Savoir-Vivre

I: Danseuse

"To reiterate, women in Pokémon Training have been around for as long as there has been Pokémon Training," Professor du Bois was lecturing. "The feminisation of Pokémon training and certain types were, perhaps, an especial segregation of male and female Trainers. Today we will be tackling the project of the female Trainer in religion, using as our case study Mt Pyre in Hoenn, Michina Town in the Sinnoh region, and the case of the Tripartite Area of Kalos. First, some primers."

"Religion in this case is often an abstract concept rather than a solid rationale for respecting a legendary Pokémon," she clarified, as the slides in her background changed to show a map of unique sacred sites, such as Hoenn's Cave of Origin, the stone circle of Geosenge and the misty Mt Pyre.

"Despite the Aura Guardians' testament that there is only one unified religion centred around the struggle of Arceus in the world, each region hold their own form of animism based upon the legendary Pokémon divided across the region. For example, the winged mirages of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres are not worshipped in the Unova region, who look towards Thundurus, Tornadus and Landorus instead to govern the weather of their region. Similarly, the cult of Xerneas has historically held more sway in Kalos than Arceus."

The slide changed to the mist-covered dormant volcano.

"In the summit of Mt Pyre, the guardians of the three Orbs said to control the legends of Hoenn are always a bonded couple. Groundon was also granted with masculine characteristics in Hoennite legend such as overt strength and fire, whereas Kyogre stood as contrast with feminine characteristics such as calmness of mind and intelligence. Despite the certain proof submitted by Professor Birch a few years ago on the subject of categorising essentially genderless Pokémon along the lines of biological sex, as we do with gendered Pokémon, these characteristics do persist in the old Hoennite sailors' reference to the seas as a capricious woman."

Another slide showed a set of ruins.

"Michina Town is a town fairly close to Mt Coronet, in central Sinnoh. It is cold, fairly high above sea level, and its only tourist attraction lies in a set of ruins dating approximately fifteen hundred years across time to the beginnings of the Aura philosophy, characterised by a high level of natural disasters across its history as a settlement for the Sinnoan natives. However, the builder of the original settlement, a man named Damos, was said to hold the power to connect to the hearts of Pokémon across space and time. He was said to have made a promise with the Alpha Pokémon Arceus, who thus used its power to make the land fertile. The descendants of Damos continue to watch over the ruins, but the line has been riddled with mostly females, which has driven the Michina guardians into inheritance conflicts with the Aura Guardians when the latter were still a consolidated entity. Professor Carolina Karashina has written a history of the patriarchy enforced by the Aura Guardians during the period of Sinnoh as a protectorate under the Ransei regime, with the explicit belief that the survival of the Michina guardians and their unique ability was because the women of the line were regular guardians and served alongside the men. How valid her assessment is remains to be determined."

The slide changed, to show the painting of a red-capped blonde girl dressed in white and burning in a sea of flame.

"Kalos is admittedly an unusual case," Professor du Bois described. "In that Kalos shows both a deep religious background consisting of women, and also the oldest known record of a Pokémon journey as we understand it, religious in the sense that the subject in question inspired a cult of personality around herself.

"Firstly, the region has historically ennobled its psychics and Fairy Tale Girls into the nobility," Professor du Bois described. "In fact, they welcomed them; ennobled families called the Astère, Raiponce and Millepertuis has represented the Trainer groups of Psychics, Fairy Tale Girls and Hex Maniacs in the Cent-Feuilles. Some Fairy Tale Girls were even of direct royal descent. The two houses were regarded as the priestesses of Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde, and thus commanded high respect. On to the second case: Jeanne d'Arc.

"Jeanne d'Arc started out like you or me, an ordinary peasant girl whose Eevee evolved into a Sylveon for the first time in known history, and thus was said to have been blessed either by Xerneas or Arceus, depending on the storyteller. She fought back against the invaders of Kalos during the Century War, leading the army to a successful tour that swept Kalos free of invaders from central to coastal to mountainous Kalos. She crowned the Kalosian king at Snowbelle City, before marching onwards to take Victory Road as her domain, Île-de-l'arc as her fief and her title as Her Serene Highness, the Champion of Kalos. Jeanne is the first recorded Champion of Kalos, and also the unwitting creator of the modern Pokémon League format with her four companions. She was ultimately betrayed, captured and burnt at the stake for the alleged crime of witchcraft, but her spirit lived on as Kalos won the Century War and proceeded to gain control of the Decolore archipelago as a result, an overseas territory it holds today. Other results we must consider, though..."

The Lavarre and Anistar Gyms were, I considered, some of the hardest Gym battles I'd known. They were also some of the...

Well, you know the old reputation of the Saffron City Gym? Yeah, something like that. After the Revolution, the Cent-Feuilles had merely turned unofficial. Lavarre and Anistar City still held paramount importance in Pokémon Trainer gender relations.

"... the female Trainer in Pokémon Training thus has a legacy that stretches to where they not only matched men, but often ruled over men and participated in society as individuals of merit, rather than the sidelined cheerleaders we often picture today. That concludes our lecture on the female Trainer in the religious aspect of Pokémon training," Professor du Bois finished at last. "Any questions?"

The door slammed open, and Léa stormed in. "I got one. Why are the Fairy Tale Girls out to kill me?"

"Your question will require more time than I have to spare, Mademoiselle Morelle," Professor du Bois consulted her wristwatch. "Anyone else?"

Salope! She kept me waiting while she went through questions from those pampered students, before insisting that I follow her into her office. Donar winced once I levelled a glare at her, but the professor did not turn anything, not even faced with a Hex Maniac. Not that her own spiritual power was lacking, but...

"Cyprès, a Leppa Berry," she absently said. Her Trevenant smoothly appeared alongside that Darkrai, conjuring the bright Berry that she immediately bit into. "Mademoiselle?"

"You do know that the name's demeaning," I needled.

"Until you prove yourself worthy or mature enough to become a dame, you'll just have to live with it," she looked at me, eternally sixteen. "Did your training sour?"

"I was minding my own business around Mélancolie Path," I described. "I caught a Litwick, and I was thinking about training some more or taking on Victory Road before I was attacked. La grenouille then broke out and started to try and kill me."

"I'm fairly sure she's not a prostitute," Marguerite Linden du Bois frowned.

"Whatever," I shrugged. "She tried to kill me with her Klefki. I'm entitled."

"Ah," she said. She had always been that mysterious benefactor, and even though now I had the Morelle fortune, I still needed her help to live. "Then what do you think?"

"I'm not going to go sunbathing," I replied. "Remember when you sent me ahead to that Couriway resort? I nearly crapped my pants meeting Adeline de Mandragora!"

She nearly winced. "Well, she is technically my grandmother."

"You're joking," I stared at her. "How?"

"It's a long story, but the Grand Duchess Mandragora and I mind our own business nowadays," she tapped a tattoo, chewing the Leppa Berry. "As for the matter of the Fairy Tale Girls, I recommend getting out of Kalos to lay low. Hoenn seems good."

"You're not going to help me kick ass?" I demanded. "Then what good are you?"

"I am a Pokémon Professor," she reminded me. "But for all my power, I am only one person. There is no convenient excuse for me to seek out the Raiponce or the Millepertuis, not to mention that the Grand Duchess Mandragora would almost certainly find out if I were to seek them."

"Oh," I teased. "You're scared of Grand-mère."

"You would be too, if you knew that your uncle was terrified of her."

I swallowed. My uncle had been honest-Mafia-style until the woman in front of me sent him to jail for attempted murder, and also bought out my share of Morelle Shipping.

"Ah, right," she produced a leaflet. "I need another assistant for a joint research project with Rustboro University. If you're interested, I can-"

"I'm coming along," I scowled, grabbing the leaflet. "When do we leave?"

"Two days. Try not to get killed by then," Professor du Bois imparted with that final warning as she got up. "Come on, now. I think Donar's worried that we've finally killed each other."

So, due to school concerns and other matters, I'm going to delay further publication of the fic until after the Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire release. Please watch out for more!

Critiquez, s'il vous plaît!