Steven had nearly slowed his breathing back to normal when the hissing voice of that shadow creature floated through the clearing. He'd forgotten all about her in the tension of Irene's confrontation. All of his patience, all of his cool, calm, and collected facade was gone in an instant.
She locked her eyes on Clovis 2.0 and channeled her best horny impression of her host and whistled loudly.
“̶H̷e̶e̵e̵e̶e̷e̷e̸y̷ ̵p̸r̶e̸t̸t̸y̴ ̷b̸o̶y̴,̵ ̶w̴h̶y̵ ̵d̴o̵n̷’̶t̷ ̸y̶o̷u̵ ̵p̶u̶l̷l̸ ̶o̶f̴f̵ ̷t̵h̷a̴t̶ ̶e̴x̴p̸e̶n̵s̵i̵v̵e̴ ̵s̷u̸i̸t̴ ̶a̶n̷d̶ ̶l̶e̶t̷ ̶e̷v̷e̶r̸y̷o̸n̴e̸ ̷s̴e̶e̷ ̶t̵h̴e̴ ̵r̴e̴e̶e̸e̶a̴a̸a̶a̷a̷l̷ ̵e̷x̶p̶e̸n̶s̴i̷v̶e̶ ̶g̸o̴o̴d̶n̶e̸s̵s̷ ̷u̸n̵d̶e̴r̶n̸e̷a̶t̷h̴ ̴b̵e̴f̶o̶r̷e̸ ̵y̶o̵u̶ ̷g̶o̶?̶”̵
He wheeled around to face the creature, but was too incensed to remember to be afraid of her, let alone acknowledge what she had said. Somewhere, something snapped, and all he saw was red. He jabbed a finger at the dusty, twiggy, woobat-looking
thing that most definitely was that shadow demon's actual form, and shouted,
"Did you ever stop to think,
just once, about the consequences of your actions? There is a young girl missing. She's
missing! And that if we had chased off Irene, our best lead, and lost her information, we might
never find her! Reena, a young trainer not unlike that Kalosian girl you have a fancy for imitating... What would you have done if that was
her we were looking for instead of Reena?"
"You can harass me all you want, but if your actions ever jeopardize our efforts to find Reena and bring her home safe, Rayquaza above--"
Steven couldn't bring himself to finish the threat. He was nearly shaking by the time he'd finished his outburst, shoulders heaving from his anger.
Suddenly, his posture slumped and his hand fell back to his side. He turned away from Odile before she could say anything. When he spoke again, his voice was eerily calm.
"Did you know that there are classes for parents of wealth and privilege, whose children might be targets for abduction? What to do, how to think... Not "if", but "when" they are taken."
"I found out about them when I was young, but my father wouldn't elaborate when I asked him. So, naturally, when I was older, I looked those classes up. I learned what was in them, what they told my father about what happens to those children... What might happen to me."
Steven paused and took a steadying breath. It didn't stop his voice from wavering.
"They don't tell you what to do if you never get them back."
Without another word, Steven squared his shoulders and walked out of the marsh.
