Satori in Kalos

Interlude III
Shikieiki Yamaxanadu

"My gym! My beautiful gym!"

Clemont, the Lumiose City gym leader, sat on his knees in front of the smoldering wreckage that used to be the Prism Tower. All things considered, Lumiose did not take a major hit compared to its neighbors since Yveltal's attack was cut short. Thanks to the Satori girl, the damage was minimal.

Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, director of the Kalos police, crossed her arms and looked down at the boyish figure of Clemont. "There are more important things you should be worrying about than your gym."

"But, but, my magnificent tower has been reduced to... to this." He picked up a slab of metal off the ground and cradled it in his arms. "The Prism Tower was the pride of the entire region..."

"Then Kalos will have to do without its pride, for now." Shikieiki put her hands on her hips. "There are people hurt and in need of help. So go help them."

Clemont scurried to his feet and ran off. Despite being short, Shikieiki had quite the intimidating presence. After he left, she took another look around.

The Prism Tower's loss made people think the devastation in Lumiose was worse than it actually was. It was still terrible, of course, but Lumiose would recover. Especially now that the power has been partly turned on.

"Bullying people again, Shiki?"

"Lecturing." Shikieiki turned to the source of the voice, Reimu. "How is the situation?"

"Fine." Reimu sighed and sat down on some of the Prism Tower's rubble. "The initial wave of injured is pretty much done. We only lost one hospital, so people are getting the medical attention they need. We've converted the first aid tents into a makeshift clinic too."

"And the dead?"

"Can't say. About half of the destroyed buildings were research labs, so they were abandoned." Reimu looked down. "But then...half weren't. Someone estimated three hundred here in Lumiose, but we had plenty of warning. The toll is a lot higher in the other cities."

Shikieiki sat down next to Reimu in silence. The people of Lumiose were working hard to restore their city, help the injured and clean away the dead. Shikieiki was pleased to see that Satori was being treated as a hero for stopping Yveltal, but there was still an unmistakable tension in the air. She had kept Satori hidden in the hospital for three weeks away from the public eye. Then Satori gave a brief interview after her release before running off north.

The people's savior was a bit mysterious, and it made them nervous. People panic when they have a lack of information. But at least Kalos's reporters were intelligent enough to know when not to cultivate it.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Reimu asked as if reading Shikieiki's mind.

She shrugged. "That's up to her. God help us if she's killed though, Kalos won't survive Yveltal again. All the more reason to stop this Team Flare."

Shikieki stood up, and bid Reimu farewell. More specifically, she told her to get back to work and stop slacking off. Lumiose would survive, and its residents more than capable of rebuilding their city. The Prism Tower would take awhile, years before it even got funding, but it too would rise again.

Shikieiki turned on her heel and walked away. The sad truth was, however, that Kalos would not be able to afford rebuilding a lot of what was destroyed. Geosenge was nearly erased from the map, and Coumarine and Shalour were severely damaged. Restoring them to their former glory would take an enormous amount of resources. Resources Kalos didn't have.

Efforts were being made to raise money with moderate success, and Shalour's future hung in the balance. Geosenge was off the table—it was doomed. On the other end, Coumarine was too large to simply write off, but it would be a shadow of what it once was. Shalour though, if the funds could be raised it could be saved...or it could fall.

There was someone in Kalos who could fund it, though. Someone richer than the government and league combined, whose financial hold over Kalos struck fear into every businessman's eyes. But to ask her for a favor would be nothing but a last resort.

So instead, Shikieiki sought out Lysandre Laboratories. They were the largest corporation in Kalos, and although were already helping with the restoration effort greatly, could do more.

One of their buildings was destroyed in the attack, but their headquarters still stood. Shikieiki managed to find Lysandre without too much difficulty. He was a large man.

"Ahh, can I help you, Miss Yamaxanadu?" Lysandre asked.

Shikieiki didn't like this man very much. There was something about him that seemed off. But he was well connected and had resources, resources she needed.

She cleared her throat. "Lysandre, I fear that the city of Shalour may be condemned unless we manage to raise the funds to save it. I'll be direct, I need your assistance."

Lysandre frowned. "We're already helping to the best of our abilities."

"Of course, but saving Shalour is our highest priority. Should you happen to think of any ways to do that, or any sources of funds you have overlooked, I hope that you funnel them into saving what is truly important."

"I agree wholeheartedly." Lysandere nodded. His sentences were short.

With that, Shikieiki left almost as briefly as she came. She could tell that Lysandre didn't quite want her around, and there were a great number of places she needed to be and a great number of things that needed doing. She didn't think she got through to him, but sometimes all she had to do was pester someone long enough and they would change.

Shikieiki had become the leader of the recovery effort by her position in the police department, but it wasn't exactly her specialty. She was a judge above all else, a justice. Not management. But no one else had really stood up to do it besides her.

And because of that, it was prudent she visit Shalour City to gauge the damage for herself firsthand. Even though she had prepared herself, Shikieiki was still taken back by the sight.

The splendor of Shalour, the Tower of Mastery, was nowhere to be seen. It used to loom over the city in an intimidating glare, but now there was only rubble slowly being washed away by the sea. Few buildings were left standing, the gym being one of them, but half of it was caved in.

The gym and whatever other buildings left standing were used to house the residents. Plenty of food and water were provided, and as much medical attention as possible. Most people were not in danger of dying, but quality of life was poor.

Shikieiki headed to the gym, and found Korrina and her mother having a quiet conversation in the entrance. They looked up at their new arrival.

"Ah, director," Korrina said. "Thanks for all your hard work."

Shikieiki nodded. "Are there enough rations for everyone?"

"Yep, we're all good on that front." Korrina put her hands on her hips. "Still, what we really need is to get back to some semblance of normal life. Everyone is living in either the gym or one of the other buildings, and every moment people remember how surreal their situation is."

"Well, I don't know how to say this..." Shikieki shook her head and quieted her voice. "...but Shalour is looking like it may not get funding for reconstruction."

Instead of shock, Korrina and her mother just grew disappointed. "We expected that," she said slowly.

"I want to save it, it deserves to be saved. But I just don't know what to do."

Korrina showed Shikieiki around the town for a quick survey, but honestly there wasn't much to see. The townspeople slept in community centers, and during the day they worked to rebuild what they could. The problem was that they didn't have access to new materials. Scrap metal helped somewhat, but the fixes were temporary at best.

Better than nothing though.

Shikieiki didn't have any good news to bring, but she stayed in Shalour for a week and did her best to help. She wasn't very physically fit, despite being a police officer. But she did her best just the same, trying to think of ways to get help to Shalour.

It's a horrible sort of decision, allocating resources. Triage. It's the sort of decision that doesn't have a right answer. Where both choices are bad. But just because Shikieiki understood the decisions, and even on a logical level agreed with them, it's not the sort of decision that felt good. It felt sick.

Shikieiki found herself back in Lumiose, and without any other ideas stopped by Sycamore Labs. They weren't particularly large and didn't have many physical resources to offer, but they were useful still. Sycamore Labs had a reputation for problem solving, and Shikieiki definitely had a problem.

The labs were still standing, but that wasn't surprising. Most of Lumiose was. The grass died in front though making it look more dreary than it used to. There were no lights on in the lower floor, but the labs were still open. There was a nice informative sign on the door:

Please conserve power! Critical systems only!

The elevator was similarly not working, but the staircase worked just fine. Shikieiki walked up to the third floor and found two people waist-deep in some large machine. She stayed quiet until one of them emerged and saw her staring.

"Ahh, I'm sorry, can we help you?" The blonde woman asked. At her question, the figure of Professor Sycamore pulled himself out.

"Well, Director Yamaxanadu! Welcome to my lab." Sycamore look to the right, then looked to the left. "Ha ha, well, most of it isn't running. Alice and I are modifying this puppy here so it uses less power." Sycamore tapped his hand on the large machine.

Alice walked over and held out her hand. Shikieiki shook it, and she smiled. "I'm Alice Margatroid. Nice to meet you in person, director. Your name has certainly shown up a lot in recent weeks."

Shikieiki sighed. "Well, I don't really see that as a good thing. My lack of obscurity means things are going wrong in the world."

Alice turned around with a shrug and turned her attention back to the machine. Sycamore pulled over a few chairs though and offered Shikieiki a seat. She took it, and he sat across from her.

"So, may we help you with anything?"

"Yes." Shikieiki exhaled. "It seems that Shalour is on the chopping block. If I can't pull funding from somewhere, Kalos is going to be left with a very small coastal region."

Sycamore held his chin. "Hmm, troubling indeed. Is it that you can't think of any funding sources?"

"It's not so much I can't think of any, I just can't think of any safe or reliable ones."

"Sounds like you already know what you have to do," Alice shouted from inside the machine. "You're just afraid to do it."

That hurt.

Sycamore chuckled. "My colleague is correct. The news is already poking around, you might as well decide quickly and preempt it."

As expected, they cut right to the core of the issue. Shikieiki thanked them for their consultation, and left them to whatever it was they were doing. It was about noon, so she decided to grab a quick bite to eat before figuring out what to do.

Despite what she had said, she was far from a celebrity. Surprising as it is, most of the population don't know who the head of their police department is. In fact, some people are hard pressed to name even a single officer in any position whatsoever.

So no one paid her any mind when she walked into the cafe and ordered a simple soup. She was lost in thought about how to handle this horrible situation. The aftermath of the Yveltal attack.

She looked up at the cafe's TV, and saw a familiar face. Komeiji Satori, talking with the host of the show. The interview was muted but the captions were turned on. The interview was...well, Shikieiki didn't have words for it. If her PR department handled it, they definitely wouldn't have handled it that way.

She finished her soup and left the cafe when she got a ring on her holo caster. Reimu.

"Boss, get back to HQ. The devil has arrived."

Looks like her time was up.

When Shikieiki got back to her office, she found a girl in a pink frock waiting for her. Standing behind her was an elegant maid.

"Ah, Director Yamaxanadu. Nice of you to show up," Remilia Scarlet said with a smirk. Shikieiki walked past Remilia to the other side of the desk. Remilia sat down in one of the chairs. "I've come to—"

"To what?" Shikieiki interrupted. "To offer your help in the relief efforts? In exchange for some dreadful and ironic payment though, right?"

Remilia was caught off guard. "Uhh, I—"

"So what is it you want this time, Remilia? You want a position on some court as a judge? Or maybe another pardon for your maid's crimes. Or, maybe you just want one of your ambiguous favors to be collected later."

"I, wait," Remilia stood up from her chair. "I had a legitimate—"

"I don't want to hear it, Remilia." Shikieiki shouted. "I have too much to worry about already without you getting involved. So either do something good in your life for once or get out of my office."

"No, I'm sorry!" Remilia trembled. "I need your help, Shikieiki, please listen to me."

Shikieiki stayed silent and looked at Remilia with a cold glare. Remilia glanced down at her feet.

"M-My sister has been kidnapped."