CHAPTER 195

"Kidnapped? What do you mean, kidnapped?!" Denzel yelled.

"What do you think it means? He was taken away by Abel," I said. Apparently, the League had set up some sort of alert system that was hooked up to people's phones, because Denzel got the message as well. There was a blurry picture of Abel battling in the middle of a garden along with an updated list of his Pokemon. "I don't exactly care, and I doubt Cece will, but the fact that he slipped past all those guards is concerning. What does that mean about our safety?"

"Shouldn't we go see her?"

"She's sleeping right now, but I guess we should wake her up," I nodded. "Arceus, can we have a single week of peace? All of her Pokemon are at the Center too, so it'd be better if she doesn't go out."

Denzel got up and strode behind me, but just as I gripped the handle and opened the door, a woman stood in front of her door. The fact that she donned a League uniform meant that I didn't panic, but I still jumped at her appearance. Her eyes were completely white as if she had no pupils or irises, as was her hair. Veins throbbed at the edges of her eyes every time she blinked. Her skin was as pale as a sheet of paper, and I meant that. She was like a ghost.

"Good evening. I am afraid you cannot get out," she smiled at me. "You are being placed under lockdown for your own safety."

"What the hell— who even are you?!" Denzel yelled. "We need to check on our friend, this is important."

"I was given the name Lou. I am assigned to guarding Grace Pastel," she explained. "Why don't we step inside so I can explain further?"

"I need to get Cecilia," I said.

"No. She is being guarded, so you have nothing to worry about."

I clenched my fist and inhaled through clenched teeth. Calm down. Calm the hell down, I told myself. She's just doing her job and what's best for us. I opened my eyes, and my breath and heartbeat slowed. A soothing feeling enveloped me, and I was suddenly calmer than I'd been in hours.

"Okay," I agreed. "If that's what's best."

Lou let herself inside, but opted to stand in front of the door with her hands behind her back. She only had three Pokemon on her belt, but it was safe to assume that each of them were extremely powerful. I was still bothered by her eyes, however. Something about her felt wrong to me, as if I could somehow exert the gift of translation I held on her even though she was human. Or at least she looked human.

"No need to stare at me like that," she said. "I was assigned to protect you. No harm will befall you while I'm present."

"You said you'd explain," I said.

"As you likely know by now, Clarence Obel has been kidnapped by Abel. The problem we have is that Mira Compton is missing as well. She was last seen with one of her guards, but her Gardevoir Teleported her away. Intriguingly, she was near the scene of the crime and had been tracking Abel as well. Did she tell you she would do that at any point?" Lou asked. "Do you know where she might have gone?"

Denzel and I stared at each other and sighed.

"No," I shook my head. "I saw her a while ago when I helped her Kadabra evolve, but then I was busy with some sponsorship obligations. She didn't tell me anything that I didn't tell Carlos— the League Trainer assigned to her."

"Alright. It's my job to keep you here until things settle down. Cynthia herself told me not to let you out. There's a conversation she wants to have with you, Ms. Obel and Ms. Compton when she has the time later tonight when the latter is found."

Again? I wouldn't mind talking to her, but I was certainly intrigued by what she wanted to say. We resigned to our fate and waited for the situation to clear.

"Say, Lou," I probed. "Can I ask you something?"

"So long as I am allowed to answer, I will."

"You're special, aren't you?" I said. "There's something that feels odd about you, beyond your eyes. A power radiating off of you."

The woman's blank eyes narrowed. "Perhaps."

"Let's not piss off the incredibly powerful League Trainer, yeah Grace?" Denzel said after nervously chuckling.

"I wasn't angered by it. Just surprised," she said. "But the intricacies of my being are of no concern to you."

She wasn't lying. I knew it somehow.

"Fair enough. Sorry for being pushy, I'm very sensitive to emotion. Something tells me you already knew about that, though."

The white-haired woman only smirked.

That settled it, then. The League knew something about my abilities, or at least part of it did. Now the question remained, how much did they know about it? More than Bellatrix did? If Cynthia was coming later, then she'd be the first one to know. Now, would she answer me? Now that was an entirely different matter. I appreciated her for her protection and insight, but I certainly didn't look at her with the rose-tinted glasses I used to.

"I am so confused," Denzel stammered.

"Sit down and be quiet," Lou said.

Part of me considered the possibility of her being some ghost or a Ditto, but she wasn't a Pokemon. That, I was sure of. I decided to leave the matter to rest and browsed my phone instead. Everyone seemed to be safe, although there were no news from Justin. Even Chase had messaged me privately to say that Abel's strange dark type that was making rounds online looked like the ghost he'd encountered in that abandoned city, except it had black instead of white fur. Some people from Unova were logging onto our forums and calling it a Zoroark, and the name was catching on. It was apparently some rare dark type from there was had illusionist capabilities, but their extent wasn't known that well. The majority didn't even know they existed, including me.

The minutes passed with us stuck here, unable to do anything.

—

Abel's neck squirmed until he exhausted himself, then clamored at Mira to hurry up with her questions. He didn't want her to waste any time, not when the League could be coming any minute. She'd stayed quiet for a few seconds to let him stew in his anxiety and then struck.

"Where's the base you were just at?" Mira asked.

"Near the abandoned docks up north. There's a huge group of eight hangars. They're in the sixth one, if I remember correctly."

"Don't get smart with me," she frowned. "You know where it is. Don't do that wishy-washy stuff."

"It is the sixth one," he repeated.

He is not lying, Gardevoir brushed up against her mind.

"Any other bases you know about?" Mira said, leaning against a palm. She had her phone out recording the entire conversation. "Give me the exact address for my pals at the League."

Abel groaned. "This goes against my code…"

Mira feigned sadness in the most obnoxious way she could. "Aw, that's too bad. Spill."

He bit his lip, but gave her the name of three other addresses. She'd done her part, just as Cynthia had probably banked on. That damned woman was a master at using people, and Mira was the only one who wasn't blinded by her niceties, but she was fine with being used so long as their goals were aligned.

"Didja meet anyone important there?" Mira asked. "Commanders, maybe? Someone called Charon?"

"I only met Jupiter, Mars and Saturn. Charon wasn't there today," he said.

"Well damn. Look at you, being all important and stuff," she said. "Any Pokemon that the League doesn't know about? Gimmie all the Pokemon you know."

"They all have six Pokemon, but I don't know all of them. Jupiter has a Skuntank and a Tangrowth, Saturn has a Toxicroak and an Exploud. Since she likes to show off, Mars showed off her entire team to me. She had a Dusknoir, Clefable, Wigglytuf, Seviper, Ninetales and Bellossom. Charon has a Hypno and a Porygon, although I don't know which form of Porygon it is."

"Porygon Z," she answered for him.

He still used that same Hypno and Porygon, then. Mira knew that Uncle Ernie had those two Pokemon. He'd owned them before her mother died and he was pulled into Team Galactic's clutches. She'd already told Cynthia as well. Abel stared at her, clearly confused at the fact that she'd answered like she knew, but he didn't say anything. He was smart not to. He could have given away more than what was necessary, especially with Gardevoir here. His best bet was that some questions would slip past Mira.

Wait, Mars owned a Bellossom?

"Bellossom?!" Mira cackled. "This chick is too much, man. Are they planning an attack anytime soon? What was the meeting for?"

This time, his face scrunched up beyond what she thought was possible. She was really making him infringe on his code.

"Come on, kid."

"Nu-uh. Tell me, or the League figures it out in an hour anyway."

"They want to buy time for some reason. They wanted me to check how far the League progressed on finding their bases."

"Interesting, interesting. Okay, I've done enough work. Let's dive into Charon. He ever talk to you about family?"

"No. We only talked about work-related things."

"Really? Not even about his little sister? He sure has grown cold," she muttered. "What are the odds that he'll be in one of the bases you mentioned?"

"Zero."

"Damn it," she hissed.

There was no way she was letting this guy go. Even if she asked him to set up a meeting of some kind, he'd have no reason to actually do it, and it would no doubt be a trap. If Charon got arrested, Cynthia had promised her that she'd get a year with him. A year before the League took him away and murdered him. Of course, he'd be placed in a high security prison in the Lily of the Valley island, but she'd be free to visit him any time. To ask all the questions she wanted and finally talk.

That had been the deal and why she was so content to be bait. Yet, Charon was still out of her reach.

"Well, I did earn my LTIP paycheck, at the very least," she sighed. "You said you talked to Charon about work-related things. What are those?"

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"I don't fucking know, he's their tech guy, okay? He just rambles about stuff when they give me a job and I listen. Team Galactic doesn't tell me much about their plans."

"Anything you notice about him that you could tell me?"

"He has a goal, I don't know which one. Funny thing is, you two have the same look in your eyes. You're driven by a single thing, like you're a slave to it."

"Oh? Are you trying to get a rise out of me? That's not that wise when you're just wasting time. Or maybe you realized that I'm not letting you go after all? Anyway, how'd you sneak into that mansion? Give me all of your tricks."

He smirked.

"Xatu!"

In a second, they were gone.

"What the actual fuck?!" She yelled. "That Xatu— That fucking Xatu was unconscious! How the hell did it wake up that fast?!"

Mira tore at her hair, stood up and kicked the walls of Abel's hideout. Anything to vent out her rage until she could only draw upon ragged breaths. She felt a hand on her shoulder and calmed down. When she turned, Gardevoir looked anguished and Alakazam stared into her eyes apologetically. Even Haunter seemed distraught.

I apologize, Mira, Alakazam said. It appears this slipped past me, but Xatu—

Mira raised her hand at the psychic, causing him to stop. With how obvious it'd been in retrospect the answer came to her quickly, like a whisper in her ear. "Wait… wait, it's the fucking Early Bird ability! Arceus fucking damn it," she screamed before exhaling. Magnezone clicked at her and she placed a hand on his cold metallic skin. "It's not your fault. You knocked her out like I asked, I just got cocky. Fuck."

Her lack of knowledge had fucked her over. If only she'd known more… asked herself if everything had been accounted for, then this wouldn't have happened.

Mira turned toward Clarence Obel, who was still bound and silent. He was sweating like a pig.

"It's your lucky day, Clarence," she sighed. "Looks like you're going home after all. It would have been nice if he took you with him, but I guess he didn't want to risk it."

She sent everything she'd recorded to the League and stepped out of the apartment. Carlos and a slew of League Trainers were at the entrance, as if they were about to raid the entire place. The man's eye softened for a second, as if he was happy to see her.

"You're in trouble," he gruffed.

"I know," she said with her shoulders slumped. "I had him… I had him, but I fucked up and he escaped. I'm sorry."

He patted her on the arm as he put her in cuffs.

She'd expected screaming of some kind, but there was none. Of course, he was somewhat disappointed in her, which kind of hurt, but he couldn't deny that she'd put in some damn work. At the very least, they hadn't taken her Pokemon. Carlos led Mira to one of the buildings that ran the Carry License program, but instead of going where she'd gone to get her license, she was placed in some kind of basement with obnoxious bright lights and a one-way mirror. Jokes ran through her mind, like saying that it was funny that she was being interrogated now instead of doing the questioning, but this really wasn't the time for jokes.

"I'll handle her," he told two of his colleagues. "You head out and patrol."

They saluted, and once they walked out of the room, Carlos sat in front of Mira. His eye analyzed her as he gently rubbed his scarred tissue. Even though Mira was used to Carlos being quiet all the time, the silence weighted on her and was uncomfortable.

"So?" She asked. "What's up?"

Carlos took a deep breath. "I knew about Alakazam learning to Teleport you after Ms. Pastel told me about it when she left your room, but Gardevoir? I certainly didn't expect you to slip past me that easily."

"I didn't even know she'd do that, to be honest," she said. "I didn't get what I wanted, so it was all for nothing."

"Well, you did get us some good information, but that's beside the point. You've got to get your shit together, kid. Let us professionals deal with the problem."

It was true that she could let the League do its job and still get what she wanted, but that wasn't how she wanted things to end. She wouldn't let a family matter be taken out of her hands, not when Charon was the only family member she had left.

"It's not like what I say'll matter. I won't be able to do anything anymore," she said with a tired smile as she raised her handcuffed wrists. "No more sleuthing for me. I guess that means less work for you."

Carlos leaned back against his chair. "It does."

"I'd still take you out to lunch if I could. No tricks. You can finally tell me how you got these scars."

"I'm afraid not. Why would I reward you when you did something wrong?" He said. "The League's gotten the message you sent us. Information about Team Galactic."

"So are you going to raid those bases then?"

"Confidential, but the answer's rather obvious," he said, rubbing his chin. "We need to ask you more questions about Charon."

"I already told Cynthia everything,' she said. "Ask her."

"You have? We haven't been told. Maybe she kept it to the LSS, then," he said. "The point still applies. What is his goal?"

"She didn't tell you? What a horrible boss," she jeered.

"The Champion must have had her reasons. Go ahead."

"I told you about my parents dying in a car accident four years ago, right? Some drunk-driving moron killed them. They were on their way to pick me up from school. Uncle Ernie loved my mom. He babied her his entire life and stuff and they were close siblings even with the large age gap. I think he saw her more as a daughter, to be honest. My grandparents weren't very kind to them growing up, I think. After she died, he went off the deep end. He started drinking a lot and working every day without sleep. He wanted to bring her back— create a perfect copy of her with AI, sort of like a Porygon. The problem is that putting an entire human brain in a computer's hard, and how would he even configure her? The furthest he got was some chatbot that horrified me. The resemblance, the quips in the sentences, the humor, they were exactly like Mom's, it was seriously uncanny. He showed it to me after school with the biggest smile on his face. He never came to pick me up, so I was late every evening."

Mira paused and sunk into her chair.

"I called him out for it and he got angry— the angriest I'd ever seen him. After mom died, he'd just been this— this husk. Drifting away like a ghost. But then? There was a fire in him. He called me a bunch of names and said that being with me was too painful because I was like her. Then he left. Told me he'd gotten a new job at some organization called Team Galactic and that they could help him bring her back. I thought it was some dumb tech startup at first, but I got an idea of what they were when they started popping up in the news. I don't know how much progress he's made. I tried to ask Abel, but he didn't know either."

"I see," Carlos nodded.

"That's it? I pour my heart out and you say 'I see.' That's actually pretty funny, in a morbid kind of way," she smiled.

"What else could I have said? I'm sorry?"

"True."

"Anyway, we want further insight on how you tracked Abel down."

Mira explained the entire deal with Trace. It wasn't like the League didn't know about it, it was just that it was known as unreliable and her Gardevoir was really skilled with the ability somehow. Maybe because of all that time she'd spent perfecting her empathy with Mira as a Kirlia? That was her hypothesis anyway, but she was definitely wrong. Still, she told everything that came to mind to Carlos. The part that really made him freak out was the fact that she could run two conversations at once, one in her head with Gardevoir and one with him. Even when Mira told him that it was because he almost never spoke, he told her that it wasn't normal. People couldn't do that.

"Thank you for cooperating," he said. "We will lead you back to your Pokemon Center room where you'll be locked down."

"Aww, shucks. Putting me in the slammer already?"

"All of your group is under lockdown until further notice, so it's not just you. Cynthia wants to meet you, Grace Pastel and Cecilia Obel tonight, so you'd best stay put. I'll be in your room to stop you from going off on your own again."

"Okay. I'm assuming I can't have my Pokemon out?"

"Not your psychics, no."

Mira blinked.

Alakazam and Gardevoir would be stuck in their Pokeballs for the foreseeable future because of her. She'd been the one that took charge, but they were the ones being punished because of her actions.

"Let's go, then," she sighed.

Her Pokeballs felt heavier.

—

The sun had set over Veilstone when Cecilia woke up.

She screamed when she noticed someone standing in the darkened corner of her room.

"Wow, wow, calm down… sheesh," the young man said. He was young— younger than she'd expected one to be. Maybe eighteen or nineteen? The one thing that drew her attention was his missing left hand. It'd been replaced by a mechanical one. "I'm a League Trainer! The name's Mason. I was assigned to keep you in your room until further notice. I didn't do anything, you're safe. I'm as nice as they come, I swear!"

It took a few seconds for the words to register in her head.

"Assigned to keep me in my room?" She asked with a hint of fear. "What happened when I was asleep?"

"Your father was kidnapped by Abel, but they got him back a few minutes ago thanks to Mira Compton's help," he explained. "She went against orders, so she's been taken to one of our offices for some routine questioning, but she'll be back in a jiffy, so you don't have to worry 'bout her."

The fact that her father had been kidnapped was… well, it had a strange effect on her. There was no worry for him, but she hadn't been elated either. Cecilia just wanted to shut him out of her life and never hear about him again, just like she'd done for Amy. Still, she would be lying if the fact that her father had had a terrible day didn't please her some.

"What about the others?"

"They're under lockdown, just like ya."

"I'm going to see them," she said, striding toward the door.

Mason slipped in front of her. "Woah, woah, calm down now. I said you're under lockdown. Orders from above, I'll get screwed if I let you out of here. Plus, your team's all screwed up from that battle today, right? I was watching, it was pretty entertaining—"

"I said let me through."

Cecilia tried to push past him, and he blinked, freezing for a few seconds before he extended his arm to block her path again. For an instant, he stared at her with a look of pure bewilderment and then cleared his throat.

"Damn, you really didn't listen to a word I just said. I'm only a few years older than you, but kids these days…"

"The situation's been solved, no? My father was retrieved, Mira's safe, so why can't I see my friends?"

"Confidential."

Cecilia didn't want to give up, despite the rational part of her brain screaming at her to. Her heart— her will was telling her to push past this trainer and do whatever the hell she wanted. In reality, though? She was powerless. With a sigh, she sat back on the bed and decided to text the others instead. She felt a smile creep up on her face when Grace flooded her inbox, and the others soon followed. She'd been particularly worried about Louis and Maeve because they'd still been outside when she went to sleep.

"By the way, Cynthia's going to show up at some point to speak to you all, so stay put," Mason said. "Lucky you, eh? She's cool. Remembers my birthday, gets me a gift and everything. Plus, she's hot as hell. Pays dividends to be in ACE."

Cecilia wrinkled her nose and decided to ignore Mason's infatuation. Cynthia wanted to speak to her again? She was always happy to speak with someone she looked up to. It was probably some more questioning if she had to guess. At this point, though, Cecilia didn't know anything about Abel or Clarence that the League didn't know, so they'd be stumped there.

"You're in ACE?" Cecilia asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't really look like what she'd expected the famed organization looked like, but she couldn't judge a book by its cover.

"Don't underestimate me 'cause I'm younger. I'm as skilled as they get! If you ignore all my other co-workers, of course," he chuckled to himself. "Guarding you's a pretty chill job, though, so I can't complain. Say, there ain't that many kids that'll just order people like me around. Why'd you do it?"

"My friend Pauline would have done the same," she shrugged. "I just wanted to see my friends. I apologize if I was too pushy, especially when I could text them whenever I wanted."

Mason rubbed the back of his neck with an uncomfortable look. "Fair enough."

—

My head turned toward Lou when her phone rang. It had made noise a couple of times beforehand, but every time, I checked to see if we were finally being let out. Denzel and I had been playing Pokemon Scrabble on his phone to pass the time while Lopunny read her book and Electabuzz struck up a conversation with her. She hadn't seemed too interested, though.

"The lockdown is over," Lou announced. "Denzel Williams, you are free to go. Grace Pastel, I shall bring you to our office to speak with the Champion."

My friend looked at me. "Well, good luck, I guess?"

"Sorry if you're feeling left out. I'll tell you what this is about if she lets me," I said. "You go check on the others, alright? Pauline's probably pissed."

"Definitely."

I waved at him as I stepped out of the room. The Pokemon Center was fuller than I remembered, and the halls were crawling with trainers. The veins next to Lou's eyes bulged as she squinted, her sight never wavering. She was checking for something, but I didn't know what. Once we made it outside, she spoke to me.

"You are titled," she said. "I feel it."

"What are you?" I asked.

"I told you, didn't I? That's none of your business," Lou said.

"We aren't Teleporting?"

"Yes, but not in front of all of these people."

Her words confused me until we stepped into an empty alley and I was whisked away into an office. She hadn't used a Pokemon to do that. What in the world was going on? I knew about some clans in Kanto or Johto having human psychics with that power, but those were tightly held and passed down. No members ever had children with someone outside of their clan. Had Lou escaped somehow? Maybe there was one in Sinnoh I didn't know about. Still, that didn't explain the eyes or why she felt like something in between a human and a Pokemon to me. From what I could see, we were still in Veilstone, at least.

"Don't expect me to explain," she said with a few tired breaths. "I can see it on your face. Enter the room."

Cynthia's office was painted in a warm, earthy brown. The Champion, whose presence was as strong as always, sat on a large, red, fluffy-looking chair at her desk as she offered me a silent greeting. Stacks upon stacks on paper crowded her desk and Garchomp lazily slept behind her, taking up that entire space. Not that I wanted to approach the dragon anyway. Her snores sounded like deep, rumbling roars that would be enough to terrify most who had never met her.

Cecilia beamed when she saw me, and I wrapped her into a tight hug. Mira sat in one of the chairs with her legs crossed. She looked pissed off. I wanted to speak with her, but now wasn't the time for that.

"Sit."

Cynthia was soft-spoken, but her words commanded authority. We all listened and waited for her to continue.

"Not a lot of time has passed, but a lot has happened since we last spoke," she said with her usual smile. "I wanted to keep you three uninvolved with this mess, but I am afraid that door is closing fast. And it has nothing to do with your little escapade today, Mira."

Cynthia had interrupted her before she even opened her mouth.

The room grew blurry, and I recognized that it'd just been insulated by some psychic. Probably by one of the League Trainers outside. This was going to be confidential, then.

"Professor Rowan and I have been hard at work, exchanging notes and piecing together information. It was fun, to get back into myths for once. I never have time for it, but this time, it was actually work," she said with a light laugh. "What do you say I start us off with a story about three children, not unlike you?"