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A rival biker gang trying to take over the western half of Lumiose City circled Philippe. He was completely alone.
They knew he protected almost that entire section of town and in order to take over, they needed him out. But they were doing it dirty. Inside that circle of thugs, bikes, and Pokémon, Philippe and a knocked-out Skarmory tried to keep up appearances. He’d probably get beaten up now—he had one other Pokémon, but his Aron was still small and untrained. He couldn’t do that to that little guy.
Just as he debated sending out his last guy to buy himself time or giving in to the inevitable, embarrassing and humiliating to say the least, a large pool of purple gunk dropped down from above on all of them.
It got everyone. Some bikers overreacted to the acid-like substance on their bikes. Others returned their badly poisoned partners and had no choice but to run to the Pokémon Center or their partners could get permanent damage from the poison.
One of the top three heads of the gang grabbed Philippe and forced him on his hands and knees. “Might as well finish you off before we go.”
A shadowy figure hopped down, landed on his assailant, knocked the guy over, and moved to stand in front of Philippe.
“Get out of here!” A squirt, only taller than Philippe because someone had just shoved his face against the pavement, stood in front of Philippe protectively. “Leave him alone, and don’t come back here!”
Philippe was amused, but only for a second. That feeling disappeared when they were forced back because a swarm of Venipede poked their heads out of alleyways, trees, sides of buildings, and a concerning amount all readied with an attack that promised more deadly poison. The cowards all fell back and escaped from the area without their prey.
The mess of a kid turned and looked at Philippe like he was an idiot. “That invitation practically screamed trap. They don’t care about the city. And you still came? How dumb are you?”
“Benefit of the doubt, I like giving people a second chance. For the good of the city. Who are you?”
He returned one of the Venipede to a ball and let the rest scatter. “Corbeau. If you ever need help again, I’m always close. But you’re too trusting when it comes to thugs in the city. Look, most guys like you are just out for money or power, but you obviously got somethin’ else going on. Don’t do something dumb again and get crushed. Lumiose needs us.”
“You protect me?”
“As many times as your butt needs saving.”
Philippe pulled himself up to his feet and held out a fist.
Corbeau flinched and stared for a moment before returning the fist bump.
—
Corbeau met with a client in-person one day, a terrible mistake made from being an overzealous businessman. They almost took the new contract. Almost were convinced that Corbeau had their best intentions at heart. But the client must have assumed Corbeau intended on swindling them somehow because suddenly he found himself surrounded and shoved into a narrow alley.
An alley without a way up, of course. Most of them had a million ways out, but this one only had the two, now blocked. And he was in the worst position he could possibly be in; they threw him on the ground.
He was brought back to the past. He reached for a knife he used to keep in his shoes, and when he didn’t find it, he remembered, no, this was the present. He hadn’t needed to defend himself like this since he straightened up his life and jumped feet first into the business world. This was new now. Muscle memory said to fly away, but he’d been grounded for so long.
By the time all of this registered, the group all grabbed him at once. He screamed and fought back, knowing he couldn’t fight them all at once or run away this time. But hopefully it was over as quickly as it started.
Just like that, something pulled each one of them away and tossed them into the air before they ran off with their tails between their legs. Only after all of them got the wind knocked out of them did Philippe offer his hand to help him off the ground where he stared up at him with wide, terrified eyes.
Corbeau took his hand and let him help him up.
“I know, I know, why did I go see the client in person instead of giving them a call—I get it, I’m stupid.” Corbeau put his hands in his pockets.
“Actually, I was gonna say, ‘we’re even now’.” Philippe gently guided him out of the alley.
“Even?”
“Now I get to protect you.”
“You protect me? Laughable.”
Before they reverted back to business, Corbeau held out a fist. “Hey. We protect each other, got it? No one’s better than the other, both of us are worth saving.”
Philippe returned the fist bump.