Eevee Therapy for Little Magi, Chapter 48: The Silph Co. Aftermath

Kiritsugu looked over his coffee, eyeing Elle with some trepidation as she stepped in from outside. “Who was that you were talking to?” He asked.

Elle sighed. “My mother. The news of what happened in Dahara finally entered the news cycle back in Orre, and she wanted to check on me.”

“I see,” Kiritsugu responded, briefly considering leaving the matter alone before he shook the thought aside and continued. “Are you feeling okay? I’m aware that you don’t exactly have the best relationship with your family.”

Elle sat down, shaking her head. “It’s always a little stilted, interacting with her. Mom knows she messed up, but she’s never really apologized. She doesn’t really understand, but she does make the effort to acknowledge I transitioned. So…  we’re not close, but she wants to be close again? And we can’t until things change, and she’s not going to unless she actually puts her foot down with my sister.” She quirked her lips. “She’s getting closer, though. She actually expressed frustration in Jovi this time, rather than cover for her, and she is concerned for me. And proud.”

“I’m happy for you,” Kiritsugu replied. Family was important. He would thank Arceus till his dying day that he had a chance to actually have a functional and healthy relationship with his daughter, after all. So he did understand.

Elle just chuckled in response, taking her seat across from him at their breakfast table. After the lab raid a week prior, the two agents had been dispatched to raid a small slew of safehouses and possible rally points for Flare, but the resulting gains had precious little in the way of actionable intelligence. Looker had put them on reserve, sending them to a small villa to rest and await further orders. Sipping his coffee, Kiritsugu looked out to watch the two teams wrestle and play on the lawn outside. Braixen stopped in the middle of talking to Frogadier, and motioned to Amelie.

“Braixen just told me there’s been a major shift in fate– but one that’s been predicted?” Amelie told her partner as she teleported inside, landing next to him. “It’s not our problem, but it’s about to be. Her words, not mine.”

“Looker will probably be calling us soon then,” Elle mentioned offhandedly, something resembling a grimace crossing her face. “And I was looking forward to having an actual break of some kind for once.”

Kiritsugu shrugged slightly. “We had that time in Sinnoh, short as it was. And I tend to get antsy without something to do,” he admitted.

Before Elle could respond, Kiritsugu’s phone rang. He pulled it out, noted that it was a video call, and set up the device on the table, Elle circling around to see the screen. Looker’s face appeared as soon as Kiritsugu accepted the call.

“Hello, hello!” Looker gave a tired wave. “Apologies for interrupting breakfast, but there is an issue we need to talk about. First, poor tidings; our leads on Flare are slow in pursuit. The location of this ‘ultimate weapon’ is unknown, and our attempts to corner the former king to ask him have not gone well.”

“Unfortunate, but not unexpected, given how little hope you had on him revealing anything regarding the weapon,” Kiritsugu commented. The update was still useful regardless, and handily explained why nothing had really been happening for the past few weeks. There had been nothing to send a pair of field agents after.

“This is true. However, that has changed. Secondly, there has been a major incident on the other side of the world.” Looker’s face went cold. “How much do you know about Team Rocket?”

“I know they exist. Big on making money by trafficking Pokemon,” Kiritsugu posited. “I assume this involves them?”

“Rocket’s more than that, at least in the Indigo island chain.” Elle said grimly. “They’re career criminals, money-focused, but willing to co-opt local businesses and establish themselves as ‘community partners’ to make them hard to uproot. They provide funding to a lot of more radical groups in exchange for ‘product’ which they then smuggle and sell elsewhere. And because they’re not starting wars, committing terrorist attacks, or trying to poach legendaries, we don’t deal with them directly.” She looked back at Looker. “What’s changed?”

“We have enough intelligence that they’ve been starting to deal with legendaries,” Looker groaned, shaking his head slowly. “Kanto and Johto’s League also directly petitioned the International Police for assistance with them, so we’re not exactly in a position to refuse either.” He continued speaking. “They made a major attack on Silph Co. Headquarters in Saffron City. Silph is part of making Master Balls for League use, and the attack claimed one of their shipments. Coupled with other evidence, they’re at least moving into obtaining high-level mons for use as private weapons. We’re sending you to Saffron as a vanguard.”

Kiritsugu winced. “That’s disconcerting.” He’d seen just how powerful one Legendary could be, Hoopa’s powers closing in on True Magic, if not possibly equalling the Second in power. To have that power seized by anyone with ill-intent would be catastrophic. “Are they holding Silph Co. to continue production?”

“They’ve already been repelled,” Looker replied with a shake of his head, “We are, however, sending you two due to the unique combination of skills you bring. Both of you have experience searching for evidence in the aftermath, especially for large organizations that prefer to stick to the shadows or remain unnoticed through other means.”

“...the local police are corrupt, aren’t they?” Kiritsugu sighed.

“We are thinking so. Rocket managed to get a sizable army into city limits while the local gym leader had been pulled for a psych evaluation,” Looker said. “Many did fight when it turned out how many there were, but there were just as many who were busy elsewhere until a group of Ace Trainers and one possible Hero stormed Silph Co. and drove Rocket out.”

“So likely corrupt to some degree but not completely,” Elle grumbled. “Not shocking.”

“No. Go in, secure evidence, make sure nothing gets covered up, and our full teams will be there in three days. Lights on, make sure everyone knows we’re not playing the same games as the locals. The possible Hero, one Suzumi Scarlet, be sure to interview her before she leaves town; early reports had her facing an unknown Pokemon, one strong enough to almost solo a competitive level team,” Looker ordered, sending an email with more details which landed in Elle’s device as he spoke.

“Understood. Pickup in 30?” At Looker’s nod, Elle stood and went to the door. “Guys, playtime’s over, come on in! We have a mission!”

Kerry looked back at Looker. “Will you be there?”

“No, I am still busy working here. Good luck, and mind the guns. Kanto has very odd firearms laws.” The screen blinked back to the background as the Pokemon gathered up, getting ready to head out.

--(0)--

Instantaneous transitions from one side of the globe to the other cause very strange forms of jet lag. Going from early morning to late-afternoon in a single flash caused Kiritsugu to just blink and reset his watch. Elle rubbed her eyes, taking a look around. “Okay, our league contact–”

“Hello again!” Will popped up, waving at the two agents as he stood up. “Emmanuelle, good to see you, Kiritsugu, we have to stop meeting in these unfortunate circumstances.”

“Hello, Will,” Kiritsugu answered, returning the man’s wave. “I suppose we should, at some point, grab tea or something.”

“I’d like that!” Will sobered up quickly. “However, things aren’t going well right now, so let me take you to your Indigo and League contacts here.” He led the two into a hallway, from what was obviously a makeshift staging chamber to what appeared to be an ordinary office space. “The Silph attack has set Kanto up in arms, and has agitators in Johto making noise as well. Lance is currently working to clean up the corrupt officials who let this happen, which is why I’m here, but…” He shrugged as they entered a cafeteria, the space now filled with people bustling about and trading documents. “There are laws against forced mental walks, so I’m on standby.”

“Doesn’t help that a strong enough psychic can usually shield memories as well,” Elle grumbled, shaking her head.

“Nor does the fact that doing a walk on an unwilling target is, bluntly, near impossible if they’re conscious, and unconscious mental walks are not always the most useful,” Kiritsugu added. There was a reason psychics hadn’t completely replaced standard interrogators. There were limitations, very real ones as well. They were often only brought in to confirm or otherwise expand upon information that the interrogators had already obtained.

“All of that, yeah. Thankfully, we can at least truth-check things. And here’s your partners in this case.” Will swept his capelet to one side, extending an arm to the two figures seated at the nearby table. “Representing the League, Sir Fergus of Clan Gordon,” he said, motioning to a scarred Lucario tapping one finger on the table. “And locally, Lady Lorelei Kanna, of the Kanto Elite Four.” The redhead looked up over her glasses.

“Interpol agents?” Lorelei stood, looking them over, then smiled. “Well, you seem seasoned. As my replacement–”

“Possible replacement, my lady,” Will cut in.

“Possible, yes, but the point stands. As he said, I’m Lorelei. And you are?”

“Emiya Kiritsugu. Former assassin-slash-mercenary. Faller,” Kiritsugu responded.

“Emmanuelle, longtime league agent, former Hero of Orre. His handler and partner. Call me Elle,” his partner chimed in.

“A Faller? Hmm.” Lorelei appraised Kiritsugu again. “A bit older than most visitors. All the better, to be fair. Well, you’ve landed on your feet.”

“You feel like silver so deep in tarnish no shine remains,” Fergus said, rising to meet Kiritsugu. “But you’re still silver, and strong regardless. Well met.”

“I may be jaded, but I’ve tried to never lose sight of my wish,” Kiritsugu replied simply.

Lorelei picked up a pair of files, handing them off to the two agents. “Here’s the compiled data we already know. Lance and his team are handling the human side of this, working through the people involved; the few Rockets we captured, the turned officers, and some of the Ace Trainers. But a lot of the vigilantes who participated in the raid scattered into the city before first responders got to Silph Co., and their apparent leader, Suzumi, has vanished entirely. We’re certain she hasn’t left the city, but beyond that, nothing. We also secured Silph tower, and sealed it to prevent evidence from walking off. That’s where you should start.”

Elle spoke first. “Since Silph is a modern building, I assume they had a camera system. Was it still active, or did Rocket fry it during their infiltration of the building?”

“So far as we’re aware, Rocket has already accounted for that. They either deleted the footage or corrupted it beyond recognition. We have a few more technically minded members of the League attempting to restore it, but we’re not holding out much hope,” Lorelei responded. “If you’d like to look at the files, you are more than welcome to. We’re aware Interpol has access to more sophisticated methods of restoring corrupted or deleted files.”

“We do.” Elle pulled out one of their assets provided for the mission, the loaned Pokeball releasing a rounded, avian Normal-type. The Porygon2 trilled. “This is Chatterbox, one of the League’s data recovery and security specialists.”

Her phone turned on. **Greetings, I’m here to help!**

“I’ve worked with some of their coworkers before,” Fergus said. “Our chances of success just improved.”

“Then let’s not waste time,” Lorelei said, leading them towards the exit. “Come on, let’s head to midtown.”

--(0)--

The Silph Co. building was a marvel of engineering, architecture, and unnecessary opulence; the whole building had been designed to be a self-contained ecosystem, with cafeterias, rest rooms, and bathing spaces built into the tower and accessible by a network of teleporters. Armored security doors could seal off the main hallways, and every approach was covered by multiple acuity cameras. All told, it could’ve held off a siege for days, if the security system had functioned.

“Rocket snuck an infiltration team in here at the outset of their attack,” Lorelei informed them as Kiritsugu and Elle followed her into the two-story room, filled with damaged computers and iron-red stains on the carpeted floors. “Codenames Jessie and James. They disguised themselves as maintenance workers, got in here, and then hit the room with a gas attack while their heavies moved in. Before the security teams could respond, they were downed; some fought back, and Rocket made examples of them.”

“A well planned and executed assault,” Kiritsugu hummed, pausing as he looked towards the damaged computers and bloodstains a bit more closely. Pointing towards the damaged computers, he nodded, “Collateral, I assume?”

“Not sure,” Lorelei said. “The interviews haven’t gone that far, I don’t think. Wouldn’t surprise me; the vigilantes assaulted this room, and they were more concerned with hitting Rocket than limiting property damage.”

Chatterbox dove into the main terminal at the front of the room, their ‘voice’ emerging from the attached screens. **Rocket wanted to use the system to control the building; their wipe of the system was a rush job. The backups aren’t fully intact, but I can piece together much of the system and recordings. Give me ten.**

“Understood. In the meantime, I’ll see what I can glean from the crime scene.” Kiritsugu nodded, “Elle, if you could help me with more mundane methods, I’ll see if I’m able to find any anomalies with magecraft.”

“Right.” Elle studied the room for a moment, then released Haboo, the Moureion sniffing the ground. “Anything unusual about the scents?” She asked.

“Many different attacks used here, but only a few cover the whole room. Poison gas and smokescreen, used beneath everything else. Coupled with… sleep powder?” They sniffed harder. “It’s spread too much to knock anyone out, though.”

“Classic crowd control methods; nausea, fatigue, and disorientation before an assault. Did anyone take Pecha or Chesto before they were hit?” Elle asked.

“No idea. I’m not a bloodhound,” Haboo huffed.

Before he fully finished focusing on his magecraft, Kiritsugu paused, tapping Braixen’s Pokeball and releasing the fox, “Braixen, can you manage any postcognition?”

“... Potentially. Something important enough happened here that I may be able to pull it off, but precognition is more of my species speciality. It doesn’t hurt to try, though none of it will be coherent enough to use as evidence,” the fox responded, looking mildly put off. “If you could release Amelie as well, she can help me focus.”

Amelie emerged. “Right here, let’s take a look.” The two psychics focused, before Braixen’s eyes opened, a flame appearing in front of her nose.

“One person… knew what was coming. She downed a potion just before Rocket entered.” Braixen turned and pointed to a desk. “There.”

Lorelei moved over, opening the desk drawers and withdrawing a plastic bottle, then digging deeper to uncover a few files. “I have her name. She might not actually be one of the infiltrators, but we’ll focus on her for interrogation. Good work.”

Chatterbox appeared on the main screen. **I’ve managed to reconstruct some of the recorded video for the two days Rocket controlled the tower. Not all of it, but some. More may come with time.**

Elle looked over at the computer duck, nodding. “That’s good news. Anything important we should see?”

**A few things. First, we have some clear facial shots of several Rocket Administrators, though their leader was careful to remain obscured at all times.** An image of a tall man in a sharp suit and overcoat appeared, a dapper fedora, a rocket bandanna, and a pair of sunglasses obscuring his face. Putting that image aside, four more images flashed on-screen. **Two of these individuals are registered as both Kanto Pokemon Trainers and ex-soldiers. The other two are not in the Kanto League registrar, though one may have a match from Sinnoh. The last is an unknown.**

“Good information so far.” Kiritsugu grunted, standing up from his kneeling position. He had, perhaps not shockingly, found no signs of anything particularly wrong with the structure he had been analyzing. At least beyond the immediately obvious. Not ideal, but it eliminated a potential infiltration point, so that was good. “Elle, we should probably move to another room. I think we’ve exhausted this one.”

**Before you go, I have also accessed the records of the battle between Miss Suzumi and the leader.** A short video appeared, showcasing a battle between six Pokemon, desperately trying to wear down a single, humanoid figure in black armor, pale skin and fur poking through the gaps in its defenses. **Suzumi used her Ace Team: Arcanine, Ivysaur, Starmie, Mismagius, Cloyster, and Magnezone. They barely managed to beat off the unknown facing them, who retreated with their trainer when their armor cracked.**

“Where did the fight take place? We need to see it,” Elle said.

**According to this, the executive battle boardroom, on the fifty-third floor.**

Kiritsugu nodded, heading towards the door. “Then we’ll head there next.”

--(0)--

The ‘battle boardroom’ was the height of luxury; ringed by well-appointed boxes and seating, with all the most recent technological bells and whistles to allow for Pokemon battling in a space hundreds of feet above the ground. It was also completely trashed, the barrier emitters broken and scorched, the composite flooring warped and torn.

Elle looked between Braixen, Amelie, Kiritsugu, and Haboo, the three Pokemon and lone Magus taking in the energies of the battered battleground. “Have you all found anything?”

“Whatever was here was powerful. Champion level. Easily. Potentially even a Legend.” Braixen intoned gravely, her mental voice having more than a bit of fear contained within. For good reason. If Team Rocket had had or continued to have access to such a Pokemon, it spelled nothing but bad things for the future.

“Psychic. STRONG psychic. Something old, dead, made new? Elle, do you remember that maniac who tried splicing the incomplete fossil DNA with modern Pokemon?” Haboo said worryingly. “Like that. Alakazam, Hypno, Gallade, and something old and powerful.”

Kiritsugu nodded. “That armor, I can feel echoes from it. It’s reminding me of bindings, or chains, as much as enhancement or protection,” he summarized.

Elle took in all the input with a grimace. “We know most Pokeballs just fail outright when used on a Legend. Master Balls are theorized to work, and there’s some evidence that a legend can suppress the destabilization on their own, but even a weakened or unconscious legend shreds regular Pokeballs. If Rocket doesn’t have full control of this Pokemon, then were they looking for alternative solutions?”

“That would be my guess,” Kiritsugu nodded. “With significantly increased chances if this legend is artificial. They would have wanted a method to control their created weapon, after all.”

“And once they have one…” Lorelei trailed off in horror. “Mass production?”

“No.” Both Kiritsugu and Elle traded looks, the Magus taking the lead. “Even with a Master Ball, controlling a god will only go so far. And the resources needed to produce even one being like this… if it’s comparable to what I know about artificial Phantasmal Beasts back home, it’s ruinously expensive. More likely, they want more Master Balls so they can use their one superweapon to claim those that already exist.”

Elle nodded grimly. “That, and fossil reanimation consumes the fossilized material. If they did find legendary genetic material to make this one, who knows if they can find any more.” She said simply.

Amelie spoke at last, hovering over a few shards of black metal in the middle of the room. “...it’s a he. And he felt… almost empty.” She murmured sadly. “He’s starting to feel, but it’s all negative. Awful.” She shuddered.

“Another will help him,” Braixen intoned. “It is written.” The flare in her eyes went out and her nose scrunched. “Whether they will succeed or not is more uncertain.” She sat down, rubbing her temples. “Ow. I’m going to refrain from looking into his situation more any time soon; it’s a mess of conflicting possibilities.”

“That’s fine.” Kiritsugu sighed.

Lorelei coughed. “If Rocket really is prying into the affairs of the Kami, they’re no longer a criminal organization to be taken apart. Lance will want to escalate them to terrorism, and he might be right. Though we’ll want more proof.” She looked between the two agents. “So, where to next?”

“We need to look over the ingress points and any place Rocket might have stolen items; this is still too big of an action to procure two dozen Master Balls,” Elle ordered. “And after that, we need to track down Suzumi. If you want more evidence for Champion Lance, we’ll need her testimony.”

--(0)--

Lorelei and Fergus watched as Kiritsugu and Elle moved through the suburban streets of Saffron, the twilight before dawn casting them in deep shadows. Fergus coughed. “I believe I missed why we were leaving behind the scene of the crime. Are you tracking Miss Suzumi by scent?”

“No. For one, it’s been over a day, and with this many humans around, that’s not feasible. Maybe with a trained bloodhound you could track one scent through the city, but not without that,” Kiritsugu responded. “Secondly, we don’t have to do that; people are creatures of habit, and will retreat to safe spaces when hurt.”

Elle picked up their conversation. “Suzumi Scarlet didn’t check into a Pokemon Center after entering the city the first time, and her league accounts don’t show her getting a hotel or hostel room. Accessing her social media shows her taking a picture with a friend two days ago, before the raid; a friend living here in the city. Put those together, and you have a Journey trainer crashing on her friend’s couch to save money.” The group arrived at a small house, an Ivysaur bearing multiple plasters half-rooted into the ground in the front yard, leaves shifted to catch the rising sun. “And here we are.”

Ivysaur opened her eyes, shifting as if to emerge from the earth. Fergus trotted forward, kneeling before her. “Continue to rest, warrior. We are not here to harm your trainer.”

As the Lucario soothed the wounded starter, the door opened, revealing a young woman with red hair, holding a baseball bat. When Elle flashed her league badge, she relaxed a hair. “Oh, hello. Better late than never, I guess.”

“Apologies, Ms. Suzumi,” Elle replied, sympathy filling her voice. “The League was scrambling. Both my partner and I are from Interpol, and we have questions for you.”

Suzumi nodded. “Alright. Can we do it out here? My friend and her parents are late risers, and I don’t want them to wake up.”

“That’s fine.” Kiritsugu pulled out a pad of paper, flipping to a clean page. “Now, before we begin, nothing you say here today will be used against you in any court of law, as all testimony rendered will be treated under the League Vigilante and Heroic Reconciliation laws. So, don’t hide anything that happened, understood?”

“Got it.”

“To begin with, what led you to rally the assault on Silph Co?” Kiritsugu asked.

“Well, me and my team were duking it out in the battle courts in midtown. The ones near the Wishiwashi Tropic Sushi restaurant. And a group of Rocket bozos walked up and started demanding a ‘toll’ to use the courts.” Suzumi snorted. “Some of the kids wanted to pay up, but I refused, and when I kicked their asses they ran off ranting about their bosses and how they owned the town now. And that tipped me off that something weird was going on.”

“Do you have photographs or physical descriptions of those Rocket Members?” Elle asked.

“No photos, but I do remember them. One was a girl…” Suzumi briefly described the three criminals. “I asked around after they fled, and while a lot of people clammed up, others were angry enough to tell me. As we talked, it turned out both a lot of travellers and locals were mad about what was going on, but no one was willing to stand up alone. So we got on the Pokenet, and I got maybe fifty people interested in kicking in a hideout or two.”

“...fifty? There were, as per our last estimate, nearly eight hundred people who joined the mob outside Silph co, and over a hundred who participated in the tower assault,” Lorelai interjected.

Suzumi chuckled. “People joined in as we approached the first target; some office building in midtown. More and more joined up as we took down Rockets, and after that first building, we just kept going. We hit Silph tower as our fourth target.” She clenched her fists. “We didn’t mean to chase them all the way there, but we were following the gang members who escaped us in the first waves. When it turned out Silph had fallen, the crowd helped us pull down the gates and break in the doors, and we went in looking for blood.” She grimaced. “It got out of hand fast.”

“That’s to be expected,” Kiritsugu nodded. “Mob mentality is a known human bias. None of you are likely to be prosecuted for it.” His word choice, of course, was very intentional. While it was unlikely that anyone who harmed a Rocket would receive anything more than a slap on the wrist, it was highly likely that if anyone unaffiliated with Rocket had been harmed that someone would come down on them.

Suzumi smiled weakly. “If you say so. We were lucky someone stepped in to organize those of us who’d stormed the lobby; I think she might have been a Joy, considering her team and her looks, but she wasn’t wearing a uniform, and she didn’t act like a normal Joy. Real authoritative. She set up a med-station down there, and made sure no one got… any worse.” She swallowed.

“There were some off-duty cops and ex-soldiers, and they organized teams. Don’t ask me for names, I didn’t get any I think are real. I led the vanguard, hitting the big knots and groups of Rocket bastards; I know there was one team that stormed the security room, and a second that worked with ghosts and psychics to get the hostages out. But I was focused on the battles,” Suzumi said.

“That’s more information that we had before, Miss Suzumi. We’ll likely investigate some of the other members of the raid on our own time.” Given it was fairly likely that the soldiers wouldn’t be opposed to talking to Interpol or the Kanto League, it was simply a matter of finding any veterans in the city and hunting them down for a debrief. “If you could continue on the battle? We have suspicions regarding the Pokemon Rocket’s boss utilized, and would like your opinion on them.”

“Oh… that guy.” Suzumi shuddered, her Mismagius emerged from her shadow and giving her a brief hug. “We got up to the boardroom, and found this masked asshole monologuing to the board members. He told his Pokemon to ‘demonstrate our might’.” Suzumi swallowed. “I’ve fought strong Pokemon before, even some which… might have been stronger. But that guy? He was in our heads, all of our heads, at the same time,” Suzumi iterated. “He was never surprised, couldn’t be ambushed, used Protect and dodged perfectly at all times, even had the right barriers up to block our finishers, before we started them up. I only saw something like that from a fucking Metagross, and he only managed it on a trainer and Pokemon, not me and my whole team.”

“... Elle?” Kiritsugu asked, grimacing more than slightly.

“That’s a Legend, all right,” the woman answered, nodding towards Lorelei. “You need to update Lance as soon as possible. Legends are… Well, XD001 is a good example of what happens when humans with malicious intent take control of a Legend.”

Lorelei nodded grimly. “I’ll let him know.” She looked sharply at Suzumi. “That’s not something which should be spread around, ma’am.”

Suzumi nodded. “I got it.” She looked back at Kiritsugu. “We still managed to wear him down a little; six on one isn’t a fair fight, even if the one is teleporting and can’t be surprised. Eventually, Arcanine managed to chomp down on his armor, tear off part of it. When it started sparking, the leader called the battle off, and every Rocket in the room was teleported out. The board members were mostly left behind, and they thanked me, promised me a lot of stuff. Is that allowed?”

“Yes.” Kiritsugu nodded. “Please contact the League to ensure they fulfil that promise. It’s highly unlikely that they will not, even if that promise was made in an emotional moment.” He paused, “But it never hurts to be careful. Verbal promises are significantly less binding than ones in writing.”

“Thanks.” Suzumi said. “And… after all that, I got patched up downstairs, went to a Pokemon center to be checked over more thoroughly, then came back here and crashed. Backlash from a dozen faints across the whole day… it’s pretty draining,” she muttered.

“You could handle that many?” Lorelei immediately asked, surprise and respect filling her voice. Backlash was a complicated topic, but it had to deal with both the bond a trainer had with their Pokemon and the cost of keeping a Pokemon who was particularly injured in stasis inflicted on their trainer. Pokeball technology had long since advanced to the point where it only started to become an issue after several back to back instances of fainting, so the fact a young girl like Suzumi could handle that level of auric backlash was worth noting. It spoke of either a strong aptitude for aura or the strength of her bonds with her partners. It could also, of course, be both.

“Yeah. I had to chug lemonade to keep going after a couple of downs, but it’s not my first time rushing a nasty fight.” Suzumi shrugged. “I always keep a couple dozen revives in my bag, just in case.”

“Smart,” Kiritsugu praised, eyes crinkling in delight. It was good to see someone else who appreciated the value of being prepared. “If you haven’t already considered it, I’d recommend buying some stimulants for yourself too. Revives can only help so much, and you aren’t useful to your team if you also go unconscious.” He paused, tilting his head to the side as he considered something, “You should also consider learning a method of self defense. Rocket knows you exist now, and you’ve made yourself a problem for them. Given that this is going to make them enemy number one in Kanto, it’s highly likely they’ll opt for retaliation.”

“Thanks.” Suzumi sighed. “Dammit, this got out of hand… really fast.”

“It often happens that way.” Elle murmured. “But you instigated something which has helped a lot of people.” She smiled at the younger girl. “As a former maverick myself, don’t lose that spark. The world needs people like us.”

“I won’t,” Suzumi nodded, a bit of fire reaching her eyes.

Kiritsugu nodded. “I think that’s enough for this interview. We may have more questions, but this summary, and your insights, will be useful.”

Elle coughed. “Considering the situation, you may be asked to provide psionic testimony. I will let you know that this is in no way required, and you should remember that if someone tries to push you.”

“Got it. You’re good guys, and I’ll help how I can,” Suzumi responded. “Now, I need to go and get some more sleep. That alright?” At the nods from the league officials, she turned and went back inside, giving a quiet wave as the door swung shut behind her.

--(0)--

Lance grimaced as he took in the information provided him. “A legend, possibly a resurrected or engineered legend, at least partially under the control of Team Rocket.” He looked around the room, the rest of his Elite Four, multiple league officials, Looker via viewscreen, and all three of the investigators. “Does anyone here have any ideas on how to deal with this without having to deploy in force to stomp any Rocket Raid?”

“My Braixen informs me that, distastefully, leaving this situation alone and simply preparing for the moment things come to climax seems correct,” Kiritsugu began, easily cutting through the silence that had briefly settled over the room, “I happen to agree with her. While the League should absolutely prepare for the worst case scenario, I believe it better to act as if we know nothing. Rocket is obviously emboldened, and as distasteful as it may be, an emboldened Rocket will make mistakes.”

An older woman gave a tired cackle. Agatha leaned forward. “A good point. No point in breaking with Prophecy, it never ends well. We do need to be ready for Rocket to make another major strike, but if this is a proper Legend, he won’t be chained for long. We’ll have to be ready for the explosion after he breaks loose, but then Rocket won’t be much of a problem.”

Lorelei grimaced. “That doesn’t mean we should make it easy for them to move. If our investigation into Saffron has shown anything, it’s that Kanto has been badly mismanaged over the last ten years. Since my grandfather stepped down, in fact.”

“Not the time or place,” Bruno growled. “Gerald was too passive, yes, but he kept the peace. This corruption would’ve festered even if we’d had a more active Champion. Now, we need to tear it out, simple as that.”

“The League is happy to provide resources and forensic accountants for your use, though you will have to be scratching our backs later,” Looker chimed in. “As for our special agents, they are needed back in Kalos within a week. Do you have anything to add?” He asked his people.

“It’s highly likely that a Chosen is going to rise from this mess,” Elle noted, nodding towards the Kanto League members, “You’ll want to keep an eye on them, but be aware that messing with the ‘Journey’ of any Chosen tends to go poorly for most people.”

Every local in the room groaned in one voice, with the exception of Agatha, who just kept snickering. Lance massaged his brow. “...we’ve already seen a Hero show up in this episode. If there’s a Chosen on the ground, we should be able to track them down…”

Bruno perked up. “Wasn’t there some kid who dealt with the SS Anne incident, and who won his badge off of Sabrina and broke that mental loop she’d been stuck in?”

 “Ah, Ash?” Kiritsugu blinked, vaguely recalling his son and daughter’s correspondence with the young man, “Ketchum, specifically. Yes, that’d be him.”

“Know of him already?” Looker asked.

“My son is helping him brush up on his Aura Training. A request from Lady Akari, I think.” Kiritsugu said.

The shouting took several hours to die down after that.