Chapter Text
The thing about tranquil strolls through off-the-beaten-path, little-traveled routes is that they are peaceful and chill until they are not. Here I was, placidly walking by Jarque’s arm, enjoying the fresh-scented flora and vegetation around us without a care in the world. And then life says — nope, too boring, I’m gonna put a bunch of shady suited-up guys in your path, all of a sudden, just to force you to come to an abrupt halt. Don’t you hate it when that happens.
No, really. We were just walking through this random route, minding our own business and not pestering anyone, focused just on getting to our next destination. I figured this would be just one more boring day. The usual. A bit of practice, a lot of cuddling. Maybe fight a trainer or two. Nothing out of the ordinary.
And then.
I placed myself in front of my trainer, just in case. I did a quick recounting of heads. That was six of them suited-up fellows. Four dudes, two dudettes. Their clean white uniforms, which I would begrudgingly admit were kind of classy, easily identified them as members of Shuffle. They all looked young, likely even younger than Jarque, so at least we were only dealing with the rank and file. And they seemed as shocked as us to meet us here in the middle of nowhere, so at least I could discard this being an ambush.
“A Meowscarada…” one of them, a young brunet boy, said as he pointed a finger at yours truly. “Is this that one guy? You know, the one that has the hot twin?” Another of them turned to him with a ‘who?’ expression. “You know, the… the one with five badges!”
“Ah!” another one, a blonde lass, said as she stared my male up and down, the absolute whore. “One of the Montecarlo twins!”
Jarque let out a drawn-out sigh, not looking too worried but still keeping close to me. “You got it. That’s me.” He placed a casual hand on my shoulder. I could tell by his touch that he was ever so slightly uneasy, but not exactly tense. “But you guys are slow on your uptake. We got our sixth badge like a month ago. News fly, but not that fast, uh?”
In these past few months, we’ve had a small number of very forgettable encounters with Shuffle grunts. Uh, they didn’t appreciate being called ‘grunts’, but that’s what they were. Anyway, they were annoying and always pestered us to join, but ultimately they hardly posed a threat. Although six of them was… a lot. I was not worried about these six per se. Counting spheres, they had a mere eight pokémon between all of them. No, what worried me was the possibility that such a relatively large group wasn’t alone.
Jarque put a hand up before they got to say anything. “Before any of you asks — No, I will not collaborate or support you or your endeavors in any way, shape, or form. If you want a match, maybe that could be arranged. If it’s anything else, well, I’m sure you’ll have no trouble getting lost, so far out in this isolated route. So what will it be?”
“Hah. A fight will be good,” said a masculine voice I’ve literally never heard in my life.
And then here comes this blonde guy that’s like a year or two older than Jarque. Ugh, another grunt? So now we got a seventh face to forget about, great.
This unknown blonde man placed a hand firmly against his chest, grinning at Jarque in a way that would feel chilling if it didn’t come from a nobody. “Hah! Fate is such a whimsical thing, is it not? I’m sure neither of us expected to meet the other today, but destiny had other plans, Jarque!”
“Uh…” Jarque looked at him weird. I looked at him weird. All the other grunts looked at him weird. “Yeah, sure, nice to meet you and all.” Jarque offered his hand for a shake.
Instead, the other guy had a small gasp. “Y-You know me already! We’ve met, like, twice!”
Jarque withdrew his hand. “Oh… Sorry, meeting someone twice isn’t usually enough for me to commit them to memory. Care to give me a refresher, Mr…?”
Blondie regained his composure and put on an even wider grin, which made him look like an utter moron. “I see you’re pulling out the big guns from the get-go with the psychological warfare, pretending like you have forgotten me. But you don’t deceive me, Jarque! As if you would forget me!”
“You met him, boss?” a random grunt asked him.
Wait. Boss. What.
Jarque raised an eyebrow, also noticing. “Wait, who are you, really? I’ve met with a few Shuffle bosses but…”
I took a moment to recall. We’ve met random no-name grunts here and there, but I would say we’ve had only four important encounters with Shuffle here in Baraja. First, when we met the bald black man with the Arcanine, who was trying to steal the Popplio. Then, later it was the lanky pale guy with the Milotic. We met him with Bera and the region’s ex-champion, that one old man. There was also that chance encounter with that recruiter girl, which I would rather forget about. And lastly, not that long ago, we met Baldy again and fought him and his Arcanine.
That’s it, no? If we had met this guy at any point, surely we would remember.
“I even fought him, once,” the blond guy said.
“You fought him, boss?” one of the grunts said, excitedly. “And who won?”
He stayed silent for a worryingly long time. “Yes, that’s right. I fought him.” He pointed a sudden, dramatic finger at Jarque. “But I’ll have you know, Jarque, that your pokémon aren’t the only ones that have evolved! Why, Javelin is just itching to spread her wings and let loose against you now that she has finally reached her final form!”
“Um…” By the way Jarque pursed his lips, I knew he felt more awkward than anything else. Who was this guy? It’s like having a word on the tip of your tongue. “If it’s a battle you want, yeah, we can do that. But give me your name, will you.”
The man was about to pop a vein. “For the love of… Theil! Theil Markov!”
“Ah, Theil…” Jarque picked up the pokéball of one of my teammates, eyeing this other man with a lifted eyebrow. “It rings a distant bell. Like, you don’t look like you’re lying, but you have to understand I’ve met far too many people these last few years…”
“Not to worry. This will make you remember.” His hands reached for two of the three spheres in his belt, all three painted in the classic red-white doublet. His left hand picked up one, but his right stopped just before grasping the other, as the sphere wobbled and released its guest without need for his intervention. Instead, his right hand just pointed at Jarque. “Send your worst, Jarque! Let’s see how it ends this time!” He then hurled forward the sphere in his left hand, to join the pokémon that had just come out on their own.
I sauntered forward, swinging my hips with marked steps, because my trainer was behind me and I had no reason not to give him a nice view. Now I was curious who we were facing. A shrill cry brought my attention first to the cream-chested bird with a red tail that floated a short distance above the ground. “Remember me, kitten?” the bird asked as she landed, lifting her head to look at me with what I assume was a grin on her beak. As she leaned her head to the side, I couldn’t help but notice the overly long mane of hair cascading down her entire length, with three colored stripes, red-yellow-red. She was practically as tall as I was.
I clapped my hands together as I gasped. “Yes, I remember you!” I gripped my flower-bomb bud, ready to throw at a moment’s notice. “Back during the Popplio colony thing, you threw me into the lake.” I titled my head to give her a better look. I had to admit she had some very well-kept plumage, and her long mane made me a little envious, given I kept mine short. “But I see you have evolved…”
She had this silly grin of self-satisfaction. Honestly, she had a cute beak. “Aha, I knew you would remember the great Javelin!”
“Of course I do! But last time we met you were only a Pidgey.” I saw her eye twitch. “But look at you now, a majestic Pidgeotto!” Again.
She gave her head a strong shake, causing her mane to sway in front of her. “I already was a Pidgeotto last time we met! I’m a Pidgeot now! Don’t you have eyes on your head, or is that fancy mask impeding your vision?”
I brought a paw to my neck, letting out a low purr. “Wait, Pidgeotto to Pidgeot? You de-evolved?”
A warm fluffy hand tapped my shoulder. “No, Clover.” I looked to my side. Oh, so it would be Valentine joining me today. “Pidgeot is the name of the last form.”
“But it has fewer letters! Flying-types are incomprehensible.” I took a step back as the Pidgeot suddenly took flight, readying myself for anything, but she wasn’t getting aggressive just yet. As I looked around her, I recalled that the blond dude had sent out another pokémon. So where was it? I saw no one else around. Then Valentine tapped at my shoulder, and once she got my attention she began to point down.
Oh, I had missed that one. So tiny. So cuddlable.
“Those grunts called you boss,” Jarque said. His eyes were pointed at this small bug pokémon, who was still in their cocoon stage. “I might be misremembering, but weren’t you a grunt yourself, Taylor?”
“Theil, Jarque.” He extended his hand towards the other group of young Shuffle members. “And the Shuffle Foundation doesn’t have ‘grunts’, for goodness’ sake. They might not hold any leadership positions, but they’re all still valuable personnel with very specific roles in our operation. But to answer your question, as for me…” He placed a hand on his chest, lifting his head as high as his neck allowed without hurting, and maybe even a little higher still. “Yes, that’s correct. I have been in the Shuffle Foundation for over four years now, and I haven’t been twiddling these thumbs of mine. I’ve been working my way up the ranks!” He let out a hearty, if a bit forced laugh.
For just a brief moment, Jarque seemed to up his guard. “Are you an admin or…?”
Blondie had another laugh. “Ah, Jarque, Jarque…” He had a very, very broad smile. “Uh, no.” He looked aside, not losing that smile. “Maybe one day, yes? But for now, I’m a senior agent, authorized to act as a field leader in missions. Middle management! I’m responsible for my own group of recruits!” He spoke as if he wanted us to feel proud of him. Uh, go you.
Jarque again looked down to the tiny bug. “And if you’re a senior, uh, why are you stuck with the Pidgeot and the… that’s a Spewpa, isn’t it?”
“Buckler will grow into a mighty and beautiful Vivillon one day, just you wait!” He nodded to himself, with confidence. “But for now, yeah, she’s stuck in that form. But unlike other cocoon pokémon, a Spewpa can move and jump around!” Wide grin. “Slowly.”
“Simply fascinating.” Jarque looked around the battlefield, then to the group of six younger agents standing around. I think he was more wary of them than of the blonde kid. “I sent out a Delphox. Are you sure you want us to go on? I feel bad already and we haven’t even begun.”
“You’re about to feel even worse.” The dude adjusted his tie, which I would swear was too tight around his neck, but even after he was done adjusting it still looked too tight. Like he tried fiddling with it but didn’t get anywhere. “Javelin, Sand Attack! Buckler, String Shot! Get that fox good!”
Yeah, of course they would target Val. I was grass, and they were flying and bug. No reason to prioritize me.
And so Jarque… said nothing. He just waited, patiently, for the attacks to impact against the Delphox, who also didn’t particularly do much to try to dodge. She was pelted by a bit of sand as the Pidgeot flapped her wings, but she covered her eyes to avoid the brunt of it, rubbing her eyes a little. Then the little cocoon released a sticky-looking thread all over her legs and waist, as the Spewpa was too tiny to aim any higher. If Valentine was very careless maybe she would trip over, but other than that, I don’t think those viscous strings of white would do much. They did look kind of lewd on her, though, not gonna lie. I probably should get my mind out of the gutter.
“How’s that for a start?” Lookin’ quite smug, with those arms behind his back. “Now your fire-type is slower and less accurate, nullifying Buckler’s type vulnerability!” He turned towards his rookies, a serene expression on his face. “You see, it is important to disrupt your opponents’ strategies before they have a chance to come to fruition. Now let us continue the lesson.”
Jarque let out a low sigh. So we were not gonna sweat today, uh. “Come.” He picked up Val’s sphere and pressed the fancy button to send her back. He then stared at the sphere for a moment, not any more expressive than before.
“Oho! I forced a switch-out so soon?”
Jarque shook the sphere in his hand, as if weighting it. “Eight… Nine… Ten… I think that should be enough? Let’s see.” Jarque threw a sphere of red and white, aiming by my side, then we all waited for the pokémon to emerge.
I turned to her to wave hello.
And so she shook off her skirt. “Hello again,” the Delphox said.
Our human opponent had the blankest of expressions on his face. Like he was angry, impressed, and angry that he was impressed. “Jarque. Did you just… switch your pokémon out for herself?”
“The technology of pokéballs removes the effects of moves like the ones you used.”
“I’m well aware! But you cannot just… switch the same pokémon in and out!” He shook a finger as if to preemptively tell Jarque to shut up. “I know this isn’t an official league match, but where’s your honor? No, but let’s have it your way, then. Let’s leave mercy at the door.” He stepped back and adjusted his tie once more. It didn’t look as tight now. “Buckler, String Shot on the fox again. Javelin, Feather Da—”
“Mystical Fire on the grass around the Spewpa.”
Less than half a second passed before a massive column of fire, glowing in iridescent mauve, erupted all around the little cocoon pokémon, trapping her with no escape.
“Okay, okay, okay, I get the message! Stop!” The man was raising both hands in front of his face. All bravado was gone, replaced by naked anguish. “Please stop. Jarque.” I must say, it takes a bit of merit for a total stranger to make me feel bad.
“Val.” But even before Jarque gave the command, the Delphox was already calling off the witch-fire out of her own volition, a slightly pained frown on her face. She was the one enjoying this the least. And although Jarque was trying to appear impassive, I could see his lower lip trembling. Goodness, even the Pidgeot had landed to check on her partner, then turning a dirty gaze at me for some reason.
In fact, the only being present that didn’t seem affected at all was, uh, the Spewpa.
“Why’re we stopping?” the little cocoon asked, glaring at Valentine with, in all honesty, a rather imposing glare. “You come here, witch! I ain’t scared of your puny lightworks! I’m gonna grab that big twig of yours, break into pieces, then stick them into each and every one of your orifices until you’re moaning for mercy!” Please, o great Uxie, wipe these last five seconds from my memory.
“Fine, fine. Buckler is out of commission!” The guy said, clicking his tongue as he reached for the Spewpa’s sphere.
“What? No!” The Spewpa turned to face her trainer in a single swift jump. “I got them just where I wanted them! Just gimme five more seconds with the fox, Theil, and she won’t be walking straight for a week!”
But her — threats? — luckily never materialized, as the Spewpa was soon returned to her sphere, to be relieved by the next pokémon in line. Who was it? I feel like we had indeed already fought this guy, so perhaps I should know. I think I recall… a Rattata? No, a Sentret! Yes, definitely a Sentret! So we were probably facing a Furret now.
And so out comes a Linoone. Hmm. Did I get my evolution lines mixed up?
“A-Ah. Hello,” the Linoone said as soon as she came out, giving us a little bow. “I am Shiv. It is a pleasure.”
Hah! Trying fake pleasantries with an enemy? That would never work with us, fool!
Valentine returned the bow, then added a little curtsy. “Most charmed. My name is Valentine. But Val is perfectly acceptable too, if you’d prefer.”
“Oh… I do prefer short names, so I will be using that one, if it doesn’t trouble you so.” The Linoone tilted her head. “Unless it would inconvenience you? I would not wish to offend.”
“Dearie me, of course not! It would fill me with joy.”
I looked to the Pidgeot. The Pidgeot looked to me. I arched an eyebrow. She arched an eyebrow. We both shrugged. Yeah, I don’t know what those two are doing either.
“She knows Pursuit,” the other trainer said, finger pointing down at the Linoone. “So have your psychic-type switch out again, see how that plays out this time.”
Jarque nodded to himself, his expression neutral. “Understood.” He scanned the field for a moment, as if measuring the strength of our opponents. “We’ll set up instead, then. Hone Claws. Light Screen.”
I wasted not a second. I bared my claws and gave them a quick few swipes in the air, making them shimmer. Was Hone Claws meant to preempt a Sand Attack from them? Then, while Valentine prepared to cast her protective spell, the other man began to give his orders too. “Thunder Wave against the fox!” He was only issuing orders to one of his pokémon? And neither of his pokémon looked the type to learn that kind of move anyway.
To my surprise, the little Linoone, after uttering a low ‘apologies!’, had her paw emit a bolt of electricity aimed at Valentine, who was too busy concentrating on her magic to dodge. Paralysis! I winced a bit as I saw Valentine’s arm twitch from the shock, but she refused to interrupt her spell.
“Mirror Move!”
No. Nonono. I threw my arms in front of myself defensively as I saw the Pidgeot take to the skies. I was aware of the move Mirror Move. I had a really big problem with humans calling it ‘Mirror Move’ when it was already a move. As in, it was ‘the move Mirror Move’. That sounded so stupid! Who comes up with this stuff?
Oh right, perhaps I should focus. That was a mimicry move learned by some avian species, very similar to my own Copycat. Lots of random trainers had fought us with like Pidgey, or Spearow, or Hoothoot, so we were bored of this move by now. The difference between Copycat and Mirror Move was a subtle one: Copycat would copy the last move used by anyone, whereas Mirror Move would target a specific combatant and copy their last move. In one-on-one battles, this difference was basically nonexistent, as Mirror Move could only target your sole opponent anyway. But in double battles, it opened up quite a few opportunities.
The Pidgeot’s wings began to flash in bright yellow, her expression rather solemn. She was copying her own teammate’s move! My fur felt very itchy all of a sudden. That was obviously aimed at me, right? They couldn’t paralyze Val a second time. But wait, if I used Copycat now I would become an electric-type and gain immunity to T-Wave. Wasn’t that the obvious out? Then why was Jarque so eerily silent, frowning as he looked at them…?
I realized, in the next few seconds, that there was one other valid target to paralyze. The discharge traveled the shortest distance possible and found purchase on the Linoone.
I could tell how badly Jarque was trying not to snicker. Oh, right. We had fought plenty of rookies in the past committing this same exact mistake. Mimicry moves had two targets: the target you were copying from, and the target you were using the move on. Copycat didn’t let you choose what move to copy, but it let you choose what target to hit. Mirror Move was the reverse. You could copy from any combatant you wanted… but you would then use that move against them.
But before Jarque could let out a biting remark, the Shuffle man was ready to give an order again as if he didn’t just commit a fatal mistake. Oh, whatever. What can he throw at us, anyway? Tackle? Freaking Fury Swipes? Oh nooo, please, not Wing Attack, anything but that, heh…
“Heat Wave!”
Fuck you too! What do you mean Heat Wave? Those pokémon don’t learn Heat Wave! The Pidgeot had the most annoying, stupid grin on her beak as she spread her wings and released a torrent of scorching air to pummel us with. I tried to find shelter behind my cape, but I’m not sure that did anything. I glanced to Valentine, who was wincing from the paralysis and not so much from the heat. She seemed to be done with her Light Screen. And what was my last move? Hone Claws, dark-type. Okay, at least I’m not weak to the fire.
My head was spinning. It didn’t even hurt that bad, it was the abruptness of it all that had me reeling. Jarque was gritting his teeth, shaking his head as if he wanted to tell someone off. So he did. “Why does a Pidgeot of all things randomly know freaking Heat Wave? Fire moves are supposed to be rare!”
“Jarque, Jarque…” The Shuffle guy shook his head, as if talking down to an unruly child. “I dunno.” He placed his hands in his pockets. “Many birds learn Heat Wave. That’s just a thing.” He shrugged. Jarque shrugged. I saw some of the other Shuffle grunts shrug. “And there is nothing you can do about it! You have no way to protect your Meowscarada from my fire attacks!”
Jarque squinted his eyes, as if pretending to think. He let his arms rest behind his neck. “Copycat.” Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.
In the next few seconds, I spread my split cape as if mimicking the Pidgeot’s wings, then channeled explosive energy into my cape to release it as a hot gale, like a diffused Flower Trick. The Linoone had to cover herself, while the Pidgeot took it full on as she stared straight into my eyes, as if challenging me. The damage was decent, but nothing decisive. No, what mattered the most was that I had become a fire-type now, rendering their Heat Wave useless!
… And as soon as I was done, I caught the Linoone unleashing an undulating, gleaming purple beam at me. I rubbed my eyes as I took a few steps back. That didn’t… hurt, but I felt just a little dizzy. In retaliation, I hurled a flurry of leaves to the Linoone, but she dodged away. “Your trainer didn’t even give an order!”
“I-I could say the same!” The Linoone hung her head for just a second, but soon bounced back up. “And I was following an order, one given long ago! Theil had prepared a plan just in case we ever got to fight you guys again. After you copied a fire move, I was supposed to —”
“Don’t tell them too much, Shiv…” the Pidgeot chided in a soft voice. Her grin didn’t give me much comfort.
With a fancy pirouette, I made my way back to Valentine’s side. I looked down to my feet. “So that wasn’t Confuse Ray.” I would’ve surely tripped otherwise.
“That wasn’t a psychic or ghost move,” Valentine told me, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “It must be one of those normal moves with bizarre effects. Charm? Or…”
The words died in her lips as a potent gust of wind picked up, raging around us, clouding our vision and muffling our sounds. The Pidgeot’s doing, obviously. But their trainer hadn’t issued a command this time either! Was this part of the plan the Linoone had mentioned? I covered myself with my cape, my muscles tightening at first, but I relaxed a little once I realized this wasn’t an offensive move. The whirlwind that had formed around us blocked our sight, our hearing, our smell. I think I heard Jarque’s voice, but I couldn’t make up the words.
As soon as the wind started to clear up and I thought I could get a moment of respite, my nose suddenly caught one of my least favorite smells in the world. Water. Seasalt water. Why? Diamie wasn’t out. I turned to the Linoone, and that answered one question while drawing many others. She was summoning a wave of torrential crystal-blue water that spread towards us. Surf! At least this move I could recognize. The Zigzagoon family was well-known for learning a lot of navigation moves like Cut or Surf, so that part wasn’t too surprising, but how was she acting so quickly when she was paralyzed?
“Hone Claws! Light Screen!”
Right, I was a fire-type right now, so I needed to change my type fast with Protean. As I began to sharpen my claws once more, I turned towards Valentine and I began to think about Jarque’s orders… Wasn’t Light Screen already up on our side? But as the water rushed over me, I was made acutely aware that, no, the Light Screen was clearly off. Oh! Then the Pidgeot’s whirlwind from before must’ve been an annoying Defog to remove the protective barrier just before the Linoone attacked. Did they plan ahead that much?
Once the water level began to die down, I raised my gaze to the sky to quite predictably find the Pidgeot high in the air. Of course she wouldn’t just stay at ground level and receive friendly fire, not with those big wings. I braced for impact, because her trajectory made it clear I would be on the receiving end of that Fly. Her aerial strike made me stagger, almost making me fall on my back, but Valentine managed to catch me in time.
My fur was searing hot, a slight bronze tint to it, like an autumnal pelt. I was a fire-type still, even after having used Hone Claws. The move the Linoone had used before must’ve been similar to my Worry Seed, something to remove or modify abilities. Ah, perhaps Simple Beam! Which meant that my ability right now was not Protean but Simple, and so I was stuck as a fire-type. Against a pokémon with Surf.
“Very clever,” Jarque said. His voice sounded flippant because that’s just how he naturally sounded most of the time. But I could perceive the slightest hint of respect in those words. “You bait Clover into turning fire, then get her stuck as that type through Simple Beam. Then, Defog to remove Light Screen, followed by a classic Surf-Fly combination. And your Linoone didn’t pause for a second, so I’m guessing the self-paralysis was intended and her ability is something like Quick Feet to gain speed from negative conditions.” Jarque nodded a few times as he looked straight at, what was he called, that Theil guy. “You gave no commands, and there were no pre-battle preparations as neither of us could know we would fight today. I take it you prearranged a plan for your team to follow against us, in the eventuality we ever got to face each other again?”
It took Theil a relatively long time to answer. As in, barely two seconds and a half, but given how spunky he had been moments ago, that pause was jarring. “That is correct. I had given them a nice script to follow.” His smile had died down a little. The grunts by his side were roaring with support, praising his ingenuity and planning skills, smirks and confident nods all around. But the ‘boss’ remained composed, unaffected by their adulation. Now that he had the upper hand, he looked more serious than ever before.
I could tell why. And I’m sure that Jarque, and all the pokémon on either side, could tell too. That was a brilliant strategy, yes, and we had fallen straight into his trap… And yet, Valentine and I were none the worse for the wear. We had received a very effective Surf to the face with no Screen to soften the blow, and yet we were still at nearly full strength. At the end of the day, the Pidgey and Zigzagoon species were simply rather average, and it was clear their training was lacking compared to ours. Their stratagem was clever, but they lacked the raw strength necessary to put any bite into it.
I won’t say I was happy about this. This kind of victory wouldn’t feel earned. But ultimately our first goal was to keep our trainer safe, and we had in the past fought enemies that were very much out of our league, so perhaps a bit of reprieve was due.
“Keep going!” Theil shouted, a furrow on his brow in spite of his sharp voice. “Javelin, fly high! Shiv, spam Surf!”
Now what? Will Jarque switch me out to make me recover my original type? No, they warned us the Linoone knew Pursuit, and I would lose my Hone Claws buffs.
So soon as the Pidgeot’s wings began to beat, Jarque started to shout too. “Copycat! Now!” He pointed towards the Linoone. “Then Skill Swap! Both targeting her!”
As the Pidgeot began her descent against me, I spread my cape as if it were a set of makeshift wings and jumped stupid high in the air, making her just barely miss me. It was plain silly that Copycat could copy even Fly. This obviously wasn’t real flight, and gravity would soon enough resume her pull on me. From high in the skies, I enjoyed the gaze of confusion on the Pidgeot as she watched impotent as her own ally’s Surf collided against her. Valentine had, just seconds ago, traded away her ability for the Linoone’s Quick Feet. Without that ability, the paralysis was back in full effect, slowing down the Linoone just enough to cause her to mistime her attack and deal friendly fire, all while missing me.
I dove down straight against the Linoone, and, well, I had too many Hone Claws stacks and that was just a Linoone.
All of this was unnecessary. We were strong enough, compared to them, that we could just endure their attacks and outmuscle them in a war of attrition. But that would be no fun, for none of us, least of all for them.
“You were great, Shiv!” The other trainer didn’t take long to recall the Linoone. His defeat was a foregone conclusion, a formality. He knew the final result of this battle as well as we did. The grunts nearby didn’t look as cheery anymore, now that it was a two on one. Well, technically three on one, but Diamie would not even get a chance to join the fray today.
“Is this over now?” Jarque asked.
But Theil didn’t get to answer. “Let us say yes,” a different, cold voice said.
My claws were unsheathed already, my body in full alarm. How am I this careless? I was so focused on this battle that I completely neglected that new scent that had joined us not more than a minute ago. I had perceived it before, and it did strike me as oddly familiar, but I had assumed it to be yet another random grunt we might have met before. No. We had indeed met this man before, but he was most definitely not a grunt.
“Reeds, sir,” Theil said, turning to the newcomer. The other grunts were bowing their heads, only Theil daring to hold his gaze. Even the Pidgeot had landed and was giving this man the evil eye. “We were awaiting you. Excuse me, I was just busy with —”
“With a mock fight, yes, I can see.” The lanky man turned to stare Jarque in the eye, his snow-white hair shuffling around and only further emphasizing the pallidness in his face. “But, Markov, you were not assigned the role of senior field leader to play squabble with nosy onlookers. Specially if you would struggle like this.” He adjusted the overcoat the draped past his knees, as if the piece of clothing was worthier of his attention than any of us present.
“B-But sir, I’m still in the game! I still have one pokémon that —”
“Stop.” He didn’t shout or anything, his voice was rather temperate, but there was something in his tone that sent a crawling sensation down my tail. “Please, avoid embarrassing us more than strictly necessary.” He sighed in a very pointed fashion as he looked aside. “This is why I hate working with kids…” Taking a better look at his face, although he was older than anyone else present, he still wasn’t what one would call old. I don’t imagine this one had reached even thirty. Perhaps close.
“No, I know that the situation looks terrible, but I have a plan, Reeds, sir. You see —”
“I do, yes.” He kept starting at Jarque. “That is one of the Montecarlo twins, correct?” My ears twitched. We had six badges, so people recognizing us should really not surprise me anymore. “If I recall, does he not have a Primarina?” He turned his gaze to the sky. “Or was this the one with the Feraligatr?” He shook his head, clicking his tongue. “Regardless, your Pidgeot would not withstand even a single Ice Beam from either of those.” It was true that, now that the Linoone was out, we didn’t have to fear for Pursuit.
Theil stepped closer to the man in the coat, clenching his feet. “But we really have a plan! The Meowscarada now has the Simple ability, so if Javelin uses Feather Dance and Sand Attack, the cat’s attack and accuracy will take a nosedive and —”
“A Meowscarada’s signature move is Flower Trick, a move that never misses its target and always hits a critical weak spot, thus disregarding stat reductions. You have no resource against him.” If glares could kill, that’d be a No Guard Sheer Cold. “Dear loving Uxie. Do you not see that he is merely toying with you, Markov? Let us be done with this already.”
Those words seemed to finally quell whatever fire still resided in Theil’s eyes. He made an annoyed huffing sound, then made a sign for the Pidgeot to return to him. The bird rested on his shoulder and began to nudge his neck with her beak, refusing to enter her sphere for now.
And although the battle was as good as officially over, I was now tenser than I had been at any moment through. The memories were flooding in, in fragments. This frail-looking man, Reeds, was one of Shuffle’s three admins, and this would actually be the second time we meet him. But last time we had Bera and the region’s ex-champion by our side. And I still recall that he hid a full roster of six under that coat, even if we only got to see his Milotic last time. So the fact that a man like that would conspicuously be aware of my signature move…
At some point Jarque had walked to my side, now placing a hand on my shoulder. I was a tad too stressed so I hadn’t even noticed. He eyed the admin with his best impression of stoicism, but I wasn’t sure how well that worked. “How fancy meeting you here, Reeds. It’s been a while.”
So far, Reeds’ gaze had been on Jarque, but I just realized that he was rather staring past him. But now? Now he really was staring. “Have we met?” There was absolutely no malice whatsoever in his question, and that hurt. “I have of course read your file, given you accrued four badges, but…”
“S-Six,” Jarque corrected. Oh, c’mon. At least the grunts thought we had five. How is the admin even less informed than the rank and file? How little can a man care? “And we did have a bit of an encounter once. The Haymaker was around too, recall?”
“Oh. Yes, perhaps.” He gave a faint nod. The worst part is that I couldn’t tell if he was just humoring us or not. He tilted his head, his expression not changing one bit. “My apologies. I’m not in the habit of tracking every lowlife in this region.” He immediately raised a hand to preemptively shut Jarque up. “Perhaps that was harshly put. What I mean is that I am a busy man, in charge of a busy organization. Surely all of us have places to be, so it would be best if we were to say our goodbyes here.”
“Hmm.” Jarque was trying his hardest to appear unaffected, one arm behind his neck, but I could tell the man’s words had stung a bit. “Right, I’m sure you people are busy stealing expensive items or poaching mons. Must be a busy life. I’ll leave you to it.”
Some of the grunts started to complain and groan. But Reeds… It’s not that he didn’t fall for the provocation, it’s as if he wasn’t even aware that was provocation. He kept speaking in the same tone. “You will be glad to know that, today, we are on a genuine recon mission. We are merely assessing local populations of pokémon, and perhaps getting some training done on the side. So temper those nerves. We didn’t come here looking for trouble. I’m not here to fight you.”
I felt my muscles relax, if only a little. The claws remain on the ready, though. Even Valentine kept her paws on her staff, ready to act at a moment’s notice. Jarque had managed a bit of a grin by now. “Scared?” Please, Jarque, for all things precious, do not provoke the scary pale man.
We learned at that very moment that Reeds could emote at all, as the lightest of smiles came to grace — disgrace? — his face. “I suppose it is important to flatter oneself.” He looked towards the grunts and Theil, although he was more looking away from Jarque than at them. “I will not act like I am not aware of you, Montecarlo. Again, given your badges, of course I have read your file. But please understand you are but one of the many trainers in the region we are keeping an eye on.”
“Then you’ve got me completely fooled. So many people in your team had tried to talk me into joining, that you’d think I merit special attention or some such. Good to know that’s not it, uh?” No, really. That Shannon recruiter girl, then that Gilbert guy with the Arcanine, and a few random no-name grunts. It had gotten annoying.
“Rest assured, then, that at the very least I have no interest whatsoever in your allegiance, Montecarlo,” he said, his tone bored, as if wanting this conversation to be over already. “I can recognize your progress as a trainer for what it is, but do not flatter yourself in excess. Few people are worthy of my limited attention.”
“Now who’s flattering themselves.” I could tell Jarque was torn between letting the conversation be done with, or throwing one or two more barbs first. “You sure seemed to know a lot about how Clover’s Flower Trick works. But hey, I’m sure that’s just a funky coincidence. You just happened to be familiar with the signature move of a pokémon not even native to Baraja. Believable.”
“About that…” For a moment there was an odd emotion in his eyes as he looked down, such that it actually caught me by surprise. Like a sullen melancholy, but it didn’t last. “I have in the past worked with the Sprigatito species, so I have some knowledge about them. So I would know about their unique moves and abilities, at the very least.”
“Worked with…?”
He looked oddly pensive. “I’m recalling your file, now. Yes, we’re not so dissimilar, you and I.” He looked Jarque in the eye. “And, believe me, I hate saying those words as much as you hate hearing them. But it is an unfortunate truth. You were born in Holon, the region south of Baraja, correct? And you were raised in an orphanage.” After a short pause, Jarque nodded. That was public information, so I wanted to think it wasn’t a reason to worry. “I am the same.”
For an instant, Jarque’s eyes widened just a bit. “You mean being born in Holon? Or the orphanage thing?”
“Both. I was born in Holon, a little over a decade before you did, and I also spent my infancy in a run-down orphanage. You have heard, I imagine, of Team Shuffle, a group of researchers sited in Holon? It was founded by the late professor Babbage, who would later go on to create the Shuffle Foundation after the Team disbanded.”
“No one cares for the story lesson. Get to the point?”
At this, Theil seemed about to start telling him off, but Reeds raised a silent hand to stop him before he started, unaffected. “I joined Team Shuffle during my teenage years. I needed the money, and as an orphan in such a desolate region, my prospects were limited. I will not say they paid well. But they paid at all.” He glanced towards Theil. “Professor Babbage was a genius like few others, even if we never quite saw eye to eye. He was a bit of a sentimental fool, but he was also ambitious like no other. That much I must grant.”
“… He really was,” Theil added, prompting his Pidgeot to hug his face with a wing.
Reeds disregarded that and continued. “You know of rare species, Montecarlo?” He briefly eyed Valentine and me. “Ah, never mind, that was a stupid question. Certain species will beget males at a much higher proportion compared to females, resulting in skewed population distributions and difficulties in ensuring the subsistence of such species. Babbage aimed to find a way to solve that. He never did. But in either case, he did import some rare species from all over the world that were sent to Holon’s labs, in exchange for materials, items, and plain old money. The distant Paldea was one of our many trade partners.”
He glared straight at me, and for a second I wondered if Protean had accidentally activated for an ice move. That gaze only made me appreciate Jarque all the more. It wasn’t a gaze of hate or lust. That I could have dealt with. He observed me, in the same fashion that one would observe an anatomical diagram in a book, with a detached kind of curiosity.
“We conduced plenty experiments involving Ditto. I don’t know why that man thought that would ever yield results, but he was the brain of the operation, we just followed his whims. And it is inordinately difficult to convince pokémon to breed even in captivity, but I do recall…” He squinted as he scanned my body, as if looking for any distinctive marks or scars. “I don’t recall any names, and I wasn’t directly involved with these pokémon myself, but I have memories of a male Meowscarada and a female Incineroar that became candidates for our three-way Ditto breeding programs. I’ll spare you the unsavory details. But much uproar was made at the time about the birth of a male Litten and a female Sprigatito.” He stopped looking at me, and that somehow felt even more unsettling. “Their parents would later manage to break them out, and there we lost track of them. End of the story.”
I gripped Jarque’s arm tightly, a little too tightly, as even Valentine stepped in front of me as if to shield me. Jarque held the man’s gaze. “Yes. End of the story.” I had never quite… sat down to tell Jarque all the details of my birth, but I’m sure he had pieced things together by now.
“So you and your sister hail from Holon,” the man continued, “and many years back, you migrated to this region alongside a male Litten and a female Sprigatito. Even though neither of those species is native to either Holon or Baraja.” His gaze stopped at Jarque. Not judging. Just observing. “Life truly is full of inexplicable coincidences, isn’t it?” He waved a hand as if telling Jarque to scram. “But it’s been well over a decade since. Professor Babbage passed away, and Team Shuffle is no more. So, wherever that Sprigatito and that Litten are now, they truly have been blessed by luck.”
I could feel Valentine’s paw on my shoulder, squeezing gently. But I was okay, really. I had gotten into a bit of a panic when he suddenly began to talk about the past, but the fact that he seemed so uninterested in it all, in us, was quite comforting.
Jarque also seemed a little calmer now. “I figure they must be living their best lives by about now.”
“Sure. Let’s go with that.” Reeds turned his back to us. Ooh, it would be so easy to leave some ugly claw marks there, but seeing as he’s trying to deescalate on his own, I better restrain myself. “The late professor did have some really bright ideas. It’s such a shame that his health took a turn for the worse due to age, which forced the investigation team to disband. Why, if he had only had an extra decade of good health, then perhaps…” He stared straight at Theil for a brief moment, then shook his head with a wistful smile. “It’s a waste of time to think of the what ifs.” He raised a hand as he began to walk away, motioning to the grunts to follow him. “If fate is kind to us, we shall never cross paths again, Montecarlo. Ah, but fortune has never been known to be kind to those born in Holon, now has it?”
Jarque didn’t so much as say goodbye. Good riddance, really. Before leaving, Theil turned to give us a last, annoyed glare, combined with some other emotion I couldn’t quite discern, but he ultimately left before uttering a word. His Pidgeot, however, did stick around just long enough to throw Valentine and me one last dirty look plus what I assumed to be a rude gesture with her wing, uttering a ‘Later, funbags’ before finally returning to her sphere. Classy.
I didn’t know what to make of this. If the Shuffle Foundation was born out of the ashes of Team Shuffle, and at least some of their top brass used to work in Holon, then I shouldn’t be surprised that they would suspect me. I would suspect me, in their situation. Why else would there be a random Meowscarada in Baraja? In retrospect, if we wanted to lie low, perhaps going around collecting badges wasn’t the brightest plan, but oh well.
On the other hand… the man in the coat had not shown much interest in me at all. Maybe the whole Holon thing really was just a footnote in his life, like it was in mine. I would of course remain alert around those Shuffle people, but I figure I don’t have much to worry about, for now.