that you? My bad, we were just in a rush and all. Remind me later and I'll pay you back."
"Urgh…" Kuzey groaned, his stomach finally settling as he used Herri's arm to straighten himself. "Who are these weirdos? They threaten to kidnap you and reimburse you in the same breath?"
"We ain't weird!" Libby shrieked from the back. "We're professionals! Murkrow, professionally kick their butts!"
With a cry her winged minion flung off her shoulder and beelined straight for Herri and Kuzey, only to be caught midair by Crest. The Charcadet spun as it jumped, and with a hurl sent Murkrow careening into the alleyway's wall. "Ca-DETT!" it yelled in triumph with a stylish landing. Kuzey smacked the Gogoat's side and told it, "Shield the girl back there. Please." It nodded and put itself between the pink-haired teen and the brewing battle, while she threw peace signs up over its back.
"Woo-hoo! You can take 'em, Weird Couple!"
Libby abandoned her pancake of a comrade for the time being and dashed on all fours to Lonnie's side before hopping up in a combat-ready stance. The big man nodded to her, readying his own Pokeball. "I didn't want it to get this heated, but guess there's no choice! Go, Golett!" The ball burst open to reveal a little blue golem, taking a wide and burly stance to show off the strength belied by its short stature. As Murkrow hovered above it, Crest took position opposite their newfound enemies; Yaya hopped off of Herri and backed him up, the pair tensing their muscles in anticipation. Kuzey, meanwhile, was racing a mile a minute inside his own head, stumbling through every fact he knew about the battle about to take place. Type matchups. Positioning. Potential for combinations. "Herri," he whispered. "Keep Yaya in front, and we'll support you from behind."
"Mm," she nodded. "Counting on you, coward."
A shiver ran up Libby's spine with overwrought animation, and she hollered "Enough waiting around! Murkrow, Sucker Punch!"
Like a bullet the bird spiraled toward its opponents, wings outstretched for a quick and dirty hit – but Yaya was ready. At Herri's command it projected a Protect bubble that rebuffed the eager bird and left it wide open as Kuzey called "Flame Charge!" Crest exploded from the ground and bashed the bird with a fiery elbow that flung it high up into the air. But that left him open in return.
Lonnie leveled his massive finger at the airborne Fire-type and his voice boomed so loudly the walls around them seemed to shake. "Golett, Shadow Punch!" Swirls of ghastly purple energy coalesced around Golett's fist, and shunting forward as if sliding on the bricks beneath its rocky arms delivered a heavy blow.
"Mask-AA!" But it came too slowly. Yaya intercepted the Golett with Brutal Swing, catching its Shadow Punch with a massive swipe of its own shadowy form. The two attacks repelled one another, and the respective Pokemon slid a few feet back.
This was it. This was a real Pokemon battle. Kuzey was trying not to dwell on that fact as his knees knocked against one another. At some point the hazy thought drifted through his head that Herri was still holding his sleeve, but he was desperately shutting out distractions as he focused. The friendliest people he'd ever met at Naranja Academy had been too frightening for him to face before. If he couldn't do this when the chips were really down, then… No. No that's the wrong way to frame it. He WILL do this. He's already doing it.
"She's safe," he whispered to himself. "She safe because we're protecting her!"
"Murkrow!" Libby yowled. "Up and above, hit 'em with Wing Attack!" The Flying-type obeyed and moved high up, but when it dove Kuzey waved his arm in defiance.
"No you don't! Crest, use Ember! Wide spread!"
His partner grasped his intent, and its flaming eyes spewed not one but several bursts of flame in a smattered pattern. As they reached the distance of the Murkrow each burst into a small detonation, scattering sparks and flecks of superheated matter in such a wide pattern it dare not approach for fear of catching aflame. And below, the Golett and Yaya continued trading blows. Shadow Punch versus Brutal Swing, the pair of Ghost-type Pokemon tested the others' mettle with their strongest attacks. Golett came with a jab, but Yaya twisted around the strike and riposted – caught in turn by a second Shadow Punch, pushing it just far enough back to give Golett space for a haymaker. It came fast, but Yaya exerted itself and came around with its clay slab, catching the blow before twisting around to counter a strike straight into Golett's chest. Both Pokemon were scoring hits, but Golett's precision was greater, and that was increasing its rate of attacks by a hair's breadth over its Yamask foe. That would be a battle-deciding advantage… if not for the sudden stream of embers falling on it, singing its rocky exterior. A hollow, ringing yelp escaped Golett's frame as it flinched in pain. A flinch was all it took to turn the tides when things were this close; Yaya proved it when it wound up for the biggest swing it could manage in the alley, and whipped straight across the midsection of Golett with its hardest Brutal Swing.
Golett flew back this time, feet leaving the ground as it hit the bricks on its back and slide to Lonnie's feet. Its trainer knelt down to grab it, carefully brushing away the burning embers as he patted the sigil on Golett's belly in assurance. "There there, fella," he cooed, before they both rose to their feet. Lonnie's eyes fixated on the kid commanding the Charcadet. He was a little too crafty to get this battle done with quickly. So long as he was coordinating that feisty little 'mon, this battle wasn't in their favor. And Lonnie really needed to get this done quickly before any more meddlers showed up.
"It's dirty, but…" Lonnie threw his arm out and bellowed "Golett, Stomping Tantrum!"
The hollow ringing intensified into a series of furious bongs as Golett slammed its feet, one after another, into the street beneath, causing a sudden tremor. One by one, splinters of brick and rock spat out from the ground in a path toward Crest and Yaya. Herri immediately ordered Yaya to use Protect again, and a bubble coalesced around the pair of Pokemon.
That's the opening.
Kuzey barely registered what was happening. While the battle raged, a figure dashed past the Pokemon, looming tall over him. His arm drew back while Kuzey had only the instant to blink; then, Lonnie's fist connected with the side of his head, and he contacted the wall.
It wasn't pain he felt first. First it was the dizziness. His limp legs couldn't hold him up as he collapsed to the ground. Then it was the ringing. That sharp noise in his ears shut out just about everything, only the faintest "Kuzey" Herri was repeating as she turned to stare. At least it seemed like she was; the blurring of his vision was coming next.
His lungs demanded salvation, and his throat drew in a breath that felt sharp as a thousand knives. Here came the pain. The shadow from before drew upon him again, as the masked wall of a man stood above him… and frowned?
"Aw, crap," he thought he heard the man mutter as he knelt in front of Kuzey. "I'm sorry, kid. I didn't mean to hit you that hard. Here." A brace of frigid cold struck Kuzey as Lonnie smoothed some kind of patch onto the side of the face he'd struck. "That ought to keep the swelling down, at least."
A lazy blink, one eyelid at a time, punctuated the confusion permeating Kuzey's addled mind. What a… "…weirdo."
The boy's head lolled to the side, and he slipped unconscious. Lonnie patted Kuzey's shoulder and stood back up, face to face with a Charcadet screaming toward him in a reckless Flame Charge. But without his trainer to guide him, the Pokemon had made a mistake. Murkrow was faster than it, and a Sucker Punch knocked it straight into the wall, out of commission.
At that same moment, Golett scored a solid blow on Yaya's back while it was distracted watching Kuzey, and it skidded to Herri's feet before its form slid back into its clay slab. The red-haired girl scooped her Pokemon into her arms, and cautiously backed away as Lonnie and Libby approached – slipping between them and Kuzey, while Gogoat defended the stranger with the pink hair. Hands up in a show of peace, Lonnie approached the girls with a diplomatic smile on the visible lower half of his face. "Now look, that got a touch messy. And for that, I'm truly sorry. But I think if we all just take it down a notch, we can come out of this as friends. So, will you two be good girls? And—"
The clack of a stomping foot behind the hooded trio caught the attention of everyone in the alley. But far more striking was the appearance of the black and orange-clad figure who'd caused it. Coated head to toe in a tight bodysuit, the figure's identity was concealed behind a high-tech helmet, distinguished by a stylized "E" displayed across its visor. Their outstretched arm held a Pokeball.
"Now that's a meddler," Lonnie muttered.
"ggk—HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" The sound of the dead breathing in new life came as with a sudden heavy, Lenny at last managed to shove the tremendous stone off of his chest and sit up, jaw quivering as he greedily gulped in every precious breath he could. "Thanks for the help, jerks!" he shrieked at his teammates, flipping over onto his hands and knees just in time to behold the stranger. "Who's that freak?"
Likely a poor question, considering the stranger's head immediately turned to Lenny. The Pokeball was tossed, and out of it came a tremendous purple bat Pokemon.
"Crobat," a digitized voice from the helmet called. "Air Cutter."
Crobat obeyed with vigor, flapping all four of its hefty wings to create a razor-sharp flurry of air currents that converged on Lenny with prejudice. A fresh and high-pitched batch of agonized wails escaped the lanky man's throat as the attack ravaged him and sent him tumbling. Libby and Lonnie only spared a second to stare in shock before their attention returned to the new threat. With Murkrow still splayed at her feet after Crest's attack, Libby produced another Pokeball. "Sneasel!" She called. "Get out here and—"
"Air Slash!"
The Crobat's precision was as frightening as its power; with a flick of a single wing, a terribly thin gust knocked Libby's ball out of her grip before she could even finish throwing it. She spun around to the ground, frantically crawling after it as it rolled away. Just like that, Lonnie was alone with Golett, and he grit his teeth in preparation. "Golett, use Shadow Punch!"
His Pokemon obeyed, skimming across the ground again to approach the Crobat, but even with its swiftest blow the bat simply twisted around the strike; in the act of dodging it attained the perfect position behind his Golett to "Cross-Poison." Venom launched from Crobat's fangs, and its four swiping wings captured the sprayed liquid mid-fire and used it as lacing to a quartet of slashes along its back. Even with a ground-type's resistances to poison, the strength of the blow was too great. The lights in Golett's rune engravings dimmed, and it hit the ground unconscious.
"Crap!" Lonnie yelled as he recalled Golett to its ball. Everything had gone sideways in under a minute, and now they were screwed if they couldn't geta away from this masked freak. But now the alley they'd trapped their target in was a trap for them. How were they gonna –
The unmistakable noise of an opening Pokeball came from above them, and Lonnie turned to see an expert toss from Lenny, shuddering in agony as he rose to his feet. On the fire escape above was his own Pokemon, a Krokorok, who let loose the latch on the ladder and let it crash to the street below.
"Every man for himself!" cried Lenny, immediately scrambling up the ladder. Libby and Lonnie weren't far behind, screaming up the fire escape as if death itself were on their heels. "Outta my way!" "Outta MY way!" "Ladies first, you dips!"
Up and over, their bickering faded into the distance as they made for the hills, leaving the alley in silence, at last. The masked figure stared at the two girls from afar for just a moment, each of the teens tense. Herri stood over Kuzey with her arms splayed out to either side, while the pink-haired stranger had crept forward just enough to retrieve her rock, keeping it ready in her hands as she and the rented Gogoat appraised the newcomer's intentions. After the tension sat for a moment, the stranger approached Herri, recalling the Crobat to its ball as she gestured down at Kuzey.
"You two should come with me," the digitized voice suggested to the girls. "I can help."
Herri sat on a serviceable burgundy sofa in what could only be described as some kind of office. There was a desk off to one corner, so unkempt its purpose was inscrutable. A coat stand by the door held a heavy brown trenchcoat that stank of seawater and cheap cologne. The tiled floor was littered with an odd array of throw rugs that seemed to be eclectic in origin. And in the partitioned section she was seated in, she'd been left to wait with this pink-haired girl, who'd taken the chair opposite her while the stranger in the suit carried Kuzey off to an adjacent room. She'd been gone for nearly fifteen minutes now, and the early autumn sundown of mid-afternoon was fast approaching, going by the hints of gold light creeping through the window to her right.
She met eyes with the girl opposite her, her untamed pink hair being slowly organized into braids as she sat there fidgeting with it. She was humming a song Herri didn't recognize as she worked at it, producing hairbands from what seemed like nowhere to tie off each braid when it was finished; this was the third. No music was playing in Herri's head right now, just a smack. Over and over, the sound of Kuzey's hands slapping the table at that café. It was hard not to notice when he made a face that stupid. The way he'd gawked at this girl, like he… "Hrm." She was starting to see it too. But that was too dumb. With no memory of who she'd been before she was laid down in that lab, there was no way it was this convenient.
"But screw it," she said out loud. "Hey, pinkie."
"Eh?" the pinkie responded, finally paying attention to Herri. "Something up, orange?"
In return, Herri leaned forward across the coffee table separating their seats. Her hand wrapped around the scruff of the other girl's parka and pulled her closer, to the point their foreheads were nearly making contact. From point-blank, she studied every inch of the girl she'd met less than an hour ago. For her part, the other girl stared back, her lively purple eyes meeting Herri's misty pair of oh. The same color. Simultaneously, the right hands of the girls stretched forward to cup around the other's face, carefully feeling it out as their left hands made the same motions to their own. Unblinking, they tweaked noses, rubbed earlobes, and swirled lips underneath their fingers. Their brows furrowed at the same time as they asked the only question remaining.
"Do you have my face?"
"Do you have my face?"
"So you didn't know!"
Their attention broke, and recentered on the suited stranger as they returned from the door to the adjacent space to this office, a little Espurr at her side mewing happily. "Your friend's still out, but it doesn't look serious. My partner here says he's just sleeping it off," the stranger's voice explained, no longer digitized and clearly belonging to a woman. "But you didn't know you look alike, eh? That was the first thing I noticed about you two. What're your names?"
"Herri." said Herri.
"Mia!" exclaimed her pink-haired counterpart.
"Well, Herri, Mia, it's good to meet you both!" The stranger placed both hands on her helmet and lifted, revealing the beaming face of a beautiful young woman. Two tails of gorgeous, fluffy black hair spilled behind her light brown skin and flared out to either side, and she stuck a hand on her hip in a confident pose. "My name is Emma; and let me be the first to officially welcome you to the Looker Investigative Bureau!"
She extended both hands to shake theirs with a reassuring grin. "Starting today, the two of you and your friend are our newest clients. Because it sounds like you've got a heck of a mystery on your hands!"
"Er… sorry, boss-man," Lonnie groaned.
The trio, having successfully retreated from the sudden appearance of a powerful trainer, managed to reconvene at the designated rendezvous point at a safe house deep beneath one of Lumiose City's seedier clubs. In this purple, velvet-lined room, a single lamp barely illuminated the three as they pulled back their hoods, defeated. Lonnie used some gauze to prod at his bald, stubbly skull, his thick browline breaking what would otherwise be an almost charming babyface. Libby was crushing her third energy drink since entering the safehouse maybe ten minutes before, toxic green hair in a shaggy and poorly maintained hime cut. And Lenny's carefully coiffed mohawk was in tatters after Crobat had gotten through with it, but he was slowly rearranging it with one hand while applying salve to his crooked hooked nose with the other.
And across from them sat their direct superior, draped in shadow. Lounging quietly against an old-fashioned record player while an old crooning song filled the cozy space, the man in charge of their retrieval operation had just finished receiving the full debrief on their, frankly, utter failure to capture either girl. One leg crossed atop the other, his long red pants drooped over his studded cowboy boots, and his spurs jangled in time to the sorrowful notes of the singer on the vinyl disk.
"We, uh, we swear we'll do better next time," Lonnie promised him.
"We'd have done better this time," Lenny griped. "If either of you hadn't left me trapped under a rock!"
"Oh, come off it!" Libby snarled. "You always bite off more than you can chew and act like it's our fault you choke!"
"You're both gonna get walloped if you don't shut it!" Lonnie threatened.
"What?!"
"Oh, you're in for it cueball—"
"Up-up."
He'd spoken. The three goons froze mid-argument and stared at the single outstretched finger Operative Celot had raised to draw their attention. "S'fine. S'fine, s'fine, s'fine," he assured in a soothing, lilting tone. "Let's hold off on the blame tonight, 'kay? 'Sides, the other girl gave me the slip too. Let's look at the silver linings." Even when the rest of his face was hidden in the dark, his bright smile – accentuated by a single fang embossed in a shiny white metal – was clear as day. "Now we know both girls are together. Things just got simpler, hey?" He snapped his fingers as if to accentuate their situation. "We'll just wait for them to rear their heads, and we can snag 'em both, simple as Starly pie."
"You say that," Lenny sneered. "But that freak in the suit sent us packing with a single Pokemon, and it used three more wings than it needed to. Everybody says you're good but… you that good?"
There was rustling, as Celot retrieved something that he leaned forward to set on the table the others were gathered around. Three gasps punctuated the Master Ball sitting on the table. They'd all heard the rumors, and there was no question just what was in that ball. With that same confident grin, Celot leaned back into his seat.
"I'm pretty good."