THE SECOND GO-AROUND

✯ Welp, looks like Maya’s been completely caught up by the Breakfast Ambassador’s speech. Who knows, maybe this is the chance for her to solve a feud that has lasted for centuries at the food business. Perhaps she’ll even manage to make those two make peace with the fast food producers and put burgers as a vital part of Hive City’s healthy diet!

✯ At the man’s late running and Gold’s question, Maya looked at the boy, then at the man, then back at the boy. Looks like it’s Maya’s turn to act by impluse, without thinking about what exactly she’s entering at.

-- there was this excitement on her face, this keen-eyed passion to help someone out, and it was the first time in a while he’d seen anyone so kind.

(He’d roll his eyes at the thought, later. Girls were something else.)

But this was now.

And now was...

‘... by “Waterfall Princess,”’ Gold started slowly, ‘You didn’t mean...’

‘But of course I did,’ the ambassador remarked, brows shooting up in confusion. ‘What else could I have meant?’

‘Uh...’

Not this.

Because this, as they discovered five minutes later, was not the battleground you’d expect for a culinary clash. This was a tower, posted smack-dab in the middle of Sector Four, all wood and bamboo and strange holy decorations. This, more importantly, was not just a tower, but in fact... a waterfall.

A river-like torrent gushed from the tower’s apex, a complex-looking waterwheel feeding it back to the start. Someone had decided to make a waterfall in the city. Just because.

... okay then.

‘Disciples looking to undergo the teachings of the divine come here for training,’ the man said, stiffly, like someone reading off a Bulbapedia article. He hit a button at the tower’s base, probably to call some sort of elevator. ‘Supposedly, graduates are able to master the art of telekinesis -- isn’t that exciting?’

He gave a little thrill, and while Gold made a face, his eyes wandered to Maya.

‘I must know. Why is the waterfall so quiet?’

✯ She did know, at least, that letting this poor man be defeated like that, possibly risking his job and everything he stands for, would be a very cruel thing to do. Since it should be obvious for Gold by now that this guy means ho harm to anyone else, she takes the suitcase, closes it and hands it to the man.

‘You will?’

-- got interrupted. This whole investigation chapter was just full of those, wasn’t it? (And nobody had even raised an objection yet.)

‘I thought you two were just craven delinquents,’ the man said, dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief (no -- napkin. That was definitely a napkin.) -- ‘But I see now you’re truly two people of worth. More mature than any adult. More kind than any bed-and-breakfast with a complimentary buffet!’ Gold stared; the man beamed, awfully quick to forgive. He was definitely a morning person.

‘Okay,’ Gold said slowly, winning the ambassador’s attention. He looked pretty put out, but less annoyed, now. ‘So. What does that mean?’

‘It means we’ll find a solution. Together,’ Sir Sunny-Side-Up returned cheerfully, ‘So that Breakfast and Lunch can co-exist peacefully. You kids can help me convince the Waterfall Princess!’ He closed his suitcase with a decisive click. ‘But --’ Gold tried --

-- but the man was already running off. ‘We’re late!’

‘...’

Gold turned to Maya. He stared. (Lots of staring in this chapter, too.)

Good thing that wuss wasn’t here right now.

‘I don’t think he talks much.’ Or cared for people, much, what with seeking refuge in a cave. ‘About you. Or anything. Ever.’

They would only work if the Pokemon was willing, and yet—still, the sight displeased Them. Having been born into this World with everything else, what right did Humans have to seal them up again? Even if it was for safety, for convenience—what gave them the prerogative to take them away from all They had created?

🔅THE MORE They think, the more restless They grow and still, the boy stands there holding up his pokeballs. Does he aim to taunt Them into descending? Arceus rears up, forelegs pawing at the air.

They will indulge him, then. But not for his sake alone.

🔅A SUDDEN rush of wind follows Their dive towards the ground, four limbs galloping against the skies. They reach Gold with all the force of an angry twister, but swerve aside at the last minute, merely grazing him with one of Their legs.

The movement is calculated to knock the pokeballs out of his hands, and they clatter to the ground before popping open. Arceus lands a few feet away, peering down at the newest Pokemon to join the fray: a Typhlosion and an Unown, the latter which They fix with a steely stare.

〔 ꂖꀒꀎ ꀇꀋꂅ ꀒꀎꀋꃶ.〕

He’s on his feet in seconds. The air’s not hostile enough to tip this whole fiasco from stand-off into battle, but that’s the thing with Pokemon battles: you never know when they happen.

His Unown meets Arceus’ gaze with a wide eye.

‘You couldn’t have asked?’ he hisses, laying an arm on his Typhlosion as he presses close. There’s something weird going on with his other two Pokemon, who both stare at the thing like they’re totally amazed, and -- ‘What?-- what. Double. Stop.’

-- ‘cause now his Unown’s revolving around his head, almost frantic in its speed. It tilts towards the ten-foot-tall jerk, appendages flaring like it means to point, then moving to revolve around each of his Pokemon in turn. They take the attention a lot better than he does, but as Gold turns his hat backwards again, Typhlosion doesn’t even react.

How messed up is this?

‘You pissed them off,’ he tries, looking up. Unown chimes in the negative, just like it used to when they worked on puzzles in Alph. ‘They pissed you off.’ Again, wrong. His brow creases. ‘You know ‘em,’ he says, and that’s when his Pokemon stays silent.

He backs up a few feet, keeps glaring until he can get a look at the thing’s face.

“But as things are now, I’m interested enough to at least check it out. You coming uh-right.” Linne just realized she had been talking with the young man for a while without either of them having shared their name.

He took her hand and shook it, awkwardly, making up for it with enthusiasm.

‘Gold,’ he answered, and he shook off the feeling that they’d been here before. ‘I’ve kinda... been checking it out on my own, actually. Place is huge.’

And that made her his rival. He played with the idea, ever-competitive, but there was something about cooperation that sounded way more appealing.

✯ “………………………………………………………..”

✯ it felt just like the ol’ good days of courtroom and the gallery’s silence after a bizarre commentary was launched. Had she ever been the cause of it before, though? Ah, Gold broke the silence, good! …Except, it’s not what Maya was expecting to hear now.

✯ “….Is that really the first thing you have to talk about this?” Maya’s mind didn’t pay much attention to the lack of syrup (not that she liked it much anyway), much preferring to try and come up with a story behind the suitcase. ✯ What kind of person carried this much food with them in such an organized way? Why? Is there any sort of job that combines breakfast food and formal wear? How did that man get all of this in such a tiny space? Would he get in trouble for losing this? Was he still searching for it-

✯ Well… That sudden shadow that covered Gold answered Maya’s last question, at least.

Oh, shi--

Ohhh, shiiii--

‘-- ps,’ Gold squeaked out, head snapping back over his shoulder. ‘S. S. Anne,’ he declared intelligently, eyes as wide as the saucers neatly arranged along the side of the suitcase interior. ‘Uhh. Uhhhh.’ There was Maya’s complaints, the threatening look on the man’s face, and which was he suppose to deal with? There was a buzzing under his skin, less fear and more challenge, and he took a deep breath --

Just in time for Mr. Vilain to flap his lips again.

‘Well? Are you going to --’

‘We’re your rivals.’

‘... what?’

Gold looked like he understood just as little as the guy. He opened his mouth, shut it, and then tried again, shifting his weight. ‘Your rivals,’ he repeated, ‘From the Embassy of the Lunch Ladies. We’re, uh. We were paid to steal your suitcase so you couldn’t deliver it. To.. the person you were taking it to?’

The man said nothing. Gold fiddled with his hat, quickly running with the idea.

‘T-The Princess of the Waterfall, right? You guys in the Breakfast League were trying to get her to offer you her riceballs -- and if she did that, she’d have to take her bentou off the lunch menu, and, um...’

‘I can’t believe it.’

‘... huh.’

The man, in all his panic, in all his sweat and glory, looked dumbfounded -- dumbfounded, but also like he’d just been beaten. He laid his eyes on Maya.

‘I suppose you must’ve been the one to tell them, didn’t you? A Graveler Scout who was also a Waterfall Trainee... I never would’ve imagined...’

Maybe? Kind of? The dismal tone to the Pokemon’s voice was actuallly kind of worrying -- and so Gold dropped down to his haunches, tilting his head and watching Kyogre curiously.

‘So... not a girl? Who’s supposed to recognise you exactly? Me?

Kyogre lifted his head a few inches off the floor. He wasn’t quite sure what this trainer was talking about, but it was best to answer his question the best he could.

He looked kind of doubtful.

‘What’s it, like -- a code name or something? An anagram? Like your real name is... Gre-kyo... or... Gorkey... -- Dorky?’

‘... that’s rough, dude.’

✯ At least he was good at escapes, Maya had to concede. The suit guy had no idea of where they were, as fast as they disappeared from his vision. Frutrated, he began shouting some profanities while stomping the ground away from them. Maya sighed in relief. It didnt last long, however, as Gold gave her the suitcase to open.

✯ (I wouldn’t be a killjoy if you weren’t imposing all of this ‘fun’ over me, you idiot.) Maya sighed and out the item on the floor, in front of her. ….Should she open it? Would it be safe? There wasn’t a bomb here, right?

✯ Gulping, Maya approached her trembling hands from the suit’s lock. In a questions of seconds (that felt more like hours), Maya held her breath, each second closer to the truth. Closer… Closer………………

✯ *Click*

✯ ….It was unlocked. Nothing else happened, so Maya raised the lid sloooooowly… In the end, it was revealed that the suitcase’s content was….

For a while, Gold didn’t say anything, and that was the most hope he could offer: instead of mouthing off, he might’ve finally discovered the error of his ways, realised just what the heck they’d done to that poor man. In his silence, his gaze lay pinned to the open contents of the suitcase, studying the scrumptious dishes, taking in their pleasant smell. His face twisted.

It couldn’t be a pleasant smell for him, no; it could only smell like one thing, and that was the smell of regre--

‘There’s no syrup.’

A pause. There was this awkward moment full of silence, the meta-narration thrown off track -- and then Gold began to move. He got down to eye-level with the briefcase, bracing his chin in his hands and his elbows in the dirt.

‘There’s no syrup,’ he noted morosely, shifting his weight to one hand and reaching out. He sounded like the briefcase had personally wronged him, and the harried businessman with it; for their treachery, he stole a strawberry and bit it through. It was only the sweetness of the healthy fruit (only 4 more servings to go!) that tempered his anger, and the scowl slid from his face, slowly, much like his beloved maple syrup would.

‘Who does he think he is?’ he asked, to Maya, to no one in particular, reaching out for an orange next. The skin broke easily beneath his fingertips. ‘No, seriously. Who does he think he is? The... breakfast ambassador to...’ He stopped, inches away from ending another innocent fruit’s life.

‘... to Delta? You think this is for a meeting?’

Ah… yet another child that chose to wear red.This time, he could even smell the sulfur of a fire-type Pokemon on this boy. Kyogre allowed himself to drift onto the floor, like a sad, dropped piece of paper.

Nah. He knew what was going on here.

‘Did she know about the fish thing before you went on a date?’

✯ “Graveler Scout Cookies taste just like Rocky Road, no, even better than it! They’re so crunchy that you’ll feel like munching actual rocks - delicious sugary rocks, that is-”

✯ Maya had no chance to continue her propaganda, for Gold cut her short and took her away from the scene, alongside the briefcase. As soon as the girl understood what happened, she turned her incredulous look to the boy.

So -- some things he didn’t like.

Being yelled at was one of them, but at that very moment, it shot straight to the top of the list.

‘Ow,’ he said eloquently, leaning away from the girl and wincing. He held the briefcase away and clutched at one of his ears, frowning at her. ‘What’re you doing? I told you --’ And then, with wide eyes, he stopped; the smack of expensive shoes on concrete was unmistakeable.

The guy who they’d just robbed shut down ran past, looking harried. Gold looked similarly harried, but only from adrenaline -- he’d thrown himself and Maya into the bushes, branches digging into them from every direction.

He didn’t breath again until the guy was well out of sight.

‘... anyway, I told you. I was gonna do something about it.’ He finished in a quiet voice, attention more on the briefcase than anything else. Now that they were finished -- now that they’d stopped the dude’s evil plan -- where did that leave them? If you asked him...

　　　　　　... all too abruptly, he shoved the briefcase in Maya’s hands.

'Okay, Ms. Killjoy.’

‘You open it.’