Chapter Text
As soon as she reached F Rank again, Canari switched back to her old phone. It hadn’t taken that long to reach the same rank, especially given that she was battling solo in the Battle Zones and hadn’t needed to hold back.
It also helped that Vinnie had let them shoot straight up through the ranks – even if he, too, had given her a bit of strange look when he had met them at Cafe Nouveau. She wasn’t entirely sure if his expression was always that pinched, or if he had been struggling to put a name to her face. He didn’t seem like the type of person who watched her streams.
She had her Unovan Rotom phone to thank for this whole thing lasting as long as it had. The entire operation would have fallen through on day one if she hadn't been holding onto it, that fateful day.
Her family in Unova were old school, still using Xtransceivers despite the introduction of Rotom phones ages ago, which had meant that she had needed to buy a Unovan Rotom phone that had cross-compatibility features – or buy an Xtransceiver.
Canari had opted for the second Rotom phone, obviously.
Now it was time to switch back.
Despite using her original Rotom phone for the battles, though, she kept charging the Unovan one. It only made sense to; all of Team MZ’s contacts were on that one.
When she surpassed her old rank, soundly defeating Gwynn, and then Ivor, in a series of heart-stopping, max-voltage matches – she… wasn't as surprised as she perhaps should have been.
It felt like a culmination.
Canari had always been adamant that gaming and streaming mattered more than anything else, but quelling the Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon had let her inner adrenaline junkie out – and she was struggling to shove it back into the box.
Grandpa would be happier if she did; it meant that she wouldn’t be risking her life quite so much. Her fans would be devastated if she was injured, too.
But it made her feel alive. Each new battle with a Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon, each new Promotion Match, it made her feel as good – if not better – than getting a high score in Magikarp Jump (though it couldn't beat getting one in Beldum Buildup).
It wasn’t like coming home.
Rather, it felt like more like an Ion Deluge; a shower of plasma and static filling her up with all the courage of a lightning bolt, sending thrumming energy through every part of her body like she'd been hit by an amped up Zap Cannon.
And with her affinity with Electric-type Pokémon, Canari was thriving.
“I take financial matters very seriously.” The Leader of the Rust Syndicate was droning on, coat design and speech alike dripping with deadly poison.
Once more, thanks to Urbain’s absent-minded behaviour, Canari found herself drowning in sheer disbelief. How had the guy ended up owing the Rust Syndicate so much money?
Viral videos couldn’t be filmed at the snap of a finger without a decent idea or an insane following, and an advertisement for an out-of-the-way hotel had neither of those. Hotel Z didn’t even charge that much for its rooms – even at maximum capacity, there was no way that it would have been able to make $100,000 in a single day.
They weren’t even charging her despite her occupancy going on weeks, now!
Lida, the poor girl, had dragged her along to the building for moral support, insisting that she would find a different way to get the Rust Syndicate off Team MZ’s tail. Canari, well aware of the level of influence and the type of operations that said Syndicate ran throughout Lumiose City, had other ideas.
“I told him he shouldn’t be overpromising. But he did. So now what I want to know is…” Corbeau leaned forward, hands folded in front of him. “What are you two going to do about the situation?”
“We’ll pay the debt.” Canari replied, before Lida could get a word in edgewise.
“Hm. Are you sure about that?”
“Harmony!” Lida whisper-shouted. “That’s over a million PokéDollars! You’re not even officially part of Team MZ, leave it to us to handle!”
Canari shrugged. “I can afford it, trust me.”
Corbeau peered at her through his decorated glasses. “If you are willing to pay the sum in full, the Rust Syndicate will accept it and wipe this indiscretion from both Team MZ’s and our own ledger. I must warn you – both the loan and the interest combined now come to 1.1 million PokéDollars.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, go on then. Where do I tap my Rotom phone?”
“Harmony!” Lida repeated.
“I can afford it!” She assured her friend. “‘Sides, you guys have been lettin' me stay at Hotel Z for free. Think of this as a delayed payment.”
At Corbeau’s instruction, Philippe slid a piece of paper across the table. It was a fairly simple one – just written acknowledgement that she would pay the debt in full, blah de blah, and then details of what account to send the money to.
She got her Rotom phone up and made the bank transfer, and altogether, administrative work included, it took about 5 minutes flat — she didn’t even need to call the bank to assure them that it was a legitimate transfer. Canari had dropped more money on gacha games in the last month.
“Thank you…” Lida said. Disgruntlement still marred her features, but whatever her plan had been coming into the Rust Syndicate, straight up paying the debt had proved to be superior in the end. After a few more (token, by now) protests, she stood aside and let Canari deal with the whole mess. “Urbain so owes you.”
The paperwork was slid back over to Philippe, who confirmed aloud that the transfer had gone through.
“I wondered if you would take that route.” Corbeau said, eyeing her knowingly. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
“Ugh.” Lida muttered under her breath. Canari’s thoughts exactly – this guy was so slimy.
“The exit is over there.” Philippe stood up, indicating that it was time for them to make their departure. “Kindly see yourselves out.”
Gladly. They couldn’t have left quick enough.
“How did you pay Urbain’s entire debt?” Lida asked later.
Canari shrugged. She couldn’t say her parents were rich – their ‘dead’ status had slipped out ages ago, as had the information that her grandparents had always been working class.
“Uh, ask Naveen.” She eventually settled for, acknowledging that she should probably head to the hairdresser's to get her hair redyed anyway.
She was well on her way to C Rank, by now, and quite frankly, she was surprised she had been able to keep her identity a secret for this long.
And once she’d done that, she’d be able to start making vlogs of Team MZ’s quests to quell the Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon. Unlike Urbain’s ill-thought-out plan of getting Hotel Z to go viral, Canari and DYN4MO combined actually had the ability to make viral videos – and those tended to pay extremely well based on views alone.
“Alright.” Lida took it into stride. “Keep your secrets.”
Lida had clearly asked Naveen regardless, as when they rejoined for a strategy meeting later that day, she was eyeing Canari as if she had never seen her before.
The fresh dye job that she was sporting didn’t help.
Though her hair was tied back into the bun that she had taken to habitually wearing around Team MZ, the front – for the first time since she had departed on holiday – bore her classic lightning-shape-patterned dual-tone split. The right side was now a vivid electric blue, and she had gotten a haircut alongside it, returning her hair to precisely the length that Canari most preferred it at.
Urbain had yet to arrive, so Lida confronted her as soon as she walked in, Naveen hanging back awkwardly. “I can’t believe you’re the streamer girl that Naveen’s so obsessed with.”
Behind her, Naveen buried his face in his hands.
Canari scratched her cheek absentmindedly. “Well…”
She’d known this was coming, but she still hoped desperately that it wouldn’t change much about their relationship. She and Lida got on well, but though Harmony and Canari were fundamentally the same, the latter held implications that Lida only now knew that she had to consider.
“Hm… I guess I can kinda see it now that you’ve dyed half your hair.” Lida snapped her fingers. “So that’s why you said you needed a haircut!”
“Yeah, figured it was time.” Canari admitted. “I’ve been puttin' it off for ages, but I had this Eerie Impulse to visit after we left the Rust Syndicate.”
Lida’s sharp laugh of delight was music to her ears, and went a long way to easing the pressure that had bound itself tightly around her chest like a clingy Eelektrik. “Is that an Electric-type pun I hear?”
“I’ve been holdin' back!” Canari grinned. “I think it’s time to kick them into Overdrive now.”
Lida snickered, then full-out laughed, and Naveen smiled from where he was as well. Now the atmosphere felt more akin to being enveloped in an Altaria's soft wings, rather than wading through Koffing smoke.
Success!
Urbain wandered in soon after.
“Why’s everyone laughing?” He asked, panning his gaze around the room before it caught on Canari. “Oh– sweet, you’ve dyed your hair! It suits you!”
Naveen stared at him.
After a moment, Lida’s giggles faded away as she registered what Urbain had just said. She looked at Canari, and then back to Urbain, who was taking a seat at the table, oblivious to the eyes on him.
Urbain looked up. “...Hm?”
Completely oblivious.
Lida and Naveen traded glances, but Canari just smiled sweetly at him. She could just tell him, as Naveen had broken the news to Lida without her figuring it out herself, but Urbain had just cost her a shocking amount of money.
She would let him stew in his ignorance for a little longer.
“Nothin'.” She said, saccharine, before signalling for Lida to start the strategy meeting.
It got to the point where she was fairly certain that the dots wouldn’t connect in Urbain’s head without someone explicitly telling him.
“Do you wanna be in my clean-up vlog?” Canari asked, off-handedly, as the sun rose on the devastated Lumiose City. “Actually, are y’all okay with being in my Mega Evolution compilation vid too? I can edit your faces out if you want.”
“It’s fine.” Lida said, Naveen nodding as well.
Urbain perked up. “Is that why you were taking those all those videos?”
“Content is content.” Canari said, blasé. “It’s been fun, too.”
“If it gets a ton of views, maybe it’ll draw more people to Hotel Z…” Urbain murmured, under his breath.
Lida facepalmed. Literally, so hard that it produced a sound.
A girl after her own heart, truly.
“Nah, it’s goin' up on my channel.” Canari told him. “But I’ll split the proceeds from the views 70/30 if you want.”
“We couldn’t–” Naveen started.
“Thank you!” Lida cut him off. “That’s really kind of you to offer, we’ll take it.”
Naveen put a hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off, glaring back at him.
"We're broke." She hissed.
Canari politely pretended that she had become temporarily deaf as Naveen folded under Lida's admonishment, privately resolving to treat the team to a meal at the Sushi High Roller after this disaster was a more distant thought.
“Don’t you need at least ten thousand views to make money from videos directly?” Urbain mused. The one thing that had come out of the Rust Syndicate debacle was that after the action was over, he had actually done more research into the mishap that had landed him in such severe debt. “Are you sure a simple compilation is going to get that many?”
In unison, Naveen and Lida levelled him with looks.
He quailed under the intensity of their stares. “...Have I missed something?”
“How have you not figured it out yet?” Lida blurted out, finally at the end of her tether.
“Figured out what?” The lost expression on his face reminded Canari of the Psyduck she’d seen wandering around Village Bridge while on holiday.
Canari pulled her trilby hat off, taking a moment to put her hair into her classic twin-tails.
Urbain’s face started to look very constipated, as if an idea was just occurring to him.
She followed it up by taking off her jacket. Naveen had told her that Urbain had been planning to give her said jacket if she joined, but given that she had consistently denied him the opportunity, Naveen just took the embroidered patch with MZ’s logo off it, and passed it to her anyway.
It didn’t really fit her colour scheme, but she’d worn it for Team MZ-adjacent activities regardless. Now, shedding the Zygarde-green outer layer revealed her iconic canary-yellow, cropped jacket below.
Urbain’s mouth dropped open.
“You name isn’t Harmony, is it?”
It had finally clicked.
“It’s what’s on my passport.” Canari smirked, letting a flash of her teeth show. “But nah, it’s not what I go by these days.”
“And everyone else knew?” Urbain asked, accusatorily.
“Ages ago.” Lida sighed. “I can’t believe you didn’t figure it out after she redyed her hair.”
“I don’t watch Canari!” He tried to defend himself.
“Neither do I!”
“Well, you kind of have been, Lida.” Naveen piped up. “And Urbain, you’ve been behind the scenes on a few videos already.”
Urbain turned to face Canari herself, now.
“Thanks for mistaking me for a tourist, Urbain.” She grinned wider, watching the realisation spread across his face like an oil spill, “I’d almost be offended – I’ve lived in this city longer than you have – but this side quest has been prime time entertainment!”
Urbain gaped like a Magikarp, before abruptly taking a seat on what remained of a nearby bench.
He looked like he was reconsidering his life choices – of which many were incredibly dubious, such as taking a loan from the Rust Syndicate, so perhaps he should thank Canari for triggering the moment of introspection.
Naveen patted his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. It was surprisingly uncharacteristic of the guy, but Urbain seemed like he needed it.
“This team is ridiculous.” Lida shook her head.
“Ah, but we saved the city with it!” Canari pointed out.
Lida stared at the two guys for a little longer, before a bright smile overpowered her pursed lips. She tilted her head up to look at Prism Tower. The sun had risen while they were talking, and what was left of the tower now gleamed under the dawn’s brilliant new rays.
“Yeah, that we did.”