Chapter 41: No Price Too Great

The sun shined brightly against the dry dirt path. The air was still and quiet. At least it was until the pebbles started to skip and bounce all over the place. An approaching rumble shook the earth beneath them. All the flying type Pokémon in the surrounding trees flew away as the rumble grew closer. Then a shrieking voice joined in, crying almost as loud as the rumble.

“Plea-he-ease! Stop already! I’m gonna be sick!” shouted Marie. That is when Scolipede galloped through the path, followed closely behind by Scorbunny. The two ran at full speed against each other. Marie was scared to bits trying to hold onto Scolipede as she rode.

Scorbunny ran as fast as it could, its breathing being as rapid as it could be. Pillars of fire erupted from the ground with every step it took, leaving the path littered with scorched footprints. It glanced at Scolipede to see how it was doing. But it didn’t seem phased at all. It was just too hard to read its stoic expression. Scorbunny couldn’t tell if it was even putting up a challenge or being a total pushover. This frustrated it to no end.

Fueled by a new determination to push through that frustration, Scorbunny went all in. It clenched its teeth and ran faster than it knew its body would allow. Faster, it had to go faster! Pushing so hard that everything around it became a blur, fire began to pour out all around its feet. Scorbunny squinted its eyes and its ears flattened from the sheer speed. It traveled dangerously close to Scolipede’s galloping legs to take advantage of the slipstream it was leaving behind.

As soon as it got an opportunity, it side stepped out from behind Scolipede and rushed ahead. Scolipede noticed it moving ahead and tried to keep up, but it was hard to stay close to Scorbunny, who was almost completely engulfed in flames.

Scorbunny gasped. It looked ahead and saw the decided upon finish line. A man-made arch of trees where the forest converged on the path. It ran and ran, not even for a second going under full speed. They were almost there, but Scorbunny could feel Scolipede right on its tail. The pounding of its gallops almost made Scorbunny lose its balance.

The finish line was just in front of Scorbunny, but it was practically running on fumes at this point. It had no stamina or energy left to give. So it decided to bet it all on this one move. Scorbunny planted both feet firmly on the ground for no more than half a second and used bounce straight towards the finish line. Scolipede’s eyes widened as it saw what seemed like a spiraling fiery comet rocket its way through the air.

Scorbunny twirled through the air until it passed the finish line. It cheered for joy, spreading its arms out midair as the fire around it dissipated. It then tumbled on the ground and stopped upright under a tree. The shadows of leaves swished around on its face as it closed its eyes and breathed heavily, exhausted and delighted.

Scolipede slid to a halt right behind it, throwing Marie to the other side of its body. She screamed as she held on for dear life. For a few moments after it had already stopped, she finally stopped screaming and opened her eyes.

“Oh, thank Arceus! Could you be a bit more careful while I’m riding?” said Marie. Scolipede tiredly nodded. “Man! What was I thinking?! I don’t think I ever wanna ride you in a serious race ever again!” Scolipede groaned and started to lie on its side. “Wait, wait! What’re you doing?!”

Scolipede laid on its side, which half of Marie’s body got stuck under. Luckily, she had gotten her bad leg in a comfortable position before it got covered. “Hey! I’m under here too!” Scolipede didn’t budge. It was breathing heavily, making its body seemingly grow in size every time it took a breath. “Whatever, I’ll just-“Marie tried to push Scolipede off her, she didn’t even get it to move a little bit. Then she tried to pull herself out, but going only a little bit, she could tell that her pants slipped down a smidge.

“Nope.” she told herself, blushing a little bit. She sighed and reached her hand out to Scorbunny. “Scorbunny, help me please?” Scorbunny acted as if it didn’t hear her. It wanted to enjoy the feeling of victory a little longer. So it stayed put, breathing heavily with a smile on its face.

“New plan then.” She pulled off her beanie and picked up Snom. “Hey Snom, can you help get Scolipede off me?” Snom looked at the huge Pokémon before it, then looked back to Marie expecting her to answer just how it was supposed to do that. “You will, won’t ya?” Snom sighed. It jumped out of her hand and traveled down her torso. It went up against the huge wall of flesh known as Scolipede and headbutted it. Nothing happened. Snom then turned back around, gave Marie the closest thing it could give to a shrug, then curled up and went right back to sleep on her chest

“Come on! I don’t wanna lay here for 30 minutes while waiting for C or Crisis to get here!” None of the Pokémon gave her any mind. “Then I’ll try one more thing.” She reached down and tried to get Scolipede’s pokeball. But her pockets were under Scolipede’s body. Though she was able to get one finger in and she felt the pokeball right on the tip of it.

“Yes!” she cheered, only to then accidentally push the pokeball further down her pocket, “No!” She felt goosebumps as the gravity of the situation started to weigh in. “Um, Scolipede? Could you please get up?” No response. “My hair might get dirty, you know?” Nothing. “M-My legs might fall asleep?” Silence. “What if a dangerous Pokémon comes by?!” Quiet.

Scorbunny finally cracked its eyes open. The world was blurry and it was so tired that it felt like throwing up. It looked at Scolipede and smiled. To see that Scolipede had tried its hardest for the race made it feel good inside. It rubbed its nose as a sign of respect, to which Scolipede nodded in response. The two then flopped back down on the ground trying to catch their breath.

Marie pouted. “Seriously guys?!” All the Pokémon had seemingly drifted off into a quick sleep. Marie sighed. After a moment however, a somewhat concerning realization came to her mind. She blushed slightly and turned her head against the ground.

“I have to pee guys…”

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() Ceailean and Crisis made their way up the hill towards where the forest converged into an arch.

“So, who do you think won?” asked Ceailean.

“I would have to base my decision on their labeled physical ability within the pokédex. In there, Scolipede was rated to be much faster than any Scorbunny. So I would have to say that Scolipede wins this competition, no doubt.” said Crisis.

“But what if it just believed hard enough?” Ceailean said with a smug grin.

Crisis sighed, “We have been over this. Scorbunny can believe all it wants. No amount of determination could possibly push any being past their physical limits.”

“Look who’s the pessimistic one now…” Ceailean said under his breath.

“Hmm?”

“Uh, nothing!” Ceailean ran ahead. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Hey Marie? Who won?”

“I’ll tell you as soon as you convince Scolipede to get off me!” shouted Marie in a strained voice. Ceailean walked up to Scolipede to see it curled up on the ground peacefully. The problem was that half of Marie’s body was under it. Scorbunny lad top the right of them, kicking back with a smile on its face.

Ceailean crouched down and rubbed his finger on Scolipede’s nose. It stirred, annoyed that its nose was now agitated. “Hey yo, could you get off Marie please? You weren’t there for it but she’s got a really bad leg. You wouldn’t want to make it any worse, would you?” Scolipede’s eyes widened slightly. Slowly but surely, it rolled itself back upright. Marie then crawled over the tree Scorbunny was under and leaned against the trunk.

“Phew! Finally! Now to just get the feeling back in my leg.” she said. She stamped her right foot several times in succession, sending waves off painful static up and down her body.

Scolipede looked at Ceailean accusingly as if it had been manipulated. Ceailean scratched the back of his head nervously and pointed nervously to Marie’s left leg. “T-The other leg, I promise you I’m not lying.” Scolipede huffed, not quite believing him, but it decided to let it go.

Marie sighed. She then reached over and picked up Scorbunny. “Now, just what are we gonna reward our little race winner with?” Scorbunny tilted its head confused.

Crisis walked up to them. “So it would seem Scorbunny won, huh?”

“Yeah! You shoulda seen it! Scorbunny running so fast that it was covered in flames and it used bounce to just beat Scolipede at the finish line!” said Marie.

“Is that so?” Crisis subtly passed a 10,000 dollar bill into Ceailean’s hand behind both of their backs. “But what interests me more is that description you gave me. A fire type Pokémon completely engulfed in flames? Quite the tell tale sign of it possibly learning a new move.”

“Really?!” exclaimed Ceailean and Marie.

“Is there one you could guess based on just the description?” asked Ceailean.

“It’s hard to say for sure. It could be flame wheel, flare blitz, maybe even fire spin. It’s just too early to tell right now.”

Marie smiled. “You hear that Scorbunny?” She held up to the sky, “You’re gonna learn a new move soon!” Scorbunny cheered for joy.

“I guess this is that reward you mentioned, Marie.” said Ceailean.

“Nuh uh! We gotta get it a real, physical reward for winning.”

“Isn’t bragging rights good enough?”

“It’s called positive reinforcement, C! Giving it a gift will have Scorbunny associate winning races with having good things happening to it.”

“Is that what you skimmed off a social media post?”

“Huh?! At least I’m caring! You know how good it is for Scorbunny to have a hobby that also conveniently serves as speed training?”

Ceailean then pointed accusingly. “Ah ha! So that’s all you really care about!”

“What?! I… C stop twisting my words around like they’re balloon Pokémon!”

Ceailean triumphantly cackled into the air. Scorbunny shrugged with a smile and jumped down from Marie’s hands. It walked a little up the path before catching a whiff of faint familiar smell. It sniffed around curiously wondering what it was. Ceailean noticed it and decided to sniff around a bit as well.

“What is it, Scorbunny?” Ceailean then caught a whiff of the smell. “Oh… what is that?”

“You don’t know of it?” asked Crisis. “Considering where you’ve been in the last month, I thought you would find it familiar.”

“It kind of is. Smells like salt, almost like I cooked something like it before, but also a little different.”

“Geez C. That’s the ocean you’re talking about.” said Marie.

“That’s the ocean? I can smell it from way back here? And it smells like that?”

“Yes! You were at Tuviere! A literal, albeit abandoned, coastal town. You smell the ocean everywhere there.”

“Well sOrRy, we were a little preoccupied at the time. We didn’t exactly have time to stop and smell the roses.”

Marie sighed. “Fine, I guess you have a point. And from what I can remember, I don’t think you’ve ever told me if you’ve visited the ocean.”

“That’s because I haven’t. My whole life has been inside Lumiose and Snowbelle until this last month.”

Marie stood up. “Oh? Wow, we’re gonna have so many people see the ocean for the first time!”

“I mean… I’ve technically seen it before.”

“Then it will be your first time to enjoy the ocean, how about that?”

“Yeah, that works.”

“Well don’t wait now, you two.” said Crisis, who had walked up the path ahead of them considerably. He had a hand shading his eyes. “But you could most certainly enjoy it from here.” Scolipede walked up eagerly to Crisis’s side. Ceailean, Marie, and Scorbunny did the same. They all gazed upon the view.

Fresh farmland laid across either side of the path. A large mountain to the right stood tall and with vegetation that made it a bright vibrant green. The city seemingly sparkled in the sunlight. It laid all along the coast with it even encroaching up the mountain. A subtle cable car system could be seen going from the side of the city up the mountain peak. And then was the coast, almost gleaming a golden color reflecting the sun. The shining looked like waving ribbons in the endless expanse of dark blue water, farther than the eye could see.

Scolipede’s eyes widened at the sight. It was almost completely frozen in awe.

“Whoa, so that’s the ocean huh?” asked Ceailean.

“Indeed.” said Crisis, “An endless expanse of water that only the toughest of lands can raise above. A whole new world entirely.” The group watched for a few moments.

“I wonder how many pools it could fill up,” said Ceailean.

Marie scoffed. “Not enough pools in the world, C.”

“Heh. Then let’s hurry up and get over there, I want to see it up close.”

Marie jumped on Scolipede’s back. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“You’re not traumatized after the kind of ride Scolipede gave you earlier?”

“No. I just wasn’t used to it, that’s all?”

“Yeah right! You were about to darn near piss yourself!”

Marie shuddered. “Hey! That’s a curse word! And all you did to tell other people about it. That’s hypocrisy.”

“I do that for you, you know… also that word is off the table? Almost as strict as my mom.”

“Of course you wouldn’t know. There was almost no situation for you to use it.”

“Yeah, last I checked, you weren’t being dragged all throughout town on the back of a stampeding Pokémon while crying your eyes out.”

“That’s a lie and you know it! I wasn’t crying!”

“But just who are people going to believe? The person who saw everything? Or the person who rode on Scolipede trying to save what’s left of her dignity?”

Crisis tapped away at his communicator with a bored expression. “May we proceed already?”

“Yes!” shouted Ceailean and Marie.

Marie petted the side of Scolipede’s head. “We’re gonna go see the ocean up close now. No need to rush so take your time okay?” Scolipede nodded and began to trot down the path, Crisis following behind.

Ceailean faced Scorbunny. “You wanna keep walking or do you wanna rest?” he asked. Scorbunny pumped its paw, eager to keep going and improve. Ceailean smiled. “Alright, suit yourself. Just tell me anytime you’re tired.” Scorbunny nodded and jogged to catch up with the rest of the group. Ceailean soon did the same.

The previous conversation Marie reminded her of a pressing matter. “Hey Crisis? How far is the nearest pokemon center?”

“Hm? Approximately 7 and a half miles. Why?” said Crisis.

“Oh um, nothing. I was just curious how long it was gonna be. I just… really wanna see the ocean again.”

“Considering the pace we’re going at, I’d say at least another hour or 2. We’ll just have to be patient.”

“Uh huh.” Marie looked around the area. Nothing but stone fences and farmland. Too exposed. Suppose she would just have to wait.

() An hour and a half passes by and the group are walking amongst the streets of the outer suburbs. The smell of the sea was strong and the air was much colder than usual. The people all around wore thick jackets and were bustling about trying to get to their destinations. A strong breeze made Marie’s hair gently wave in the wind. Her expression showed a slight hint of strain as she clinged onto Scolipede a little tighter than usual.

Ceailean spun in circles admiring the view. He then looked down a street and saw a road full of colorful commerce. “Whoa! Look at that! They have so many vendors and cool stuff! You guys wanna see?” Scorbunny cheered in support.

“N-No, I’d like to get a room at the pokemon center first.” said Marie with her nose pointed up to the sky. “I don’t wanna shop with all this stuff on us, then get more stuff to put on top of that.”

“Oh yeah, smart thinking Marie. I didn’t think about that.”

Marie brushed her hair aside. “Of course, I am a genius after all.”

“I sprinkle you with just a little praise and you think it's a shower.”

“Oh come on, you know it's a full blown fact.”

“Alright, little miss ego-maniac. I’ll believe it as soon as you can carry 12 pokemon in a single team.”

“I’m a genius, I’ll figure it out somehow.”

Ceailean groaned. “Alright, you win. Let’s hurry up and go already so I can see the shops.” The group moved further down the street.

As they approached the pokemon center, they started to hear two distinct voices yelling at each other. Ceailean and Marie glanced at each other. “You don’t think-?” said Ceailean.

“Go see for me, Scolipede won’t be far behind.” said Marie.

“Got it.” Ceailean ran up the stone brick steps up to the pokemon center. The yelling got more and more distinct. “Oh yeah, that’s definitely them.”

“What was I supposed to do?! It was like 100,000 times bigger than Swirlix!” shouted Falt.

“You had so many chances to get it in the bag! But you just let it go to waste because you looked at you pokedex!” shouted back Topaz.

“It was ONE time! You think I would just ignore Marie’s lesson!?”

Ceailean poked his head up above the stone platform and saw the two sitting on a bench. It faced towards the ocean looking down on the lower city that led to the coast. Wingull flew all around and rested upon the decorative iron railings along the edge of the stone semi-circle platform, not particularly bothered by the twin’s bickering.

Ceailean almost said hi to them, but then a mischievous thought crossed his mind. He stepped up the remaining steps slowly and carefully and made sure he wouldn’t be seen as he approached.

“Clearly you are because that ONE took like 5 hours!” shouted Topaz.

“It was 5 seconds! You’re over exaggerating everything!”

Suddenly, Ceailean patted both Falt and Topaz’s shoulder aggressively. “YA DARN KIDS ARE BEIN’ TOO LOUD!”

Falt and Topaz screamed in fear and quickly jumped away from the bench. They swiveled around and put up faux-martial arts stances against Ceailean.

“Ceailean?!” the two exclaimed.

Ceailean chuckled with a smile. “Yo!”

“Don’t scare us like that!” shouted Topaz, “You coulda gave us a heart attack!”

“I second that-“said Falt. He then fell to his knees and flopped on his side.

“And he did have a heart attack! So now we get to sue!” said Topaz, crossing her arms.

“Oh no! Really!” Ceailean said sarcastically. “Well I just so happened to be a medical professional in training! I’ll make it up to you by reviving Falt with vast medical knowledge!” He slide over to Falt’s side and observed him up and down. “No good, I think he’s gonna need mouth to mouth!” Ceailean leaned down and moved his lips close to Falt’s.

Falt’s eyes flashed open. He forcefully pushed Ceailean away and stood up as quickly as he could. “No thanks! I think I’m good now!” he shouted with his mouth covered with both hands.

“I don’t know Falt, maybe you should listen to the medical professional. I’d think it’d suit you better.” said Topaz sarcastically with a smug grin.

“Ugh! No! Keep that stuff you’re into away from me!”

Ceailean and Topaz burst out laughing.

“Just what the heck is going on up here?” asked Marie, who had just appeared coming up from the steps. Scorbunny ran up and noticed the twins. It waved hello.

“Miss Marie!” said Topaz. She came running over and threw herself on her legs. “Miss Marie! Ceailean was being mean to me!”

“Hey! Don’t act like you weren’t being a delinquent yourself!” shouted Falt.

“He s-scared us! And he w-was yelling! A-And he made me cry!” said Topaz, with her mixing fake sobs into her voice. Ceailean looked around. Nearby people were starting to stare. He suddenly became very uncomfortable.

“Uh, maybe you could tone it down a bit?” he asked. Topaz only looked back at him with a mischievous grin. Ceailean’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh, you daughter of a-“

Marie then patted Topaz’s head. “Don’t worry, I know exactly how he’s gonna fix this.” Marie lead Scolipede over to Ceailean. He was unsure of how she thought of the situation. So all he did was scratch the back of his head and chuckle nervously. Marie smiled. “Be a pal and carry my stuff in please?”

“W-What?” Ceailean asked. Marie then dropped her bag in his hands.

“Thank you.” She said with a smile as she lead Scolipede inside the pokemon center. Scorbunny gave a great big smile to Ceailean and followed Marie in.

“Yes, thank you Ceailean.” said Topaz as she dropped her bag on top of Marie’s.

“Hey-!”

“Dang, you’re a really nice friend Ceailean. Keep up the good work.” said Falt as he dumped his own bags on top of the pile.

“This is a lot to hold guys!”

“Your commitment to providing your services to the many is admirable, Ceailean.” said Crisis as he gently placed his own bag on the pile.

Ceailean’s voice now strained under the weight. “You too?!”

Crisis kept walking. “Consider it equivalent exchange, Ceailean. One action does not occur without provoking another. Or as others like to call it, Karma.” The pokemon sliding doors closed behind Crisis.

Ceailean sighed and accepted his fate. He made one step towards the door. Topaz then ran back out and held her hand up to Ceailean’s head and flicked it.

“Bewp!” she said before running back inside. The flick was so distracting that Ceailean lost his balance and fell on the ground with all the bags on top of him. Despite this, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Heh! Was still worth it.” he mumbled to himself.

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() Marie rode Scolipede next to an inside table and hopped off. Scorbunny took this opportunity to take her spot and jumped to the top of Scolipede’s head, hanging off its horns as if it was the bow of a ship. Marie quickly moved towards the back. But Falt and Topaz got in her way.

“So, Miss Marie.” said Topaz, “I know it's only been a couple days, but has anything exciting happened on your way here?”

“Yeah! Any new Pokémon or strategies you could show us?” asked Falt.

Marie impatiently wedged her hands between them and pushed them aside. “I’ll tell you two all about it, but I have to do something first. Watch Scolipede for me, okay? Be right back.” She walked past them towards the back of the pokemon center.

The twins looked up to Scolipede, who stoically stared back at them.“Uh, hey Scolipede.” said Topaz nervously. “You excited to participate in a gym challenge?”

“Could you ask when you’re not hiding behind me?” said Falt. Topaz realized that she was instinctively hiding behind Falt. “I thought you were comfortable with it already?”

“It’s been a while, okay? Don’t judge me.” she whispered.

“It’s only been three days. I mean, look-” Falt reached his arm out and poked Scolipede. It then lunged at Falt aggressively and gave a slight shout. Falt quickly jumped back with a slight shout of his own. Scolipede tilted its head endearingly and chuckled a bit. “Tch, looks like we got a joker.”

“Try not to let Ceailean rub off on you too much.” Topaz said with a sigh. Scolipede nodded.

“Someone talking about me?” said Ceailean as he walked in. He dropped all the bags haphazardly on the table.

“Talking about how much of a weirdo you are.” said Topaz.

“At least I’m interesting, right?”

“You could call it that, just don’t let it get to your head.”

“Already did, I take what I can get.”

Topaz sighed. She glanced over and noticed Crisis patiently sitting on a seat near the window. “Whatever, I think I’ll talk to Crisis instead.”

“Aw, but why not talk to me?” asked Ceailean.

“No! It’s only been 5 minutes and I’ve already had enough of you! Scaring us like that and all!” She then stomped over towards Crisis.

Falt put his hand on Ceailean’s left shoulder, making him wince slightly. “It’s okay Ceailean. Take it from me, this is definitely a girl thing.”

“Yeah, I know. Tell me about it.”

Topaz stopped and swiveled around. “Didn’t he almost put his lips on yours?!”

“Yeah, but that was just a joke. It’s all in the past now.” said Falt. Ceailean and Falt then fist bumped.

“5 minutes! That was only 5 minutes ago!”

“If you can hold being 6 minutes older than me over my head, I can forgive a friend of ours in 5 minutes.”

“Whatever.” Topaz walked up to Crisis. “Hey, Crisis?”

Crisis sat up and faced her. “Yes, how may I help you?”

A few moments passed. It was then that Topaz realized that she didn’t have any particular topics she wanted to talk about. “U-Um… Y-you know how Ceailean and Marie came from Snowbelle, right?”

“I am well aware, yes.”

“Well I was just wondering, how did you meet them? And why did you decide to travel with them?”

The question was innocent enough, but Ceailean’s eyes widened slightly. He made a subtle gesture to Crisis, telling him not to go too in depth. Crisis saw the sign and sighed.

“Let’s just say that at the time, I held an immeasurable amount of disappointment in myself. Then I saw them two. Ceailean and Marie. Two fledgling trainers with barely any pokemon to their names. And yet, the second they team up with one, they’re able to do things I was incapable of replicating. Despite my several year lead in experience of being a trainer.

I couldn’t quite comprehend it. And to be quite frank, I was humiliated. But for some reason, my frustrations refused to retaliate against them. That wasn’t fair, that wasn’t right. So I did the next best thing.”

“…and what was that?” asked Topaz.

“I simply asked them if I could join them in their journey. There was no point in groveling in my own perceived impossibilities. So I took it upon my own hands to see why they were so special. What secret do they have that allows them to pull through any situation anyone would have the hardest time with. I’m not even sure they know they have themselves. But that, for the most part, leads us to where we are today.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

A few moments pass. “I mean… I think I get it.” Crisis raised his eyebrow to this. “I can see it in Marie, for sure. But Ceailean though?”

Ceailean pointed at himself. “Hey! You just tryin’ to get a few jabs in?”

Topaz raised her hands defensively. “No! I don’t mean it like that! It’s just… I haven’t seen that much from you.”

“Just gonna casually forget who initially tried to save you from a mudslide?”

“Oh yeah, you did do that.”

Crisis gestured a hand to Ceailean. “I assure the both of you that Ceailean is quite capable. There is a battlefield out back, why don’t you two see for yourself?”

“Hmph! That’s if he’s up for it.” said Topaz as she crossed her arms. “This dude said he didn’t like battling.”

“I said I just wasn’t up for it as much as Marie was.” Ceailean said. “I never said that I never liked to battle.”

“Oh really?” Topaz walked up and got up in Ceailean’s face. “Why don’t you prove it?”

“Ha! Sure. There’s a certain pokemon of mine that’s been getting a little antsy lately. I’m sure it would be happy to demonstrate its full power to you.”

Falt got in between the two and pushed them away from each other. “Topaz! Could you not antagonize him?!”

“Well I want to know if this guy has what it takes to stand next to Marie. Since Crisis gives you so much praise, you have to be at least in the same ballpark.”

Ceailean chuckled. “I warn you, I am a prideful person. I don’t think my pokemon would want to hold back against you.”

“Are you mocking me?!” Topaz held up a pokeball challengingly.

“I’m just sayin’. From what Marie told me about her battle with you guys, I could probably guess that she was holding back too.”

“Impossible! We were neck and neck!”

“And yet landed only about 2-3 attacks? Marie’s successful hits were too many to keep track of.”

Topaz was fuming with anger. She held a hand above her head. “I’ve had it up to here with you! Outside, battle, now!”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

The two swiftly made their way out the battlefield. Falt followed behind them nervously. “Topaz!” he whispered. “I know he made you angry and all, but if he’s even 50% comparable to Marie, this is going to be way harder than you think.”

Topaz and Ceailean split up to their own sides of the battlefield. “What Falt? Are you scared?”

“I just don’t want you to end up eating your own words. It’s kinda my pride on the line too.”

Topaz held out her pokeball. “Thanks for the concern, but I’ll be fine.” She threw her pokeball and out came Dewpider. It yelled triumphantly to the sky.

Ceailean smiled and held out two pokeball in front of him while crossing his arms like an X. “Okay, this will be my own debut.”

Topaz pointed at Ceailean. “Hey! Why are you going to use two pokemon!?”

“I’m not.” Ceailean threw one pokeball and Solosis came out. He bent down next to it. “Hey, I’d like you to watch with Scorbunny. I think I’m gonna have Noibat go all out here.” Solosis exhaled, clearly uninterested. But it obliged since it had nothing else to do. Scolipede and Scorbunny then walked out of the pokemon center and stood at the side of the battlefield. Scorbunny waved to Solosis and urged it to come over. Solosis smiled at the sight of Scorbunny and decided to join it.

“Now for you!” Ceailean threw the other pokeball. Noibat came out and unfurled its wings.

“Noibat huh?” said Topaz. “Let’s do it Dewpider!” she shouted, raising her fist up in the air.

Ceailean smirked. “Hey yo! I’m sure Noibat remembers those things you said about it a few days ago. And from what I can remember, you never actually apologized.”

“And? So what? I don’t remember asking!”

“Topaz! Calm it down!” Falt aggressively whispered.

“Back then, I was 90% sure it wouldn’t hurt anyone. But if you don’t apologize, that statistic will go down to 0.”

“That was just a joke and you know it! Plus, now isn’t really a good time.”

Noibat smiled as if that was just the answer it wanted. “Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” Ceailean’s smile then quickly disappeared. “Show ‘em, Noibat!” Noibat crouched down and charged up.

Falt gasped as he noticed the pebbles near his feet began to jump around and move. The ground shook and the air felt aggressive. Noibat shouted loudly, slowly growing more high pitched as it gathered more power.

“I-I don’t like this, Topaz.” said Falt.

“It’s whatever, Falt. Stop being a baby.” she said back.

“The ground is shaking!”

“Scolipede could do the same thing too. Plus, it's probably just a low power earthquake passing through.”

“You cannot be this delusional.”

“I don’t care! Whatever it takes, I’m not gonna lose to that Noibat-"

Noibat exploded into 100% dragon rush. The area was immediately covered by a flashing purple light followed by a loud boom. Falt and Topaz had to shield their eyes from the rushing winds and bright light. Dust flew swiftly by their feet as they even seemed to struggle to hold their ground.

“Thank you.” said Crisis as Nurse Joy served him a cup of tea. Purple light poured into the pokemon center, making it hard to see anything. A few bystanders even stepped up to the window to see what was going on. Crisis took a sip of his tea and made sure to not focus on the battle, but on Ceailean’s eyes.

“What is going on?!” shouted Falt, “Such a little Pokémon could do this much?!”

“I… I don’t understand.” said Topaz, seemingly in awe.

“Ha! And if you could believe it, I’ve never once one a battle against Marie. So do with that what you will.”

“Oh? Really?” Topaz’s fear subsided. “Dewpider, use bubble beam!” Dewpider shot its beam at Noibat, but it merely bounced off the dragon rush like a ricocheting bullet.

“Gotta try harder than that! Come on, make Noibat feel it!” taunted Ceailean.

Topaz took a step forward. “I sure hope I’m right about this.” she said to herself. “Dewpider, use bubble beam on the ground near Noibat!”

“What?!” asked Falt.

Dewpider shot the beam, exploding a large chunk of the battlefield. Then cracks formed around Noibat’s feet. They surrounded it until the ground caved in and Noibat fell over. Dragon rush dissipated instantly and the light disappeared.

“Hoah!” said Topaz, exhaling sharply. “I was right.”

Ceailean waved the dust away from his face. “Really? What gave me away?”

“When you said you never once won a battle against Marie.” Topaz rubbed her nose confidently. “You see, even I have to acknowledge your Noibat was throwing around. That’s the kind of stuff you’d only see on fully evolved Pokémon. But you still could win a battle against Marie? Even if she went easy by not using Scolipede, she would’ve struggled to keep up a streak like that. So Noibat must’ve had something that made it always lose, some kind of flaw. That’s when I noticed the way you were taunting me. I couldn’t accept the fact that you would show off like that for real. So I called your bluff! And now Noibat is in the ground! …for some reason!”

Ceailean smiled. “Very good. I guess you guys aren’t as green as I thought. However-” Noibat momentarily exploded into a lower powered dragon rush, quickly blowing away the dust around it. “You forgot to account for one thing.”

Topaz clenched her fists at her side. “And just what might that be?”

“I only battled her once! Ha ha!” Topaz’s jaw dropped. “Such a huge gamble with logic like that, but still it paid off! Good for you!”

“Would you quit foolin’ around! I’m tryin’ to take this seriously!”

Ceailean’s expression immediately turned serious. Topaz stepped back, startled at his sudden change. “Fine then.” Ceailean crossed his arms and Noibat got into a battle stance. “Remember that conversation we had in my tent? When we talked about our goals?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“You gave me a lot to think about that day. For that, I thank you. But there is something that has been my goal, since before beginning my journey. And that is to protect those I have closest to me! Power of friendship and all that other cheesy stuff, tease me if you want. But I can’t fall behind, too much has happened for me to allow that. So now I am stronger than I ever was before. And I’ll demonstrate that power to you, here and now!” Ceailean jutted his arm forward. “Noibat! Use air cutter!” Noibat flapped its wing and shot a blade of air.

Topaz gasped. “Dewpider, duck!” Dewpider quickly tilted its body back. The air blade went just over Dewpider’s eyes. It flew past it and the twin before dissipating in the updraft winds. Topaz stomped her foot repeatedly. “Ugh! To think I got actually invested for a second! Can’t believe you tricked me like that!”

Ceailean remained serious. “Use screech!” Noibat screeched a loud awful tone. Dewpider did its best to try and resist the sound. A blue sinking aura surrounded its body. “Now tackle!”

Topaz realized Ceailean was being genuine and brushed her hair to the side. “Intercept with headbutt!” Dewpider jumped ahead, ready to clash with Noibat. But Noibat pulled up right at the last second, making Dewpider miss. Noibat flew up and back around, hitting Dewpider away with its tackle. Topaz growled. “Shoot at it with bubble beam!”

“Counter with air cutter!” shouted Ceailean. Noibat shot blades of air. The two attacks collided, exploding into a giant cloud of mist.

The tea in Crisis’s cup wobbled slightly. He sighed and continued to watch the battle. Then the sound of footsteps approached him.

“Did a couple of people decide to battle?” asked Marie.

Crisis took a sip of his tea. “Yes, if you refer to our people.”

Marie squinted and took a better look outside. “Wait! That’s C and Topaz! I gotta go see this!”

“Knock yourself out.”

Marie ran out of the Pokémon center and took a spot near the spectating Pokémon. Another explosion obscured the battlefield in mist. “Yeah! Show ‘em the good C… uh, Topaz… I don’t know who to root for, so both of you just do your best!”

“Don’t worry, Marie!” shouted Topaz over the sounds of battle, “I’ve already got this in the bag!” Ceailean didn’t respond to Marie’s praise.

“Oh yeah.” Marie took out a pokeball and brought out Fennekin. Fennekin yawned, only for it to jump as another explosion rang out. “So sorry Fennekin!” Marie said while putting her hands together. “But I had the feeling you’d never want to miss something like this.” Fennekin rubbed its eye, smiled, and nodded.

“Air cutter!” Noibat shot several air blades down upon Dewpider.

“Block it!” Dewpider braced for the impacts. The air blades exploded all around Dewpider, kicking up dust and debris.

Ceailean pointed to the ground. “Now come down and use dragon rush!”

Noibat flew down and pulled up just before hitting the ground. It then exploded into dragon rush, craving the dust cloud in two as it flew by. It rocketed past Dewpider, sending it into a tailspin in the air. “Come back around and tackle it into the ground!” Noibat flew up and around and came down directly on Dewpider.

“Use that momentum and use bubble beam!” Dewpider shot its bubble beam as it spun. A sizable buzz saw like attack formed close to Dewpider’s body. Noibat couldn’t stop in time and got hit off towards the side, crashing down into the ground like a rock. “Don’t stop! Use bug bite!” Dewpider landed on the ground and lunged toward Noibat with a pair of projected green energy jaws.

----------------------------------------

() The doors to the Pokémon center slid open and in came a boy about 15 years old. Sharply dressed for his age, he wore a full blue suit attire and a shiny golden dress shirt. His brown hair was forcibly combed back with so much gel that it gleamed. His expression clearly showed that he hated the get up he wore.

That was until he heard an explosion occur outside. The rumble ran through his legs and got him to look up. He saw another clash of attacks, but he sighed and continued on. That was until he caught a glimpse of the spectators. It was like he was in slow motion. Nothing notable until his eyes slid over a Pokémon of his interest.

A flash of purple obscured his vision for only a moment, but it was as if that moment was like flash photography, deeply ingraining the image in his mind through his dark red eyes. He stopped dead in his tracks.

“Wait a minute,” he said to himself as he backed up into view of the battlefield. Crisis took notice of this boy’s interest in the battle. Though he only thought the boy was excited to see the battle. After a few moments, the boy could clearly identify who he was looking for. The boy exhaled as he smiled. “It’s you, it’s really you!” he said a little too loudly.

Crisis glanced back over just as he saw the boy dash through the doors in a blur. “He’s fast!” Crisis exclaimed to himself. The boy dove out of the Pokémon center straight towards the spectators. He outstretched his arms and smiled blissfully as he called out, “Fennekin-chan!”

Fennekin turned around and saw this boy hurling itself at it. It was too shocked to move. But before the boy could get to Fennekin, Dewpider flew back into his face. It hit with such force that a crunching sound could be heard from the bottom of his neck. Dewpider flung off to the side while the boy dropped down to the ground.

“Ah! Omigoshimsosorry!” Topaz yelled quickly.

“By Arceus!” said Ceailean. The two ran over to check if he was okay. As they ran, Fennekin realized who it was and backed away slowly. Crisis exited the Pokémon center to check up on the boy as well.

“Hey!” said Marie, kneeling down next to the boy. “Are you okay?”

The boy rolled over and exhaled. He opened his red eyes dreamily, as if being opened behind curtains. He hovered his hand near Marie’s cheek and gave his cheesiest smile. “Don’t worry miss, for as long as I see your gorgeous blue eyes, I’ll always be okay.”

Marie then smushed his face away to the side and looked away unamused. “He’s fine!” she said with a slight growl to her voice.

“Augh! Struck out again!” the boy said with his mouth smushed in.

“Can we talk about something important!” said Topaz. “Like how you took Dewpider to the face?! Are you even okay? Really?”

The boy placed his hands behind his head on the ground and sprung up high above the group. They watched in awe as he somersaulted across the air. Marie saw the boy giving her another cheesy smile mid flip. She responded by pulling her eyelid down and sticking tongue out.

The boy landed on his feet and raised his hands triumphantly. He then turned around and put his hand on his chest and bowed. “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is-“

“Master Kade!” shouted a voice. The group turned around to see a butler. He wore a white dress shirt, black vest, black dress pants and shoes. Before the group could say anything. The butler broke into a full sprint, rocketing past them. The shocked group turned around to see that the boy had been draped with a barber's cape. The butler pulled out hair products from seemingly out of nowhere.

“I do not care if that meeting is over, you must keep up appearances!” The butler said.

The boy titled his head away from the butler’s scissors. “Do we have to do this now, Creed-san? I was in the middle of a performance.”

“Performance or not, it is my job to ensure no one from House Herahtaki is seen in public with anything less than perfect standards!” The butler opened his scissors to reveal that one of the blades had a comb in it. He carefully ran it through the boy's hair, combing back a stray strand that had been dislodged when he had been hit by Dewpider. “There.” The butler pulled out a mirror and held it in front of the boy. “Is this satisfactory? Master Kade?”

“It looks the same dude…” the boy said.

“Nonsense. I believe you look exemplary compared to how you did before!”

“Why even ask for my input if you’re just gonna praise yourself, Creed-san?”

“I do all in hopes that you finally acknowledge the work that goes into keeping you up to snuff. When that day comes, you’ll finally become a real man.” The butler began to passionately cry.

The group looked upon the scene in disbelief. “I don’t think I care anymore,” said Topaz. “Dewpider, are you alright?” Dewpider walked over next to her feet and sighed, being just as confused at the bizarre couple of people.

“At least they’re interesting, right?” Falt asked sarcastically as he leaned over in Ceailean’s direction. Ceailean only scratched the back of his head nervously.

“What-ever.” The boy walked closer to the group, “As you may have heard, my name is Master Kade Herahtaki, 5th son of House Herahtaki. This nuisance here is Creed Horus, my assigned butler.”

Creed bowed to the group. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“N-Nice to meet you, I guess.” said Marie. Each of the group then introduced themselves “I’m Marie Visu.”

“Ceailean Crimis.”

“3rd admin of Team Harmonious, Crisis.”

“Topaz Daughlin.”

“And I’m her brother, Ultra Lord Falt Daughlin!” The group all looked at him. “What? Too edgy?”

“Try cringey,” said Topaz.

“Hey! If he gets a title, I want one too!”

“I ask that you do not taunt Kade on such a matter.” Creed said sternly, “I will not allow you to put down his legitimacy.”

Falt looked down nervously. “Y-Yes sir.” he said meekly.

“Anyway, we’re sorry again for… you know… shooting Dewpider into your face.” said Marie. Topaz nodded to this. Noibat then flew down and perched on Ceailean’s head.

“Oh that is quite alright. Inconsequential, in fact.” Kade then slid over to Marie with such speed that she got startled. “All that matters is that you allow me to see what I came out here for in the first place, Marie-chan.”

“A-And that would be?”

“Allow me to inspect your Fennekin! I must take a closer look at its gorgeous black fur, those shining red eyes, and vibrant red ears.”

“Uh, sure maybe. That depends if it's alright with it?”

“Splendid! Don’t you worry, I assure you the process won’t take long.”

“Process?” Marie then looked around. “Wait a minute, where is Fennekin?” Everyone looked around, but found no trace of it. “Fennekin!? Where are you?”

“It has to be around here somewhere.” said Falt.

“Let’s split up,” said Crisis. “Falt, Creed and I will search the battlefield and the surrounding area. Ceailean, Marie, Topaz, and Kade, you all search inside the Pokémon center.”

“Understood!” Kade said with a salute. He dashed inside the Pokémon with such speed that he left the group in a cloud of dust, making them all cough.

“Okay! At first it was cool, but now it’s annoying!” said Marie, “How is he moving like that?!”

Creed wiped his face with a handkerchief. “That would be because of one of House Herahtaki's special interests. Our Poke-saphian training course!”

“Poke-safe-Ian?” asked Falt.

“Indeed. Combining the conjunctions of Pokémon and Homosaphian, the scientific term for humans, we offer a training course that allows people and Pokémon to be on par with each other.”

“You mean you can train people to be as strong as Pokémon?!” asked Ceailean.

“Of course not, my dear boy! I said ‘on par’. Humans and Pokémon have lived with each other for many generations, and everyday we grow closer to becoming their equals in a physical sense. Even now, many humans are capable of doing basic feats that humanoid Pokémon are able to perform. But that takes discipline, grit, and tenacity! In this world of lazy do-gooders, us at House Herahtaki have realized the potential the human race holds. So we brought it upon ourselves to offer those hungering for self improvement a path towards becoming as close as possible to a Pokémon's strength as possible!” Creed then ran over to the group with stunning speed, “Here, take our business card.” He bowed down and offered a stack of business cards.

Each of the group took one. “The Poke-Saphian: Potential Unleashed training course.” read out Topaz, “Hosted by the Honorable House of Herahtaki. Despite how you two act, this actually sounds pretty cool.”

“I knew I heard this name before.” said Crisis with a serious tone. “There were quite a few criminals out there that used these teachings while going on crime sprees.”

“Oh?” said Creed, “Is that so?”

“Yes!” Crisis then pointed accusingly at Creed. “Your organization gives strength to criminals with those teachings! Us at Team Harmonious have deemed you a threat to the betterment of society.”

“Oh, and just what might you do to me? Now that I’m here?”

“That’s… not my decision to make.”

“Third admin and all and still powerless.” Creed said with a bit of a sinister voice. “Tell me Crisis, why is it you think that we are directly responsible for these criminal’s actions?”

“You don’t perform background checks on your pupils! With teachings like that, you should be doing them on every single student to prevent such things from occurring.”

“Is that your solution? Is that your perception of our Honorable house?”

“Why else would you operate it inside of Unova? Where their laws are the most lax when it comes to this kind of thing.”

Creed sighed and tucked away his handkerchief. “Great, another do-gooder association.”

“What was that?!”

The rest of the group had backed away at this point. “Guys, please stop fighting.” said Falt with his hands up to his chest.

“Your organization is another bunch of radicalists who are driven over the edge with conviction for the lawful. Cowards hiding behind morals and paper.”

“How dare!”

“In this world of black and white, you’ll be the ones to call out every single little thing you deem as injustice until you paint the whole canvas white. Well here’s a little newsflash for you, the world, and by extension people, will never be painted white. Everything you envision, equality, fairness, and the good of all, leads down into a dystopia that quite frankly I hope I’m not alive for.”

“You got some nerve. What makes you so ignorant of the potential of humankind?”

“No, I believe it is you that is ignorant!” Creed stepped over to Crisis and bumped chests, making sure to look down on him. “Perhaps even a little naive. Organizations like yours will eventually get so drunk on your perceptions of the perfect world that you’d look for any little speck of injustice to keep it clean. Until eventually it leads back to your closest followers. They’ll get cast out, then fear begins to take hold. The power hierarchy will be reestablished in order to protect themselves, then others will figure out they could use it for themselves. Everything will boil down into a cataclysm of conformity and cannibalism using every single law and interpretation to force power upon others. That cycle will continue until someone finally gathers enough courage to fight that system with violence, or the system self destructs on itself entirely.”

“Some imagination you have. But the fact of the matter is, we’ll never know until it happens, can we?”

“I was there, Crisis.” Creed said with a lone gritty voice. “I stood there and watched as my region burned to ashes from a system. Equality is impossible, a fever dream. You best give it up while you’re still young.” Creed turned around and walked away.

Crisis sighed. “Fine, you remain adamant on your view and I mine. But that still doesn’t change the fact that you teach criminals.”

“Then let me put it in perspective, Crisis. If a criminal were to learn martial arts, then use them in a bid to do crime, does that vilify the martial art as a whole?” Crisis stayed silent. Creed kept walking. “We are not an arms dealer, Crisis. What we sell is an art. And you would be wise to remember the difference.”

Crisis crossed his arms and gripped them tightly. “Arrogant prick, acting all high and mighty.”

“Hey!” said Marie. Crisis looked over to see that she was uncomfortably rubbing her arms like she was cold.

Crisis calmed down a bit and sighed. “I sincerely apologize. It would seem that I have become… overly passionate. I think I need to be alone for a while.” He walked off in a different direction from Creed.

“A-And you’ll look for Fennekin, right?” asked Marie. Crisis gave a thumbs up and disappeared down the stairs.

“Um,” said Falt nervously. “C-Could you guys not leave me with them?”

“Sorry, can’t hear you!” said Topaz in the doorway of the Pokémon center with Ceailean and Marie. “Good luck though!” The door closed as she waved goodbye.

“What?! Wait a minute!” Falt ran inside after them. The other three were transfixed on something going on and Falt looked to see what it was. Kade ran up and down the entire Pokémon center trying to find Fennekin.

“Come on, come on! Where is that precious little Fennekin?!” he said. He looked behind a plant vase, behind the reception desk, under a dining table. That table however had a girl with a skirt sitting at it and she screamed. “Terribly sorry! Just trying to find a special Fennekin!”

“You think he’s a little over eager?” asked Ceailean.

“I kinda figured it would happen with shiny fanatic’s. But this feels different for some reason.” said Marie.

“Yeah, he’s not like some spoiled rich kid. There’s actually an air of danger around him.”

“Wait, that was the vibe you were getting?”

“You weren’t?”

“No! Just like he might offer a violent amount of things to have Fennekin.”

“Well, you’re rich already right? No way you’d ever accept an offer.”

“It’s more than that C.”

Falt then realized something. “Wait, Fennekin’s a shiny?”

Marie looked at him confused. “Yeeeees?”

“No way!” said Topaz. “I just assumed it looked like that!”

“Didn’t you two play online Pokémon battles?”

“Well yeah,” said Falt, “But with only like legendaries and final evolutions.”

“And you never did any research on which starter you wanted?”

“Would you believe us if we said we wanted to be surprised?” said Topaz.

“I guess.”

Kade skidded to a halt in front of the group. “Quite peculiar, there seems to be no trace of it anywhere.”

“I have no idea it would wander off like that.” said Marie as she scratched her chin. “I don’t think it's ever left my side since I got it.”

“Oh? And where did you get it perchance?”

“I got it from uh…” Marie looked at Ceailean, wondering what she should say. Ceailean only shrugged. “From Sycamore when I went to get my very first Pokémon.”

“So he gave it to some random trainer when its turn was up?”

“Y-Yeah, I guess.”

“Very interesting.” Kade walked around for a bit. “Well there was one place I haven’t checked yet. That giant pile of bags.” He pointed to the group's pile of bags.

“That’s our stuff.” said Ceailean.

“I figured as much.” Kade darted over to the pile.

“Hey! Don’t touch our stuff!” shouted Topaz.

“Oh come on. I am only observing. But this is strange, it looks like you guys travel with quite the decorative pillow. The black and red design is quite appealing.”

Marie was confused. “But we don’t-” Ceailean grabbed her shoulder and quickly shushed her. The two watched anxiously as Kade hovered over the bags. Noibat’s ear twitched. It could hear a shaky breath coming from inside the bags, like something was afraid.

“Imma give it a quick feel, I might want to buy one for myself.” said Kade.

“Uh oh.” said Ceailean under his breath. Kade reached over and pinched the edge of the pillow. As soon as he did, it sunk into the bags a little bit. At first, Kade was confused. But then he realized why the pillow did what it did.

“Oh, are we playing hide and seek?” He said, looking around with his hand shading his eyes. “I think I’ll guess, right here.” Kade poked the pillow again. It sank further inside the bags. “Come on, ♪found you Fennekin♪!” Kade poked again. This time, Fennekin burst out from the bags and ran away towards Marie. Kade chuckled as he chased it down. “No no no! Fennekin! I’m friendly, I swear! I just wanna get a good look at you.”

Fennekin hid behind Marie’s feet. Kade danced around Marie, trying to catch it. “Guys stop! What if you knock me over?!”

“A picture is all I need!” Kade said with a somewhat rabid voice. “Just one and I’ll get out of your hair!” He pulled out his phone and held as steadily as he could while still moving. Fennekin now really wanted to get away. It shot a psybeam at Kade, to which he barely avoided by letting himself fall backwards on the ground.

“Fennekin! Kade stop! You’re scaring it!” said Marie. Fennekin ran away towards the other side of the Pokémon center. Kade noticed this and rolled out of Marie’s way.

“Now’s my chance!” Kade shot himself towards Fennekin. Fennekin was backed against a wall. All it could do was watch in fear as Kade slid his way across the floor. Kade pointed his phone at Fennekin, to which it shut its eyes and turned away in disgust. “Gotcha! 3, 2, 1, now!”

A red light enveloped Fennekin right as Kade pressed the picture button. “Huh-?” His head then went crashing straight through the drywall of the Pokémon center. The bystanders and the group all gasped in astonishment at the sight. “Do not worry everyone!” said Kade, his muffled voice coming through the wall. “I am okay!”

“I don’t think that’s the worry here.” said Topaz. “I didn’t think we’d find anyone weirder than Ceailean.”

“Give it time, Topaz.” said Marie. “Hang around us long enough and you’ll probably find weirder.”

“I’m good thanks…”

Kade firmly planted his hands on the wall and popped his head out of it. He gave a sigh of relief and looked at the photo on his phone. “Ah come on!” he said, dramatically throwing his arms in the air in disappointment. The photo was nothing but an overwhelming flash of red light. Kade looked around frantically. “Where did it go?!”

“I returned it.” said Marie. “You being all mega obsessed with it made me think it isn’t exactly healthy.”

Kade’s somewhat whimsical expression disappeared. For some reason, this almost made Ceailean lose his nerve. Kade stood up and dusted himself off. “Ah yes, I suppose I have been a little forward. Allow me to use a form of more proper etiquette.” Kade inhaled and moved over to Marie’s side with an unnecessary amount of speed.

“How does 500,000K sound?” he said with a quiet sinister voice.

Marie jumped back startled. “Hey whoa! First, too close! And second, what for exactly?”

“A picture of Fennekin, of course. Though, if I were to be honest, it would be most ideal for you to trade it to me.”

“What!?”

“For a much higher sum of course. Does 5,000,000 fit the bill? How about 50,000,000?”

“No!” Marie clutched Fennekin’s pokeball close to her chest.

“500,000,000! That is well within the price I’m willing to pay! Perhaps we could even negotiate items and Pokémon! Mega stones? Z-Crystals? How about some Pokémon you’d never find in Kalos. I could even be so kind as to have my servants fetch you a legendary Pokémon if you so choose. From Articuno to Zygarde, nothing is off limits! Just name your price!”

“I am absolutely not gonna just give you my friend! Fennekin is not for sale!” shouted Marie. The Pokémon center became dead silent.

Kade exhaled slowly. “Everything has its price.” he said slowly in a low tone. “I suppose I just need to run into you in a situation where you’re willing to pay it.”

Ceailean stepped in between the two. “Is that a threat?”

“Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn’t. Why don’t you decide for me?”

“You wanna go there?”

“I just might.” A pokeball fell out of Kade’s suit sleeve into his hand.

Noibat dropped down from Ceailean’s head and stood ready to battle. “You don’t want this fight.” Ceailean said.

“By all means, Ceailean. Ladies first.” Ceailean and Kade backed away from each other slowly. Falt plucked a pokeball out from his pocket, his hands absolutely shivering. Snom wriggled out of Marie’s beanie and landed on the floor, ready to battle. Topaz glanced down by her feet and saw Dewpider ready to go. And right when everyone was ready to act, someone stepped in the way.

“You all are absolutely not battling inside, nor anywhere near my Pokémon center!” shouted Nurse Joy. “I don’t care what beef you all have, take it somewhere else or tolerate each other! I will not have your fiasco affect the Pokémon in my care!”

Everyone stood stunned. Kade smirked and gave a slight chuckle. “Yes, Joy Hakase’, just what were we thinking?” He tucked the pokeball back inside his sleeve and began to waltz his way out the door. “I do humbly request that you consider my offer, Marie-chan. A shiny Fennekin like that is one of a kind. Quite the valuable exchange token if I do say so myself.” Marie stared daggers into him. “But, it would seem that I have spent too much time here and I must be on my way. I do have places to be.”

Kade stepped over to the sliding doors and turned around to the group as they opened. “I bid you all, adieu.” Kade turned around and stepped out the door, only to run face first into Scolipede’s upper body.

“Oh yeah, we just kinda left some of our Pokémon outside huh?” said Marie.

Kade peeled his head off Scolipede’s body and stepped to the side while giving a pat. “Excuse me sir.” Kade bowed to the group and left. Ceailean and Marie however noticed a slight purplish skin washing across the bridge of Kade’s nose before he left.

“You see that, Marie?” asked Ceailean.

“He deserves it for all I care,” said Marie. As soon as Kade was out of sight, Scorbunny blew a raspberry from on top of Scolipede’s head. Marie then sighed. “I really cannot handle any more villains right now…” she said to herself. However, Ceailean was close enough to hear it, making his ears perk up slightly.

“What did you guys see?” asked Topaz.

“Scolipede has an ability called poison point. Anything and everything has a chance of getting poisoned by touching it.” explained Marie.

“And you’re saying that Kade got affected? How would you know?”

“We can see it on anybody. Me and Marie have uh… a lot of experience.” said Ceailean as he pointed back and forth between himself and Marie.

“So you can’t touch Scolipede very often? That seems so sad.” said Topaz.

“No no! As long as it trusts you, you can touch it all you want.” said Marie. “I can positively say that Scolipede hasn’t poisoned me once since the day I met it.”

“How long ago was that?”

“A week-ish?”

“Yeah, nice hot streak there.” said Falt.

“Doesn’t it have the potential to… you know… off him?” asked Ceailean.

“He’ll notice way before it ever gets that bad. Plus, he seems rich enough to treat it.”

“You really know a lot about poison.” said Falt.

“Yeah, I had to do some homework after what happened when I met Scolipede. Along with another incident C had, as well as another one involving someone who stole my beanie, I wanted to be super prepared. Those experiences were not fun.”

“Whoa!” said Falt. “You wanna tell us all about them?”

“Sure! But you’ll have to ask C about his experience. I think he tells the story better.”

“I hope I’m not too boring when I tell it.” said Ceailean. The group all chuckled as they moved to a table.

Scorbunny stretched its arms and hopped off Scolipede’s head. The two moved inside to join the group at the table. But then Scorbunny came back outside as something had caught its eye. It peered over the sliding door and observed a curious sight upon the outside planter.

A Pokémon, its expression absolutely mesmerized as it looked through the glass. Scorbunny tilted its head curiously and jumped up on the planter. Scorbunny approached the Pokémon, but it didn’t even notice it get close. Scorbunny tried to see where it was looking, but the sun’s reflection covered the glass. It then plastered its face on the glass with an audible thunk, asking the Pokémon what it was looking at.

The Pokémon jumped and screamed and gave Scorbunny a frightening double slap. Scorbunny gagged as it fell into the planter dirt. The Pokémon yelled and asked what Scorbunny was doing there. Scorbunny jumped up from the dirt and apologized profusely. It scratched the back of its head and bowed multiple times. A blue flower on its head waved back and forth as it did so.

The Pokémon found the uprooted flower endearing on Scorbunny so it decided to humor it. Scorbunny stopped bowing and got a good look at the Pokémon. It was bell shaped with a red and white color scheme. Its somewhat humanoid figure was accentuated with the pigtail-like hair on its head made out of a thick leaf of some sort.

Scorbunny apologized for scaring it one more time and offered its paw, asking if they could be friends. The Pokémon gave a tiny gasp. It hesitantly reached out its arm and shook Scorbunny’s paw hesitantly. Scorbunny smiled and introduced itself.

The Pokémon couldn’t help but smile back. “Steenee!” it said in return.