Chapter Text
“I already have the girl I like in a collar.” Those words have been running through my mind twenty-four/seven, like the Unovan subway system, ever since Jacinthe said them to me yesterday. Every detail of that moment is etched in my subconscious: the slight warmth and pressure of her hands as she adjusted my bowtie. The teasing smile on her face. The glint of her violet eyes. Those dang words, delivered as if she was sharing a joke we were both in on. Distortion, I can replay the entire exchange word-for-word in my mind’s eye!
~~~
“Hng?” I say in a daze, my brain using Overheat as it tries to process Jacinthe’s sentence. “Wait, who?” I ask, once I realize Jacinthe is confessing that she’s got a girl she likes.
Jacinthe’s hand falls from my collar and she crosses her arms. She stares at me, profoundly unamused, and silently raises an eyebrow. She cocks her head.
“M-me?” I ask, pointing at the Key Stone ribbon around my neck.
“As tu besoin que je le dise en kalosien?” she asks, that twinkle returning to her eye.
“N-non, merci,” I stutter, blushing deeply at the informal register I normally only hear her use with her Pokémon. “Galarian is fine. It just, uh, took me a second to understand.”
“And now you do understand, yes?” Jacinthe asks, putting her hands on her hips and then giving an exaggerated pout. “I do so hate to have to repeat myself, especially to my dearest and most loyal employee.”
“No, uh, yeah, I… I got it,” I say. “You, uh, like me? Like, like like me?”
“Oui.”
My heart is pounding. This is pretty much exactly what I wanted, right? I haven’t been kidding myself about not being pathetically infatuated with Jacinthe ever since that conversation with Gwynn in Vert Sector 6 months ago. So why is it that instead of “I like you too,” what comes out of my mouth is: “Uh… why?”
Jacinthe’s expression drops—she looks less unamused at this point and more pitying, like I was a lost and injured Deerling or something. “Do you really find it so incomprehensible that I might be attracted to one of the most loyal, kind, hard-working, talented, and beautiful people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing?” she asks.
Each compliment digs into me like a Stealth Rock, and I have to stop myself from wincing. Loyal and hard-working, maybe. But kind? Maybe go ask Ivor if the bitch who beat the shit out of him over repressed gender feelings she didn’t even realize she was experiencing is kind. Talented? A talented trainer wouldn’t be constantly losing to Harmony and Jacinthe over and over, would she? And beautiful? Don’t even get me started on beautiful. I’m not in the mood to laugh.
“Lady Jacinthe, I, um… I like you a lot too,” I manage to get out. Jacinthe beams at me. My heart beats a little faster at her smile. “But, uh, could I… have some time to think about this?”
I watch as her smile shatters, and she loses her composure for the briefest of moments. Hurt flashes in her eyes. This time I do wince, unable to stop myself from regretting putting that hurt there. “Of course, my dearest Lebanne,” she says. “Take as long as you need.”
~~~
I sigh and gaze into the void as I finish reminiscing. Not a metaphorical void—the literal void of Hyperspace Lumiose, the starry expanse which stretches out beyond the seemingly-arbitrary boundaries of the warped and greyscale city block I found myself in this morning. Rather than being pure black like outer space, the darkness of the void occasionally shimmered and rippled with colors like those of an oil slick or an Alolan Muk—eerie for sure, but also kind of beautiful. No idea how I ended up here—I certainly didn’t feed Ansha’s Hoopa any donuts, but I know Harmony and her team have been running around like Combusken with their heads cut off trying to solve this whole situation because there’s a risk that the whole city might get schlorped into Hyperspace. Like I seem to have been. I mean, not like I was having the best day anyways—this might as well happen!
I’m sitting at the top of a towering obelisk of scaffolding, made up of pathways and ladders that twist and turn but ultimately go nowhere—just like my thoughts on how to deal with Jacinthe’s confession. I crane my neck and look up at the circular window into regular Lumiose that’s floating in the sky—the city and all its people with all their problems look so small from this vantage point.
My musing is put to an end when I hear someone huffing and puffing and scrambling up the scaffolding, their footsteps clinking along the metal surfaces. I turn and see Harmony—she waves at me brightly and smiles at me.
“Dang, I thought for sure there would be, like, a sideways Holovator for roof access up here,” she says. “Or at least a cool item or something!”
“Well, at least now you know as well as I do how it feels to hit a dead end,” I joke, giving her a sardonic smile.
“Oof, you going through it with Jacinthe?” Harmony asks, taking a seat beside me and dangling her feet off the five-story scaffolding monstrosity we’re atop.
I blush. “That obvious?” I ask.
Harmony giggles. “A little,” she says. “Jacinthe seems… complicated. Not the type to speak her mind, like Ellie is.”
Ellie, huh? Seems like maybe Griselle’s interest is reciprocated.
“But I’m sure you and Jacinthe will work whatever it is out!” Harmony continues. “Honestly, you two are such couple goals, tbh.” She draws each individual letter out, like “tee bee aitch” with a pause between each, as she stretches her arms over her head and cracks her neck.
“Couple goals?” I ask, bewildered. After all, Jacinthe and I aren’t a couple!
“Yup! You guys are totes cute. My OTP for sure. Don’t tell Gwynn or Canari I said that, though, or they’ll curse me. Well, Gwynn would curse me. Canari would curse at me.”
“Bwuh?” I say.
“Anyways. Enough of a break for me! Gotta find Corbeau, wherever he’s hiding. Don’t see why he couldn’t come find me, but I guess I should be used to doing everything around these parts, huh?” Harmony asks, sticking out her tongue playfully. She stands up, claps me on the shoulder, and then jumps off the scaffolding, her Rotom Phone safely catching her as she approaches the ground. She turns to look up at me once she’s landed safely, gives me finger guns, then jogs off.
It isn’t long after my conversation with Harmony ends that the Hyperspace pocket I’m in starts to ripple, heralding the end of my introspection and return to the real world. Hopefully, not being trapped in an alternate dimension will give me time to consider how I want to respond to Jacinthe.
~~~
So as it turns out, I did not get any time to consider how I want to respond to Jacinthe. It’s the morning after my unplanned Hyperspatial vacation day and my phone is being blown up by Philippe from the Rust Syndicate. I’ve been dropped into a group chat with pretty much everyone who helped Harmony out during the Ange crisis, and Philippe is explaining that I guess Harmony stayed up all night doing survey work to perfect the ultimate donut recipe. Er, sorry, a Mega donut recipe. For Operation Mega Donut. Which I am being asked to participate in. Well, if this is how we save Lumiose from being consumed by an alternate reality, who am I—a high school dropout who failed forward into her first real job by losing a Pokémon battle—to argue?
I follow the minimap of Centrico Plaza that Philippe sent out—he’s positioned the SBC reps at 12 o’clock, directly north of Prism Tower. When I arrive at my position, however, Jacinthe is nowhere to be seen. I smile to myself—she’s not one to take direction. She’s probably interrogating Corbeau right now about who gave the Rust Syndicate authority to tell her where to position herself and her maid. I open my Holo Caster app and see that Jacinthe has an active avatar right now, so I tap a few buttons and summon an avatar of my own in the same location.
“Lady Jacinthe, time is short. We must commence the operation,” I say once the connection establishes. The screen of my Rotom Phone, which is currently floating in front of me to do full-body motion capture for my avatar, shows the view through that avatar’s eyes, revealing that Jacinthe’s hologram is currently speaking to Griselle and Grisham from Team Flare Nouveau.
Jacinthe’s eyes widen and she covers her mouth with her hands as she lets out an adorable squeak of surprise, all of which is captured in perfect detail by her avatar. “Goodness, Lebanne…” she says.
“Yes, Lady Jacinthe?” I ask in a completely normal, not overly eager, and definitely not whipped at all tone of voice.
“You managed to successfully sneak up behind me even in holographic form… I am all astonishment! You have improved considerably.”
Jacinthe’s praise flows through my body like crack cocaine, lighting up every pleasure center in my brain as I’m unable to stop myself from smiling. I don’t even mind that she’s praising me for… what? Being able to jumpscare people with Holo Caster calls? “All thanks to your constant battling—er, your strict guidance, Lady Jacinthe.”
I feel a tap on my shoulder and shriek as I practically leap out of my Mary Janes, fumbling with my phone as I end call. Hopefully the Team Flare Nouveau siblings just saw my avatar blink out of existence and didn’t see or hear that embarrassing display! I turn and see Jacinthe beaming at me. I take a moment to collect myself and then bow to her.
“Lady Jacinthe,” I say with a rueful smile. “I see that your own skill at sneaking up being people still far surpasses mine.”
Jacinthe preens. “As delightful as I find it when you best me, I do have to defend my place on top, non?”
I flush. Now that I know Jacinthe actually likes me, it’s hard not to take the comment as… suggestive. “Of course, Lady Jacinthe,” I choke out.
Jacinthe grins slyly at my reaction. “Well, my dearest Lebanne. Shall we help save Lumiose City once more?”
~~~
“So, Gwynn. You used to be, like, a pathetic simp, right?” I ask over the sound of Griselle’s surprisingly good singing.
“Fuck you,” Gwynn replies, glowering at me.
Gwynn and I are sitting near the back of a Hotel Z conference room that’s been turned into an impromptu karaoke setup to celebrate Harmony catching Darkrai and saving Lumiose from destruction (again). Lida and Korrina are standing up and dancing in the middle of the room, while Canari is tapping away on her phone (no doubt posting to Chattr or something). Jacinthe had begged off karaoke girls’ night, claiming SBC business, but I suspected her aversion to any activity where she might be expected to dance was a likelier explanation. Emma had been present earlier, but had shepherded Ansha out of the room so that Hoopa and Mimi could play together in the yard once the alcohol started making its appearances. Good thing, too, because the filth Griselle is singing is definitely not child-appropriate.
“All the girls stare at me, drop lip. Drippin’ in harmony, like fifth,” Griselle croons, making smoldering eye contact with the woman of the hour and winking when she says Harmony’s name. Harmony stares back into Griselle’s eyes, biting her lip. I roll my own eyes and throw back my cocktail—I’m not nearly drunk enough for this.
“So did you just want to insult me to my face or did you have a point you were getting to?” Gwynn asks, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s just, like… how did you go from being one of Canari’s fans to her girlfriend?” Maybe if I learn how Gwynn took Canari off her mental pedestal and turned her parasocial relationship into a real one, I can get some idea of how to deal with my Jacinthe situation. I like Jacinthe, obviously, but it’s hard to untangle that “like” from my admiration of her dedication to philanthropy, my gratitude for her help in my gender journey, and my envy of her skill as a trainer. Not sure if that quagmire’s the sturdiest foundation to start a relationship on.
Gwynn smiles, probably reminiscing fondly. “It was a total coincidence, actually. I ran into her at Nouveau Café on a Sunday morning, but she was in disguise so I didn’t recognize her. I was wearing a DYN4MO t-shirt and she struck up a conversation—asked me who was on my shirt.”
“What, did she just want to hear a random stranger gush about her? Talk about ego,” I say.
Canari flips me off without looking up from her phone. I have no idea how she heard me over Griselle continuing to serenade Harmony.
Gwynn sighs dreamily at Canari’s rude gesture. “Even if she does… it’s cute ♥,” she says. “And well deserved. She’s probably the most famous Electric-type specialist in the world!”
“Doesn’t Iono from Paldea have, like, way more subs than her? And isn’t she a Gym Leader on top of being a streamer?”
Canari lets her Rotom Phone float in front of her so she can give me a second middle finger with her other hand.
“Oh, and Elesa from Unova is a supermodel. She’s been on magazine covers. She’s been to Lumiose Fashion Week!” I continue. Not that I read fashion magazines or anything. I just sometimes… see them laying around. They’re probably Guivre’s. Or Jacinthe’s. I’m way too butch for that girly stuff, of course.
“Anyways,” Gwynn says. “I did gush about Canari. And when I was showing off some fanart of her I had posted on Chattr, Canari recognized my username from her chat as being one of her oldest subscribers. She didn’t reveal her identity there and then, but she did ask for a selfie with me. Then, the next time I sent her a super chat during one of her streams, she threw up the selfie on screen—with my face blurred out, of course—while she was thanking me and told me that I was cute as well as generous and shouted me out for being such a long time supporter! It was the single best moment of my life.”
“Love ya, babe,” Canari says, finally dropping her dual birds to make heart hands at Gwynn.
“Love you too ♥,” Gwynn replies, sighing again. “After that Canari DM’d me and told me she’d love to get coffee with me again sometime, and things kind of went from there.”
“Cute,” I say. “Nauseating but cute. Was it weird for you at all, changing your dynamic like that? Like from thinking of her as an internet crush one day to an actual potential romantic partner the next?”
“I mean, maybe a little?” Gwynn says, looking at Canari adoringly. “I think we’re doing well, though.”
“You bet your cute tush we are, G-Volt,” Canari says, blowing her a kiss.
Gwynn blushes and shies away from Canari’s attention, turning back to face me. “What, you having trouble making that shift with Jacinthe? From boss to girlfriend?”
“Maybe,” I mumble.
“Skill issue,” Canari says.
Now it’s my turn to give her the finger.
~~~
“GWYNN? GWYNN, ARE YOU HERE?”
I wince and open my eyes, taking in my surroundings. Looks like I crashed on one of the couches we had dragged into the conference room to karaoke-fy it. My head is Pounding like a baby Froakie that doesn’t know any other attacking moves. Thank Rayquaza I had the foresight to ask Jacinthe to approve a last-minute day off last night in anticipation of being hungover (and thank Lady Jacinthe for being gracious enough to give that approval), because I would not want to be doing maid shit right now. In my current condition, the din of the Hotel Richissime’s laundry room would do more damage to me than a Mega Gardevoir’s Pixilate Hyper Voice to a baby Deino.
I roll off the couch I’m on and throw open the conference room door, revealing Ivor in the lobby. Not many other people it could’ve been, considering that loud voice and total lack of tact.
“In here, dude,” I say, jerking a thumb over my shoulder at a second couch upon which Gwynn and Canari are entangled like they had used Constrict on one another. “But please, be a little quieter?”
“Ah, Lebanne! My fiercest rival! This must be fate—we must battle posthaste!” Ivor says, completely ignoring my eminently reasonable request.
“Dude, not right now,” I groan. “I’ve got a killer hangover, plus I’ve just got, like, a bunch of shit on my mind that I’m working through.”
“Well, that won’t do!” Ivor says. “Taking down my rival when she isn’t in peak condition wouldn’t be justice at all. Still, a friendly bout may be just the thing to clear your mind of what ails you and restore your fighting spirit!”
“Really?” I ask skeptically.
“Of course,” he says. “Did you forget that I’m the sensei of the biggest martial arts dojo in Lumiose? I think I know a thing or two about training and meditation.”
I squint at Ivor. Hm. I mean, he’s not wrong? Eh, worth a shot.
~~~
“Ivor, why are we in Hyperspace Lumiose? Actually, how are we in Hyperspace Lumiose? Wasn’t the whole point of Operation Mega Donut to put a stop to this?”
“And why am I here?” Gwynn asks. “I wanted to snuggle with Canari more. And Grisham was going to swing by the hotel with Nouveau Café croissants, which I am now missing.”
“All simple answers!” Ivor says. “We’re in Hyperspace Lumiose because it’s an ideal place to train, free of distractions. We’re able to be here because of reasons Corbeau explained to me that I don’t understand—something about catching Darkrai causing Hyperspace to stop expanding, but not disappear entirely? And Gwynn is here because I’m going to ask you to fight me and I don’t want you to lose control and break my nose, so I figured we could use a chaperone.”
“Hey!” I exclaim, offended.
“Surprisingly sensible,” Gwynn says approvingly.
“Wow! I’m not that person anymore! I’ve apologized!” I complain.
“Yeah, but did you mean it?” Gwynn asks.
“Yes!” I insist. I turn to Ivor. “We’re cool, right?” I ask, internally bracing myself for him to reveal he still hates me.
“Hm,” he says. “I bear no grudge for your actions as a child. But now it’s time to find out who you are as an adult, Lebanne.” Then he drops into a fighting stance, fists readied. I instinctively do the same, preparing myself for a brawl—even after more than two years in the SBC, my street rat survival skills are etched into my subconscious.
“Tell me—what do you seek strength for?” Ivor asks as he bounces on the balls of his feet.
“For me. Only me,” I snarl back.
“I pursue strength in order to protect Gwynn and others I hold dear. A fine reason, no?” Ivor asks, raising his voice.
“Hm. It’s true that I still haven’t beaten Jacinthe, so my way might not be paying off yet. But all this stuff I’m going through now is gonna make me stronger in the end. I know it.” It’s true—I have a feeling deep in my soul that my current position beneath Jacinthe is something that was supposed to happen to me. Something that will hone me into a better version of myself. Distortion, it already has, considering I’ve been on HRT for over two years now—that wouldn’t have happened without the SBC. But beyond growing as a person, I’m also sure the SBC is where I need to be to grow as a trainer. “Once I defeat Jacinthe, I’m pretty sure I’ll never lose to anyone else ever again. So I’ll keep on fighting until that happens.” Now I’m raising my voice too.
Ivor closes his eyes and shakes his head disapprovingly. “So you do indeed fight only for your own sake. Does that attitude truly befit a Pokémon trainer?!”
“Hey,” Gwynn’s voice interjects. “Harmony’s here. Now we can all battle and settle who’s right already.”
I turn in surprise—yep, Harmony is indeed there, looking way too cheerful considering she was up just as late as Gwynn and I. “I’m ready for battle!” she chirps.
Maybe Harmony didn’t drink as much as we did? Then I assess the Flare-red blazer draped over her shoulders in place of her usual green Team MZ jacket. OK, first off, weird that Griselle kept that, even if she and her brother are trying to rehabilitate Team Flare’s image. Second, weird that Harmony would choose to wear it, but she’s still new to Kalos, so I guess maybe she doesn’t quite get just how bad the whole Team Flare thing was. Third, considering the jacket and the rosy glow emanating from Harmony, I now have a different hypothesis as to why she seems so happy. One I am not particularly interested in discussing. With anyone. Instead, I just jerk my head at Harmony, gesturing for her to join me. “Help me prove my way is right, Harmony! Let’s beat the Fist of Justice!”
Harmony dutifully joins me on my side of the Hyperspatial version of the Justice Dojo battle court. Ivor and Gwynn take up battle stances on the opposite side.
“Strength is power!” Ivor starts.
“Strength is justice!” his sister finishes. The two of them release their Heracross and Banette against my Tyrantrum and Harmony’s Ceruledge.
“Not using Chestly as your Ghost-type anymore?” I ask Harmony with a side-eye.
“They weren’t even my Gholdengo!” Harmony whines. “Their owner just asked me for help evolving them!”
We both giggle, then return our attention to the battle. “Jolly?” I ask Harmony, glancing at her Ceruledge.
She shakes her head. “Adamant.”
“Got it.”
A flurry of commands get shouted across the battlefield. Heracross’s Close Combat thuds into Altaria as I switch Tyrantrum out, then Ceruledge and Banette engage in a battle of Ghost-type energy as they both are commanded to use Poltergeist. Banette brings Ceruledge’s Focus Sash to life and begins to move it up towards Ceruledge’s throat to strangle it, but Ceruledge possesses Banette’s Life Orb in turn, causing it to superheat. Even with an Adamant nature, Harmony’s Ghost is simply faster than Gwynn’s, and Banette cries out in pain and collapses, unconscious, before Ceruledge takes any damage from its lovely accessory. As the initial clash concludes, Heracross’s Flame Orb ignites, burning it to activate its Guts ability.
“Go, Gourgeist,” Gwynn calls calmly, replacing her fainted Pokémon. “Poltergeist on Ceruledge.”
Gwynn’s command heralds another salvo of orders. Gourgeist acts first, meaning that Harmony’s Ceruledge isn’t so lucky as to avoid damage this time—its Sash slithers over its armored body like a Seviper, finding gaps and weak points in that armor and constricting and strangling Ceruledge until it’s barely conscious. Then the Focus Sash’s own power activates, and it shreds itself into scraps before it can finish off its holder.
Ivor’s Heracross starts to move towards Altaria, readying a powerful Façade that will finish her off with ease after the Close Combat she took. This would normally be a problem. After all, Heracross as a species are faster than Altaria, and while Ceruledge can be just as fast, Harmony confirmed earlier that Ceruledge has an Adamant nature while I know from past battles that Ivor’s Heracross is Jolly. That means that Ivor should have a clean KO here—but Harmony and I just make eye contact and smirk at each other.
BANG! Heracross slams into the dojo wall hard as it gets intercepted and shoulder-checked by Ceruledge, whose swords are blazing with azure fire, a trail of shed armor scraps left on the battle court floor marking the path it took. With its Weak Armor damaged by Gourgeist’s attack, it easily outpaces Heracross. It rends the beetle over and over with its armblades, draining Heracross’s life force to heal itself as Ivor’s Pokémon faints to the super-effective Bitter Blade.
Of course, with Heracross down, that leaves Altaria free and clear to fire off a Hurricane. Wind rips through the dojo and flings Gwynn’s Gourgeist through the Fist of Justice banner behind the battle court and into the wrought-iron fence that makes up the dojo’s boundary. The candlelight inside the Pumpkin Pokémon’s body that normally shines out through the carved face there flickers and goes out as Gourgeist falls unconscious—while Small Gourgeist like Gwynn uses are fast, making them ideal Choice Scarf users, they’re also frailer than their larger brethren.
“Gallade! Dedicate every fiber of your being to relentless JUSTICE!” Ivor bellows as he sends out his second Pokémon.
Gwynn releases her ace and taps the Key Stone in her hat with a much more understated, “Chandelure… Mega Evolve. Finish them.” Gwynn’s partner Pokémon is wrapped in rainbow light as it expands to resemble a two-tier chandelier rather than a single-tiered one, and the open flame billowing from its central lamp swells in size as well.
Gallade’s shadow, cast by the cool light of the window into regular Lumiose above us, extends along the ground until it’s behind Harmony’s Ceruledge, faster than the Ghost can react. Gallade plunges one of its blades into the portion of the shadow at its feet and a phantom copy of the appendage strikes Ceruledge from behind, the Shadow Sneak picking it off before it can make use of its boosted Speed.
Harmony recalls her fainted lead while Mega Chandelure slams Altaria with a Shadow Ball and Altaria fires off another Hurricane, sending it Gallade’s way this time. Gallade is made of sterner stuff than Gourgeist and doesn’t drop, but doesn’t look great either. Altaria herself isn’t looking too hot after the two attacks she’s taken, though.
“Sharpedo,” Harmony calls, releasing her second Pokémon. Man, I knew there was a reason I liked this girl—shark Pokémon are cool as heck. I need to feed her my banter line about cold water in case she ever faces an Ice specialist—it works better for Sharpedo than Garchomp. “Mega Evolve!”
Sharpedo’s snout elongates and yellow scar tissue criss-crosses across its body, then saw-like teeth sprout from both sides of its upper jaw. It bursts off like a rocket towards Gallade, water exploding out of its rear as it hits-and-runs with a strong Flip Turn, taking it back into Harmony’s Poké Ball as soon as it KOs Gallade. Her Meganium replaces it on the field, easily eating the Energy Ball that Chandelure had directed Mega Sharpedo’s way. Altaria fires off a third Hurricane towards Chandelure but misses—should’ve seen that coming, I don’t know that anyone’s ever hit three Hurricanes in a row unless they were using a Mega Pidgeot or something.
Ivor returns his fainted Gallade and sends out his own partner Pokémon to join Gwynn’s. “Time to Mega Evolve, Falinks! Justice WILL win the day!”
I always have to fight back a smile whenever the troopers that make up Ivor’s Falinks stack on top of each other for their Mega Evolution, but I manage to give Altaria her command with a straight face. She isn’t able to execute, though—Mega Falinks rips a powerful Rock Slide that finishes her off and damages Meganium, who is summarily sniped by a Flamethrower from Mega Chandelure, giving the Fist of Justice a double KO with no retaliation.
Tyrantrum and Sharpedo come back out. Harmony and I look at each other and nod, then give our commands. Tyrantrum’s Choice Scarf—its lovely blue color complementing her brick red and orange coloration nicely—lets her get the jump on Falinks, Chandelure, and even Sharpedo, unleashing a Rock Slide of her own. The attack deals heavy damage to Chandelure, but is unable to one-hit-KO it when spread between two targets—if only I had hit that Hurricane earlier! However, the attack’s more important purpose was to chip down Falinks. Even as a resisted hit, it does enough damage to Ivor’s offensively-invested Falinks to leave it exposed to Harmony’s coup de grâce—all of Mega Sharpedo’s teeth, both the ones in its maw and those lining its snout, glow pink with Psychic-type energy as it savages Falinks with a Strong-Jaw-boosted Psychic Fangs, sending the troopers flying in various directions. They pass out one after another, fainting. An Energy Ball from Chandelure takes Sharpedo out in one as it finishes its attack, but that leaves Chandelure in a one-on-one with my Scarf Tyrantrum as Harmony and Ivor withdraw their fainted Pokémon.
“Shadow Ball!”
“Rock Slide!”
Gwynn and I call out our commands in tandem. Tyrantrum slams her foot into the dojo floor and Rock-type energy suffuses it, ripping up several large chunks of stone that she slams with her tail, sending them flying at Chandelure. The Luring Pokémon’s luck seems to have run out, as it isn’t able to dodge the barrage of projectiles and is quickly buried in rubble, reverting to its original form as it faints and Gwynn returns it to its Nest Ball.
“Defeat! How incredibly unjust!” Ivor bemoans.
Gwynn just sighs. “Teaming up with Ivor makes battles twice… no, thrice as tiring.”
Harmony giggles at Gwynn’s exasperation as I withdraw Tyrantrum, then the four of us congregate in the center of the battle court.
“Perhaps there is nothing nobler or better about fighting for others versus yourself,” Ivor says. “I shouldn’t have made it into a matter of morals.”
I close my eyes and take in his words. When did the naïve kid I knew in high school get so mature? “Yeah, maybe,” I say. “But protecting others is a noble cause, and I can tell it brings you peace of mind!” Heh. Guess I’ve done some maturing myself.
“Your words and our battle have moved me. Please, let me offer you the uniform of our dojo,” Ivor says, wiping away tears with his brawny forearm. What a softie!
I grin softly and shake my head. The thought is nice, and honestly I feel like I’ve gained a lot of respect for Ivor—whatever remnants of our beef existed have well and truly been squashed, and I’d be happy to call him a friend unironically at this point. But despite that…
“Sorry. I’m sworn to keep this uniform on,” I say, clasping my hands in front of my maid’s apron, “until I win my way free of Jacinthe.”
~~~
A short while later, Harmony and I find ourselves alone in the lobby of Hotel Z, eating lukewarm croissants. Looks like Grisham did make a breakfast delivery while we were in Hyperspace after all. Gwynn and Ivor had picked up Canari and taken their leave, while I stuck around—battling Ivor actually had made me feel a lot better (guess he does know what he’s talking about!), but I still wasn’t eager to return to Hotel Richissime and face Jacinthe until I had sorted out my feelings.
“So, you seek strength only for yourself, huh? Not to protect others?” Harmony asks in between bites of croissant.
“Yep,” I say. “I learned when my dad abandoned his sick wife and teenage kid that it’s every person for themself in this world. Once the League season ended and I couldn’t live for free in Pokémon Centers anymore, I had to drag myself out of the streets battle by battle, tournament by tournament, sometimes even pushing down folks I knew were in situations just as bad as mine. Like Krabby in a bucket—but this Kingler made it out.”
Harmony takes my hand in hers. “And it’s horrible that you had to do that. But the Lebanne I know is constantly mentoring scholarship kids at local Trainer’s Schools. She’s putting 110% effort into SBC events for charity even when she’s complaining about how stuffy they are. She put her life on the line to save this city when it was in crisis. And you know the first thing she said to me when I came to warn her that shit was about to go down? She said, ‘No matter what happens, I’ll be sure to protect Lady Jacinthe with my life!’”
I blush deeper and deeper as Harmony speaks, until I finally have to interject. “And everyone else!” I say. “I said ‘I’ll be sure to protect Lady Jacinthe—and everyone else—with my life!’”
Harmony grins at me. “Sure, Lebanne. But doesn’t that make my point even more? You’re a good person. One of the best. I’m proud to call you my friend.”
I sniffle. Fuck. I’m just as soft as Ivor.