Chapter Text
I don't know how long I stayed in my room in tears. None of the others came in to check on me, obviously seeing that I wanted to be left alone. Fear and dread coursed through me as I lay on my bed and sobbed. I was going to have to choose between doing illegal things, or being found by my birth givers. And all because I'm a useless lesbian who fell head-over-heels with the first girl I met in Lumiose, and even gave her my real name! How could I be so stupid!? I continued to sob as my pokémon gathered around me and comforted me. I was grateful for all of them, as I needed the comfort, but I didn't want to speak with my friends at that time. Especially Taunie.
After a while, I heard a knocking at my door. I was about to yell at whoever it was to go away and leave me alone, when I heard Lida's voice on the other side. "Hey, sorry to bother you," she said. "But Vinnie's just contacted us about more Rogue Mega Pokémon. We need to go over them in a strategy meeting."
At this, I got out of bed and quickly dried my eyes. "Coming!" I called, trying to keep my voice steady. I quickly dried my eyes, returned all of my pokémon, then checked my reflection to make sure that I looked composed. Then, I stepped out of my room, and came face to face with Lida.
She looked at me with concern. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine," I replied, before leading the way to the lift. "Come on. Best not keep the others waiting."
When we got to the dining room, we saw Taunie and Naveen waiting for us. Both of them looked at me with concern, but I ignored them and sat down, choosing to sit diagonally from Taunie so I wouldn't have to look at her. Lida stepped up to the front as usual, and began the meeting. "Look, I know we're all worried about Taunie's fuck up with Corbeau," she began, shooting a glance at our leader. "But we can't worry about that for now. We need to focus on these 3 Rogue Mega Pokémon. Vinnie has detected a Mawile, a Barbaracle, and an Ampharos on the cusp of Rogue Mega Evolving, which means we'll need to be quick to deal with them!"
We all nodded, then Lida divided up who will be taking on what. Taunie was sent after the Mawile, Lida chose to go after Barbaracle, and that left Naveen with the Ampharos. Just like before, I was tasked with running between all 3, and helping them to quell them. With this settled, we all went our separate ways. I checked my map to see which one was nearest to me. Taunie. I briefly considered going there anyway, but then I thought about how mad I was with her. This may seem a bit selfish to you, but I didn't want to be alone with her just now. So, I decided to take care of Ampharos with Naveen first, then help Lida, before finally aiding Taunie. With that settled, I hopped onto Pidgeot and took off to meet up with him.
When I got there, I found him staring at a Holovator. Or rather, at a spot where a Holovator should be. "You've got to be kidding me," I said as I walked over to him.
He nodded with annoyance. "The stupid thing is busted," he replied. "And Pidgeot won't fly up there since the Ampharos is close to Rogue Mega Evolving. So, we need to find another way up." I sighed, and we began to look around.
At that moment, a familiar voice spoke up behind us. "It's not broken, there's a Ghost Type currently residing in it."
We both turned around to see Gwynn walking over to us, looking at the Holovator. "Oh," I said. "I see." The 3 of us looked at each other. After Gwynn didn't say anything else, I added, "Do you think you could get it out?"
Gwynn shrugged. "I could," she replied. "But first I want you to do something for me."
I rolled my eyes at this. "Of course," I thought to myself, before saying out loud, "What do you want?"
At this, she pointed to Naveen. "I wish to battle him," she replied. When we both looked at her with surprise, she explained. "I know it was you who whispered the answers to the Quiz Whizz in Harmony's ear," she said to Naveen. "I wish to battle you, to prove that I am her truest fan!"
We both looked at each other. "Um, we're kind of in a hurry," he said, indicating upwards.
"Then I'll make this quick," she replied. "If you agree, I'll get the Ghost Type out of there."
Naveen and I looked at each other, then he nodded. "Fine," he said. "Let's get this over with." Then, he and Gwynn sent out their partners. Thankfully, she decided to cut the battle short when she saw who she'd be sending her Chandelure up against.
"You know what," she said as she returned Chandelure, "I think I'll save this for another time, when we have time to use all of our pokémon."
"Good choice," Naveen replied as he also returned Scrafty. Then, Gwynn approached the Holovator and spoke into it. A few seconds later, a Litwick popped out of it, and flew off. When it did, the Holovator activated once again.
"There you go," she said as she turned back to us. "Now you can get up." She began to walk away from us, when she stopped, and looked at Naveen again. "But remember, I will be looking for a proper battle soon. And you'd better deliver." Then, she walked off. Naveen and I looked at each other, shrugged, then used the Holovator to reach the Ampharos.
We arrived just in time to watch it Rogue Mega Evolve. "Alright," said Naveen, readying his Scrafty. "Let's get this done!" Then, we sent out our pokémon. This battle ended up being quite tricky at first, since neither of us owned a Ground Type. So, I just had Simba running around and using Earth Power to weaken it and gain some energy for Mega Evolution. Soon, the bar was filled up, and I returned Simba and sent out Milady. My Gardevoir Mega Evolved, then sent a Moonblast Ampharos's way.
To my surprise, it was super effective. Upon seeing that, Naveen slapped his forehead. "I can't believe I forgot!" he exclaimed. "Ampharos is part Dragon Type while Mega Evolved!"
"Good to know," I replied, before focusing on Milady's Fairy Type attacks, which were doing a lot of damage. Soon enough, Ampharos was down, and I finally got my hands on some Ampharosite for Seán. After we defeated it, me and Naveen stood there for a few seconds. "Any chance you could go help Taunie while I help Lida?" I asked him.
Naveen shook his head. "Gotta take this guy to a Pokémon Centre," he replied. I sighed, figuring he'd say that. So, I turned to leave. As I did, I heard him ask, "Hey, what's going on between you and Taunie? You seem more distant from her today."
I contemplated telling him, but couldn't bring myself to. I trusted someone before, and now I was burnt from it. So instead I said, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Then, I took off on Pidgeot before he could ask anymore questions.
I flew over to where Lida was, and landed nearby. This Barbaracle seemed to have a flair for the dramatic, as it had chosen a square surrounded by water and buildings as the spot where we were to fight it. I met up with Lida as she stared at the Barbaracle, which was also on the cusp of Rogue Mega Evolving. She saw me approach and smiled at me encouragingly. "You ready?" she asked me.
I nodded. "Let's save this guy," I said. I was about to approach, when I thought of something. "Wait, before we go, what is Mega Barbaracle's typing?" I asked her.
Lida thought about that for a moment. "I believe it's Rock/Fighting while Mega Evolved," she replied.
"Good to know," I said, before choosing Milady to face this one too. With that sorted, we approached the Barbaracle.
The second we were near it, it roared and changed form. Now, it looked like a biblically accurate Barbaracle. Lida sent out her Starmie, while I sent out Milady again. We began to battle this guy, and since both of us had the Type advantage, it was a pretty easy battle. Shortly into it, my Keystone glowed, so I Mega Evolved Milady. As I did, I noticed that Lida's left foot seemed to be doing the same. I watched as she did a small dance, before kicking her left foot up and tapping the inside of her heel with her right hand. Suddenly, Starmie's form began to change, and he Mega Evolved just like Milady. I stared in amazement. "You like?" Lida asked as she resumed her attack. I simply nodded, then focused on doing the same.
With 2 Mega Evolutions on our side, the Barbaracle was defeated in no time. Soon enough, I had the ability to Mega Evolve Yang, which made me happy. Now, all that was left was to help Taunie with Mawile. This made me a bit nervous, as I still wasn't sure I could talk to Taunie. Lida clearly noticed my trepidation. "You ok?" she asked.
I shook my head. "What was she thinking?" I asked. "How could she not tell us about the debt?" I could feel tears welling in my eyes at this.
Lida approached me and put a hand on my shoulder. "She's an idiot," she agreed. "But I'm sure if you explain to her what you told me, she'll understand why you're upset."
I didn't say anything to that. Instead, I released Pidgeot. "You go take Barbaracle to a Pokémon Centre," I told her. "I'll see you later." Then, I took off once more.
I won't lie to you, I considered stalling our quelling of the Mawile. If it wasn't for the fact that the death of that Pyroar was still burned into my mind I might've done so, but I couldn't. So, I landed nearby, and ran over. Taunie smiled and waved at me as I approached. "You're just in time!" she said. "I think Mawile is about to Mega Evolve!" I simply nodded to her, then pulled out Kevin's ball. If Taunie noticed my lack of a response, she didn't have time to say anything about it, since at the moment we heard the pained cry of Mawile. We ran over to it just in time to watch it too change form. We sent out my Emboar and her Bayleaf, and began to fight.
This Mawile was more difficult than the other 2. For one thing, the fact that it was part Fairy Type meant that it did a lot of damage to Kevin, and I had to be careful with him. For another, It managed to teleport out of range of our attacks a few times, and rained some down on us. Kevin ended up fainting twice before I could even Mega Evolve him. But, things got a bit easier for us once we were able to Mega Evolve. With this, we were able to do loads more damage, although I was doing more since I had the type advantage. Soon enough, Mawile was defeated just like the others, and it collapsed, with me getting my hands on some Mawilite.
"Woo!" Taunie exclaimed, jumping up and down happily. "We did it!" She turned around to give me a fist bump. I flinched, as memories of my birth givers came back to me. Taunie definitely noticed that. "What's wrong?" she asked me.
I shot her a slight glare. "It's nothing," I said, before I turned to go.
Taunie ran up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder. "Hey, this isn't nothing," she said. "You're clearly upset about something. Your my best friend. I want to know when my best friend is upset and why?"
I stared at her for a few seconds. How could she be this stupid? "Why didn't you tell us about the debt?" I asked her blankly.
She looked at me, and I could see the guilt creeping up her face. "I didn't want you to worry," she said quietly. "I thought I could handle it."
I scoffed. "Yeah, you handled it great," I replied angrily. "Keeping this information to yourself until it was too late, then running and hiding when they come to collect, leaving Lida and me to take their full wrath."
Taunie looked surprised by this. "I didn't run and hide!" she argued back.
"Where were you then!?" I demanded, my anger rising.
At this, Taunie didn't meet my eye. In fact, she couldn't even look my way. "I was out helping people," she said, her voice small.
"TAUROS SHIT!" I yelled. "If that was the case, you would've at least made us breakfast before you left. But you didn't. Corbeau called you last night, and instead of owning up, you ran. And now Corbeau has threatened us. Threatened me especially!"
Taunie looked at me with shock and concern. "What did he threaten you with?" she asked, worriedly.
"Never you mind," I said back, before turning to leave.
But Taunie wasn't done. "How can you be angry with me for not telling you about the debt, when you don't even tell us anything about you?!" she shouted.
"That's different," I said as I continued to walk away.
"So you're the only one allowed to keep secrets then!?" Taunie demanded, rage taking over. "If you can't trust us to tell us the truth about you, then why did you join Team MZ at all!?" This one hurt. I stopped walking and looked at her, tearing up at her words. I saw that she instantly regretted saying that. "Oh Arceus," she said, tearing up. "Harmony, I'm so sorry."
"Don't bother," I said, turning away again. "And you're right. I can't trust you. I trusted you too much just by telling you my real name. That was my first mistake. My bigger one was thinking I could possibly be safe with a group of friends." With that, I released Pidgeot again, and climbed on. Then, I took off into the sky.
As I did, I heard Taunie calling back to me, trying to apologise and get me to return. But I didn't. I continued flying until I was on the opposite side of the city to where Taunie and I fought the Mawile. Once I landed Pidgeot on the ground, I returned him, then sat on a nearby bench. Images of my birth givers flashed across my mind, as Taunie's words danced in my head. "Why did you bother joining Team MZ?" "Because I'm a lovestruck fool," I said to myself. "You're a fucking idiot Harmony. This is what happens when you get too comfortable with people." With that, I curled up into a little ball, and felt completely consumed by a panic attack.