Episode 5: Infia's Real Secret
"So I was meant to have gone home already, but I couldn't help but be amused by this joke of a scene," Victoria began. Her voice was muffled by her wing, but she was so loud and proud that she could be understood. "You're supposed to be the police, aren't you? Yet here you are entertaining this juvenile peasant. Is this some sort of training exercise? Because if you're genuinely considering their points, then I have concerns for your abilities overall. You must all be fools if you lose to this."
"How can you say something like this? You're her mother, aren't you? Don't let her get in trouble for something like this!" Lute cried.
Victoria started playing with the tips of her wings. "Yes, you're right. She is my daughter. But adopted, nonetheless. And if an adopted daughter wishes to join Spirle, then I won't stand for their heinous acts no matter who they are."
She looked over her wing at Infia's struggled position on the floor. "Especially if they put on such pathetic displays to try and frame their mothers."
"This reeks," Sophitia stated.
Victoria went back to hiding behind her wing. "Pardon me?"
"You heard me. You reek. You're a Spirle member, aren't you?" Sophitia asked.
"Wa-wait, if she really is Spirle, then," Lute leaned away.
Victoria straightened herself. "Focus on the fight, will you? When you're in a fight, words mean nothing. So attempted insults like that simply soil your appearance." She turned her back on the crowd and stretched her wings out. "Do you see any missing feathers? It'd be awfully distasteful of me to show up to work with balding feathers."
Sophitia shook her head again, realising what was being said. This was it. If a fight really did break out between Infia and her mother over the bomb, there would clearly be some feathers missing from the Spritzee. There wasn't enough time between now and then to replace them.
But there were none. As far as Sophitia could see, Victoria's back, sides, and wings were as perfect and styled as a Spritzee's would be expected. There wasn't even a mark or a sign of damage from a Pokémon attack. Her back and wings were smooth, pink, and shiny clean.
"No, that can't be," Sophitia whispered. Lute gawked at her, and his face turned pale. "There's nothing there. She couldn't possibly be untouched."
"Wha-what do you mean? It's right there," Lute gasped.
"I don't see any damage or balding. Your feathers are smooth as an Electrode, like my fur," Meowstic praised.
"Huh? Wait, are you guys serious?" Lute gasped, glancing side to side.
"Not a good time for a joke, Lute," Sophitia said, trying to remain calm. If she's literally untouched, then that means she wasn't there at all… my whole argument falls back!
"See? You were clinging to opinionated dribble, just like any child when they're arguing with an adult," Victoria replied. Sophitia growled at her. "Children these days need to know their place."
"I did not say that leaves you off the hook," Meowstic replied, getting her attention. "We still don't know where you were during all of this. As a Pokémon capable of getting into that room, whose whereabouts were unknown until now, there is a possibility that you are the culprit."
"You just saw the evidence that I am not. Or do you just intend to keep me here, captivated by my appearance?" Victoria spat.
Why is he helping me? Isn't he meant to be against me? Sophitia thought.
"All of you can see for yourselves. I have no feathers missing. Is there something I must do to prove it?" Victoria asked. She hid behind her wing again.
"I really don't get it, why is everyone saying that she's clean? It's right there, there's a big burn mark," Lute cried, stepping forward. Victoria gave him a vicious glare, making him a stand down.
"Lute?" Sophitia whispered.
"I really don't get it. It's right there, it's all black with a red mark and everything. Why can't anybody but me see it?" he said desperately. Sophitia watched him for a while and then glanced at Meowstic, surprised to find him doing the same.
Lute… doesn't sound like he's lying. So then, why? she asked herself, tensing up. None of this makes any sense. Yet if I can't figure it out, we all go back to square one!
"Is it because of the nonsense that scrappy little boy is spouting? How long do you intend to keep me here?" Victoria complained. Sophitia growled again while Meowstic tensed up and folded his arms.
"The scanner!" Infia squeaked. Sophitia flinched, but Victoria took that as an opportunity to turn and slap her daughter hard enough to earn a teary flinch.
"Infia!" Lute cried. The Minun managed a glance at him, and then cowered away.
The scanner? Sophitia shivered a bit. Meowstic seemed unaffected by the display as he revealed the device. He pressed a few buttons and then held it up to face Victoria. Would that pick up something we can't see?
There was a moment of silence, all eyes on Meowstic now. He didn't react as he concentrated on his device. Then, with just as unbothered a look, he held the device flat and let it come up with another hologram. This one was of Victoria, highlighted in mostly yellowish colours. Everything was intact except a section by the back of her right wing, which showed red markings.
"The technology doesn't lie, and neither do well-behaved children," Meowstic stated as Victoria's face descended into aggravation. "So, Victoria. Care to explain why my scanner displays damage dealt to you, while our eyes do not?"
There was another lengthy silence, though this time it was muffled by Victoria's continued growls of displeasure. She eventually calmed down, a level, cocky smile of glee gestured on her. She slowly resumed her original pose, guarding her body with one wing. "So you're going to trust that machine over your own eyes. Do I really need to say everything that's wrong with that?"
"Infia. I'd like a testimony from you, please," Meowstic requested.
"We've already established that she can't be trusted. She can't even be honest with herself!" the Spritzee hissed. "What more could you even ask her for?"
Meowstic was quiet for a moment, but he did get the Minun's attention. "You've already lost everything. Your secrets are out, your mother is on trial. Continued lack of cooperation would lead to you both being arrested. Unless you can tell me exactly what happened, that is."
"What happened?" Infia replied.
"You don't need to answer him. You keep your mouth shut and let the adults do the—" Victoria ranted.
"Will you shut up? You're such a villainous parent. I really don't like you!" Sophitia stepped forward. "I don't like the smug guy's reasoning as well, but he is right. If you tell us what actually happened, we can bring this to a close."
"I… I," Infia whimpered and scrunched herself up.
"Think about it this way. Who is more important? Lute or Mum?" Sophitia said, sounding desperate.
"Who in the world raised you? As if that is even a considerable option!" Victoria argued, unable to hide a snicker. "Any well-behaved child would have been raised to value family over friends. Anything less is foolishness. Infia! This is the chance for you to tell them the truth. And don't twist this to fit the agender of that scruffy boy you keep telling me about."
"Let Infia speak for herself! It's not up to you, it's up to her," Sophitia shouted.
Infia kept making noises of inner turmoil, but she was beginning to get to her feet. All it took was a glance at all of the anxious faces staring for her to back down and hide behind her paws. She felt like she wanted to throw up, and all that the others had to do about it was to continue arguing with each other.
Then she caught sight of Lute. The Eevee was the only other one who looked worried and pale as if what he was seeing upset him. Without any sort of exchange between them at all, it was like she could tell what he was thinking and what he wanted to do about it. Right now, this was about her, and so she needed to act. She curled her paws into fists, scrunched up her face, and welled up what energy she could.
"P-please let me speak!" she squeaked as loud as she could. It was enough to get everyone to stall their breath and face her, but that only brought her to hide her face again. "P-please… let me speak."
Sophitia curled her feelers back into place, tucked away in her ribbons, while Meowstic folded his arms. Everyone else calmed down and let the quiet fall, but Victoria was snickering under her breath, keeping that intimidating stance.
"You don't need to be scared," Lute finally smiled a little. Hearing that, Infia took in a deep breath, shut her eyes, and nodded.
"I… I really tried. I promise, I tried my hardest to stop that bomb. I went to the bathroom to try and stop it, but then she came in, and I…" she said, and suddenly choked on her breath.
"Wait, what?" Sophitia whispered. "Keep it calm. Start from the top."
"The top… yeah. Um, er… M-Mum is a Spirle High Point. She told me about a trial with the bomb in a few days. And I… I thought it was okay. I thought it would be okay because I changed the time on it. The bomb was going to go off when no one was at school," Infia explained. The looks on everyone's faces took a manic shift into horror, though they managed not to shout or gasp despite the obvious want to. "But then Lute came back… I-I thought Lute was going to be gone for longer. I… I really didn't want him to get hurt, so I tried to shut off the bomb completely. But then Mum came in. I don't know why, but she came in to check up on it!"
"Is that when the two of you fought?" Sophitia asked, gawking at them.
Infia nodded and clutched her chest tightly. "She's really strong, but her special powers don't work on me for some reason. I-I-I did everything I could, but I'm not strong enough to stop her."
"What do you mean by special powers?" Meowstic asked. His tone had become stifled fury, while his claws were bared and fangs gritted.
"Mum's an extraordinary Pokémon. Anyone that smells her perfume can only see whatever she wants them to see. I think she's using it to hide her scar. But it doesn't work on me, for some reason. I managed to hit her with Thunder Shock when we got into a fight, but she turned on the bomb. That's when I… I…" she started to squeak and whimper again. She hid behind her paws and began to tear up. "She turned on the bomb because I was going to stop her… s-s-so I… I pushed her onto the drill… I nearly killed her, but I didn't mean to, I swear!"
"Magnezone!" Goodra shouted, but they were far ahead of her. The head of the police units charged up a Flash Cannon attack in the blink of an eye and fired it in Victoria's direction, making Infia scream and cower.
"Infia!" Lute cried as he dived toward her. He was too far away to even come close to helping her, though. The attack looked like it hit Victoria, but the burst of smoke from the impact shrouded both her and Infia. He watched with anxious breath until the smoke cleared, revealing Infia's cowering figure and Victoria nowhere to be seen.
"You were quick to conclude that she was telling the truth, weren't you? Why now and not back then, I wonder?" Victoria's voice echoed across the sky.
"Everyone get back now!" Anbi commanded, gathering students. The remaining Magneton joined him to evacuate the public, though Lute hesitated to follow them.
"That's a Spirle High Point. B-but Infia," he whispered, glancing back and forth.
"Now you've got it. Let's beat her," Sophitia said, posing for battle.
"Beat her? Sophitia, you're crazy! How can you smile about something like that?" he cried.
"So much for wanting to be a hero. The chance presents itself and you get cold feet. After all that work I did setting it up for you," Sophitia snickered. "Bring it you pompous fairy!"
"S-Sophitia, you don't remember any of your attacks," Lute warned.
"Don't need to. I've wanted to smack this witch around the moment I met them," she said.
"Just the scanner detecting what we can't see is more than enough proof. Show yourself!" Meowstic demanded.
Victoria's growing laughter took over the scene, although she still wasn't visible. "Of all the things to bring me down and expose me. I never thought that the lowlife country bumpkins of this place would find such methods of doing so. But here I am."
Victoria reappeared in four places at once across the sky, four Victorias perfectly identical and moving in their own manner. One of them floated in place to point at Sophitia with a livid glare. "You. I will definitely be remembering you and your name. I thought you were special; you have the beauty to be so. But you don't know your place. How dare you even think of talking to me the way you have?"
"Sophitia, look out! Lute cried.
Sophitia didn't get the chance to respond or even move. Out of nowhere, several pink beams of energy scattered off in aimless directions, but a few of them passed over her. She flinched into a defensive pose just before they hit, but she was hard pressed to not scream as pain tore through her. Just the one attack brought her one leg, one eye closed and fangs bared.
"Argh, why didn't I see that coming?" she growled, glaring at the four Victoria. Each one flew around the school ground launching attacks at the Magneton, who each responded in kind. Goodra and Meowstic were trying to fight as well, although they were much more focused on giving orders.
Nothing anyone tried seemed to hit Victoria at all. Meowstic used Light Screen to protect himself and Goodra, while the Magneton darted around with robotic movements, flashing like turrets as their Thunderbolt and Mirror Shot attacks fired away into the sky.
"None of them are aiming for her at all. Magneton don't even have noses, why are they affected by Victoria's perfume?" Lute cried. He had brought Infia to his side in all the chaos, but she had done nothing but cower into his mane since.
"Better question is, why aren't you two affected?" Sophitia barked. "Wait. Lute, you can see where she is? Like, perfectly? There's only one Victoria right now, isn't there?"
"There's more than one Victoria?" he replied.
"Good enough!" she said, scooping Lute into her feelers.
"Wah, Sophitia what're you—" he shrieked.
"Just go with me. Infia sit tight, we'll be right back," She said, making sure Lute was secure on her back. Once there, she got up and jogged forward a bit. "I'm only letting you do this once. Grab my ears and pull me towards her. Be my eyes for me!"
"Wait what?" he gasped.
"Once we're close enough, hit her with everything you've got!" she said.
"Wait this isn't a good idea we really shouldn't—" Lute wiggled.
"Okay let's go!" Sophitia shouted, shooting ahead as fast as she could. Lute cried out but did as he was told anyway, clutching an ear in each paw. Sophitia had to make sure she was sprinting and not leaping so that her floaty gait didn't slow her down. She aimed for the centre of where the four Spritzee were fighting, and soon felt her left ear yanked so hard it hurt.
That pain was nothing compared to the Dazzling Gleam she'd just took, though. So she resisted it without complaint other than gritted fangs, dragging her body to the left without changing course. Surely enough, a burst of Fairy Wind showered over where she just was. That brought a smile to her face, but it was short lived as Lute pulled on her right ear. She shifted course again, dodging another burst of Fairy Wind.
"In the air, like really high! Right above us," Lute ordered, and Sophitia obeyed right away.
To Lute, it was almost miraculous how well she obeyed. She leapt right up Victoria's altitude perfectly, and they were face to face briefly. Victoria's eyes widened, and then he knew he actually stood a chance. For the first time ever, he felt an instinct erupt within him, a feral reaction that just told him to attack with everything he had. And so, without truly thinking about it, he hopped off Sophitia's back and tensed up his body for Quick Attack. He bashed right into the surprised Victoria with it, bringing them both toward the ground like a meteor.
Everyone gasped when Lute suddenly impacted an invisible Victoria, but was impressed that his collision caused a blast of dust on the ground. The two ended up in clash with Lute trying to push Victoria down, but she guarded herself with one wing. She looked like she didn't put much effort into the act, and slapped him away after a moment. He didn't let her go at just that though. The Eevee growled and leapt toward her with a Tackle attack followed by Bite.
"How dare you!" Victoria shrieked. She dragged him into the ground with a tackle of her own. Now that Lute was rolling away from her, it could be seen that it was the real her – feathers were sticking out all over her body, rough and unclean. Her back had an especially noticeable black burn mark centred around visible flesh, still red and fresh.
"She's hurt," Sophitia gasped. She immediately recalled Infia's claim of nearly killing her.
"You… you can see me, can't you? How did you do that?" Victoria said, breathing heavily. Lute didn't reply, but he shifted back a bit. "That's… no wait, that's- it couldn't be. You're Marina's Pokémon, aren't you?"
Lute's eye's widened. "H-how do you know Mum?"
"Shh, don't tell her you dingus!" Sophitia cried.
"Mum?" Victoria shifted away as well. That shock turned into laughter after a moment, and then she took off back into the air. "That explains it. That explains a lot, actually. Everything. Yes… the test might have been a failure, but I found so much more."
"What're you talking about? How do you know Mum?" Lute raised his voice.
"It's none of your business, boy. But now that I know where you are," she replied, looking away. She said nothing more, and shot off back into the sky.
"Don't just stand there, don't let her get away!" Sophitia shouted, glancing at the police. A few Magneton fired Mirror Shot, but by then it was too late. The Spritzee disappeared into a cloud of pink mist, this time vanishing completely.
"She's gone," Lute said. He and Sophitia frowned, staring at where she just was.
"Lute, new girl!" Raiju screamed, making them jump. They only had a second before he pounced on top of them and started nuzzling.
"Raiju- get off- quit it! Have you forgotten my name already?" Sophitia cried as she wrestled him off.
"Are you okay, though? I was actually super-duper scared. I couldn't move my legs at all!" Raiju said, bouncing with glee.
"Might want to get that checked over, then. We're fine," Sophitia shook her head. "Infia though, are you okay?"
The Minun stepped away when Sophitia reached for her. She hid behind her paws and stumbled away, avoiding the touch of everyone. "What's… are you alright? What's wrong?"
"We'll take over from here," Meowstic appeared beside the group with the Goodra and the other police Magneton. "Despite your efforts to 'rescue' Infia from us, we're going to have to take her anyway."
"What? Wait a minute, that's not—" Sophitia said.
"Calm down. Her mother is a wanted terrorist and she was this close to following in their footsteps. Our investigation will continue at her house and via interview, meanwhile we sort out some new accommodation," Goodra informed. "Infia isn't being arrested this time, more like taken away for her safety. We may need the same from you two as well, but not right now. The lot of you can head home."
"That's still just- I didn't even get to talk to her," Sophitia said.
"I don't want to talk to you anyway!" Infia cried.
Sophitia gasped. "Wait but I—"
"No! Leave me alone," Infia pouted.
She didn't even seem bothered by the surrounding police this time. The others gawked as the authorities led her away. The coloured ends of their magnets blinked red and blue while they also made siren sounds. Goodra and Meowstic was last out, and sat on top of the Magnezone to let it drive them away.
"You two shouldn't linger, either. Lucky you, being given the chance to leave school early," Anbi said.
"Really? What's with you?" Sophitia said with a groan.
"I'm guessing everything that happened here is to be confidential, too. No telling our parents or anything?" Cinder asked.
"Hey the cops didn't say anything about it," Anbi shrugged.
Sophitia slumped forward. "None of you are serious about this."
"I hope Infia will be alright, though. She doesn't do well in front of new Pokémon and stuff," Lute said, still staring at where the police were.
Heh. At least he's worrying about her, Sophitia smiled.
