Bestia: an ancient energy that allows Pokémon to use their powers. Lucca Aska is a plucky Brionne raised as a hero in a world devoid of Bestia, where Pokémon must use weapons and armour to survive. Destiny has chosen Lucca and five other outcasts to...
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The past week had been worrying. Constant concern for Lucca was normal for Mimia, but ever since the incident in Vergrace, the Brionne had started to change. Last night's conversation was a little reassuring, but this morning nullified all of it.
The group sat at breakfast in silence. Fancy hotel foods from the city should have been the talk of the table. None of them had ever seen treats like berry mash wraps, honey porridge, or marshmallows in hot chocolate before, and yet a bitter mood hung over the group.
Mimia sighed as he glanced over everyone. Ruby wolfed down plate after plate with aggressive vigour, while Crystal and Shelly slowly ate their food with pale glares. Azu was troubled but indifferent, and Lucca – it was painfully obvious something was wrong. He hadn't filled his bowl to overflowing, nor had he touched his food.
"What's with you? You ate so much pizza yesterday," Crystal finally broke the quiet. "Seriously, keep eating like that and you really will blow up."
"Ifbs bwainfin'", Ruby replied.
"I can't understand you if your mouth's full," Crystal groaned and rolled her eyes. Ruby gulped loudly.
"It's training!" she repeated. "I lost to that guy, so I'm gonna have to triple my efforts. And that means havin' the energy to work. I get real hungry when I'm mad, okay? So this is me getting over it!"
"By stress eating? If you stuff yourself you're going to make yourself sleepy more than anything," Crystal said worriedly.
"You're right!" Ruby froze. "So we'll make this the only meal of the day. No, make that the week! Then I can train my stamina to the max."
"Wait no that's not how it works! Then you won't have any energy at all," Crystal cried.
As they began to bicker, Mimia snuck another glance at Lucca, who seemed to be fixated on Crystal. He retained an empty look, but his eyes gave the slightest twitch.
"Did you get a stomach-ache?" Mimia asked him in feral speech. This caused Lucca to flinch in alarm, and the table went quiet. "Lucca..."
"No, I just... okay, guys. This is going to sound crazy, but we need to get out of here as soon as we can," Lucca said, and stood on his tail.
"Police's orders?" Azu said.
"... Yeah. Something like that," Lucca nodded. Azu sighed and slumped, which made him settle back down.
"I'm so sorry I dragged you guys into this. I'm so sorry," she sounded like she was about to cry.
"No no, this isn't your fault or anything. Just, I er... ah, there's stuff they told me not to talk about or something like that. I promise, Azu you've done nothing wrong," Lucca said. He spoke slowly and tugged at his ruffles the whole time.
The last time Lucca had been like this, he had been guilty of breaking his father's throne. The fortunate thing about a Pokémon like him was that honesty was his natural mode, so any attempt to hide things and Mimia could tell immediately. Not that anyone else couldn't tell from how little he'd eaten.
