Chapter Text
Jacinthe was having a party! Riko liked parties! He hadn’t been to one in a very long time, but he liked them. And, it was at the fanciest hotel in the entire city, which meant a new outfit, which meant another chance to annoy Naveen. He really, really hoped the store they were going to had a really, really ugly suit! Oh, this was gonna be great!
When they arrived, he was gobsmacked by how dang pricey everything was! He knew humans liked money, but this was something else! I mean, 11,000 Pokedollars for a shirt!!?? That's crazy!! Luckily, there was a lady out front who said she’d give them a suit for free if they could win in a battle. 'Now there was something he could do!' he thought.
He agreed and sent out his newly evolved Croconaw, Icebreaker. With a little help from some strong style moves, all of her Pokemon went down easily. Bam, suit acquired! And when they brought it out? Oh, it was love at first sight! Well, for Naveen it was definitely hate at first sight, but that's what made it perfect!
So, with the ugliest suit to grace Lumiose, and his friend Taunie, he was ready for his debut at Hotel Richissime!
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Or so he thought. As soon as they learned it was going to be a battle tournament(yay!), with a bunch of super strong trainers he’s already met(Yayy!!), and his dad was there watching it too(YAYYYY!!!!!), they had to leave ‘cause stupid Vinnie called with some more stupid Pokemon to save. Now, he liked saving the Pokemon, he didn’t want to see anyone in the pain they were in, but he was really, really excited to take part in the tournament. And then when Jacinthe approached them again, Taunie said they’d be okay being disqualified, which, hey, no he’s not! But whatever, Taunie’s the boss, so he has to do what she says.
The next evening, after he stayed up all night quelling Rogue Megas, and ran around all day helping Taunie with stuff, Jacinthe came back. Kinda. it was actually her maid Lebanne who came back with a few SBC members and locked them in a purple Holo-Zone until they agreed to come join the tournament.
He fought off all three of them, and Taunie finally agreed to join the tournament, so they were let go, with a warning to get to the hotel as soon as possible, or else. And oh boy, Riko was excited! But, there was one thing he needed to do before he joined the tournament, because just three Pokemon wasn’t going to cut it, no matter how skilled they were. He just hoped his sister wouldn’t mind being woken up.
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‘Oh yeah, it’s party time, babeeey' he thought to himself as he took the elevator up to the tournament's floor. He was so ready for this! As he stepped out of the elevator, he saw at least three people cringe at his godawful suit. Perfect.
“Finally,” Jacinthe called, “Now that you’re here, we can finally begin Le Super-Tournoi de Jacinthe!” Riko snickered as he gathered with the other contestants in the middle of the floor, that was a funny name!
Jacinthe continued, “Lebanne, the bracket please!” and lo and behold, the bracket appeared on the screen behind Jacinthe, “You will each face an opponent and the winner will move on to the next round. Whoever makes it to the end will get the chance to face moi, your lovely host!”
‘Oooo, fun! A bracket! And, if it works out like I think it will, then I’ll get to fight Mr. Corbeau!’
Jacinthe then caught sight of an extra person in the room, “Hold on, you, in the dashing white coat, who are you and why are you here? You were not invited.”
The man grins, “I am Emmet! I am here to watch the boss fight. I want to see how he has improved. Do not mind me.” Jacinthe hums.
“Very well, I suppose you may stay. Now! On with my tourney! The first battle is between Canari and Riko of Team MZ! You may begin any time!”
Riko smiled, a wild foxish smile, and stepped up to the court. “Oh, you’re going down, Canari. Go, Icebreaker!” And with that, his Croconaw is on the field and ready to rumble. He easily chomps through Canari’s team, with agile style moves to dodge any attack that comes near, and strong style moves to take them out with one hit. Soon enough, even Canari’s Eelektross falls to his Croconaw’s jaws and Riko is declared the winner.
He watches the other matches from the cozy couches along the wall. The soft cushions and warmth of the battle room have him fighting off yawns. He didn’t realize how little sleep he’s gotten recently until now. But, he’s gotta stay awake and win, for him, for his sister, and for his Dad! But for now, he supposes he can rest his eyes a little.
He’s being shaken. Why? If he opened his eyes he’d probably find out. Oh, Taunie’s shaking him. Why, though? Oh, right, the tourney. Right, he’s doing that. He,.. should probably keep doing that. Yeah. Who’s he fighting?
“The next match is between Riko and Ivor! You may begin at any time!” Oh, okay, Ivor. He can do that. Riko stands up and waves off Taunie’s concerns, instead he makes his way to the court, only stumbling once. He sends out Icebreaker again, and recalls him as he falls immediately to Ivor’s first Pokemon. Oops. Okay, then it’s Livewire’s turn.
“Go, Livewire! Shock 'em’ dead!” Livewire manages to take down the rest of Ivor’s team thanks to his smarts and some well timed agile style quick attacks. It is a close thing though so he’ll probably need Circuitbreaker to fight Mr. Corbeau’s team. But, he probably has time for a nap before he has to worry about that. Back to the couch! Yayy!
He barely gets to close his eyes before Jacinthe announces, “Riko versus Corbeau is our next match!” and he has to get up and battle again. He’s kinda hoping he’ll lose so he can go to bed, it’s like way past his bed time, but he’s also way too competitive to lose on purpose soooooo. He’ll just have to see what happens!
He starts off with Circuitbreaker, as Livewire has already fought pretty hard, and he manages to get through a good chunk of his team too before Mr. Corbeau’s Scolipede crushes him like a, well, like a bug. So, Livewire is sent in to deal with it and a strong style Thunderbolt takes it out, but not before it can sneak in a poison jab that leaves Livewire unable to fight after.
So, he’s down to just one Pokemon and he’s got Jacinthe’s whole team to get through. Ah, at least if it doesn’t go well there’s not anything riding on it!
“Oh, and would you look at that! You’re my next promotion match! I will climb over you to reach Rank A and make Lumiose a better place for everyone!”
Ah dang it.
He’s standing on the court and he can barely keep his eyes open. Jacinthe is spouting,.. some aristocratic nonsense probably. He hears Lebanne call start and watches as Jacinthe sends out her first Pokemon, a Carbink. She’s obviously waiting for something… Oh that’s probably him. Okay, welp, hopefully she’s less tired than him ‘cause he doesn’t think he can command her very well in this state. Hopefully he doesn’t fall asleep standing up.
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Emmet watches on as his son sways on the court. He watched as all three of his kids’ Pokemon were knocked out so he isn’t sure how he is going to fight Jacinthe. But, there are two more Pokeballs on his belt, both scuffed premier balls. He knows why Riko has one, but two is an anomaly, and he can only hope it doesn’t have anything to do with why he hasn’t seen Rika this afternoon.
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Jacinthe is fairly confident in her victory. She watched as her opponent's Pokemon got knocked out throughout the tournament, and honestly, she isn’t sure how he managed to beat all of the other competitors with a tiny Croconaw and two Joltik. But, if that was the kids team’s theme, then whatever final Pokemon he had left would easily be defeated by her glorious team!
Jacinthe sent out her lovely Carbink, and patiently waited for the kid to send out his Pokemon. He was obviously very sleepy and so wouldn’t be able to command his Pokemon properly, which would make this battle even easier. She watched carefully as the kid’s hand went to his belt. The three regular Pokeballs containing his knocked out team were skipped, and his fingers lingered on a, clearly empty, Premier Ball, before settling on a matching Premier Ball that presumably held his final Pokemon. With a tired sigh, the kid threw out that final Pokeball to reveal…
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!!!!” Jacinthe cried, very politely and demurely she might add. If any of her other guests had been able to speak their minds at that moment, she’s sure they would’ve put it much less kindly.
Before her on the court stood a hulking behemoth of a Pokemon, with ghost white fur, long black claws, and bloody red patches all over its body. It rubbed its face with a large paw and let out a long low grumble. And then it spoke. In a low, gravely voice, groggy from sleep, it spoke.
“Uuuuugghhh… What is so important ya’ had to drag me from my nap for Riko?”
The kid didn’t even flinch at this horrible beast speaking to him. In fact, he conversed with it as if it was an old friend or a family member!
“Jus’ need you to help me win this Pokemon battle, everyone else is down for the count. You know what to do though. Good luck.”
The beast grumbled again, “Yeah, whatever.” and turned to Jacinthe’s darling Carbink. With one swipe of its massive claws, the poor thing was knocked out and skidded across the court. Jacinthe really didn’t want to have any more of her Pokemon face this brute, but she had no choice. So, out went her Aurorus. And before she could even roar her entrance, she, too, was struck down.
The Fox Beast had barely moved, and had gone back to rubbing its face, apparently attempting to wake itself up. Jacinthe however, would not waste the chance its momentary distraction provided and sent out her Mawile. It managed to get off a Bite but no more before the beast sent it down with a Crunch of its own. Her second to last Pokemon already and no more than a few points of damage dealt to the frightening thing.
Jacinthe wondered momentarily if this was how they managed to work their way so high in the Royale but a glance at the frightened faces of the other competitors told her, no, this was a complete unknown. In her own distraction she hadn’t noticed her Gardevoir had gone down as well to a well timed Shadow Ball.
Now, she was down to her final Pokemon, her trusty Clefable. As soon as she appeared on the field, she Mega-Evolved her. Hopefully the imposing aura would cause the beast to freeze up so she could hit it with a Hyper Beam. As her sweet Clefable charged its move up, Jacinthe could only watch in horror as dark energy gathered around the beast's claws and it lunged forward with a ghastly scream. Its claws collided in a burst of darkness and her Clefable fell in one swift hit.
Before she could mourn her loss, she realized the beast was looming directly over her, dark energy still swirling around its claws. She looked up, and up, and up, past its dark claws and furry chest, up to where its silver eyes gleamed and yellow teeth gnashed, and promptly fell back with a scream. She curled into herself with a whimper and waited for the beast to attack her.
When nothing happened, she peeked out from behind her hands to watch the beast retreat to its owner. And then, along with everyone else, including the beast, watched as Riko pressed his finger to the button of a scuffed Premier Ball and subsequently went into it, just as a Pokemon would. The room was silent save for the clattering of Pokeballs to the floor, both the one Riko had gone into as well as the others on his belt.
Then, the beast lunged for the Pokeballs and roared, “Riko, you DICK! That’s MY POKEBALL!! GET OUTTA THERE!!!” It shook the ball around before growling and slamming its fist on the ground.
Then, the man in white approached. Instead of being mauled as Jacinthe was sure he was going to be, the beast looked up at him with the saddest wettest Growlithe eyes Jacinthe had ever seen.
“Daaad, can you tell Riko to get out of my Pokeball? I wanna go back to bed!” It whined. The man, Emmet, Jacinthe thinks, chuckles lightly and ruffles the fluffy mane atop the beast's head.
“Dear, I do believe this one is yours.” He crouches down and picks up the other Premier Ball, then holds it in front of the beast's pointed face.
“Oh! Thanks Dad! Goodnight.”
“Goodnight Rika.”
With that the beast pushes its nose to the button on the Pokeball and goes inside. Emmet carefully sets both Premier balls on his belt before gathering up the other three from the floor and hooking them onto his belt as well.
“Well, I do believe they had the right idea. It is quite late. I will be leaving. Goodnight.”
With his piece said, the man turns, walks to the elevator, and steps inside. As the door closes he smiles and waves at the rest of the gathered people and leaves them to mull over their newfound realization about Riko and Rika.
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The room quickly fills with whispers and murmuring. Lebanne has come to her lady’s aid, carefully escorting her off the court to heal her Pokemon and maybe schedule a therapy appointment too. Corbeau is rapidly muttering to himself while typing away furiously at his phone as Philippe nods along, occasionally adding a comment or two. Gwen and Canari are conversing in hushed but rapid tones and Ivor is staring into the middle distance with a vapid expression. As the bulky man attempts to have a thought, Tarragon sighs and sits down, rubbing his forehead, grumbling something about how ‘he’s getting too old for such surprises’.
Eventually, they all clear out, hotel maids escorting each group and cleaning up the arena behind them. That night, all across Lumiose, sleep is not to be found, as the echoes of haunting fox-cries line the edges of each person's dreams.
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The next morning, all is normal. Emmet and Rika get coffee at Nouveau Cafe, Riko meets up with Team MZ, and there is nary a hint of gnashing teeth or deadly claws. Wary eyes track the twins every move, looking for even the slightest hint of perking ears or twitching tails. Purple-clad grunts glance over their shoulders for glimpses of glowing eyes. Frilly maids tiptoe, alert for any hint of growling or teasing laughter. Even Taunie, sweet, oblivious Taunie, keeps Riko an arm's length away the whole day.
Eventually, they notice. Of course they do, who wouldn’t? They do have very different reactions however. Rika takes this as a sign to be even more foxlike. Her grins become sharper, her eyes glow a little more. More often than ever she can be found crouched in corners waiting to spring out, or perched atop fences or buildings laughing down at whoever is unfortunate enough to run into her as she disappears into icy fog. Riko, however, takes a slightly more diplomatic approach, he calls a strategy meeting.
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Taunie, Lida, Naveen, and Riko are gathered in the hotel conference room. However, instead of Lida upfront, it is Riko standing there. As the other three settle into their seats, staring at him inquisitive and nervous, Riko takes a deep breath.
“Okay,” he begins, “So. Y’all know we’re foxes.” The team nods.
“And you’ve been acting really weird since you learned.” They nod again. Riko pauses a moment, then slams one hand on the table and points at them with the other.
“Stop that!” All three of them jump at his command, leaning back in their chairs as he growls quietly under his breath. He takes another deep breath and stands back up.
“Sorry… It’s just, there’s no reason to be scared of me or anything. Look, Rika and I are still ourselves, you just know a little more about us now, that’s all.” He looks down, fiddling with his fingers,
“I… I’ve really liked hanging out with you guys and I don’t want to lose you all. I really don’t want anything to change even though you know I’m a Zoroark now. So,” he reached up to rub away the tears gathering at the corners of his eyes, “can you guys stop staring at me like I’m gonna eat ya?”
Taunie shot up from her chair and lunged toward Riko to wrap him in a hug. Lida quickly followed and Naveen joined shortly after.
“Oh Riko, I’m so sorry we made you feel like that! We’ll stay your friends, we promise!” Taunie cried as she hugged him tight.
“Yeah! We’re sorry! And I think it’s kinda cool you’re a Zoroark!” Lida added, fighting back tears of her own. Riko chuckled wetly before looking to Naveen on his other side,
“... S’fine your a fox. You’re still our friend.” Naveen said, trying his hardest to keep his voice level and his eyes free of tears. Riko just gave him a tear-stained smile before pulling all three of his friends in closer, happy to have finally found people who accepted him.
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