Normally, Achille's introduction to a city involved visiting restaurants and stores. Popping by a local Contest or art gallery, comparing what he saw to his brother's art. If he was feeling especially lazy he might spend a day or two observing the city from his hotel room. Above all, he stopped by some small local gym and watched a few battles.
He'd neglected it this time, whole-heartedly throwing himself into scouring the small town for any sign of illegitimate business. It took a few days of pacing the streets to realize he was completely out of his element here. He'd never been to Stow-on-Side, why would he think he could find something hidden out of sight here that the locals would miss.
It was foolish to not go to the locals as step one, in retrospect. Trainers talked; they hung out and shared stories and rumors. Despite the size of Stow-on-Side compared to cities like Hammerlocke and Motostoke, this was one of the towns with two active League gyms. This place was crawling with trainers, and they would be the ones talking about missing Pokémon.
He reached into his inner jacket pocket, feeling the wad of bills in a money clip stored inside. Even if they didn't want to talk, 50,000P should be enough to tempt someone into giving up information. Thankfully an amount his father wouldn't question him withdrawing too terribly much.
He reached the spot, eyeing up the warehouse in front of him. Sand piled up the sides of the building, only the front being regularly swept. No tire tracks, no crates, no equipment. Only the sounds of Pokémon battles inside. An old building turned into an amateur club. No doubt a hangout for those banned from the official gyms too.
Joiuse floated forward, edging just into his line of sight. A sense of reassurance washed over him upon seeing the twin swords, casting off the split second of doubt. Was he really afraid of anyone in there? Not anymore.
The first thing Achille noticed upon entering the building was that the electricity was on. Someone was paying the bills, which was a good sign for his chances of not getting mugged today. Anyone with an interest in keeping the lights on most likely had an interest in keeping people coming back.
The front room was more or less empty, save for a fridge tucked behind the former welcome counter and some scattered photos tacked to the wall. The unframed prints looked to be of the club members, with members varying wildly between pictures. A group of five were present for about every photo. The only thing that would even strike him as suspicious here was the large lock on the door behind the counter. The narrow, vertical window on the door revealed what looked like a normal office behind.
Nothing here roused his interest enough to warrant further investigation. He tried the doorway leading further in, where the sound of battling was louder, finding it unlocked. Shrugging to Joiuse, he pulled the door open and held it for the sword Pokémon.
A chill air swept over him as he stepped through the doorway, the interior of the building being surprisingly colder than outside. Fragile shards of ice danced in the wind at the center of the room, fluttering along with the Icy Wind attack circling a small Swinub. The target of the frigid assault was a red-and-tan crab shuffling around the warehouse floor, large flakes of ice already hanging to one claw.
His arrival drew the attention of the crowd. A dozen or so pairs of eyes shot over towards the stranger striding into their retreat. Many of the faces lit up with recognition. Good, he wouldn't have to spend too long introducing himself.
"Evening, gentlemen." Achille strode up to the crowd confidently, joining them on the sidelines. Joiuse split, flanking both sides of the trainer. "I hope I am not interrupting anything private." He kept his arms folded across his chest, avoiding any motion towards the money.
Let's save that as a surprise/
"Private?" A woman near the front scoffed, staring down the newcomer. Achille had seen the woman before; long blonde hair and a Fighting Gym stocking cap with a matching track jacket, she was from the pictures up front. "That depends, are you tryin' to cause trouble?"
"Do I look like I'm here to cause problems?" Achille didn't move or take his eyes off the woman, even as the crowd shifted around the edge of his vision. Joiuse was keeping an eye on the crowd. She'd move or send some kind of mental message if it was more than the crowd shifting. He just had to focus on the woman.
The blonde remained unphased. She just shrugged with her hands in her jacket pocket. "Doors unlocked then, innit? Challengers don't typically cause problems, I guess."
It wasn't exactly the most ringing endorsement, but it diffused the tension in the air. The crowd wasn't going to jump and pretend everything was normal, but a few people did go back to their conversations. The battle even kicked back up; the krabby and swinub raring to start the action up again. The woman Achille was speaking with looked over the group, once then again in a slow sweeping motion. Area surveyed, she strode up to Achille and took a spot next to him, watching over the battle.
The two stood in silence, watching as krabby shot a thin, but powerful stream of water towards the shaggy-haired pig-like Pokémon. The ground type snorted then sprinted away in a surprising show of speed, avoiding the Water Gun. The old-guard of the gym pulled a thin pack of cigarettes from her jacket pocket, retrieving a thin cigarette and a small lighter from the package.
"So, why are you here?" She released the smoke from her first drag then launched into her questioning. "No bullshit."
Achille waved the foul smoke from his face, turning to face the asker. "Mostly I came to get some practice in." Lying about his intentions would only get him kicked out when he came forth with it. He just had to make it sound innocent enough. "I do actually go to private gyms like this."
"Ego boost?" She interrupted with a blunt tone of voice. His host remained motionless, not even turning to look at the Kalosian as she lobbed her accusation against him. The lit end of the cigarette slowly crept down the paper, neglected after the first puff.
"I mean these places don't really seem up to your
class." The woman continued, breaking the short silence that overtook the moment, as Achille's mind spun for an answer. "Or skill, considering you're a challenger and all that."
So she knew who he was. "They don't call the parents of class-ditching teens."
Might as well match her bluntness. "Even after a particularly rich parent requested they be alerted when their wayward son wanders in." Achille folded his arms and ignored the battle between Swinub and Krabby, focusing his entire attention on his 'host'. "I'm also looking into something. Someone stole a Pokém-"
"That sentence is starting to sound a lot like trouble." She took another drag of her newly rediscovered cig. She exhaled, then finally returned the trainer's gaze. "Look, kid, I don't tolerate that shit here. No thieves, no playground revolutionaries, and no
damn gossip hounds. I can deal with the gamblers and people here for an ego trip usually get knocked down a peg."
That set her off quickly.
But the quick shut down only piqued Achille's interest. She knew more than she wanted to show. He'll play along for now. "Point taken. I hope you don't mind a money match then." He reached inside his jacket and grabbed a single bill.
Let's not show all of the cards yet. He held up the 1,000 bill for the woman to see, who just shrugged at the gesture.
"I don't gamble," she said in rejection, "you'll have to find one of the others." The woman turned away from Achille, something Achille was very quickly learning was a good sign that he wasn't annoying her. Too much. "They might try to act like they don't want to battle, but they'll change their minds quickly once money is involved."
So money will definitely open doors with them. It was hard not to smile after her slip up. Achille suppressed the grin as he considered the possible exploitations of that information.
The Kalosian pocketed the bill again, then returned to his folded armed stance. "I'll let these two finish up before butting in. I don't want to steal the show."
"Too late for that," his host added with a small snort of surprise. "You upstaged everyone the second you walked in. We don't see challengers here."
Achille didn't have a follow up quip for that. Luckily for him, the ongoing duel between Swinub and Krabby was coming to an end. The mud-caked Krabby lunged forward, pulling its frost-covered claw back. Closing the gap with a rapid sideways sprint, the crab jabbed his claw forward. The iron-sharp edges of the claw raked the hairy pig in a Metal Claw attack. Swinub was pushed back, retreating backwards in a frenzied scramble from the Steel attack. With a loud snort, Swinub lied down and surrendered.
"Is that it?" Someone shouted out from the crowd. Swinub looked in the direction of the shout and snorted in an annoyed tone. Yes, they were done.
"That's all she has," the ground-type's trainer confirmed, kneeling next to the defeated pig. The red haired trainer patted the pig's head, getting a few happy oinks in response while his dark-haired opponent set about cleaning up the crab. "She's clever, she knows her limits."
"I think she's just fuckin' lazy, mate. She acts like she's afraid of up close fighting, but is bloody ready to have a go at you if you make the mistake of waking her up." The same voice shot back, getting a laugh from the Swinub trainer. The Swinub didn't seem to mind, yawning and settling down for a nap in the middle of the battlefield. Which prompted another round of laughter.
The trainer of the mud-splattered Krabby looked up from his kneeling position, where he was using a metal water bottle and the crab Pokémon's internal water supply to clean the mud. "Hey, Béringer, what are you doing here anyways?" His tone was more of curiosity than accusation.
"I'm here to practice, what else?" The woman in the cap still hadn't left his side, so he couldn't fish for information yet. He might scare people off going into money matches immediately too. Keep it friendly. "Decided to see what was going on away from the League gyms."
"So, I'm hearing you came to lose off-camera?"
------------------------------------------
A Morpeko hit the floor of the gym, knocked out. This was the fourth victim to Joiuse in a row, and the crowd's cheer was low. Ever since Achille issued the challenge, he'd accepted the first challengers to come his way. The guy with the Krabby was the first up, and had managed a few hits before falling to the Doublade's Shadow Sneak.
Two more trainers lined up to be dispatched before the teen with the Morpeko decided to try his luck. By now the crowd seemed ready to break back into their individual groups, especially with Joiuse still looking hale, hearty, and unscratched. He suspected some of the best were in those first four, and the others were starting to get cold feet.
Now was time to pull out the big guns. Achille reached into his jacket's inner-pocket and revealed the wad of cash to the room.
"Well, I was hoping to spice things up a bit… but I'd just feel bad taking your money." Achille said while smacking the bills across his palm. "So how about this: anyone who can actually beat me gets an award."
Hungry eyes followed the money as they tapped against his hand.
Got you all. It wasn't subtle, but it worked. "And that's a full fifty, in case anyone was curious." He added to sink the hook in deeper.
Still, it seems he went a little too hard earlier. Most people just whispered among each other, trying to get the
others to go for the money (at least from the conversations Achille could overhear). A few looked like they might step up, trading glances and smirks among each other. The three friends stopped, pointing towards the other side of Achille's "field" with an even larger smirk. A few footsteps told the Kalosian that someone finally took the bait. Across stood the woman with the track jacket, the owner of the building.
"I don't know what kind of stunt you're trying," the woman began, eyeing down the trainer with a blank expression that still somehow communicated a deep annoyance. "But if no one else is going to take that, then I will." She retrieved a Pokéball from her jacket pocket, holding the expanded device by her side. Scuffs and chips covered the basic red-and-white device. It was a somewhat older model too, if he recalled that correctly.
Achille smirked, pulling out another Pokéball of his own. Joiuse looked good to keep fighting, but surely the leader of a successful gym, no matter how amateur, was no pushover? "Nice to see you've decided to join the pro-fun team instead of scowling at me all night." The jest was met with a deeper scowl in return. "Okay, maybe you can have fun while scowling at me."
A chuckle, but the crowd still seemed transfixed on the woman in the plain looking clothes lazily holding the Pokéball ever since she drew her 'weapon'.
Whatever, let's get ready. Achille expanded his own Pokéball and nodded towards Joiuse. The Doublade floated back at the silent command, taking a place next to Achille without a word or supernatural projection. The more steelish (in nature) twin remained in the scabbard and fell back into her normal habit of watching the crowd. The more ghastly half took a front row seat next to Achille.
The challenger lifted his Pokéball to signal his readiness; the gym 'leader' returned the gesture. Someone to Achille's right shouted 'three', and more voices followed the rest of the countdown.
Twin flashes of light obscured the stadium at the cry of 'one', fading to reveal Terrot and a familiar looking Mienshao, kneeling on the ground. The graceful pink Pokémon rose to her feet and nodded at the Skiddo from behind the trailing 'sleeves' on the fighting-type's arms while Achille tried to place the trainer's face once again.
"Fuck me, I didn't even notice," Achille shouted as the pieces fell in place. The hair, the jacket, the Pokémon. He just recalled where he'd seen her before. "You're Rebeccah Kanter. Gym challenger six years ago? Endorsed by the Fighting Gym leader?"
The owner finally laughed. "Damn, took you that long to notice, kid? I guess I removed all pictures of myself from the challenge run from the front though. The oldest one was after I had left the gym already."
"I just wasn't expecting a former challenger associated with the Fighting Gym to now be leading a splinter gym in the same town." A great deal of questions flooded Achille's mind. Those all disappeared after another piece of information came to the forefront of his memory. Rebeccah Kanter got pretty far. She wasn't the standout of her gym season, but she was a strong competitor. He almost wished he kept Joiuse in. This was going to be a rough fight.
But if I win, think of how far I'll go in this tournament. Even if she was maybe out of practice, she was a good barometer.
"I can tell you my biography later, so long as I get a cut if you publish it." Rebeccah added, a small smile now adorning her face after being recognized. "Didn't you want to battle?"
"Damn, you're right." Achille clicked his tongue, annoyed at having let himself get distracted in the middle of something important again. "The questions can wait until later."
"Good. Fake-Out."
The slender, pink Pokémon rushed forward, dashing towards the off-guard goat. The stoat-like Fighting-type loosed a shrill cry before stopping just short of Terrot, whipping its arms upwards. The Mienshao's paw never made contact with the goat's jaw, but the sleeve-like heavy fur trailing off its forearm made contact with a loud slap.
"Follow up with a Force Palm," Rebbecah shouted as soon Terrot flinched away from the slap.
Mienshao took a step forward and thrust forward an open palm with a twist of her torso. No motion was wasted with the attack, the palm strike was already ready to go as soon as the Fighting-type rushed forward. This opening salvo was practiced.
The 'attack' stopped short of Terrot yet again, but the force of the sudden thrust generated a shockwave of air pressure pointed in the direction of the Skiddo. The shockwave shoved the goat-Pokémon over, causing the Grass-type to tumble over itself a few times while the trainer braced himself to keep standing. Terrot stumbled back onto his feet as Achille readjusted his jacket.
"Strike back," Achille shouted, his heartbeat kicking up a few BPM. "Razor Leaf!"
The grass-type shook his head, launching a salvo of moon-shaped leaves. "Keep momentum," Achille shouted as soon as the attack cleared the goat's leafy mane, "Tackle!" With a glint in his eye and a huff of approval, Terrot took off after the leaves.
Mienshao dipped into a defensive crouch without command. The pink mink-like Pokémon raised its loose fur above its face, a pre-emptive shield against the leaves, but did not move. The Skiddo advanced closer and closer, the sound of his hooves clicking against the concrete.
"Now." Rebeccah commanded without fanfare. Mienshao leapt forward in a high arc, trusting completely in the trainer's judgment. The majority of the Razor Leaf barrage passed under the Fighting-type, breaking harmlessly on the floor a few feet behind. The unavoidable leaves cut into Mienshao's arms, but the thick fur protected from the worst of the attack.
Most importantly, Mienshao was in the air. On a collision course, if Achille's rough mental physics were correct. A growing disease in his stomach became a full-blown worry when the corners of his opponent's mouth lifted into a small smile.
"Jump Kick." Mienshao dropped her guard, straightening her body into a living javelin. Cut fur from the 'sleeves' trailed behind as the stoat fell foot-first towards Terrot.
A loud smack echoed through the air as the kick connected with Terrot's back. The goat fell to the floor and Mienshao flipped effortlessly off her target. The pink Pokémon dipped back into a defensive stance for a reprisal, but dropped it after a few seconds of Terrot lying on the floor. Motionless, save for his breathing.
The woman across from Achille looked unimpressed as she watched over the Skiddo. "You've beaten Kabu, have you?" She asked with a judgmental stare directed towards the Kalosian. "You're not just a rich kid with pedigreed 'sport' Pokémon, right? Because you're going to get someone hurt trying to play trainer with a Pokémon just because he's fast."
Achille clenched his teeth.
Didn't you just tell your Pokémon to leap through a Razor Leaf? Any didn't she target Terrot's back?!
Click-clack. Terrot answered on his own before Achille could let loose the barb forming on his tongue. Pushing himself to his feet, the Skiddo stared Mienshao down. His right hoof tapped a few times, testing the motion of that leg.
"I think that answers for us both," Achille added with a huff and a cross of his arms. "We don't need you to talk down to us like we are children playing with matches. Me and him have chosen to do this already knowing all that stuff. It didn't change our minds then, and it won't now."
Terrot added a capstone to the statement by firing off another volley of Razor Leaves. The two of them were on the same page—fighting the Fighting type head on was a bad idea right now.
The storm of Leaves swept over the surprised stoat, who was too off guard to react. The green goat let another attack loose after seeing the first make contact. There was an idea in the back of Achille's mind, they just had to bait out the right reaction.
The pink Fighting-type emerged from the first attack coated in a small layer of cuts, staring down the approaching salvo. Drawing back her arm, Mienshao readied a Force Palm, unflinching in the face of the coming attack.
With a sudden thrust forward, the shockwave blasted into the rushing Razor Leaf. The force of the shockwave crumbled the sharpened leaves into nothingness. All that remained of the Razor Leaf attack, a slight breeze, passed over Mienshao harmlessly.
Terrot shot another attack, testing Mienshao's new defense. Another Force Palm neutralized the barrage. Mienshao looked like she could do that for hours.
"Don't think you're the first person to have thought of trying to range me out?" Rebeccah said with a bored expression. "I got my recommendation from the Fighting Gym. That's a lot of people's first reaction to seeing a Fighting-type."
"Razor Leaf!" Achille shouted, prompting another flurry of foliage. As soon as the attack cleared Terrot's personal space, he barked another order. "Leech Seed!"
Terrot fired a round of seeds just behind the leaf swarm. At the distance it was traveling, the force of the palm strike would also crack the seeds and release a net of Leech Seed roots.
Mienshao seemed to realize there was no escape from the Leech Seed net if she kept defending like that. The pink fighter crouched again, ready to leap at the first command.
The trainer snapped, the stoat leapt. Achille grinned.
There we go.
"Hi-Jump Kick!"
"Worry Seed!"
Mienshao reached the apex of her leap as Terrot braced himself, a bundle of round, white seeds forming in his mane. As gravity began to overtake the Fighting-type, she straightened into a deadly-looking kick. Terrot fired his attack, sending five large seeds towards the coming foe.
Too late to pull back, Mienshao covered her face as she fell through the scattered seeds. One of the attacks was dead on, colliding with the falling fighter's foot and bursting into a mass of roots around her ankle.
Confidence faded from Mienshao's face almost immediately. Now seemingly aware of how fast they were falling, and onto such a small and fast target, Mienshao hesitated in committing to her attack. She shifted her body to accelerate slower and give a softer landing in case she missed.
This slowdown gave enough time for the Skiddo to dart to the side. Completely sure that her attack failed now, Mienshao bailed on the attack. She rolled the opposite direction of Terrot's dodge as she hit the ground, dampening the impact of her collision. Still, Achille winced as he heard the impact. The stoat pulled out of her roll with a fierce look towards Terrot.
"Drain Punch!"
"Leech Seed!"
Both trainers shouted their commands simultaneously, each angling to get the momentum started themselves.
Mienshao leapt forward, taking a running start towards Terrot. Achille caught the Fighting-type rolling her left shoulder right before the charge. It seems the fall did hurt her after all. For his part, the Skiddo readied another batch of the brown Leech Seeds on his mane.
Mienshao closed the gap, clenching her right fist and producing a light glow. A powerful hook collided with the side of Terrot's face, and the glow intensified upon contact. The impact broke several of the seeds, releasing a mess of thin roots that latched onto Mienshao's hand and climbed up her arm. Flinching, the stoat grabbed the roots with her left hand and pulled. The roots had wormed their way into her thick fur already, though, and stuck fast.
Snapping out of his post-punch daze, Terrot spat on the ground and rushed forward. Taking advantage of his foe's Leech Seed related distraction, Terrot used his horns to lift Mienshao into the air and take off into a dead charge. Mienshao's feet waved helplessly in the air as she was carried across the room, unable to find the ground. She resorted to beating upon the Skiddo's back upon seeing that the Skiddo's destination was the far wall. And he did not seem to be slowing.
One half of Joiuse was on the edge of her metaphoric seat with excitement, while the other hid her eye with her hand. Terrot collided with the wall, Mienshao caught between them in a brutal Take Down attack. A mixture of gasps, shocked laughs reminded Achille that there was even an audience here. He'd tuned them out entirely.
Mienshao rose, shakily, to her feet. Terrot stumbled around, stunned from the impact despite his large, pink cushion.
This is bad, he's not recovered from the recoil.
Mienshao looked towards the trainer for a recommendation. It was a brief exchange, one that Achille almost missed. A small shake of the head from Rebbecah, a slight tilt of the head from Mienshao, a nod of approval from the trainer. Then Mienshao took a knee, collapsing from a 'delayed' injury.
The hesitation from the crowd turned to a surprised joy. Their leader, too, had been beaten by the challenger. The spectators mobbed the field, a flurry of people trying to get close to the most interesting thing to happen this month. The Kalosian stared at the leader, who's expression remained unreadable as she moved to tend to her partner. Someone shouted for Achille to catch, and he barely managed to catch a potion flying his way.
Dammit, talking to her is going to have to wait. This crowd wasn't going to let him go without some acknowledgement on his end. That and he still had a wobbly goat to tend to.
------------------------------------------
"Hey, no, seriously though. Where is the bathroom?" Achille asked the group still clinging around him. He'd told the Proudhon capture story for what felt like the fifth time, and desperately wanted a moment to think. It'd been an hour since he won his last match, and he was still trying to find a good chance to find out just why his last opponent forfeited out of nowhere. The crowd had become his jailors, and his fate was now telling boring and safe stories to keep a rotating cast of listeners entertained. And he was running out fast.
Meeting Nemuro and discovering a long lost Pokémon sanctuary was interesting, but he couldn't prove it without breaking his promise to Nemuro to hide it. The bank story with Clovis would be a good one… but officially credit to that bust went to Clari Whitlocke. Maybe busting a shady Pokémon adoption center with his girlfriend? But that might have technically been illegal…
"I can show you," came a voice from across behind. Achille turned to see the amateur gym leader herself, just the person he was hoping could save him. "It's around back."
"Thanks, if you all would excuse me," Achille addressed his listeners, "I will be right back. Please guide the way." He turned back to Rebeccah before any of the crowd could tag along. Trailing after his already departed guide."
The two navigated the mingling crowd without an exchanged word, making their way towards the back hallway. The prior challenger extinguished her cigarette on the metal wall, between the doors leading to some unknown rooms. About halfway down the hall she stopped and grabbed one of the doors, holding it open and revealing a completely normal men's restroom behind.
With a wordless shrug Achille stepped through. Rebeccah followed right behind, closing the door and locking it behind her.
"Privacy a little too much to ask for around here?" Achille asked.
"Tough shit, there's a stall." The leader pointed out a pair of stalls with a new cigarette she had just pulled from the pack. "I wanted to have a word with you anyways."
Glad I don't have to actually go. Achille folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "Good, I was wanting to talk too. You had Mienshao forfeit after the Take Down, despite her looking like she was ready to keep fighting. Terrot was wide open and defenseless too."
You would have won if you pressed the attack. He didn't have to give her the satisfaction of saying it, but the fact hung in the air.
"Good, you caught that." She answered nonchalantly. "I called it off because I saw everything I needed to. Your opening moves were poor, and you gave up any potential early momentum by not seeing a proper Fake Out coming. You relied way too much on Razor Leaf to keep pressure on my Pokémon, yet gave up too early when you did have Mienshao on lockdown." She continued her lecture, highlighting her points with a jab of her finger. "Seriously, Force Palm takes way more out of Mienshao than Razor Leaf does Skiddo. Even if I would have found a way out of it, it burns some of your foe's energy while they think of a way out."
She ended her rant with a sigh. She tapped the ash from her cigarette in the sink and took another drag, holding her index finger straight up to hush Achille, who was already opening his mouth to defend himself. She still had something to say.
"But, you did shift strategy quickly after that horrific start. Baiting out a Hi Jump Kick so you can for sure land the Worry Seed took some quick thinking. As did recognizing my partner was Reckless. You also knew when to shut up and let your Pokémon take the lead, even if the results were a little unrefined."
"Anyways," the lecturing lady concluded, shifting topic and leaving her 'teacher' voice. "Mate, are you sheltered, just generally bad at bribery, or the boldest asshole I've ever seen?" A grin crossed her face, the look of a cat who had cornered the mouse.
"Oh, you caught that." Achille said as a discomfort rose in his stomach. Embarrassment? Shame? Fear? All of it? Whatever it was, she seemed amused at the situation.
"Fuck yeah I caught that. Hangouts like this attract certain people. People who think that just because we're not affiliated with the League means we don't have rules like the other gyms and clubs do. We kick the troublemakers out, but it also attracts the people they've fucked with. Both types of assholes end up causing issues and disrupting everything."
"Now, you," she continued, locking eyes with Achille and causing a chill to run across him. She raised her hand and then lifted a finger. "You come in here and bury the lede about a stolen Pokémon." Two fingers. "You then swapped to money matches, something not allowed at more 'reputable' gyms, and showed me a small amount of cash. Whatever, we get gamblers here sometimes." Three. "After you sweep the floor with the—let's be real—amateurs, you reveal you have way more money than anyone expected. You've beaten everyone confident enough to challenge you already, but you were just asking about a stolen Pokémon loud enough for everyone to hear earlier." The blonde dropped her hand, tucking it under her other arm. "I can follow the thought process."
No response sprung to Achille's lips. He had been holding his breath through the dressing down; he couldn't even give a good comeback if he wanted. Yeah, his attempts were bad in retrospect. Was he supposed to be good at this? Why did he even think this would go the way he planned?
"I think I know who did it." she looked towards the ceiling, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Two other former members of the Fighting Gym had gotten into some shady stuff lately. They run a trainer store in town. Non-official."
"Hold on," Achille said, slightly raising his voice at the revelation. He stopped leaning on the wall, pointing at his host. "You knew something this whole time? All this talk of keeping away troublemakers and scolding me for looking into this, and you have fucking names and addresses of suspected theives?"
"And send anyone who comes asking to their door?" The blonde spat back, but did not raise her voice in turn. "I have no idea what crimes they're doing. I don't even know for sure, I cut contact with them after they signed up with some company on some sketchy contact and would not stop badgering
me to join too."
"
Saloperie. So what about the police? Rangers? Doing anything other than letting them continue.
The former challenger moved her free hand to his temple, making small circles under her cap. "Because. They. Have. Something. On. Me. Too." She took a drag of her cigarette, pulling until the flames consumed the last bit of white paper and all that was left was a filter. "You're going to shave several years of my life off with these fucking questions." She flicked the filter at the garbage can in the corner, but missed by a good margin.
Her hands are shaking a bit.
"Okay? That clear things up?" She was pissed. She glared at the Kalosian as she reached for another cigarette, but found an empty pack. Crushing the box, she tossed it at the trash can and sank it with a perfect throw. "I was going to wash out in the early rounds of the tournament, back during my League run. I managed a win in the first round, but my second round was against someone with a very wealthy sponsor. They offered me a very generous payout if I threw the match.
"I decided against any further gym runs and that leaving the Fighting Gym was best." She continued, closing her eyes as she recalled the story. "I told a few confidants what happened… and some of them turned out to be scumbags. Who would have guessed I chose shitty friends." The last part was said in a quieter tone as she broke eye contact with Achille. Her eyes wandered over towards the door, watching it for a moment while Achille digested the information.
"Think anyone is listening?" Achille asked, guessing at what was on her mind.
A shrug. "I give it fifty-fifty. Depends on if they noticed how long we've been gone for 'showing you the restroom' or not." She slowly approached the door, careful to not make any loud footsteps on the tile flooring. Smoke spilled out of the room and into the hallway as she poked her head out, taking a peek around both sides before gently closing the door. "Lucky us, we have some privacy still." She shook her head as she leaned against the door, blocking it from the inside. "I should have checked before voices got raised. Thankfully they're loud as shit in that main room."
"Anyways," she continued, "to finish up this sad, sad story. It was a good chunk of cash. I bought this place and squared some away. The end—of both my story and I'm guessing of my 'officially on pause' professional trainer career soon."
The wheels spinning in Achille's head finally slowed.
Okay, this is a lot. He still wasn't quite sure if his plan was awful or not, but it seems to have produced results by botching his execution.
This luck has to run out at some point. "So… why tell me this if you have that much to lose with it coming out?"
Another pause from the other trainer. She was being more careful with her words after the earlier shouting. "Several reasons, I guess. Trust me, I had no legitimate proof of anything, and rumors fly fast in competitive environments. There was always some unfounded bullshit being spread around, and stealing Pokémon wasn't too far off from some of the accusations."
"I saw a sketchy contract, but it was more sketchy in the terms and stuff. Exclusive image rights for far too long in exchange for money is what stuck out to me, but the entire thing seemed pretty vague as far as what they were actually paying you to do. I'm not exactly a lawyer, but I was taught a few tricks from a mentor in case some sponsor tried to screw me over."
She caught herself going off topic, and cleared her throat. "Anyways, I stopped hanging around them so much after they kept going on about the company. They were assisting in some study by catching a bunch of Pokémon around the town. The rumors started a few months after that, and just cemented me staying away. They stopped coming around here on their own, no conflict needed."
Achille nodded, that checked out enough to him. When was the last time he'd spoken to someone from Kalos who wasn't his family anyways?
How many of them would I have really trusted with a secret of that magnitude though? "Makes sense to me."
"Right, so then today, you walk in. And let's be honest, this isn't your kind of place. Even if you go to these hole in the wall clubs and gyms, they're in the city. Aren't they?" Rebeccah pointed at Achille, who remained silent.
No need to confirm or deny anything for her.
"I'll take that silence as a yes, you don't go to tiny clubs in hideaways like Stow-On-Side." she added quickly.
I see. Pensive silence for me, but not for thee. "And here you are, above this place in both wealth and career, obviously trying to take some investigation into your own hands. Even if I'm ready to dismiss the normal gossip mills, this is too much for even me to ignore. It's starting to become a big deal, and I'm bound to get caught up in it somewhere. At this point I'm either alerting you and sending a private tip to the authorities, or kicking you out and alerting the authorities either way."
"And that ties back to the forfeit, I'm assuming." A headache was beginning to form from sitting in the smoky room.
Let's get this all wrapped up, please.
"Correct, I saw everything I needed. Honestly, they weren't anything special in the gym, but I didn't want to send someone coasting by on Pokémon bought by daddy and trained in clean and fair arenas to a sketchy-ass place like that."
The teen smiled. "Thank you for the vote of confidence. Now, where is this place?"
The older woman put out her hand in a stop motion. "Hold on, Mr. Béringer. The final reason I decided to spill the beans to you is that 50,000P sitting in your pocket." For the first time tonight, her grin was particularly genuine. "That is what you brought it for, right?"
"
Bordel de merde, you're shameless." Achille let out a deep sigh, covering his face and shaking his head.
It's what it was intended for. Just give her the money and she's out of your life. He reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved the money clip, tossing it to the woman a few feet away. "Here. Please just tell me where they are so I can get this Herdier back."
Catching the bills effortlessly, his newfound informant did a quick count of the bills. Much to Achille's annoyance; someone even considering he'd short them when they're already blocking the door. "Shameless, bribable, and with bills for a warehouse." She said in an innocent voice with a smile across her face. "You lucked out, Mr. Béringer." She dropped the voice and returned her attention to her guest. "You're looking for Rodrick and Trevor at Ruby Way Trainer Supply, over on… well… Ruby Way. I hate the name too." Achille must have made a face to provoke the last comment.
"No other employees are going to be there, right?" Running into someone else at the store would be hard to explain.
"Not that I'm aware of. The place has a pretty small clientele."
Well, that's a relief. Achille still had to decide how exactly he was going to approach this, but that was one less thing to fret over. "I'll check it out then. Thanks for the honesty." He checked his phone; shit, they've been speaking for that long? He did not want to spend the rest of the night answering questions. "Is there a way out the back by any chance?"
Rebeccah smirked, turning and pulling the door open for Achille. "To the right. Follow the hallway and there's another right. It locks automatically behind you though, so don't forget anything."
Achille stepped into the hall, feeling fresh air in his lungs in far too long. "Didn't bring anything anyways. It's been… pleasant?" A shrug was the only response he got.
Yeah, this was weird. Weird is a monthly occurrence now, I guess.
He responded with his own shrug and started down the hall, past solid wood doors and under blinking, buzzing lights. Sure enough, there was another turn in the hall just ahead, and an old burned out exit sign.
"Hey, one more tip," Rebeccah's raised voice came from down the hall. "There's a payphone that still works two blocks north of the store. If you call and report you're concerned about a fire type being loose, the Fire Department and Police are more likely to show up."
"All this ranting about shady people, and you're the sketchiest one here," Achille shot back, looking over his shoulder. He received a rude gesture as the target of his barb turned her own corner, back towards the main room.
The late afternoon sun stung his eyes upon exiting the building, sending Achille digging around his jacket for his sunglasses. The lack of natural light and excess of smoke in that bathroom did not help. It was a shame the weather was so nice, he had plans to make for this evening.
Terrot forgot how to use Tackle, and instead learned Take Down!