Kalos but no Cigar! IC II

[NeoSeraphi]

This is the story of the journey of Meilleure Fille, a young Pokémon thief who travels the world looking for weaker Trainers to prey upon. Armed with her trusty Snag Machine, which allows her to steal Pokémon others have worked hard to raise, she stands firm against Team Heartless, a group of children who have all been misled by a charismatic man whose only goal is to live life how he pleases.

The leader of Team Heartless, a man who has literally lost his heart, receives no sympathy from our dear heroine, who teamed up with a murderer and ordered her Pokémon to attack humans so she could destroy public property and knock out all transmissions in the Kalos Region.

She encounters the charismatic man and manages to steal his heart by revealing to him that his best friend had been murdered by his other best friend. However, reducing him to so low that he would wish his own heart gone wasn't enough for Mei. She promptly forced his heart back inside so that he would not be spared even a moment of the grief her reveal made him feel. She pushed him so hard he quit his job and left all his friends behind.

Mei saw that a Pikachu was being mistreated so she stole it and immediately left it to rot in her PC Box, robbing it of the one joy it had left in life: the light of day. The Pikachu's only solace as it weeps with no food, no attention, and no name is that at least it won't be kicked in the face anymore. Though as the days of isolation go by it begins to wish for that boot. Feeling pain is better than feeling nothing at all.

Along the way Mei kidnapped two kids her own age to come with her. Rush Sikes, a boy who is only now reconnecting with the Pokémon Mei stole from him, and Angela, a mysterious figure Mei knows almost nothing about because she never talks to her and only has her in the group so Mei looks prettier by comparison.

Because Mei is so good at stealing people's hearts, Team Heartless sent a recruitment officer to her home. However, Mei was determined that the only person who would steal her mother's heart was her. So she uprooted her mother from her home and moved her to a large city and then left her alone again.

Now Mei is trying to find more Pokémon to steal. She briefly considers preying on Xaldin after he was weakened by another Trainer, but the thrill of the hunt was too diminished.

Angela looks up at Mei. "He was kind of scary. Do you think he knows Larxene?"

[Diachronos]

Mei nods. "Judging by what I saw, he's probably with Team Heartless." How exactly does one explain the Shadow Human/Pokemon aura to somebody who can't see it?

She looks off in the direction of the Pokemon Center. Looks like she'll be waiting for a bit before going there... "I was heading back to Lumiose to see Professor Sycamore, and I wanted to know if you'd like to go with me."

[NeoSeraphi]

Angela perks up. "Yeah! After seeing the Tower of Mastery, I have a lot of questions about Mega Evolution. I would be happy to go with you."

[Diachronos]

"Alright. If you're ready, let's head out, then."

[NeoSeraphi]

Angela walks with Mei along Route 13. Should Mei rush through to get to Lumiose? Or will she take her time and maybe interact with some of the Wild Pokémon on the route?

[Diachronos]

Mei decides to take her time on the way to Lumiose. There's no hurry to get there, right? And besides, it can't hurt to get acquainted with Route 13, could it?

As they walk, she looks over at Angela. "Sorry to get you dragged into this mess with Team Heartless..."

[NeoSeraphi]

Angela shakes her head. "It's...okay. I have a stake in this fight as well. ...One of the Shadows from Team Heartless is in control of my hometown."

[Diachronos]

"Wait, what? Your hometown is under their control?" Well, that certainly gives her an idea of where to go next... "Which town is that, Angela?"

[NeoSeraphi]

"Anistar City. But it's not as blatantly threatening as Axel did with Shalour. Luxord owns the city because most of the people there are in debt to him. Perfectly legal, voluntary debt."

[Diachronos]

Mei frowns. "So there's not much we can do other than help them pay off the debt, or convincing him to release them... We'll find some way to get Anistar City out of his hands, don't worry."

[NeoSeraphi]

Angela nods. "Yes. I've been thinking about that. I thought that maybe instead of challenging him to a battle, I could figure out some way to convince him to leave Team Heartless instead. It won't matter if he's in control of the city if he's not interested in creating Shadow Pokémon."

[Diachronos]

"That might work... I doubt it'll be as easy convincing him as it was to convince Demyx, though." Remembering the man from before makes her sigh. Had he succeeded in convincing his underlings to leave Team Heartless?

[NeoSeraphi]

Mei and Angela continue walking for a bit before a Pokémon appears before Mei. Its large ears twitch excitedly as it moves toward her, sniffing her feet curiously. At the end of its long tail is a blue ball.

"Marill, the Aqua Mouse Pokémon. Its tail functions as a buoy to keep itself afloat in deep water. It gathers pellets on land and buries them in preparation for its evolution."

[Diachronos]

Mei smiles and kneels, holding her hand out to the little mouse. "Hey, there. You're a cute one, aren't you?"

[NeoSeraphi]

"Marill!" The Pokémon bounds happily toward her and pushes its head into her hand, demanding pets.

[Diachronos]

Mei chuckles and starts petting the Marill. Oh my Arceus its so fluffy!

[NeoSeraphi]

"Marill, Marill!" The Pokémon waves its stubby arms excitedly and points off the path toward the trees.

[Diachronos]

Mei tilts her head. "What is it, Marill? You want to show us something?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Marill nods and waddles into the trees.

[Diachronos]

Mei follows after the Marill.

[NeoSeraphi]

Mei comes through the trees and finds a small cottage next to the lake. A young woman is sleeping at the base of a tree, propped up against the trunk with a fishing rod between her legs. The line is sitting in the water.

[Diachronos]

Mei walks up, looking around to see what the Marill wanted her to see. Was it the woman with the fishing rod? Is she the Marill's Trainer?

[NeoSeraphi]

Marill walks over to the water and points down into it. Mei can't see anything strange about the water from where she's standing, she will likely have to get closer.

[Diachronos]

Mei creeps up to the water's edge, looking down where the Marill is pointing.

[NeoSeraphi]

Spoiler

Show

[Diachronos]

Mei shrieks and fumbles for her Pokeballs. She grabs one and tosses it, and her Banette emerges. "S-Spooky, use Will-o-Wisp!" Spooky fires off a swarm of ghostly blue fireballs, which hover around the Gyarados before slamming into it. "Nette!"

[NeoSeraphi]

"Gya?" The Gyarados looks surprised as the attack hits it.

The woman under the tree wakes up from the noise and leaps up quickly. "Ah! No, stop!" She rushes over and steps between Mei and the lake. "Ruby, did you scare this poor girl?"

"Gya..." "Apologize!" "Gya ra." The Gyarados bows its head and then dives back into the water with a big splash.

The woman turns around to face Mei. "Sorry about that. This little one here," she points to the Marill, "likes to prank travelers by having them play peek-a-boo with Ruby."

Peek-a-boo? That's a game for kids! But...now that Mei thinks about it, all Gyarados did was scare her when she wasn't expecting it. It really is kind of like jumping out at someone from behind your hands.

[Diachronos]

The young Trainer looks at the Marill. That's a pretty mean prank, and one that's probably gotten more than one person or Pokemon hurt in the past! Mei looks back at the woman. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. Or to hurt... Ruby." If that had been a wild Gyarados, though...

[NeoSeraphi]

"She's a bit wild. She doesn't have anyone to teach her right from wrong, you see. I feed her, and she hangs around the lake because she likes the water, but she doesn't have a Trainer yet." The woman puts her hands on her hips and glares at the Marill.

[Diachronos]

Mei nods slowly. "...What if I brought her with me and taught her?" She looks at the Marill, getting down on one knee. "Would you like to come with me, little one?"