Gaigax: Jubilife Arc
Chapter 10: Gaigax and Gaigax

A constant knocking sound filled Gaigax's office room. It was the sound of Charles casually playing pool. The hectic scene outside of his building did not seem to bother him. He wasn't even thinking about the chase for the criminal. He was casually whistling to himself while enjoying the peace of the early afternoon.

"Prince, I am entering" announced Vraska from outside the large oak door. The doors majestically swung open without a sound. Charles's back was facing his assistant as she entered. The woman moved with great haste. Her hair was a frizzled mess. She normally wasn't a very cute girl but right now she was more unflattering than usual.

"So what is the situation on our terrible, violent criminal?" asked Charles with a slightly sarcastic tone. Vraska wanted to glare at him for that response but she took a deep breath and kept any mean responses to herself.

"Prince, I know you don't agree with the measures taken but please I assure you they are necessary. This Grave's action may have been minor but we have to make an example of her. We can't allow anyone to take negative actions against us without consequences. If we do nothing we will be seen as weak and then the people will be given hope. That would lead to your companies downfall. You put me in charge of Public Relations and Security so please trust me that I am doing my job right" pleaded Vraska. Charles rose up from his pool stance and placed the butt of his stick on the ground like a cane. He looked into his assistant's eyes and saw pure determination

"You really are passionate, fine then. What is the status?" Charles asked seriously. Vraska looked a little more comfortable now as she straightened up her stance.

"As suspected she encountered Haven on the east exit. But she got away from even him, Lady Moore is very tricky. Haven reported her being quite injured though, she probably can't use shadow sneak much now for a while. We will get her" reported the white haired woman with an official voice. Charles raised an eyebrow skeptically though.

"And you're sure Lady Moore is this Grave?" he questioned unsurely.

"Absolutely" immediately answered Vraska. "She has been snooping around our power plants every time she has passed through this city. It was just a matter of time before she acted." That information did not convince Charles in the slightest. He held out his pale, skinny hand towards her.

"Let me see the video feed of the incident. I let you act completely without my help earlier. But now I feel like caring. Lady Moore is not someone we want to just make an enemy of." Vraska pulled out a grey-blue phone from her back pocket that had a large screen on it. She gently slid this phone into her boss's hand. Right after that Vraska raised her hand to touch the black ear piece that was resting in her right ear. A panicked voice could be heard talking on the other side of it. Vraska nodded along to the man's words. When he had finished her eyes drifted towards Charles's face.

"Three of our guards have been found knocked out and one had the word Grave carved on their uniform. Lady Moore really will not get away with this now" she informed her boss. He seemed too invested in the footage being shown on the phone though. Vraska focused back to the earpiece as another voice was speaking now, a female voice. The radio was connected to all of the security guards, including the hunters. So if one person said something everyone heard it.

"Vraska" shouted this feisty female voice. "Let me go after her now. I am the tracker. I could find her no problem and this whole ordeal would be over with."

"And then who will cover the south exit? We need someone who can stop shadow sneak and the regular guards are not capable of that" explained Vraska.

"You can" the voice answered bluntly. "I know you like being control of everything in the field and leading the siege directly but I can get her Vraska. Take a back seat from leading the charge and let me do what I am good at." Vraska did not reply at first. She stood their debating what to do. The woman did love to be in power, it made her feel complete. But it was true just randomly searching for Lady Moore was not working out.

"Fine" she answered with a sigh. "Start getting a sense of her general direction but do not stray far from your gate, I will be there soon." Vraska again turned her attention back to Charles who had placed the phone on the pool table.

"There was something I forgot to ask. Why don't you have anyone guarding the north exit? You don't think she is bold enough to escape that way?" wondered Charles.

"She would die" Vraska blurted out. "Even Lady Moore would know that, so she will not leave that way."

"Ah I see" he casually replied. "Also, you got the wrong suspect. Grave is a man." Charles Gaigax did not even flinch when he relayed this information. Vraska just halted her movements as well. That was the worst information she had heard all day and it was coming from someone as reliable as her boss.

"Uh, are you sure Prince?" Vraska knew his boss was extremely intelligent but she greatly hoped that he was mistake here. Besides the video was at night so it was pretty grainy. Not much detail could be observed.

"I am positive. I love women, and I've seen Lady Moore's wonderful hips. This grave does not walk with woman hips. And his shoulders are far too broad for a woman. And on top of that the front of the cloak stays pretty close to the chest yet you can't see any sort of bulge where breasts should be. I may not be good with security or public relations but I have a knack for detail. Trust me my dear, this Grave is a boy. And now we have a pissed off Lady Moore. Call down your forces."

"I hate Gaigax, I really do" spoke Sky. Zan, Nala and Boris were all listening very intently. Augment was just flying around in circles now due to boredom. And the butler had now moved topside since his job was done here. "I imagine you've tried to get information about them around town but no one will talk about it? Well I do not fear them because I've had enough of them." The orange woman paused to take a deep breath. She was still panting from that battle.

"Boooring" yelled Augment. Zan reached his shaky hand for Augment's pokeball but Nala had already taken care of the situation with Yawn. Even Boris was already showing signs of getting bored. His attention span was not very long and Sky's storytelling style dragged.

"Continue please" requested Zan. He himself was still sprawled out on the floor. He didn't have the energy to retain a seated position.

"They blessed the city with a miracle pollution free energy. It was a great gift to this city, but they won't share they secret with other cities. They could expand their company to multiple other cities, gaining more wealth and fame but they won't do it. That was instantly suspicious. The people loved Gaigax at first. Company erupted into fame and took over the whole south half of the city in not much longer than six months. They quickly drove out the existing power company" she continued. Boris was looking at his hands now as he had totally lost interest in the story. Nala was even starting to wish that Sky would speed up. "They had everyone distracted. Wild pokemon around the city began to disappear but the people didn't seem to notice. I notice because I keep taps on everything having to do with Jubilife. This is my city after all. At first I assumed it was just something to do with their power source that was driving the wild pokemon away. I tried to talk to the head of the business, Charles Gaigax. But he was very uncooperative. Just getting a meeting with him took months and then he cut the meeting short in a few minutes. And their security is so tight there is no way to get inside one of the plant buildings without permission." She paused for another breath. Her mouth was pointed towards the ceiling.

"So the people never noticed that the wild pokemon had gone away?" wondered Zan.

"No they did eventually. Just about when we had a wild pokemon population of zero, even in routes around us were dwindling on wild pokemon. When trainer's pokemon began to disappear that is when Gaigax came out with an announcement. They said that their miracle power source had a side effect of chasing away pokemon that they were not aware would happen. But this was after the previous power company had gone completely bankrupt. People had lost their pokemon and even if the city wanted to get rid of Gaigax we would be without power and without a backup plan. What's done is done, we are dependent on them now."

"And you think that they were well aware that this side effect was going to happen, don't you?" wondered Zan again.

"I don't think that side effect even exists. My pokemon are still here and haven't felt anything about being pushed away. They only thing has happened was a masked man tried to take Golbat once. I think Gaigax is stealing pokemon, I just, can't get any proof. And whenever anyone has done any sort of act against Gaigax they were instantly arrested. Thus the fear all across the city. The only one immune to being arrested is me simply because Gaigax doesn't want to attract any members of the league down here. I have still been threatened many times. I am the only one left fighting for this city, and the civilians expect me to be able to make everything instantly ok, but there is nothing I can do." Tears began to drip down the poor girl's face. She quickly buried her face in her arm to hide them. But Zan knew the noise of crying all too well. The boy was now filled with energy as he emerged to his feet. His body was still very sore and exhausted but his mind was fully charged.

"Let's go guys, pick up Augment" Zan stated fiercely. He barely had the energy to walk but the stubborn boy made it work. Both his awake pokemon were dazing off had to take a moment to shift back into the real world.

"Where are you going?" asked a slightly worried Sky. She was able to completely fight off the tears now. But she was worried her speech would cause the boy to do something stupid.

"I have to talk to Gaigax to get an ally of mine pardoned from her crimes. And then I'm going to save your city" he boldly informed. His pokemon got the message now and walked beside him. Boris dragged Augment along by the wing.

"You can't do anything stupid, there are so many reasons why you can't" the orange hair girl pleaded.

"Don't worry, I am just going to talk to them. At first. And then if things don't go well, I will come back healthy and kick their asses" the brunette promised. Despite just having lost his heart was on fire.

Just what kind of man is Charles Gaigax exactly? The intelligent villain will go head to head with the strong willed hero. Is he really even evil or is he just a misunderstood business man? How will the reckless Zan even handle a man of Charles's intellectual caliber? All on the next Iron Fist: The Prince and the Pig.