"Look, Tay-" Guise cuts himself off, shaking his head. "Kelly. You're being just a little bit unreasonable here."
I look about the park, making sure nobody is around to listen in on our conversation. I had asked Guise what he knows about Team Rocket and 'the regional incident'. He's about as informed on the topics as I am. The news channel hadn't been one that he had frequented, apparently.
He continues, "With the disguises, there's no reason not to just ask people about what you need to know – even in the unlikely event that someone were to figure out that you aren't from around here, what are they going to do? Give a description of us to the Police? Please – even if they decide to look into it, we'd have already left those faces behind by the time they so much as even task an investigator."
I sigh. He's right, of course. Despite his tendency for the dramatic, Guise is a very reasonable person. Why am I even worried about being found out? What's the worst that could happen? Some government official comes and locks me up for a few months while they figure out what to do with me? I suppose that would be the most likely outcome, but it isn't the likely outcome that I'm worrying about.
No – the worst that could happen is being stolen away by government spooks and experimented on for having superpowers in a world where nobody else does.
Still… perhaps I've been playing things a bit too conservatively.
"…You're right. I'd been planning on heading to a library and reading through newspaper archives – maybe the librarian will be willing to help?"
He nods. "I know you like to be prepared for everything, so if she asks why you don't know about things, I'd recommend saying that you've been away from civilization living out in the wild for a long while. It isn't terribly uncommon, from what I gather."
Right then. Time to find a library, then. I stand, looking about the park. There's a middle-aged couple walking hand in hand down the path towards us.
I put on a friendly face. "Excuse me, do you know where the library is?"
The woman gives me a sympathetic smile. "Of course, dearie. You'll be looking for the Nimbasa City Public Library. It's four blocks that way-" she points off in a direction. "Then take a left and follow that road for two blocks. You can't miss it – it's the modern-looking building with the glass front."
I smile, thanking her. Guise follows me, and we head off following the directions she gave us.
Guise shakes his head at me as we leave the park. "See? That wasn't so difficult, was it?"
I snort, holding back a laugh. "Oh – don't you start with me! I'll have you know that paranoia has saved my life more times than I care to count."
Guise's smile drops, his face adopting a pensive expression. "You know, you've told me a bit about your history, but it hasn't really sunk in until just now. You really were in mortal danger frequently, weren't you?"
I nod, but don't elaborate. I may be a cynic, but I don't particularly want to shatter his gilded view of Capes just yet. They don't really exist in this dimension, so correcting him on that point would do nothing but cause him grief.
The rest of our walk is spent in silence.
We arrive at the library. Walking inside, I can see that it looks much the same as the libraries from my world - a front desk, tall shelves packed full of books, and tables occupied by people doing research of some sort.
One thing stands out to me, however: the lack of computers. I've seen them in this world before at the Pokemon Center, so they definitely exist - are they just out the back, maybe?
I walk up to the desk, approaching the librarian with a friendly smile. Guise follows me. "Hi. We're looking for newspaper archives - do you guys have something like that here?"
The librarian is an older woman, grey hair tied back in a bun, wearing an old-fashioned dress that looks like its right out of the sixties. Clipped to her waist is a pair of Pokeballs. So - even the librarians have Pokemon? The practice really is widespread, then.
She smiles back at me. "Of course - we keep them in the back. Follow me." She opens the gate to behind the counter, beckoning me in. I follow. "We don't get too many people interested in them, much less a pair of trainers. What day's paper are the two of you after?"
I consider her question - do I want to just ask directly? Yeah - like Guise said, there isn't really that much risk in it. "I'm looking for the articles on…" I trail off, mentally tallying what I want to know. "The 'regional crisis' that happened twelve months ago, the original breakup of Team Plasma, the formation and breakup of Team Neo-Plasma, the former-champion Nate, and anything you've got on Team Rocket."
Her brow quirks up. "That's quite the assortment. Are you writing a paper or something?" She opens the door behind the counter, leading us into a room filled with drawers helpfully labelled by date.
I shake my head. "No - just catching myself up on current events."
She nods understandingly. "Ah, of course. Terrible news, what's happening down south. I'll have a search of the manifest and help you find what dates you'll be after, in that case. I don't know if we'll have anything about Team Rocket, but we've definitely got plenty on everything else."
She grabs a tablet from its place on one of the cabinets, turning on the screen. It's different to the consumer ones from my dimension - sleeker, slimmer. She begins tapping the screen, listing out dates. I grab out my notepad and pen from the back pocket of my costume, hoping that Guise manages to change the action to something that looks fine with my disguise. Noting down the dates, I end up with a list of about fifteen.
"If there's anything else you want to know, feel free to search the topic on the manifest. Make sure you don't damage the papers, and put them back in the right spots once you're done. I've got to get back out the front, but please just let me know if you need anything."
She puts the pad back down on the cabinet, leaving the room with a warm smile.
Left alone, I knuckle down, working my way through the dates. The process is enlightening - most of the articles about the teams are fairly basic, detailing criminal activities. I learn that Team Rocket aren't just Traffickers. The only article on the list about the group, from about five years before the most recent paper in the archive says that the group also dealt in illegal gambling operations and Technical Machine counterfeiting. The meat of the article is about a terrorist attack, however - apparently the group seized a radio tower in the hopes of getting a message through to Giovanni. Seperate cells trying to link up, maybe? Surely there'd have to be easier ways to manage that - was their goal something else, then?
I don't know, and it doesn't really matter. What's interesting is that Team Rocket has almost all of the staples of the gangs from back home. If they also dealt drugs, they'd be a dead ringer.
Team Plasma is interesting - the group apparently started off as anti-Pokemon-training activists. The Pokemon Trafficking only started when Ghetsis got his claws into a loyal subset of the membership, apparently. The articles say that the original group of activists are still active to a small extent, but the group subverted by Ghetsis is well and truly gone.
From what I've seen, Ghetsis reminds me of Coil, in an abstract sort of way: ruthless, amoral and absolutely megalomaniacal. The papers say that he's out of the picture, so chances are I won't have to deal with him. Good.
Former-champion Nate was once the champion of a 'Pokemon League'. The articles are rather sparse on the details - instead giving a play-by-play of his battle with his predecessor. I ask Guise about the topic. He doesn't know much, but I manage to piece together that the Pokemon League is essentially the step above the Gym Challenge, with the Champion being considered the strongest trainer in the region. What does being the Champion entail? Is it just a title, or is it a job? The article mentioned that Iris, his predecessor, will be handing over her duties as Champion at a later date, so the position must have some measure of responsibilities associated with it.
The last two articles on my list are both to do with the regional crisis.
My eyes widen - Team Neo-Plasma plunging an entire city into a dangerously deep frost, with threats made to extend the freeze over the entire region? Casualties… I scan the article. There's no mention of any.
Team Neo-Plasma was more dangerous than I had assumed. The first article is scant on the details. How did they do it? Tinkertech? Why the break in their modus operandi? Traffickers hardly have a reason to become terrorists.
The grab the second article. It's from a few days later and is far more generous with the details. I start scanning. The first paragraph is a recap of the first article - nothing new. The second…
'Sources on the ground report that Team Neo-Plasma used the power of the Legendary Pokemon Kyurem in conjunction with experimental technology to achieve the freeze. Reports say that League-Challenger Nate, a seven-badge trainer, thwarted the efforts of the Team and freed Kyurem from their possession. No information is available about the Legendary Pokemon's current location, nor how it came to be in possession of the team. The whereabouts of the Team Neo-Plasma leadership is also unclear at this point in time. A Police statement has been released, in which they made it clear that the leadership is still at large. A bounty for information about the leadership has been…'
I stop reading. A 'Legendary' Pokemon with the ability to freeze an entire city? Granted, the article said technology had been used to assist the effort, but even still - what sort of power does this Kyurem have?
...Is it comparable to an Endbringer?
I almost don't want to find out.
I grab the tablet, entering search terms - 'Legendary Pokemon attack', 'City destroyed', 'Kyurem'. I race, pulling out the papers tagged by the search.
The first term gets me nothing - a puff piece on some trainer from the Johto region who said that he had been attacked out in the wilderness by a Legendary Pokemon named 'Entei'. The second isn't any better - something about a volcanic eruption destroying an island town. The only match for Kyurem gets me the article I have already read.
I let out a sigh of relief. If these Legendary Pokemon have powers comparable to Endbringers, they probably aren't using them to destroy cities.
I return to the second article about the regional crisis, picking up where I left off I continue scanning the article.
...Casualties: forty-seven. forty-one from exposure, six found dead of blade wounds.
Almost trivial compared to the death tolls even on a good day with the Endbringers. Less than one percent of the city's inhabitants, according to the article.
I finish the article. The only other thing of note is the motive behind the attack: according to an unnamed source, Ghetsis had been the impetus - he had aspirations of world domination, apparently. I shake my head - if it's true, Ghetsis is far less competent than the article makes him out to be. If it's a falsehood, it tells me nothing.
What else do I want to know? Not much… I think that's answered all of the questions I have. I pack away everything, replacing the papers where I found them.
"Done?" Guise asks.
"Yep. Let's get out of here."
We leave the back room. The Librarian turns to us. "Did you find what you were after?"
"Yes, thank you. That's everything."
She smiles, opening the gate to get out from behind the counter. "Have a good day, Miss."
"You too."
I turn to leave the library, but Guise stops me. "Look at those - you think that she'd be interested?"
I cock my eyebrow, confused - who's 'she'? I look at what he's talking about - a rack of pamphlets. I skim the titles. 'Training and You: Everything you need to know about your League Challenge.', 'Trainer Licensing - what do I need?', 'Pokedex Scholarships: The Complete Guide.', 'Raising Pokemon: From Egg to Elderly' and, 'Adventure Rules!'.
Oh - he's talking about me. A wide grin breaks out on my face. "Yes - I think she'd be very interested." I grab one of each. Hopefully, these will bring me up to speed so that I don't look out of place trying to act like a trainer.
Stowing them into my bag, we leave the library. Judging by the sun, it's a little before midday. "Let's head off to a park. I've got some reading to do." Guise nods, following me.
What do I want to do now? If I want to start pursuing Vigilantism, heading to Castelia City - wherever that is - would be my best bet. How about short term? I need the basics; civilian clothes, food, shelter. Maybe some more Pokeballs. I've only got two-hundred-p - not nearly enough to get everything I need, I'm sure.
What if I do some battling? Get enough for the basics and then start pursuing enough money for a fake ID by stealing from Team Rocket.
Yeah - that's a better idea.
First, though, I want to read these pamphlets.
We arrive at the park, and we find an unoccupied bench to sit at. Guise looks out, idly watching people while I read.
'Training and You: Everything you need to know about your League Challenge.' is rather short - it's a primer on how the League works: challenge any eight of the gyms in any order to be eligible to challenge the Pokemon League, then beat the 'Elite Four' and Champion in battle to earn the title of Champion for yourself. There's a few different recommended Gym Challenge orders, along with a short snippet of information on each Leader, too. Not particularly interesting, but I imagine that it's must-know information for all trainers. It also details the specifics of the rulesets that battles have to abide by - not anything Guise hasn't already told me.
'Trainer Licensing - what do I need?' is all about a single thing: the Pokemon Trainer License. It makes it very clear right up that you don't need a License to have or even to train Pokemon. Apparently, the only things it is needed for are participating in League Battles and League sanctioned tournaments, staying at Trainer Hostels, using the Pokemon Storage System and Travelling internationally with Pokemon. The requirements to get one are sparse, too - beyond being above a certain age, only a Birth Certificate and a character witness is necessary. Granted, I have neither, but I suppose that getting one won't be too much trouble once I get the foundations for my fake identity laid.
'Pokedex Scholarships: The Complete Guide.' isn't useful to me - it merely describes the process by which one applies for a Pokedex and the criteria under which people are eligible. Suffice to say, I fit none of them.
'Raising Pokemon: From Egg to Elderly' is dense - less of a pamphlet and more of a booklet. Forty pages worth of booklet - far too much to read right now. I put it aside: it will be useful later, I'm sure.
'Adventure Rules!' is a single sheet. On the front is a list of 'rules' that people going on a journey should keep in mind. On the reverse is a map of the region. The rules are useless - most of them are common sense, but some of them are just complete nonsense. 'Talk to everyone you meet for information'? That sounds to me like a good way to get bashed. The map, on the other hand, is very useful. It's small, but it should at least give me an idea of the direction I want to go.
That's all of them. The next step - challenging someone to a battle and winning... Have I prepared enough? I've got a feeling that I haven't, but… The best way to learn is by doing, I suppose.
"Right then." I stand up. "Let's go find someone to battle."
A grin breaks out onto Guise's face. "Finally! It's about time."