When failed actress Chalcedony gives up on the neon lights and crowds to challenge the Orre League, it isn't just the champion title she's after. She's discovered she was adopted under strange circumstances. Her biological family must be out there s...
There was no P★DA reception in the heart of Eclo Canyon. Lauri and Iylene's 'reports' on Estefan reached Chalcedony in the morning, while she and her friends waited for takeaway coffee.
'Derp? Charlotte?'
Chalcedony didn't need to check if there was a Charlotte waiting. That was usually her. Dirk's coffee was cold by the time he realised he was 'Derp.'
'I was "Zeeler" back in Gateon Port,' Zileh said as she sipped her Pinap cooler, 'But my favourite is "Zebstrika." So... what did they find, Chalcedony?'
'Estefan just has the one daughter, Gala. She's 38. Her mom was a Pokémon Center Nurse. She died of lung cancer when Gala was 15. Estefan hasn't remarried.'
'Ooh! That's awful about her mom, but... that means you were born two years after her death. It's seeming more likely with every new bit of info! Hey, if one of you is Fire Agate, get me some hacking classes with Lyndon. I'll need it in the International Police! And if we don't know who Chalcedony's dad is by then, I'll find out!'
Rustie avoided implying to Zileh that it could be her before, but if Chalcedony was Estefan's daughter and it wasn't Ruby Jane, that only left the two of them... and she desperately didn't want it to be her.
'Maybe you'll be asking him yourself.'
'Nah. I do look like Abbey and Alfie, but I'm 14! Fire Agate is 21. And I look like my dad, who looks like Dakim, too...'
Chalcedony wearily smiled. 'Well, since we're talking about now, let's see your parents.'
Zileh took out her P★DA. She scrolled back through the gallery to a photo from three years ago.
'I was 11 here. Right before I had half my hair shaved off because someone threw a rock at me. They had to stitch my head back together.'
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'You really do look like Abbey and Alfie. And Abbey's mom, actually. But someone threw a rock at you? What the fuck?'
'Yeah... probably something to do with Dakim.'
'But why does he care?' Dirk asked, 'What's it matter to him that his brother's family are just mindin' their own business, tryin' to exist?'
'We think that's the problem... that we're existing like normal people and he only knows how to make himself – and other people – miserable.'
'Jeez... he could be a great athlete, y'know. Lauri was tellin' me they wanna make a Wes movie, but they can't find an actor or stuntman to jump like Dakim and they really don't wanna cut that crazy jumping scene out.'
'Jumping scene?' Chalcedony asked, 'Do I even want to know?'
'When Wes beat him at Mt. Battle, he jumped backwards across the void to Arceus-knows-where, like a Magikarp Jump Champion! There's a video...'
