Category: Pokémon
Rating: M
Couples: ?/OC
Warnings: AU, hint of rape/character death
Chapter: 16
Copyright: Characters & places © By Game Freak, Plot © by me
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"Well, I suppose an appearance of normalcy must be kept." Even as two Champions were put on proverbial trail, the day to day of the League did not cease.
"Mmh..." Malva looked at her Champion, smirking a bit. "I like the Tournament-idea. They probably want to salvage the Championship. That did get overshadowed just a bit."
"Personally, I'd call it 'a lot'." Diantha snorted softly, looking at the roster of the suggested format. "I like the idea of double-battles."
"We are short three people for this eight-team format though." Siebold entered the room himself, carrying a plate of overly fancy breakfast. "I wonder who they will ask to fill those open spots."
"There would be enough League-members in Kalos at the moment." Drasna had mostly finished her own breakfast, now merely lingering to talk with her colleagues. "Perhaps Fantina and Steven, after all this. They do say the date will only be set after the enquiry is over with."
"Assuming they'll let them stay on." The Fire-type Elite mused, leaning back in her seat with her coffee.
"Thank you for your faith." The Champion rolled her eyes. "Cynthia is going to be quite annoyed if Fantina disappears from her Gym again, you know. She already is this close to locking her into that."
"This time she'd know where her Gymleader is, though." Siebold pointed out with a faint smile.
"Part of me almost wants to suggest Fantina now, just to see Cynthia's reaction."
"I will not protect you from her Garchomp." Diantha, having finished herself, rose from her seat. "I guess I do have something to gossip about during lunch."
"Careful, people might start thinking things." Drasna grinned just a touch, referring to the still very much alive speculation about the Champion and her lawyer.
"They always do." The white-clad female muttered just a touch darkly as she left. Honestly, the moment she'd pay the bare amount of attention to anyone, she had to be in some kind of relationship with them. The fact that Allortan had at least one daughter and claimed to still be very much in love with his significant other seemed not to matter.
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At least this lunch wasn't only the lawyer, so it might just not make things worse. "It does mean they expect things to finish quickly now." Steven regarded his coffee intently, before studying his opposite. The three most invested Champions – Diantha, Steven and Cynthia – had decided to meet with Allortan.
"The question being if we'll let them." Diantha leaned onto the table. "This mess could have been utterly prevented. Kalos should have been allowed to recover from Team Flare."
"Not to mention the mental strain on those involved." Cynthia mused, leaning her head back lightly, looking up at the ceiling briefly. "I feel Fantina will need a long vacation after all this is finished."
"Depending on how the next hearing goes, she really won't be the only one." Allortan took a deep breath. "I must pre-emptively apologize for any destabilisation of the Hearthome Church, Cynthia."
"I'm sure they'll blame him instead. If Mother Palkia is here herself, Grand Arceus will know of things as well." The blond female assured him, running one hand through her hair. All four of them stopped talking briefly when the waitress delivered their ordered items. "For all that they leave matters to the Mothers and Fathers, they are the final voice on all big things."
"I'd consider this big." Kalos' Champion mused. She really needed to hear the other out about the whole church-thing, once they had a moment. "Back to your statement, Allortan, I take it things have been arranged as you alluded to?"
"Indeed. Even if I failed to convince certain people to stay away..." He rolled his eyes lightly. "It was only a small chance, but..."
"You couldn't help but trying to gamble?" Steven finished his sentence. "Are things that bad?"
The lawyer did not answer outright, instead turning his attention to the food. "Perhaps afterwards, you can ask them yourself. I'd rather not tell. Even if I could, it's not a story for lunch-time."
That all three could agree to, though they were infinitely curious.
They were distracted from turning their attentions to their food from someone called Diantha.
"League-call." She looked at her Holo Caster. "Do you mind…?"
"Go ahead." The three at the table watched her leave the building to talk outside. Within moments however, she was back inside, looking somewhat concerned. Considering she was both a Champion and an actress, the mere fact that it was visible meant trouble. "What's wrong?"
"Lombardt has disappeared." She sat down again, a touch paler than just a few minutes ago. "He apparently left Lumiose yesterday evening and they lost all traces of him."
"That's suspicious, but not that worrying..." Cynthia mused, eyes narrowed. "There's more to this than simply someone disappearing, isn't there?"
"The police checked his phone-records and finances to track him down – he is part of an ongoing investigations, after all – and apparently a large part, if not all, of his money has been taken from the bank." She lowered her voice to a mere whisper.
"He intends to disappear completely." Allortan realized. "I guess you were accurate last Thursday, Diantha. He has realized how badly this can go. For all that he is a misogynistic madman, he is not stupid."
"But why now?" Steven frowned just a touch. "We turned him down Thursday, it's now almost a week later. Why wait this long? Why yesterday of all days, instead of say… the weekend? We wouldn't have known he left until Monday."
"Something happened yesterday that set him off, you think?"
"Must have." Diantha's eyes narrowed while she took another bite of her food. "But what?"
All four descended into silence after that, eating their food while thinking. Suddenly Allortan started. "Cynthia… what of Fantina? Where is Fantina?"
"She left for her family, I believe." The blonde Champion thought out loud. "Or at least, she mentioned something like that. You don't think he…?"
"He is a proven terrorist and murderer, I think we can safely say there's very little he wouldn't do at this point." The lawyer paled a touch. "If he cannot win, he can at least make those who oppose him regret it. Fantina is currently the face of his opposition, the one link he knows to the trail that is derailing his… life here. She – even more so than Diantha has ever been – is his enemy."
"Like a Destiny Bond." Diantha whispered in horror. "Take the enemy down with you. Cynthia, her family lives in Anistar, right?"