[attr="class","mimi"]mimi knew her sneakers were a good choice when she left her hotel room that morning, but this single moment makes her feel grateful she thought so then. she hears, rather than sees, the lucario being released from his pokeball with a click. at least nobody's hurt yet, she reasons, unlike her earlier run-in with these pirates.

she's almost about to suggest they hop on the dragonite's back and consequences be damned. the only thing that keeps her from doing so is that her pokemon may get hurt in the process. keep going, keep going, she chants in her head, certain that stopping at all would mean their ruin.

at last, there's a light at the end of the tunnel that she's desperate to reach. she's not sure if it's the sun or lars's shiny metagross, and in either case she's relieved. "we're close!" she makes sure to relay the good news to lars.

[attr="class","seelie"]Laurence Anderson

[attr="class","mimi"]the coldness of his hands are a stark contrast to the heat produced by mimi's running. it almost burns in its own way, but she makes no comment other than a short gasp. in her mind, there's no time to worry about such things when they're being chased by what sounds like a growing number of pirates.

she doesn't look back, only ahead. ahead and up into the sky. even the two unconscious pirates are ignored. she's more than certain they both agree on their next action: to fly.

they could leave the way they arrived, but apart from the rock formation that hid them earlier there's nothing but open air in that direction. meanwhile, the option of taking a u-turn and using the other side of the grotto as cloak for their escape could have the added bonus of giving them a place to gather their breaths and think of a proper plan. "let's go thay way," she suggests. the dragonite's already turning in said direction.

it's a while before she hops off her dragonite's back. "that must have been the longest half hour of my life. sorry about that. you okay?" her hand instinctively reaches inside her pocket for the trinket that started it all. mimi brings it to her face before blowing the dust off of it.

[attr="class","seelie"]Laurence Anderson

[attr="class","mimi"]"yeah, seriously. felt like main headquarters just by the amount of footsteps following after us." mimi didn't see more than three of them to the eye, but she certainly had heard a lot, lot more than the three. just the thought makes her shiver a little.

the feel of the sphere is comforting against her fingers. it rolls in her fingers until they hit a second one. she can't speak for the man, but she's glad at least she doesn't have to go back in, hopefully never again, since she did manage to recover the necklace - or what was left of the necklace, at least. "it's pretty, isn't it? i'll have to replace the string that held it, but." she doesn't quite finish her sentece, and instead looks quizzically at lars. why's he telling her to wait?

[attr="class","seelie"]Laurence Anderson

[attr="class","mimi"]"for as long as anyone back home can remember," as is the case with any ancestral heirloom. she got hers from her dad, who in turn received it from his own dad, and he from his aunt, and so on. she doesn't think anything of it at first, but he's making it sound like the gem is something more than a simple trinket, and mimi can only look back in confusion.

her eyes fall back to it, small and shiny. she's trying to see what he means, but she only sees the same pattern she's seen many times before. "what do you mean?"

[attr="class","seelie"]Laurence Anderson

[attr="class","mimi"]mimi is not unfamiliar with the concept of mega evolution. she's even used the phenomenon a couple times in previous competitive matches, not too long ago. she also knows what the key stone lars is talking about looks like; had worn one before for those same matches.

mega stones were a different story. she'd always been assigned the pokémon by her team, and they had always been assigned already equipped with the little gemstones. it makes sense that she wouldn't immediately recognize one, though in hindsight she feels like she should have. how silly of her.

"now that you mention it..." mimi lets her garchomp out at once. the action is second nature to her, attention is expendable and her gaze is instead fixed on some spot on the ground. she recalls flashes of the garchomp that her great-grandfather once showed her before his passing. it all makes sense now. "i don't have a key stone on me, but i get the gist. once i find one, i can mega evolve her." and at this she does turn in the pokemon's direction, who looks at her with curiosity.

"to think i've had a mega stone all this time," she laughs at her own denseness. "no wonder those pirates were after it. speaking of, what should we do about this one?" her hand produces a second mega stone. in the hurry, she had mixed it in with the garchompite without noticing.

[attr="class","seelie"]Laurence Anderson