Mathilde Meets Malva! is the fourth chapter of the PokéTales entry Kalos Rejuvenated, following on from the third, The Burning of Bruce!. It was created and written by 15bowdenc.
Story[]
They were close to Cyllage City, and Mathilde’s first gym battle. She and Sylvia, accompanied by their Froakie and Chespin, traversed the wilds of Route 10, their end goal in sight; the grandiose mountain upon which the Cyllage Gym was built, standing vehemently as a pillar of nature. Mathilde smirked and began briskly jogging. In her typical whining voice, Sylvia questioned her intentions. “If we run, we might get to Cyllage by nightfall!”, she exclaimed. At this point, her friend was so far away that she couldn’t tell if she had heard Mathilde’s message or not. Pant. Pant. Pant. It didn’t take long for her to become winded, and she rested against an ancient tree for several minutes; in that time, Sylvia had somehow managed to catch up, her Chespin looking as aggravated as its trainer. “Next time, can you warn me before racing off like that?”. They shared a refreshing bottle of water before deciding to hit the road again. They had barely taken a single step back onto the main pathway of the route when they heard a maniacal laugh erupt from a few yards behind. “Stay exactly where you are.”. Suddenly, three beacons of light emerged from directly in front of them, and from them burst three Pokémon: Manectric, Liepard and Houndoom. Three individuals, presumably their trainers, approached from the shadows, each with a hairstyle and colour more insane than the next: one had short purple hair, another had shoulder-length hair the colour of an Oddish’s leaves, and the final member of the trio wore her cyan hair in odd hoop-style pigtails. Behind. That maniacal laugh again. A woman dressed in a garish outfit with two pink plaits running down the side of her porcelain face, upon which a set of ruby spectacles rested, approached them, holding a Poké Ball in her delicately-manicured hand. Behind her, a smaller, less threatening presence craned her thin neck to view the confrontation. The pink-haired woman smirked and turned to the girl behind her. “Come now, Martha. Don’t be shy.”. Martha slowly approached, also holding a Poké Ball at the ready. “I want you to battle these two girls and win, and then take their Pokémon from them.”. Visibly nervous, Martha threw down her Poké Ball, and from it a ferocious Gyarados erupted. How a trainer like this had acquired such a strong and vicious Pokémon was anybody’s guess. “I’m Malva, by the way,”, the woman continued. “Get used to seeing my face around Kalos.”. Sylvia had an epiphany. “You-you’re the woman who used to do the Holo Caster news stories!”. With a grim smile, Malva looked at the ground beneath her. “Yes, that’s correct. Come on Martha, let’s not waste any more time now. Attack!”. “Froakie, get down and use Bubble!”. “Chespin, use Vine Whip!”. Froakie immediately leaped in front of Mathilde to protect her, but Chespin crawled inside Sylvia’s hat. “Oh, come on,”, she exclaimed. Reluctantly, she threw down a Great Ball with contained a Yanma. It buzzed with fury at the sound of Gyarados gathering strength for its attack. “Yanma, use Sonic Boom!”. Neither Froakie nor Yanma had a chance to complete their attacks. “Okay Gyarados, use Hyper Beam!”, cried Martha, with clearly forced confidence. It obliged, and everything went dark for Mathilde and Sylvia. Mathilde awoke alone. Trapped in a cell in an unknown place, she was scared beyond belief for the first time in her life. Her Froakie was with her, seemingly bruised but without major injury, and her Caterpie was still in its Poké Ball. Two female figures dressed in bright red suits were outside her cell. They had not noticed she had awoken, and so she was able to listen in on their conversation. “Have you heard anything yet about that Sylvia girl, Chiara?”. “Not yet. Apparently, the test takes about three hours. We’ll know the results if she leaves here with her mind intact.”. Mathilde clamed her hand over her mouth to gasp so that they wouldn’t hear her. After ten more minutes of conversation, she learned the other guard’s name was Gia and they operated as a Team Flare agent duo. It was time for the guard posting changeover. Several shadows passed by Mathilde’s cell, so she did not notice for a while that a young man was keeling down in front of the cell to face her. “Hello there. Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here. My name is Bruce, just tell me if anyone comes past.”. Luckily, nobody did. Mathilde didn’t know what he had done with the circuits to remove the electric bars separating her from freedom but was slightly less confused when afterwards he held up a Joltik for her to see. Her heart was racing faster than a Gogoat in the annual Geosenge Town PokéRiding Festival as she made her escape. Bruce followed her every step of the way but was unable to join her once they had left the compound through the ventilation shaft. He had already disappeared by the time she asked for directions, but soon spotted someone who would act as her compass. With all the speed she could muster in her weak state, she climbed over the rail safety rail – straight towards Enzo. He looked confused at her desperate question, before answering with one precious word. “Cyllage!”. It was time.
Appearances[]
- Mathilde
- Bruce
- Enzo
- Martha
- Sylvia
- Malva
- Celosia
- Bryony
- Mable
- Chiara (series debut)
- Gia (series debut)
Pokémon[]
- Froakie (Mathilde's)
- Chespin (Sylvia's)
- Gyarados (Martha's, series debut)
- Yanma (Sylvia's, recently acquired, series debut)
- Houndoom (Mable's, series debut)
- Manectric (Celosia's, series debut)
- Liepard (Bryony's, series debut)
- Joltik (Bruce's, series debut)
- Caterpie (Mathilde's)
Trivia[]
- Sylvia's Yanma was chosen as it is a Pokémon that can be found in Route 10 as part of a horde in X and Y.