CHAPTER 135 - Turning Point II

"T—talk? What do you want to know, I—I'll tell you anything!" Cecilia blurted out as fast as she could. There was no point in fighting back. She had her Pokemon, but Malamar would never let her bring them out, and even then, she would lose the fight. He was a much better trainer than she.

Abel hummed, the child let out a gurgling laugh, and the woman grunted. Who even were the other two? Cecilia had never heard of the man having accomplices before back in Unova. Maybe they were two new people he'd found in Sinnoh? People he had mind controlled? Abel took in one last, long drag of his cigarette and threw it out the window.

"That hit the spot," he smiled. "So you'll cooperate then? That makes things easier. First, I need you to call your father right now, but you'll need to act natural. Tell him that you've had a change of heart, that he shouldn't fly back to Unova, and that you want to meet him and talk things out… hm, I need a concrete date. Zazza?"

The old woman grunted.

"Look up how long it'd take to walk to Solaceon— actually, let's just do Veilstone. Easier to get lost in the crowd, and he'd be convinced more easily."

Walk. Abel didn't own a flying type, then, and even if he owned a teleporter, he'd probably never been to either Solaceon or Veilstone, so he wouldn't even be able to get there anyway. Cecilia silently absorbed the information as Abel threw his Xtransceiver toward the woman he called Zazza, and she caught it at unnaturally high speeds. Her arm was so quick that it became a blur.

"Now, let's keep going. You're going to tell him that you'll meet him in Veilstone… just tell him that you'll go to that vacation home you own in the western parts of the city. I already know the address."

Her heart sank even deeper. She absolutely did not want to see her father again, but if it was to survive… she nodded weakly.

"Ah!" Abel laughed. "You don't want to see your old man, right? I can see it on your face. Don't worry, all I need is a tuft of your hair, and you'll be set. You won't have to meet him, and you probably never have to see me again, and I'm a man of my word, but you just have to really sell this call."

The woman let out a slight, gruff sound, baring her teeth, and lifted up ten fingers, then two.

"Twelve days to get to Solaceon. Tell him you'll meet him in fifteen, then, at 5:00 pm. I'll need to prepare some things in advance."

"I—I don't feel like I can—"

"But you will. Then I'll have a few questions about how you used to behave with your old man."

"Please, just give me a few minutes—"

"I said I was short on time, wasn't I? Beggars can't be choosers, Cecilia, and right now, you are most certainly a beggar. See, I don't see the point in senseless violence. What's the point in controlling someone or killing them unless I get paid appropriately? I want nothing to do with you, so just do this for me, and you'll stick it up to your dear old dad. He abused you, he didn't pay me in full, we've both been screwed, so it's a win for both of us. Dan? Give her her phone."

The child's impossible wide grin somehow widened, and he excitedly hopped off the bed, getting her phone out of his small pocket. Cecilia's eyes bulged, and she let out a small gasp. He dropped the Poketch into her hands.

"When did you…?"

"Dial his number."

Cecilia's hands trembled as she listened to his command. An idea popped into her head, screaming at her to call the police, but would Abel notice? She could fake the entire conversation and hope they'd pick up on it.

But the risks were too large. And why even go so far to protect a man she hated? She wasn't thinking straight—

"Put it on speaker," the man said.

Well, that plan was moot regardless, then.

Cecilia had blocked her father's phone number long ago, and the closer she got to completing it, the more fear she felt. Why… why was she more scared of her father than the criminal in front of her? It made no sense! She slowly brought the phone up to her ears and—

"Cecilia. I did not think you would ever call me again."

It took everything she had not to sob right then and there. His voice inflicted such terror upon her, even now. Cecilia had thought that she had been freed, but he still had a hold on her. Clarence spoke with a voice devoid of any warmth or love for her, and it sent ice coursing through her veins.

She bit her lip, and had to force herself to let out her next words.

"Father," Cecilia started. She stared up at Abel, who lazily lounged on her chair, but still observed her to make sure she didn't step out of line. "To tell you the truth, I have been thinking these last few weeks, and I feel like I have to apologize to you."

Damn it. The words tasted like ash in her mouth. She reviled him. None of it was real. She wanted to snap at Clarence and tell him how much she despised the fact that they were of the same blood.

Even if Abel hadn't been there, Cecilia felt like she wouldn't have been able to say it.

"Have you now?" Clarence said. "I find that hard to believe. You are lying to me, Cecilia."

The girl froze, and her eyes darted to Abel, who motioned to her to keep going.

"I'm not," she said, her tone smooth and calm. "I genuinely feel sorry. I hadn't seen that you were doing everything for my own good. I heard that you were flying out to Unova soon, but I want to meet you again. How about our vacation home in Veilstone in fifteen days? Does five in the evening work for you?"

Clarence laughed. "You thought you could fool me, couldn't you? I can tell from the way you speak, Cecilia. You are a terrible liar. If you truly felt the words you were saying, then you would not be using that calm tone of yours."

Abel stared at the ceiling and let out a sigh that turned into a frustrated groan. "Give me the phone," he whispered.

Cecilia whimpered. She had failed. She might have hated Clarence, but he knew her.

"Good evening, Clarence."

Finally, her father placed some emotion into his voice. "A—Abel? What are you doing with my daughter?"

"What's the problem? Weren't you the one that begged for me to get Malamar to control her for weeks before scamming me? Cecilia and I have a lot of things in common. Maybe we were working together to take you down."

"Nonsense. I've already told you that I cannot pay you. There's too much at risk, especially now that you've involved yourself with Team Galactic."

Cecilia felt a chill run through her entire body. Abel was involved with Team Galactic? She was too distressed to even understand what the information implied.

Abel laughed, and the child imitated him, letting out gurgling sounds.

"Your hands aren't so squeaky clean either, Clarence," he said. "It's a wonder how quickly the Directorate changed their mind on bailing out the Bianchis, isn't it? You wouldn't believe how much I know about your friend Harvey. I could sink him, and your dear merger by association."

What was… what was going on? The Bianchis were involved with Team Galactic too? At least that's what she felt he was implying. The new majority in the Directorate was seemingly listening to what they wanted, too. This was a complete disaster! A national security failure of the highest proportions! What was Cynthia doing?!

Everything was intertwining.

"But getting that message out would require a deal with Sinnoh's League, and you would serve time. You would never do it."

Abel sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Then he grinned, staring at Cecilia.

"Correct. It seems we've reached an impasse, then."

He was lying.

"Look, there's a lot of risk involved, and a lot of moving parts, but I would be willing to pay you under one condition," Clarence said.

"Which is?"

"Use your Malamar and bring me back my daughter."

Cecilia dejectedly stared at Abel, then at Malamar. He appeared to be actually considering the option. She let out a sad laugh. What a horrible man her father was. Never in her life had she seen such a psychopath, narcissistic shell of a human. Was it over, then? If it was, she might as well try to fight—

"No. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I don't work with people that have already fleeced me," he shrugged before glancing at her. "You already owe me the money. You are an honorless piece of trash, Clarence. You should see the look on your daughter's face right now. I'd watch out if I were you. If looks could kill… and she doesn't even know what you just said."

Cecilia froze. What?

"Aren't you going to kill me first?"

"Kill you? No, no, not unless you force me to. Killing clients is bad for business. All I want is my money, and then I'll slip out of this Arceus-forsaken region."

"Good luck with that. How's Hearthome treating you? I've heard a full man-hunt for you is currently on the way."

So that was why he said that he'd been short on time, Cecilia thought.

"I'll easily slip out. I always do."

"We will see about that. I believe we are done here, then?"

"See you later, Clarence. I'll make sure I'm paid in full. Oh, and by the way, the phone was on speaker the entire time, you moron. Your daughter heard everything. I'm not going to be the one sinking Harvey, she will. Say goodbye to your merger, Clarence. Now you know what happens when you cross me."

Abel hung up Cecilia's phone before her father could even react and threw it on her lap.

"Well, your acting skills could use some work," he continued, getting up from her chair. "Forget about my questions, I'm leaving this city. Those pieces of shit grunts gave up everything about me. Dan, they know what you're dressed like, so you'll need to change."

The child jumped up and down excitedly.

"None of that," Abel said, clicking his tongue and recalling Malamar. Even though he'd said he wouldn't mind control her, the relief she felt when the psychic type was gone was immense, and the room immediately returned to normal. Still, she wouldn't scream— not when he was about to leave peacefully.

Her eyes widened when the child's entire body changed in front of her. His skin turned purple, and his face grew thicker, more square, while his hair turned from dark brown to a lighter one, and he grew taller by more than one foot.

He'd turned into Abel— clothes and all.

"Not now, and not in front of her, damn it!" Abel groaned, losing his composure for the first time. He turned to Cecilia, and his stare grew sinister.

"I won't tell anyone what I saw! You can let me be!" She begged.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Arceus…" he sighed. "Well, ignoring the obvious, I feel like things will work out in my favor if I let you run around. Dan, you're grounded. Zazza—"

"Wait! Before you leave, I have to ask you something."

"No. I don't owe you anything."

Cece decided to ask anyway. "Amy Saunier… was she under your Malamar's control at any point?"

Abel scoffed. "Oh, that's what you wanted to ask? Well, why not. She was not, but she certainly was under your father's."

Cecilia's shoulders slumped. So Amy had said the truth when she said that nothing had been done to her during that fateful night at the hotel. She bit her lip and blinked to chase away tears. They hadn't been friends for months, but it was still sad to see that she'd done so much evil out of her own volition.

At least she had closure now. She would never forgive her.

"Satisfied? Zazza, grab Dan and let's go."

The old woman, who Cecilia had almost forgotten somehow, grabbed Dan by the neck and jumped out the open window, and she heard a thud. She was on the third floor, and yet she'd landed like it was nothing! The air beyond her window grew strange and distorted. Extrasensory. Abel jumped into the patch of air and was slowly lowered until he reached the street. Cecilia ran to the window and saw the passersby scream, recognizing him as he released a Xatu and teleported away.

Cecilia took a deep breath and closed her window.

And she collapsed on her knees, crying her heart out in relief and confusion for fifteen minutes. She called the police immediately afterward.

—

I'd still been talking to Turtonator when I got Justin's call telling me that something had gone wrong with Cecilia. As it turned out, we had quite a lot more in common than I ever believed we could have. Kamaile Nalanie had a run-in with Team Galactic during his trek through Mount Coronet. He'd been traveling with two other trainers he'd grouped up with at the outpost, and he was helping them through the mountain. They found Team Galactic in the middle of the mountain, where patrols were scarce, and the wildlife was dangerous. The fact that they could have potentially still been there while we were inside terrified me, but my experiences with Team Galactic had been easy compared to what Kamaile went through.

When it became apparent that they wouldn't hesitate to order their Pokemon to kill them, the two trainers with Kamaile ran away, leaving him alone against a squad of grunts. He fought valiantly, but it wasn't enough. One of them had apparently been so powerful that even Turtonator stood no chance, which if I had to guess, meant that it was a Commander. I tried to get more information out of him, but he refused to tell me anything else. Kamaile ended up dying after trying to recall his Pokemon to not get them killed, and that caused Turtonator— the only one who'd been left— to go into a rampage so powerful that they had been forced to leave because of the heat.

I didn't know if the two trainers that ran ever said anything about Team Galactic, but it looked like they hadn't, so that helped explain his inherent hatred toward trainers. He saw them all as the same people who got his trainer killed.

To be honest, could I even blame them for running? They had barely known each other.

I couldn't. I could blame them for not reporting it to the authorities, but running? I might have run too, unless I froze first. Kamaile seemed to have been a heroic person. Not everyone would be capable of standing up to Team Galactic like that, and maybe the two trainers had thought that he'd run too. Turtonator despised them for being 'cowards' and escaping, but he was holding them at impossible standards.

Standards I'd have to meet, if I ever wanted to be able to use him in battle.

Still, I said nothing to Turtonator. Even if he had asked to speak alone without my other Pokemon listening, he'd let himself be vulnerable and told me his story, so it was something we would talk about at a later date, and I'd need to call the rangers to tell them about how Kamaile truly died.

The Pokemon Center was swarming with local policemen, the International Police, and League trainers. It had been completely cleared of trainers, but I was allowed through. I saw Louis on the way to where they were leading me, but we could only wave at each other before the police led me away.

"Cecilia Obel wouldn't talk without you there," the cop explained.

"How bad is she?" I asked, feeling my stomach drop.

"She seems composed enough, just slightly shaken. She just refused to speak to anyone without seeing you first, which is why you were called here urgently."

I nodded, and the cop opened the room's door. They were apparently using the Center rooms as makeshift interrogation rooms. Inside, Cecilia brightened up as soon as she saw me, greeting me with a slight smile. I was glad to see that just like the officer had said, she hadn't completely broken down, and she didn't seem to be faking it either. Still, I could tell that she was more affected than she showed.

"Cece!" I breathed out as I rushed toward her. She stood up and hugged me tightly. "What happened? Justin told me a bit with his phone call, but… are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine," she nodded. "More angry than anything, now. I was powerless… but we can talk about that later," she said, glancing toward the two other people in the room— a man and a woman who both looked to be in their forties.

They both sat on chairs that they had no doubt brought from other rooms. The woman sported a short bob cut, and the man had an elongated face with thick, sharp eyebrows. They both had black hair, wore long, brown coats and ties, and looked sleep-deprived with deep bags under their eyes.

"Good evening," the man started. "I'm Agent Looker, and this is Agent Lynn with the International Police. Normally, we'd ask you questions individually, but… these are extraordinary circumstances, after all, so we were willing to make an exception."

I stared at Cece, who simply responded with a curt nod. I was surprised to see that the International Police was seemingly taking over the investigation, but I knew that they were helping with Team Galactic, so it wasn't too out of the ordinary.

"We'll be recording this conversation, by the way," Agent Lynn said. Her voice was surprisingly docile and soft. She pulled out a small audio recorder and turned it on. "Today's the… what's today?"

"The 15th."

"Thank you. January 15th, and we are speaking to Cecilia Obel and Grace Pastel," she continued.

I saw Cece grimace at her last name, and I patted her thigh to support her.

"So, Cecilia. You called the police an hour ago, telling us that Abel was in the Pokemon Center. There were multiple people that witnessed him getting out, but we'd like to know what you talked about," Lynn asked.

Cecilia told us everything— including the fact that Abel had two accomplices and that he accused the Bianchis of being directly involved with Team Galactic. The thought of it made my head spin. Team Galactic, Abel, the Bianchis and the Obels were all linked, and we were in the middle of it all. It felt like trying to survive in the middle of a hurricane. Still, at least it looked like Josephine had been partly right. Abel didn't care about us whatsoever, he just wanted to use Cece as a means to access her father. He was still a terrible person, though. He'd threatened her to get her to do his bidding, knowing that she'd be incapable of refusing and fighting back. Not only that, but he also worked with Team Galactic. From the way she described him, it seemed that he did indeed put money above everything, but he held grudges and held them well. Cecilia had also told the police about how he valued honor, which was funny, because nothing about mind control and basically being a hitman seemed honorable to me.

Despite hating him, I was starting to understand how he functioned.

"Let's get back to the two individuals accompanying him," Looker said. "You said that the smaller child called Dan changed his face in front of you?"

"Not just his face. He became an entirely different person and turned into Abel."

Looker stared at Lynn and hummed. "Sounds like a Ditto, no?"

Before hearing about its transformation, I had thought that they'd both been mind controlled, but apparently not? Ditto turning into a human was banned by the law, but Abel was a criminal, so I supposed that made sense. Plus, if the blank stare and the creepy grin was anything to go on, they'd make any kind of mind control really obvious. A Malamar was a lot subtler than that.

The woman agreed. "Would fit the way it turned purple when it changed, and the fact that it didn't talk, just gurgled. Ditto can only turn into things that it sees. But what about the woman? Zazza, you said?"

Cecilia nodded. "She never said anything either. Just grunts. But the… Ditto didn't look that powerful, while she seemed to have superhuman strength. She moved so quickly, and jumped out the window like it was nothing."

"Hm… doesn't seem like a Ditto to me. They can't become stronger than what they turn into, humans included. We'll have to keep a tab on it for now," Looker told Lynn as he took notes. "It's most likely related to the hair he asked of her. A strange requirement for a transformation."

Ditto, Malamar and Xatu were his confirmed Pokemon now, but there were still seven more unknown ones. The fact that he had a teleporter explained how he'd managed to escape so many times, and it also meant that the League would have to work a lot harder to arrest him.

"Um, are you going to arrest Harvey Bianchi and Clarence Obel?" I sprung up. Getting rid of them would make most of our problems disappear.

"We can't go in detail about that, but we'll certainly do something about it, along with Sinnoh's League."

I sighed in relief. There was also the fact if what Abel had said was true, the Directorate was somehow involved with Team Galactic as well, and they also had something to do with the recent bailout package that had been passed. Cynthia needed to do something and clean house, because this was quickly becoming untenable.

But maybe that was Team Galactic's strategy. They knew that they couldn't win in a direct confrontation, so their plan was to be a thorn in the League's side to slow them down until they could enact whatever plan they had. Maybe they wanted to create a coup and take over the region, or maybe they just wanted to sow chaos.

Agent Looker and Agent Lynn kept asking Cecilia questions for another hour and a half, mostly going over her story over and over again and asking for more and more detail each time they did. They also told us that everything here was confidential and that we weren't allowed to leak her detailed testimony to the public outside of our circle— meaning the people who had been interrogated here today. Of course, it had unfortunately already leaked. People knew that Abel had been in a Pokemon Center, and they knew that he'd spoken to Cecilia, but they were mostly concerned about the media getting a hold of the full testimony. I also told them about Team Galactic hanging around in Mount Coronet, along with a potential Commander and they told me that they'd look into it. After that, they gave us their number in case we remembered anything else, thanked us, and left.

"How are you really?" I immediately asked her.

"I'm terribly angry," she answered. "Despite all the progress we've made, this is the weakest I've ever felt, Grace. We're big fish in a small pond. The wider world… is so much more powerful. I thought I was making progress. I thought I'd never be weak again."

"You'll grow stronger," I said firmly. "We all will. And look, odds are, your dad and Louis' dad are finally going down, right? I mean, Josephine talked about plausible deniability, but they're beyond that now. They're fucked."

"Harvey is. Clarence might be fine, since he wasn't accused. The League will probably investigate him, though."

I pressed my head against my hands. "Right. Abel can't get his money back if Clarence loses everything. This was a warning. He sank Harvey to show him that he might be next."

Cecilia nodded, then waited a few seconds before talking again. "You know what Abel told me before he left?"

"Hm?"

"He said he felt like things would work out in his favor if he let me run around. I keep trying to think about what it means, but I can't."

"Didn't he just mean with your dad? You've literally just exposed Harvey for working with Team Galactic, didn't you? You did what he couldn't, and now he's going to get arrested, and Clarence might give him his money."

"No, that's too obvious," she shook her head. "I might be overthinking it, but I think he meant something else, and it scares me."

If it wasn't with her father, it could only mean Team Galactic, but how? We weren't doing anything with Team Galactic, and even though Turtonator was connected to them, I wasn't about to jump into the burning house and try to fight a terrorist organization. Wait, even that made no sense. He was working with them, not against them, so in what way was Cecilia going to help him? It made no sense!

Maybe he'd just said it to bother her… no, he didn't seem like the type. Damn it, this was bothering me too, now.

Honestly, the more I thought about this, the worse it got. Abel was working with Team Galactic, and so was Harvey, but they were also enemies. How did that even work?

"I'll try to think about what it meant," I said. "Coming up blank right now, though."

"It's alright," she smiled. "To be honest, I'm taking this a lot better than I thought I would. In the moment, I was terrified, but I'm… I'm okay, at least. I didn't completely break down, I just feel tense. Thankfully, Abel won't come after me again. I did learn something, though."

"What is it?" I asked.

"When Pauline saw Abel back in Eterna, he had his Malamar with him, right? And when he came here, he also had his Malamar, a Ditto, and some unknown Pokemon," she said, before hesitating. "Mars… Mars has Dusknoir hanging around her at all times, and when Fantina took down those five grunts, she told the media it was because at least one of her ghosts always stays outside of their Pokeball. Cynthia walks around with her Garchomp out at all times…"

I was slowly starting to get her point.

"Good trainers always have at least one Pokemon out. Or at least people that are expecting to be in danger."

"Exactly," she nodded. "If I had had Slowking with me when I walked into my room, then… I know Abel is more powerful than I am, but maybe he could have bought me enough time to run away. If Abel had worse intentions than he did, it would have been over for me."

She was completely right. We always had at least one Pokemon out on the routes, but in the cities? We almost always traveled with them in their Pokeballs. Of course, sometimes they'd be forced to go back in, like when we entered certain buildings or public transportation, but Pokemon like Slowking were allowed in the majority of places. Ghosts were convenient, since they could hide wherever you went. I had already thought about how necessary psychic types or Pokemon capable of psychic type attacks were to a trainer in the wild due to how excellent they were at protecting us, and I believed it was time to put my money where my mouth was. In my case, Togetic could work. Electabuzz could work too, since he had fast reaction times and knew Protect.

I'd have to tell this to the others too. The safer we were, the better. I sighed, suddenly feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over me. So much stuff had happened these past two days that the world felt completely different than it had been before.

"Should we go meet the others?" Cecilia asked. "I think we should have a meeting."

—

Pauline's room was packed.

There'd been more people than everyone expected. Pauline had thought that it'd be just our old group, meaning that Louis would be included, but he'd brought with him his two traveling companions, one of which was Mira, who I had met in Fantina's gym, and the other was Maeve, who'd fought him at the Floaroma tournament. Apparently, she even knew Chase. It was funny how small the world could be. After asking Cecilia if she wasn't too hurt or shaken, Louis placed himself in the corner of the room and kept fidgeting nervously. Emilia nervously licked her lips, staring around the room as her eyes settled on Chase, who was leaning against the wall and staring out the closed window. Slowking tapped on Cecilia's shoulder, and the girl winced due to the telepathy. Someone was coming.

Denzel and Justin strode into the room, and they were the last to arrive.

Why were Maeve and Mira here? Louis had already told them everything right away before he was interrogated, so we figured it'd be good to bring them in. Maeve seemed extremely nervous, and she probably didn't want to be involved in this. The fact that she'd forced herself to come meant that Louis had made himself some good friends in our absence.

Why was Chase here? Well, his case was a bit muddier. I had pushed to bring him in until everyone ended up accepting. Denzel and Cecilia hadn't pushed back too hard anyway. He was technically not allowed to be there, but when I phoned Lynn, she surprisingly gave me the okay.

Apparently, the League was announcing something big regarding the Directorate tomorrow, so they didn't exactly care about confidentiality anymore.

"Let's get started," Denzel said. "We need to make a concrete plan for the future—"

"Wait, is no one going to explain why I'm here?" Chase interrupted with an irritated tone.

"Hold on… no one told you? Grace?" Denzel asked, looking at me.

Oh. Right. In all of the excitement and wrangling I had to do to convince to get him out of his comfort zone and a room full of people…

I simply forgot.

"Oops?"