Satori in Kalos
Interlude IV
Yagokoro Eirin
Yagokoro Eirin considered herself the best damn doctor in Kalos, and no one disputed her on that point. Medical doctor, at least, there were those with PhDs in other fields who were similarly good at what they do. But when it comes to the body, Eirin is unrivaled.
"I guess he'd be seventeen oranges in debt. I'm totally right, aren't I?"
Eirin was currently running an experiment with a colleague, Alice Margatroid. The experiment was rather simple, they would put Marisa into a brain scanning machine and ask her questions to see what parts of the brain light up. Marisa was in the machine while Alice and Eirin were in an adjacent shielded room.
"Yes, Marisa, you're correct." Alice said and checked something off her clipboard. She skipped to the next line and wrote down the time. "Next question, a girl is trapped at the bottom of a well. Tell me what happens."
"She shouts for help but no one responds, until finally when she's at the end of her rope a big damn hero named Marisa shows up. Marisa jumps down into the well, grabs the little girl and climbs up the walls. With one hand! Then the little girl whose name is Alice is so grateful they make sweet sweet love under the moonlight."
"Oh my," Eirin said. Alice broke her pencil lead making another check mark.
The complexity of this experiment wasn't in running it, it was the specific questions Alice was asking. Or at least that's how Alice described it. Eirin wasn't really involved with Alice's research on artificial intelligence, but she was happy to run experiments. She enjoyed the rigor involved in it, the science.
Alice was also paying her to use the machine. That helped.
"Ahem, next." Alice said. "Tell me the six flavors of quarks."
"Up, down, ch—"
During Marisa's answer a knock came at the door. Marisa didn't notice and continued her answer, but it caught Eirin and Alice's attention. "Come in," Eirin said.
The small form of Shikieiki opened the door but didn't enter. "Doctor, can we borrow you? We're having one of those incidents."
Eirin pushed herself up from her chair and stretched. "Of course. Alice, you can manage right?"
"I'm in here more often than you are."
"Right." Eirin gestured out the door. "Lead the way, Director Yamaxanadu."
When they made it to the elevator, Shikieiki hit the button for the roof instead of the ground floor. This wasn't entirely unexpected, it meant they were going to take a helicopter instead of a car. Which meant Eirin was probably leaving town.
Eirin was often called on by the KPD to set up a field hospital or provide medical support during their operations. She was one of the best, after all. She was involved in the power plant debacle, and of course the aftermath of Yveltal.
"Is this related to that message Lysandre sent everybody?" Eirin asked as the elevator rose.
Shikieiki nodded. "The long and short of it is we found their base, things didn't quite go as planned for them. We're not really sure how many are injured, but I want all hands on deck."
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. There was a red medical helicopter waiting and both Eirin and Shikieiki took to the air. The ride would last a few hours. Traveling through the air was far quicker than on the ground, but Kalos was still large.
The helicopter touched down in Geosenge a little ways away from a rock formation. There were many tents set up and police vehicles parked. Shikieiki led her close to what looked like a metal doorway. At least ten officers had trained their rifles on it. They ended up standing next to Remilia Scarlet, her maid holding a parasol over her to shield the sun.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Eirin said. "Why are you here?"
Remilia raised an eyebrow and then glanced at Shikieiki. "You didn't tell her?"
"That information is confidential, Remilia." Shikieiki put her hands on her hips. "We can't just go around telling everybody, information security is hard enough without—"
"She already knows about Flan," Remilia interrupted. Shikieiki was taken aback. "I pressed her to help, a time ago. It kind of worked, but not as well as I hoped."
Eirin's mouth was agape. "Are you saying Flandre Scarlet is loose? And you didn't think I should be aware of this?"
Shikieiki didn't respond, but Remilia did. "Satori is keeping her calm. They should be walking out now with a police escort."
"She's involved too?" Eirin sighed. "Why does that girl seem to attract trouble?"
"Snowball effect," Shikieiki responded. Eirin had asked it rhetorically, but Shikieiki didn't seem to have picked up on that. "The first time someone gets involved in an incident like this, they're just unlucky. But after the fact people like us start questioning them and putting them on witness stands. And then comes the media exposure. That can attract fanatics or other criminals, which starts another incident. So on and so fourth."
Before she could continue, the door opened. From the darkness walked out Hakurei Reimu first, followed by Satori and Flandre, along with some other cops. The two young girls looked like something out of a horror movie. They were completely covered in blood. Satori gave Eirin a look—or more precisely, her eye did—before focusing on Remilia.
"Flan!" Remilia shouted. They ran towards each other and embraced in a tight hug. "Are you okay?"
Flandre nodded, and a few officers approached to get everyone where they need to be. Eirin looked them over, but they weren't injured. None of that blood was actually theirs. "Am I needed?" She asked.
Shikieiki nodded. "Flandre took quite a few victims, Lysandre included. She doesn't leave anyone... merely injured, but we'd like those bodies autopsied at the least."
Eirin smiled. "Thank you."
"You shouldn't take pleasure in that, doctor."
Once the officers verified the facility wouldn't collapse, Eirin and a couple of medics went in to collect the bodies. Eirin was particularly interested in Flandre's victims. Since it was such an unusual cause of death, she was eager to study it.
The facility lost power in some areas, so the passageway went dark for long stretches. It was a very long path, Eirin couldn't believe that Team Flare really walked up and down it. It could have been easily replaced with a high quality elevator.
Eventually they made it to the bottom floor. There were guards stationed outside the door of the control room and Eirin could tell they deliberately weren't looking in. She steeled herself and entered.
It took a moment for Eirin to realize what she was seeing. Among the destroyed machinery were just pools and pools of blood, all over the place. When she got closer, Eirin saw piles of bones and internal organs, as if someone ripped the Team Flare members apart completely.
She made her way to the room that housed the ultimate weapon and found one other body there, Lysandre's. There was also a bright orange sword lying on the ground, but that isn't what Eirin was here for. She headed back into the control room to find her team of medics trying not to vomit.
"Get these on ice," Eirin ordered to the medics. She pointed back to Lysandre. "Start with this."
It was difficult getting the body parts into storage containers. They couldn't just use a body bag, but they had to do it quickly so they didn't rot and decay. The decided-upon strategy was to use plastic bags, clearly marked with what body part it was and whose it was.
A few of the medics did throw up while trying to do this. Eirin got close herself, especially after literally scooping Lysandre's innards into a bag with her (gloved) hands. But she was made of stern stuff, and within half an hour the remains were collected and put on ice. After the long back to the surface, they would be flown to her hospital.
"That was horrible," said one of the officers. Eirin ignored it and continued walking. Everyone looked at her when she emerged, crating ice chests full of body parts with her. She took them straight to the helicopter she came in on.
Eirin went to go find Shikieiki before taking off.. "Director," she said. "Am I still needed? This incident seems over and done with."
Shikieiki shook her head. "A few officers will escort you back to the hospital. Chain of custody, and all that." Eirin nodded at this, and got on the helicopter.
All in all, they had eight bodies. Of those, five of them looked like Eirin would get some good information out of them, including Lysandre.
Reisen was waiting on the roof, as per Eirin's orders. "Welcome back," she said. "What do you need me to—"
"Eight bodies, take them to the morgue." Eirin said. She carried Lysandre personally with another officer while Reisen handled the rest. They went straight down to the basement of the hospital, which was kept at an absolutely freezing temperature to keep the bodies preserved.
All eight corpses—or more accurately, piles of remains—were slid into the wall. As anxious as Eirin was to get started, there was quite a lot of paperwork and other hoops she had to jump through. Autopsies are usually optional procedures for most people, and the next of kin have the right not to have one. Team Flare, as criminals, were not given that right. Autopsies could be performed at the discretion of the state.
But even if that were true, there needed to be a solid paper trail to verify Eirin wasn't just cutting into people for fun. This was a redundancy for most doctors, but in Eirin's case it was truly preventative. If she had her way she would be cutting into Lysandre right now and damn whoever said otherwise.
Eirin impatiently tapped her finger against her arm as she rid the elevator up to her office. She had the proper forms already filled out, all she would have to do is insert the correct names here and there. However, when she got to her office and tried to send them off, it simply didn't work.
Error: The KPD is not accepting electronic documents sent through Lysandre Industries servers.
"Dammit fuck it all," Eirin cursed. She was going to try to call Shikieiki or someone next, but when she reached for her phone she saw the Holo Caster logo on it. "Dammit!"
She went to go find an officer. It pissed her off endlessly how roundabout she had to go, and a stream of curse words came from her mouth aimed at Lysandre's direction. It was a shame he was already dead, otherwise Eirin would kill him herself.
The officer had to contact Shikieiki on their private communication network. Eirin was told she would have to drop off the paperwork in person. It was almost as if they were living in the stone age.
"Reisen, go drop this off at the KPD office." Eirin ordered. Reisen hung her head and grabbed the bundle of papers.
"Anything else, doctor Eirin?" She asked halfheartedly.
Eirin put her finger to her chin. "Did you check on Alice and Marisa while I was gone?"
Reisen nodded. "They continued to use the machine for about an hour after you left before wrapping up and going home. Well, actually they ate lunch together before then. I think they're... ah... you know..." She started blushing.
"Did Alice shut down the machine properly?"
"Yeah, I double checked it."
Eirin nodded and told Reisen to be on her way. It took Reisen about half an hour, round trip, to drop off the paperwork. Eirin couldn't begin until she had returned. Still, she planned out exactly what she would do while she waited.
Finally, Eirin and Reisen went down to the morgue to begin. Eirin started with Lysandre and pulled his remains out of the slot in the wall. They tried to arrange his organs in a similar shape to his body, with a moderate amount of success.
The first thing Eirin did was inspect the edges of the skin that tore itself apart. It was thin and weak. When Eirin tested it with her instruments, she could easily tear it. "Aha, how deceptively simple."
Reisen was watching from across the table. "It looks atrophied."
"Indeed." Eirin looked over the body some more, making comments here and there while pestering Reisen to help in some way.
After a little while of this, Reisen waved to get Eirin's attention. "So, what's the cause of death?"
"Mmmm." Eirin put down her scalpel. "Reisen, are you familiar at all with the study of youkai and such things?"
"Not really, besides the notable examples."
"I see. Well, the thing is, youkai often have a central 'ability' that their entire being is centered around. Remilia Scarlet's ability, for example, is 'fate.' Whenever a youkai explains it, they dance around vague interpretations and terms to describe what they do. They describe themselves as if it works on a literary level, as if their real-world abilities are somehow dependent on making the story good."
Reisen tilted her head. "So, uh, fate manipulation would imply that Remilia, well, wins. That's her ability. She wins. In the end."
Eirin nodded. "From a literary perspective. And most people buy it because it makes sense to them, and more importantly it looks like it works that way. But it doesn't of course. It's just physics, as always."
"Where are you going with this?"
"The being that killed Lysandre here is a youkai with the ability of 'destruction.' The literary interpretation as described to me is she has the ability to destroy the very essence of things, their 'eye' if you will." Eirin pointed towards the body. "And of course, it certainly looks that way doesn't it? It's almost as if the concept of Lysandre was destroyed, and the body just fell apart after that."
Eirin glided over to Lysandre's head, which was still mostly intact.
"But look, his brain is still whole! What made Lysandre Lysandre wasn't his body, it was his brain. People are brains, and his is still here. Obviously the concept of Lysandre wasn't destroyed, that was just an illusion."
"Illusion or not, he's still dead."
Eirin nodded. "Well, I'm not denying youkai have power. But it's still scientific, we can still study it. This is proof of that. A being of pure destruction? Bah. Flandre works with the same physics we do, so for now, I'm declaring the cause of death severe muscle and tissue atrophy followed by some outwards pressure of some sort. I'm thinking the culprit's ability here essentially weakened the body, and then applied a little force to rip it up."
After her little explanation, Eirin got out the bone saw. "Time to look at the brain," she said. Reisen sighed and got out the clamps to hold the skull steady. It was not actually attached to a body or anything like that. After cutting around the circumference, Eirin slowly pulled the top of the corpse's head off exposing the brain.
She frowned when she looked at it.
"Is something wrong, doctor?"
Eirin gestured towards the back wall with the bodies in it. "Bring out another corpse. Hurry." Her tone turned serious.
Reisen did what she said, and pulled out the remains of one of the other Team Flare members. Eirin wasted no time in securing the skull to cut into the brain. She furled her brow after she got it open. "Huh. Reisen, I need to check all of them."
"What are we checking for?"
"It doesn't matter, just help me with this."
In turn, Eirin inspected each member of Team Flare's brain. Once she was done, she put them back into the wall and returned her attention to Lysandre. She brought out the microscope and looked the brain tissue over from several samples.
"Doctor Eirin, you're scaring me. What's going on?"
Eirin looked up from the microscope. "Reisen, contact the KPD. Tell them to send Director Shikieiki and Detective Komachi here as soon as possible. Extremely urgent."
Reisen, still unsure of what was going on, nodded and left. She returned a few minutes later, saying they would be here in a few hours, they were still at Geosenge. Eirin sighed, but nodded and resumed their work.
Shikieiki and Komachi did not look very happy when they walked into the morgue. They were weary, and Komachi looked like she was on the verge of falling asleep. The cold didn't help.
"Alright, we're here," Shikieiki said. "What is it that you needed to show us?"
Eirin led them over to Lysandre's body, bringing a stool for Shikieiki to stand on. Being short had its many disadvantages. "This is Lysandre, or what's left of him." They nodded. "More importantly, this is his brain. Look at this part here." She pointed to the front of the brain.
"Is there something I should be seeing?"
"This is the frontal lobe. It controls consciousness, among other things. Lysandre's frontal lobe here is severely damaged in a very specific way. It's—"
"Oh god," Komachi interrupted. "You've shown me this before. I recognize it now."
Eirin nodded, but Shikieiki was still in the dark. "What is going on?" She asked.
"With this sort of damage, he couldn't have been conscious. He had no thoughts, none at all, and going by the scarring it has been like that for a long time. Months, at the least."
"What?" Shikieiki shook her head. "There's no way that's possible, he was wreaking havoc just hours ago until Flandre ended him. How could he not be conscious?"
Komachi raised her hand. "There were a couple of cases like this before, Shiki. Right before Team Flare started acting up we found two other bodies with similar injuries. Our running theory is... you're not going to like it."
"Tell me."
She sighed. "Lysandre was being controlled. His actions manipulated from someone—or something—behind the scenes."
Her eyes went cold. "What could do that?"
"A pokemon, maybe. It would have to be an insanely powerful psychic type. A youkai is another possibility. Maybe both. We just don't know."