Chapter Text
When grandpa asked why she hadn’t returned home yet, hours after her train had pulled into the Gare de Lumiose, she didn’t know where to begin explaining.
She had sent him a quick message not too long after the whole fiasco had kicked off – just so that DYN4MO didn’t fly into a panic – telling him that she would explain when she got home later.
In truth, even now, she wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened.
She snuck out of Hotel Z as soon as she was sure Urbain had gone to sleep, and though AZ was evidently still awake, he only nodded to her as she slipped out of the hotel and back to Racine Construction in the early hours of the morning. The Battle Zone was still live, but now that Urbain wasn’t watching over her shoulder, she let Eelektross rampage freely through the teams of anyone foolish enough to challenge her.
Canari wanted her bed, her plushies, her grandpa, and she wanted them now.
She wanted to shuck off her disguise – evidently effective, seeing as Urbain had mistaken her for a common tourist instead of recognising her on the spot – and she wanted to go to sleep.
Racine Construction was still lit by its ever-present LED lights. Lumiose was the city of lights, and Racine Construction took that to a whole new level. Even in the dead of night, the building was as bright as it was in daytime, and members of the construction crews still hung around chatting as if it was the middle of the day.
Canari knew for a fact that only a third of them actually participated in the Z-A Royale. Even then, she didn’t see that third raring to battle.
She traded them a tired wave as she passed.
One of them opened the door for her – and grandpa met her as soon as she crossed the threshold. “Hey Pops. Watt’s zappin’?”
“Oh, Canari, where’ve ya been?” Her grandpa worried, taking her appearance in.
She tore her bun out as soon as the door shut behind her, grateful to be back in familiar territory. With her naturally light lime hair having grown out in her time overseas, the beret that her cousin had gifted her had hid the electric-blue highlights and black-tipped edges from view, once all the stray hairs were tucked away.
Ugh.
She desperately needed a shower.
The grease of her hair after so long spent travelling was almost unbearable. She’d done a marathon stream before where she hadn’t showered for a few days, but nothing beat the combination of aeroplane and train grime, followed by half a day traipsing around Lumiose with a boy who’d roped her into his bizarre advertising attempts.
At least it had been entertaining.
“Hotel Z.” She replied, running her hand through her hair. “One of the employees tried to get me to advertise – for free, can you believe that?”
“How dare they?” Her grandpa played along. “They should be payin’ ya for the privilege!”
She grinned. “Ain’t that right? It wasn’t all bad though. Finally got to meet that lanky hotel owner – the one that’s meant to be thousands of years old.”
“AZ?”
“That’s the one.” There was no doubt that he recognised her. There may be some truth to that rumour – his eyes were old, older than even her grandpa’s, and he seemed terrifyingly weathered.
He was shrewd, too. He had been watching her carefully all the way through Urbain’s introduction of ‘Harmony’, seeing her shift uncomfortably under his gaze, before following up Urbain’s introduction with a heartfelt speech instructing her to take good care of her Pokémon. He didn’t say a word to implicate Canari’s deception by omission.
Harmony was the name on her passport, after all. Even if she only used it when travelling outside of Lumiose.
“Got to battle with my new Pokémon, too!”
“Oh?” Grandpa perked up.
“One of my cousins was giving them away! His Galvantula had too many for him to take care of, so my latest team member is Joltik!”
She patted the pokéball in her bag happily.
Urbain had offered to let her take in one of the three Pokémon that had been with him, but none of them evolved into Electric-types. Canari had a niche that she wanted to stick to – it didn’t make sense to take in another Pokémon. Especially now that she almost had a full-team.
“He did great tonight! Totally electrifyin’ – we thrashed this waitress who snuck up on us in the Battle Zone!”
Grandpa’s eyes softened. “I’m glad ya’ve been having fun, Canari.”
“Obviously. I can take care of myself.” Canari puffed out her cheeks.
“‘Course ya can. It is late, however.” Grandpa tapped his watch. “Surely yer exhausted. Why don’t ya introduce me to Joltik when the sun rises?”
“Yeah.” She sighed, slouching. Grandpa was right. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, her heart was slowing into a rhythm that meant that it was time for her to hit the hay. “I’m zapped.”
“C’mon.” Grandpa lead the way to their little apartment above Racine Construction, just up a few floors from the organisation’s reception.
Her bed was made perfectly for her despite the mess she had left the room in before departing – grandpa’s doing, no doubt. Most of her plushies were in the garage where she kept her streaming set-up, but her favourites were lying on the bed just waiting for her, including her biggest Eelektross plushie.
There was a glass of water resting on the bedside table too, along with an energy drink on the desk that she rarely used – in favour of the one in the garage – for when she woke up.
“Aw. Thanks, Pops.” Canari smiled, genuinely. Her grandpa was the best.
Hotel Z was nice and rustic, but nothing could beat home.
“Anything for ya, Canari.”
Yeah. Nothing could beat home.
Her ruse lasted all the way through the next day.
Urbain had texted her asking where she was, and she had spent a few minutes deliberating before returning to Hotel Z as Harmony. It didn’t hurt her to wander over when it was so close – using grandpa’s hologram to stream meant that she’d gotten hours of her fix without needing to stop by the hairdresser’s. It also meant that she had barely needed to put effort into redisguising herself.
She’d declined the offer to join Team MZ, unable to betray DYN4MO after all that she and Racine Construction had done to build it up, but Urbain hadn’t seemed too fussed.
Rather, he seemed adamant that he would eventually be able to win her around.
Some people were too thick to be convinced, so Canari ditched him as soon as she could, though she did swap out her beret for the striped trilby hat at his insistence.
It didn’t mean that she was part of their team.
Lida had seemed nice, though. She circled round after Urbain had gone wandering off across the city somewhere to meet back up with the girl, dropping in with Joltik hiding under her new hat. The static that released when she tapped Lida on the shoulder made both of them jump.
“Hey, watt’s– what’s up.” She course-corrected.
“Hey!” Lida said cheerfully. “You gave me a fright!”
Despite the bite to her words, none of that reflected in her tone.
Canari smiled hesitantly, her nerves rising up in time with a Thunder Wave of anticipation. She’d known of Team MZ’s vague existence before she’d left to visit her family overseas, but since she so rarely left the premises of Racine Construction, she’d not met any of them in person before.
Lida seemed less annoying than Urbain, and just as warmly kind-hearted.
“My bad.” Canari half-grinned, doffing her hat to reveal Joltik on her head. The small lemon-yellow spider nearly blended in with the strands of her own similarly coloured hair. “That’d be this lil guy’s fault.”
She might be Harmony on the surface, but Canari always knew what to say, even if it had taken a little more effort to get over the paralysing hump.
“Aww!” Lida didn’t disappoint. “They’re adorable! Though no wonder you static-ed me by accident, if you had a Joltik on your head.”
“What can I say,” Canari shrugged. “He’s young. Still learning how to control his own electricity, you know?”
“Oh, no wonder!” Lida spun around, a full, graceful 360° that was evidently done just because she could. Whereas Canari tended to bounce up and down on the heels of her feet during only battle, Lida’s perpetual motion seemed to be a day-and-night kind of deal. “Staryu had the same issue when it was learning how to use Water Gun for the first time – I kept getting sprayed in the face!”
“They’re a handful, aren’t they?” Canari said, lightly.
“That they are!” Lida agreed. “By the way, what brings you here?”
Here was Coulant Waterway, about equivalent distance between Hotel Z and her home.
AZ had pointed her in this direction when she had asked after Lida’s whereabouts. Urbain was nice and all, but there was something different about female friends that a part of her craved like her Eelektross craved Super Lumiose Galettes.
Lida didn’t seem to have sussed her out at all, so between now and when that eventually happened – because sooner or later, Canari was really going to need to visit a hairdresser – she wanted to see if they clicked without the spectre of the streamer looming over their relationship.
“AZ told me you’d be round here somewhere.” Canari said. “I wanted to ask you ‘bout your dance? Urbain cut us off earlier, but…”
Lida lit up. “Of course!”
Her two-for-two streak ended when she met the final member of Team MZ.
A Scraggy wandered up to her side as she stared out over the small pond in Vert Sector 6’s park; one of the few green areas in the city that wasn’t slated to become a Wild Zone in the coming weeks or months. There were a few people scattered around, but given that it was the middle of a weekday in late autumn, it was nowhere near as busy as it could be.
“That striped trilby hat…” A young man followed the Scraggy onto the bridge that she was leaning on. “Would you happen to be Harmony?”
Canari grinned. “That’s me!” She said, without turning, enamoured by two Furfrou that were chasing their own tails in the distance. One was evidently wild, but the other had fur partly dyed a gorgeous, sky blue, its tail trimmed into a star-shape pattern – evidently, it had been to a Furfrou Trimmer.
“Hm.” He drew closer to her. “So you’re the new member that Urbain is trying to bring aboard Team MZ. That hat was mine originally. I passed it onto Urbain, but I guess it didn’t fit him either. Glad to see it getting some use.”
His tone was carefully neutral.
“My name’s Naveen. I’m another member of the Team.”
She tore her gaze away from the Furfrou with an ambivalent expression plastered across her face as she turned to face the guy. “Nice to meetcha.”
Naveen jerked, taking a step back.
“Wait–”
It was a good thing that the park was nearly empty, because Naveen’s volume dial momentarily swung all the way round to its maximum.
“CANARI?!”
Her grin returned, then widened, as Naveen jumped almost a foot into the air when he caught sight of her full face.
To have recognised her so quickly – this was clearly a long-time fan.
It threw a wrench into her plans to lightheartedly infiltrate Team MZ, but she couldn’t deny that the entertainment potential of this scene alone was well worth the bizarre excursions she’d had to suffer through so far.
“Talk about a Double Shock!” She said cheerfully. “Congratulations for identifying me on the spot!”
“You– You–” Naveen stuttered.
“You see why I couldn’t join Team MZ, right?” It was easy to slide back into her usual personality now that she didn’t have to hide behind the facade of Harmony. “Though it was nice of Urbain to offer.”
“Canari?!” He repeated, still staring at her face in shock.
She bowed dramatically, spinning the hat off her head and revealing the bun that held the dyed parts of her hair – the ones that were the hallmark of the streamer Canari.
“That’s me!”
Scraggy returned to Naveen’s side as he recollected himself.
“It’s an honour to meet you!” He said, with no small amount of incredulity. She caught him pinching himself, and fought the urge to let her smile widen even further. “I can’t believe Urbain tried to recruit you to Team MZ.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t betray DYN4MO like that, you get me?” Canari twirled a stray strand of hair around one finger. “But your Team is real sweet!”
“Th- Thank you!” Naveen seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Though I gotta ask – you gonna tell the others?” She asked.
Naveen hesitated. “Do you want me to?”
Humming in deliberation, Canari bounced back and forth between the two options for a moment. On one hand, their reactions would be really funny. On the other, if she waited longer, she might be able to make friends with Lida and their reactions would be even funnier.
“Nah. Let’s see how long it takes them to figure it out. As long as you don't mind me hangin’ round til then.”
“Of course not!” Naveen cried.
“Perfect.” She smiled. “Then let’s see how this goes down! It should be positively electrifyin’!”
The Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon were a challenge and a half. Despite adamantly refusing to become a part of the Team, she found herself consistently invited along to the strategy meetings.
It was easier when she was battling alongside Naveen. For those, she didn’t need to hide her ace for fear of exposing herself to the other two members of Team MZ. She hadn’t yet needed to do an IRL stream, thankfully, or she would have been in trouble.
For the rest of the streams, grandpa’s hologram worked just fine for her purposes. It wasn’t like her viewers needed to see her face when she was grinding away at Beldum Buildup anyway – even the avatar grandpa had made wore a face mask.
“Hey, so, where do you tend to vanish to throughout the day?” Urbain finally asked, a week into her on-and-off stays at Hotel Z.
She preferred to sleep at home, but if she wanted to make Harmony seem like her own individual person, Canari had to stay in Room 202 sometimes.
“Explorin’ the city, you know, just adventurin’.” Canari outright lied. “Lumiose is absolutely massive!”
That last part wasn’t a lie.
Even after living in Lumiose City for most of her life, Canari had yet to venture much further than the Vert Sector. Even though Racine Construction had jobs all around the city, she rarely went with them – at first because she was too agoraphobic after the loss of her parents, and then later because she had never felt the need.
Urbain took her at face value, agreeing readily. “That it is! Want me to help show you the sights?” He offered, always happy to help.
Naveen, who Canari was fairly certain still watched her streams – and who had therefore seen her spend the last 5 hours of her life playing Beldum Buildup – remained conspicuously silent.
“...That won’t be necessary. Thanks, though!”
Yeah, these guys were a riot.
Canari was so glad she'd played along.