A/N:Hey everyone! It's been a long month, but I finally managed to get this next chapter together! Apologies for the delay in posting. If you didn't see it on my profile page, I moved this month, so all the fun challenges that came with kept me away from my keyboard. But we're back on track now with the final chapter of the first arc of the story! Hopefully the wait was worth it, and I intend to get back to biweekly uploads from here on out. Check my profile for updates on that front. As always, please let me know what you think with a review!
30 Minutes before Juliana's Disappearance
Looker had misplaced all of his time. He'd searched everywhere within his brain, scouring ill-used corners and drawers in the study of his mind palace, overturning dressers, scattering books, finding nothing and losing minutes he didn't have. No matter how many times the clock chronicling the events that led Looker here was rewound, it refused to tick smoothly. Extending the facts as he knew them back days, weeks, even years, had introduced yet more wrinkles into the timeline, questions yearning for unreachable answers that drove Looker deeper within himself. Somewhere, anywhere where he hadn't looked was the single answer he needed to give purpose to the footprints he put in the dirt behind him.
But Looker's mind palace wasn't infinite, and many of the rooms had become derelict with disuse or the far more threatening fate of poor planning. He'd squandered what precious little time he'd had to solve this mystery, yet he stumbled forward into his library, the sanctuary where many a criminal had seen their plans laid bare for Looker to scoff at. This bastion of justice was now a pale imitation of its former self. The detective took in the files scattered about everywhere, the scent of fresh ink spilt near overturned cabinets. Even the large singular window to the outside world that didn't exist had a gaping hole in it that Looker made a mental note to fix. Something in this useless room that was his head had to explain where things had gone wrong.
Looker had reviewed all the files he'd made on the case and all the files that he hadn't made yet. Every profile of everyone he'd met had been combed over, tossed aside, picked up, combed over again, then cast into the garbage in frustration in preparation for this final confrontation, as if there was something his conscious mind had missed to justify this brash decision to end things himself. Looker's intuition had correctly determined that Juliana would come back to the academy, and that the reason she would do so would be to see her closest friends again. For what precious little time he'd received for free, Looker was satisfied with how he'd identified the differences between Juliana's profile and that of other criminal organization heads. Juliana fostered personal attachments, acted for the interests of others, and most importantly, she hadn't struck first in her own mind. When someone like that tore apart a mountain, they'd want to explain themselves to the people they wanted to understand the most.
This logic had allowed Looker to temporarily apprehend his stated target, but the true goal he'd been searching for eluded him. Juliana was not nearly as valuable as her motivations surrounding the true plague that threatened Paldea's life. Without recovering the AI, he'd never be certain what the truth was, who was right and what direction his justice should point. Worse, Juliana had escaped along with his best chance to try again. Juliana could spout whatever rhetoric she liked about how the region was being threatened by teraite. Geeta could posture threateningly all day about ensuring order was maintained in the region by any means necessary. Without solid proof of why the region suffered, the only proof Looker had was the lattice of teraite holding Area Zero's mountain range; a paltry sum that didn't come close to being able to afford Looker's trust. It wouldn't be enough to convince the inconvenienced people of Paldea to side with Juliana over Geeta in this sort of argument either. "And she knows that… so why, why do it anyways? Why, damn you?! Think! What sort of game has to be solved in order to play it?"
The answer simply had to be somewhere in front of him. In the very brief time that he'd spent in Paldea, things had moved far more quickly than he expected. Answers that most investigations would take months or in some rare cases years to obtain would pop up in front of him, enticing him forward until he fell off a cliff and right into the next piece of the puzzle he was looking for. But the mission report's deadline remained stubbornly in place, cutting him off from the light at the end of Juliana's proverbial tunnel, trapping him in a ruined room with half-answers and frustration. If he didn't act, the case would be passed on to his superiors, and why shouldn't it? It was only natural to escalate the case if it proved to be more involved with the region's fate than one man should reasonably have to contend with. Looker would provide advice, be thanked for his work, and move on to the next case. And if he did that, Juliana as he knew her would die.
It wouldn't happen today, or perhaps even for years, but giving up now would be consigning Juliana to a fate on the lam that would end with her behind bars or worse. His investigation would be forced to conclude that Juliana was in the wrong, and the mob that was his organization would be too busy chasing her to question him. If he were to tell someone that was a concern of his, they might have found that amusing considering his tactics, but Looker had no problem with pushing the boundaries of the law to do what was right, and his whole being was convinced that an alternative would be found if he could just pry open the truth of what had pitted Geeta and Juliana against each other. So Looker had made a choice to delay the end of his investigation by an hour of sunlight in exchange for risking serious trouble with his superiors and Geeta's ire. "All for a girl you haven't technically met. You're not soft, you're insane. Look around you, man! She knew damn well what she was getting into, so why go out of your way to give her and her friends the benefit of the doubt?" The answer didn't need to be vocalized, so Looker slammed a fist into a nearby bookshelf instead.
Juliana and Geeta's game had accounted for police interference, but they hadn't accounted for Looker himself. "Why can't I be in the wrong just this once?" Looker asked the empty room as he resumed his search. "There has to be something that would be of use, isn't there? Some sort of provocation, an inciting incident?" All that was laid bare for the detective was circumstantial evidence that wouldn't hold up if he succeeded in bringing Juliana in. Desperation crept into his heart, adding urgency to his actions as he reviewed the people he'd met once more in his mind to try and find the peaceful solution dangling so tantalizingly in front of him.
In searching for potential co-conspirators, Looker had immediately suspected Penny, Arven, and Nemona from Larry's files. Two of those hunches had proven correct. Though Nemona had failed to yield favorable results, Penny and Arven had both confessed from their own mouths that they'd provided aid to Juliana. Plausible deniability prevented this from being an outright crime, and Penny knew that very well. It was the reason she was sleeping in her bed under "surveillance" instead of sleeping in a cell right now. Arven had simply acted on his own good intentions and been fortunate enough to not be punished for it. In both cases, a dead end. Prosecuting Penny now would waste time, and Arven probably knew less than Nemona given the circumstances. Catching a magikarp wouldn't win him any pokémon battles with no time to raise them.
The gyarados Looker wanted had only stayed on his line long enough to reveal that she thought she was saving the region from Geeta and Larry, two people Looker hadn't been given any incentive to trust over the past 24 hours either. The tera phenomenon was having far-reaching effects beyond what Looker had predicted as well. He had assumed Juliana would act rashly, but the girl had given him the perspective that she was perhaps behaving in a way that resembled erraticism because she'd meticulously planned everything out. It threw a wrench into his profile of her as an impulsive girl that was used to being able to solve any problem with her pokémon until he found the piece of the puzzle informing him that Juliana was stubborn, the sort of person who'd push the world aside if it got in her way. Then there was her masterful use of pokémon, bringing out all of their abilities by removing the limitations of only using them against other pokémon. When employed by a trainer that wasn't set on world domination, this demonstrated a level of trust in the trainer that exceeded anything that could be considered standard. It worried Looker almost as much as Larry's similar use of his pokémon. His job was to resolve the incident at hand, report on the state of the Paldea region, and protect the region's citizens. His bosses wouldn't particularly care how that happened so long as Geeta was satisfied, meaning that if Geeta was the problem, there would be hell to pay for whoever created more work for the higher ups. "But my tab runs long anyways." The joke nobody could hear relieved Looker's tension long enough for him to refocus himself.
This brought Looker to the other side of the argument where his allies resided. Only Larry and Geeta herself remained as relevant players in his game. Geeta had to be considered because Juliana's behavior suggested that Geeta was one of the driving forces that caused Juliana's deviance in the first place. As her main enforcer, this made Larry the best avenue Looker had at getting answers. He'd noticed that Larry knew more than he let on when the mountain footage had reached them. Until that point, Larry had been following him around dutifully, showing no particular interest in what was going on one way or another, as if their actions carried little meaning. But when the mountain shifted, Larry had reacted in a way that his façade couldn't hide. There was shock, indignation, and just a hint of fear that Looker only managed to catch because Larry had been shown the video first. That interaction had taught Looker that Larry did care, and therefore knew something that prevented him from caring about the impact of the assignment he was currently working. All that remained was finding a way to get that out of him or Juliana, but neither option was possible at the moment. It would come down to this final stage after all.
Sending the papers away with a wave of his hand, Looker sighed. He'd been awake for nearly 30 hours now. This wasn't unusual in his line of work, but until his body adapted, he'd probably be feeling sluggish just long enough for his performance to be affected when he needed to be at his sharpest. "One missing piece… If I can figure out why they're at odds, I can figure out how to bring this business to a proper conclusion. Teraite… the Paldea region… tearing itself apart… Area Zero…Juliana and Geeta fighting over this AI…over control…" A swear formed and disappeared in Looker's mind before he could voice it. There was no point in racking his brain for complaints when it could be looking for answers.
It was as Looker passed the trash bin for the fiftieth time that he noticed something he had indeed forgotten. A single memory from early in the previous day surfaced in his mind, reminding him exactly why he'd been hesitant to sign on to Geeta's team wholeheartedly in the first place. Grey skies against a rolling violet hillside. The Paldea region was the wrong color. He'd sensed that from the start, but seeing all the teraite in the ground made his idle summarization of events a reality. Juliana had seen that long before he'd arrived, and she'd had her eyes opened by being in Area Zero and talking to the AI. Looker knew Geeta had been in Area Zero, so all the answers had to lie with the AI, and there was only one reason that Juliana would willingly admit that she needed to return to Area Zero.
"The AI runs on tera energy, and therefore Juliana has even less time than I do, something Geeta is aware of but is unable to properly act on because of her role. So she sends Larry and myself, people she assumes will act callously to capture her. Juliana believes the opposite of us, and she gets away with her friends. To correct this miscalculation, Geeta calls in reinforcements to reduce Juliana's options, but it's already too late for that. The only thing that will stop Juliana now is the region itself. She needs their favor, so Geeta thinks she has time. That can only mean Juliana has solved this problem somehow. Before the sun comes up, Juliana will return to Area Zero," Looker concluded, exiting his own mind and returning to reality.
The sun was just cresting over the horizon as Looker stood at the entrance to the only man-made passageway to Area Zero, the Zero Gate. Given what Looker now knew about the region's interior, it was truly a marvel of engineering and human tenacity that it was constructed in the first place. Brilliant oranges painted the landscape like wildfire as Looker turned back to the building behind him. Area Zero itself was immune to this view, raging grey storm clouds hovering stubbornly over the entire crater like a massive pot lid. Despite being out of time, the sight relieved Looker. There was no need to be concerned that he would be without company to witness this sunrise.
The last player to arrive was Medali's Gym Leader, soaring in from the general direction of Uva Academy. That was good. If Geeta herself had come, Looker would likely have lost his gambit before he could even make it. "Explain. Now." Larry demanded in his characteristic monotone voice as his starraptor returned to his pokéball.
"I am accomplishing our mission to capture the thief and return her stolen goods," Looker responded innocently. "You're late, gym leader."
A raised eyebrow was the reward Looker received for his theatrics. "You raised hell with your superiors to buy yourself time? This will reflect back on both of us, you know."
Larry was referring to the call Looker had placed shortly after leaving the unconscious Arven and Nemona in Uva Academy's care. With the sun about to rise and no time left, Looker had been left with a choice: Allow his fellow officers and Geeta to take over the chase and be reprimanded to no end, or gamble on Juliana's next immediate destination to resolve the situation before he lost access to the real truth forever. He couldn't even explain to himself why he'd informed his boss that he'd be going dark for a few hours, why he'd lit a fire that would surely reflect poorly on him no matter the outcome. It was like a force beyond the man was pulling him to keep pushing, to solve the mystery laid out before him no matter how high the personal cost grew. To remain impassive when there was more he could do would be akin to renouncing his occupation anyways. "They want both of us at headquarters immediately." Larry redundantly informed his partner. "And they're furious that you've broken contact. What would you have done if I hadn't come alone?"
"They'd give you men after the mess we made at the Academy? I think not. Geeta has demonstrated that her organization is slow to mobilize, hence her reliance on you and I. As I'm sure you told the team, they're to find me at the Zero Gate if they wish to speak with me. Juliana is not long behind you, I'm certain." If he had a gauntlet to throw on the ground, Looker would have done it as recklessly as a man 20 years younger. "You came because you do not wish for things to end like this, do you not?"
"So you keep saying," Larry responded with the barest hint of a challenge in his tone. "But the higher ups don't believe you, somehow. Part of the blame can be placed on you. If our front isn't united, the boss won't be able to get support to run her champion hunt. I'll carry you back. Let's go."
Looker had come to realize that Larry communicated most of his emotions through sarcasm. Despite his monotone voice, the man was rarely speaking from a genuine place, instead keeping his emotions under wraps, suffocated by the façade he put on for the rest of the world. Small jibes at people's behavior masked by his tone were the signs of life Looker hadn't seen until he'd had the pleasure of bearing witness to Larry's actual bouts of emotion. "Your poor communication cost us our quarry last time," Looker reminded the gym leader. "Why is it that none of our footage or recordings were recoverable?"
"That couldn't possibly have been an error on our end. The Academy-"
"Didn't even know Juliana was there except for Penny, who we already thoroughly audited," Looker interrupted. "Yes, she enjoys fiddling with the cameras, I'll grant you that, but that's what our backups were for. We were caught unawares, stuck in Juliana's web because she wanted us to hear what we did. I enjoy the blame game as much as anyone, Larry. This was brought up only to remind you that this chase is not over until either your boss or Juliana gives up. She was prepared for us then, but she will not be ready now. I daresay this is our last chance, and I need you to stand with justice along with me."
The small amount of curiosity that Looker had planted a while ago sparked up in Larry again. "You believe Geeta will stop pursuing her when you fail? Not even Juliana thinks that."
"Which is one more reason she will come here," Looker clarified, turning to head back into the building. "With the tera phenomenon's worsening, this is the only safe way to get into or out of Area Zero without significant risk of mortal injury, and she has no choice but to return to Area Zero. Geeta will not follow her here, nor will her men, nor will I. Therefore, she'll come here before the manhunt can begin and the forces your boss has promised can be galvanized."
"But she said she needed to go there, not that she needed to go there now. Isn't that exactly what someone who's as manipulative as you make her out to be would want you to believe?"
What a simple-minded summarization that was! Looker would have laughed out loud looking back on it, but in the moment, he was full of unwarranted confidence. It was only right that his first encounter with Juliana would end in failure. Such failure was necessary to give him the data he needed to succeed when it mattered the most, after all. Looker could tell by the way that Larry was looking at him that he didn't understand this, and therefore had no experience working as an actual police officer. "Infamous people don't get found or arrested quickly," Looker explained as he opened the sliding door with a pass that he'd been given by the witless staff of the Zero Gate. "If they are, it's because they're incredibly foolish, in which case there was little need for such a hubbub in the first place, or because they have a longer game to play. The sort of game where both players are to feel each other out before making any decisive moves. The difference here is that all the pieces have been played out already and what we're seeing is the aftermath."
"Aftermath?" Larry echoed, stepping into the dimly lit main chamber of the Area Zero entrance main base.
"Yes, aftermath. Nothing we've done up to this point has been anything but reactionary. No brilliant moves have been made by either side. We're following the scripts written by those who came before us. You and I do as Geeta and Juliana ordained us to do. Sure, there are some edits to the script here and there, but make no mistake: we have failed to effect change to this point. That is the conclusion my investigation, however brief, has led me to, and has prompted my drastic action."
"So we're wasting time for the boss for no reason now," Larry surmised, already turning back the way he came. "Guards will be here within the hour. Don't make me drag you back to headquarters please."
The thought was somewhat amusing, and Looker broke into a small smirk as he took in his surroundings. Larry wasn't able to see the big picture from under Geeta's heel, just as he couldn't see what purpose he'd been given in coming out here by himself until recently. Geeta's obsessive need for control, her obstinate grip on the region made of teraite, it couldn't loosen without years of planning nobody in the International Police had the forethought for. That meant he could only attempt to influence the person who had had that sort of time to play with and trust that his own boss knew what they were doing. Area Zero's cracked open maw was the perfect setting to expose his case for the region to see.
The Zero Gate wasn't particularly large, but it stood out as one of Paldea's crowning engineering achievements nonetheless. A massive steel elevator was controlled from a single large room that Looker, Larry, and several league staff with bodyguards were currently occupying. Various screens and displays that Looker found convoluted at best adorned every wall, each one fighting for attention he'd never be able to properly give it. None of the employees paid him any heed, having gotten used to him going in and out since he arrived shortly after his failure at the academy. News was slow in this region it seemed. When the subtle, cautious approach and the heavy-handed approach both failed, all Looker could rely on was his gut instinct. To showcase this, Looker swept his hand around the room. "Take a look, Larry. This is the epicenter of what could be one of the defining moments of Paldea's history, and not a single person is paying attention. Don't you find that fascinating?"
"I find this whole day to be tiring," Larry countered. "You can't work without sleep. And I think fatigue is getting to your head."
"And theirs!" Looker agreed cheerfully, gesturing to the employees around them.
Said employees looked up, one of them cocking their head at the eccentric man they'd been instructed to let do as he pleased. Larry scratched the back of his neck, subtly biting his tongue to avoid saying something he shouldn't. Instead, he pulled a pokéball from his suit pocket. "Detective, please allow me to handle this. Return to the League. Despite your misgivings, our organization is as competent as they come."
Looker's response was to withdraw a pokéball of his own. There was no mystery to be had in what his partner would be. Larry already knew that Looker only carried two pokémon on him and that kadabra was tired from the evening's escapades. In turn, Larry had yet to call on anything aside from his ace since Looker had met him. This was the sort of battle that would be over in an instant. "Don't you think it's odd?" Looker asked, tightening his grip on his pokéball in case Larry flinched.
"That you would risk your career over this? I suppose so."
"Not that. I mean that nobody else in this room has said anything since we walked in here. Say, have you seen any of them blink?" In the moment that Looker mentioned it, everyone in the room except him and Larry blinked at the same time.
Startled, Larry whirled around, much less intrigued and more startled than Looker had expected. "What did you do to them?" Larry demanded, his voice rising one half-step over his traditional monotone.
"I did nothing," Looker replied honestly. "But Juliana seems to have disposed of them some time ago."
"So you WERE watching!" Juliana's voice complained from the mouth of a nearby employee. "I told you he was doing that on purpose Eri."
"Are you asking me to apologize or something? He's still standing. You should have locked him out." Eri responded from the body of the guard next to Juliana.
"Enough with the charade, then. We have our witness." Looker declared, sweeping his hand around once more. "I expect no harm has come to the men and women who work here."
"Who do you take us for, criminals? They were told to take the day off," Giacomo's voice came from an employee that moved to stand by the entrance Looker and Larry had come from.
As he spoke, a dark aura began to surge across everyone in the room except the gym leader and the detective. When it burned away, only Juliana, a zoroark, and what Looker recognized as three of Team Star's former admins remained. She looked exactly as she had at the academy to an eerie degree, though a school bag was now slung over her shoulder to help complete the schoolgirl look. "I was wondering what you were waiting for," Juliana admitted as she hopped down from the raised control platform to the central area of the room. "Zozo told me you were suspicious, but-"
Juliana's explanation was interrupted by the all-too-familiar cry of a starraptor divebombing its prey. She let out an eep, cowering behind an annoyed Eri as a lucario sprang to life between her and the bird, blocking Larry's brave bird attack with its body. The attack dissipated after a tense moment, both parties left injured and panting from the exchange. "Hold, damn it!" Looker reprimanded his partner. "What did I say about finding the truth?! Can't we discuss things like civilized people without resorting to violence first? They're children!"
"Children who want to commit adult crimes will be treated like adults," Larry responded unsympathetically, reaching into his pocket to withdraw backup. "Either help me or retreat."
"Assault is a crime too!" Juliana protested as starraptor attempted to charge again, only to be restrained by Eri's lucario. "Your boss isn't paying you to kill people, Larry!"
If Looker had made a miscalculation of his own for this confrontation, it was Larry's lack of will. There were precious few options available to him to help keep the peace long enough to get what he wanted, but control of the situation was already slipping out of his grasp. It would be a risk to strike first himself, but that wasn't anything new at this point. "Kadabra, now!" Looker ordered, releasing the pokémon in his hand and covering his eyes.
Every other unprepared person and pokémon in the room was blinded as kadabra unleashed a brilliant flash attack. In that moment of confusion, Juliana stumbled out from behind Eri just enough for Looker to tackle her. Still disoriented, Juliana attempted to push Looker away, but he had no intention of grappling with the champion. Instead, he loosed her bag from her shoulder and finished his motion with a roll, maintaining the integrity of the contents and gaining a bit of distance as Juliana finished her topple to the floor alone. Eri's first instinct when she could see again was to check her companion, and when this revealed Juliana on the ground, she distracted both herself and her pokémon with assisting her friend. Looker took this opportunity to toss the bag to kadabra, who instantly vanished with it. "There we go. Now, how about we talk things out without any distractions?"
The other two team star admins responded by releasing pokémon of their own. Giacomo's kingambit entered the room, followed by an arcanine from someone who had to be Team Star's Mela. Though everyone was still rubbing their eyes, Looker had their undivided attention. "That had my stuff in it, you know," Juliana complained as Eri helped her up. She was no longer smiling playfully.
"And I'm sure there will be time for you to retrieve it soon." He didn't mention that he'd just stolen back what was likely the very AI Geeta was looking for. Even Larry had realized what was happening by the way the others were glaring at Looker and had his starraptor stand by. "That is, of course, assuming you'd be willing to speak candidly with us for a moment."
It was in this moment that Looker felt his grasping hands reach something solid for the first time in this investigation. After being led around since he'd set foot in this region, he'd caught the arm of the people laying the path before him. Juliana wouldn't be able to work the elevator without the AI or someone as smart as Penny's help, and Looker had Penny on actual in-person surveillance. Zoroark's illusions wouldn't work while it was disoriented by flash. Though she no doubt had backup plans already flooding through her mind, those dots wouldn't be connected before Looker obtained what he came for. All that remained was to ensure the other players on this stage did their part. With a pointed look, Larry finally backed down. "Make it fast. Unlike you, I told my boss where I was going."
With that, Looker clapped his hands to garner attention he already had. "Excellent. Now then, we parlay. You, Juliana, have little time to waste, as do we if we want to keep our jobs." Larry raised an eyebrow that was ignored. "State your intentions clearly, with pride."
Eri finished rubbing her eyes in time to gawk in disbelief at Looker's request. Her impression of the man had been poor ever since she watched how he handled Juliana's previous confrontation and faux arrest. That oaf must have been executed by the man standing before them now. He exuded confidence just like the Looker from last night, but there was a purpose to it that had been missing, as if he'd found the missing piece of a puzzle that he hadn't realized he'd been trying to solve. It was new, and that was dangerous. Juliana held none of these inhibitions within her. Despite the danger associated with her task, the mentality for giving in to that kind of pressure would have prevented her from being here in the first place. A confrontation with an overzealous detective was therefore an amusing distraction rather than a formidable challenge. "My name is Juliana Violet. I'm here because the Paldea region is in danger. Please return what you took and allow us to pass if you stand with justice."
Looker smirked and shook his head. Let's see if your resolve to keep your secrets runs deeper than this region's Top Champion. No, if it runs stronger than my resolve. "Well spoken, Juliana Violet. My name, it is Looker, of the International Police. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting in person. Today, I am here because the methods you have employed have been judged to be outside the law. I must request that you give up your crusade. Allow others to continue where you left off as you atone if you stand with justice."
Both Juliana and Looker turned to their partners, who returned their looks with mixtures of disbelief and annoyance. "This is redundant," Larry pointed out. "If you don't have something important to say, then let's get this over with."
"It's about the spirit of it, man!" Looker insisted, his bravado faltering at the first challenge to it. "How do you expect to be able to give this fight your all if you're not facing the enemy head on? More importantly, Juliana was just about to reveal her schemes to us! We've got her cornered!"
At this claim, Eri balked. "What makes you think-"
"Zozo's illusions work best on people who are malleable to being fooled," Juliana filled in. "On someone like him, who's already gotten used to this, it's not going to be very effective. It's better for people like Larry, who have no imagination."
Larry would have commented on that if he had the imagination to think of a witty retort. Instead he just snorted, keeping his eyes on Eri as Giacomo and Mela stepped forward. "You already know what our friend wants, man," Giacomo informed the detective. "Stop stalling and give up the AI. If we don't do this, then Geeta's gonna wreck our home."
"We haven't met, but I can tell you're a pain in the ass adult," Mela judged with a flip of her fiery hair that was longer than the photo Looker had been provided. "The kind who thinks that they know better just because they're older."
"Someone has to clean up the mess when bullies start pushing people around," Eri finished for the three of them. "That's what Team Star was founded on. It doesn't matter how big or powerful the bullies are. If they're willing to push people down and ruin lives, then we're willing to lay down ours in order to put a stop to it."
"Aw, and here I thought you guys just liked me," Juliana pouted. "Now we sound like tragic heroines."
"I'm a guy," Giacomo pointed out helpfully. "And we paid you back for your favor with interest a long time ago. This song is for us. I'll call it 'Paldea owes Team Star a huge favor'."
"Enough talk," Mela interrupted. "How long are we going to stand here flapping our lips when we could be exchanging blows?"
"As long as I need to," Looker snapped back, folding his arms. "Look around you, Juliana. Such loyal friends you have. Yet you turned your back on letting your three closest friends get involved. You've had your fun giving me the runaround, but you should know that I'm the only person left who can offer you a future beyond what's waiting for you down in that crater. Tell me, what did that AI say to you? What drove you to turn your back on asking Geeta for help?"
Juliana was silent for a moment. It was only when Eri opened her mouth to retort in her friend's place that the champion spoke up. "No, it's okay. The truth was going to come out eventually, but now's not the time. All you need to know is that Geeta is responsible for Professor Turo's death. I could never trust her, or turn to any of her followers again. I couldn't let my closest friends risk their lives for my sake alone either. It's not their fight."
Professor Turo had been known to Looker long before being sent to the Paldea region. News of his passing a few years ago had rocked the scientific world in a way that few things could. Another puzzle piece fit into the slot that Looker had been looking for the entire time. "This isn't about the region, is it?" Looker posited. "The fact that you all know this is more than enough for her to drive you to this point. Petty. Oh, how terribly petty! But I won't accept that alone. What did it say about the Paldea region's crisis? How can we activate it to learn what it told you?"
On this question everyone went completely silent. They either didn't know the answers to Looker's question or were refusing to respond in Juliana's case. Looker sensed that he'd come to another dead end, but unlike before, he was facing a closed door rather than a solid wall. With time and the right tools, he would be able to advance once more. This would unfortunately require Juliana's further cooperation. "Come with me, Juliana, all of you. The International Police will guarantee your-" Looker's offer was cut off by Juliana being flung across the room by starraptor's brave bird.
Looker's mouth was agape for the first few milliseconds after the impact. Juliana crashed into the wall, her body leaving a sickening crater as starraptor broke off the attack and cried out in triumph. Larry had just been waiting for the right opportunity to make a move, but so was Juliana. "So you really did know, Larry," Juliana sighed as she appeared where zoroark had been standing as zoroark transformed "How could you still follow her, knowing that?"
"It's just a job," Larry answered emotionlessly. "Doesn't mean I agree with it. Anyone who knows about the boss's history has the potential to destabilize the entire region and needs to be captured by any means necessary. Allow me to declassify some information for you, agent Looker. Had he been left to his own devices as Juliana has, Professor Turo would have accelerated the tera phenomenon to untenable levels. This region would have become a giant battery for his designs, and this one is letting his ghost fill her head with empty promises of salvation. You're not the only one with something to lose, kid. No more illusions. No more meetings. Let's get down to business."
"No, wait! Larry, we don't have to fight them!" Looker's plea was ignored as Team Star's pokémon charging forward to get between Larry and Juliana.
"Juliana, go find kadabra!" Eri ordered. "We'll hold these two off!"
His moment had passed. Larry was hellbent on ensuring that Geeta's exacting orders were followed, Juliana was hellbent on opposing her, and Looker was caught in between the two of them. The truth was currently with his kadabra. Looker had instructed his pokémon to simply get away from the area and to reconvene with him once Looker signaled that things were calm, but that wasn't happening. The only option now was Larry's way if he wanted to retain his agency in this case. Juliana and her posse wouldn't be convinced of anything while one of their own lay unconscious at the champion's feet. The detective and the champion shared an oddly empathetic look, both sides unknowingly wishing for just a bit more time to explain themselves better. Instead, Juliana released a gardevoir and disappeared without another word, leaving behind a pokéball that opened up to reveal her skeledirge to support her friends.
As this pokémon appeared, the room exploded into combat. Looker was the only person with no active fighter, so Larry had to defend himself from all sides while Looker got growlithe onto the field. Had he some foresight, Looker would have gone to retrieve more pokémon from headquarters, but time hadn't allowed for this. His growlithe would have to take down half of this team for Larry whether the man would cooperate after the deed was done or not. His opponents could sense this disadvantage, arcanine and skeledirge both honing in on growlithe immediately while lucario sought revenge for its injuries with kingambit's assistance. Surrounded though they were, Looker remained calm. He'd have a chance to strike, create confusion and potentially increase the lead he'd given kadabra to avoid losing the AI again. He hadn't accounted for Juliana buying time to trace kadabra's psychic energy. If his opponents couldn't see that, it was all the better for him. "Extreme speed!" Mela ordered as arcanine blasted into its pre-evolved form to pull Looker from his thoughts.
Looker didn't order a dodge, instead covering his ears as the melee began around him. Skeledirge was just opening its mouth to launch an attack when growlithe roared right in its face, still flying through the air from arcanine's attack. The ghost and fire type had time to raise its eyes in surprise before disappearing in brilliant red light. This would normally signal another pokémon to take its place, but skeledirge was now in the process of returning to a trainer that had teleported away. "You were supposed to watch for that!" Giacomo complained as his kingambit struggled to find a way around starraptor and lucario took swings at it with its fists.
"Shut up and focus on your own battle!" Mela snapped. "I'm doing damage, aren't I?"
"Are you?" Looker asked, looking to where Arcanine was standing alone.
With pokémon and trainer distracted, growlithe had easily regained the distance it had lost with agility. The speed gap between the two pokémon was large, but Looker had the advantage of not caring about the rules of battle. Growlithe continued to use agility as Mela wasted precious seconds thinking. "Chase it down with extreme speed!" she finally ordered, recognizing that she was out of time too.
Team Star was used to fighting as a horde. Numbers could certainly pose problems, but it left something to be desired for promoting on-the-ball thinking. Taking advantage of this was the least Looker could do to even the odds. He raised a hand and pointed left, where Larry was still struggling to keep up with his foes. Getting the message, growlithe instantly changed course, arcanine following it at top speed. Had he the time, Looker would have explained to Mela why engaging in a speed battle that pitted temporary speed gains against agility-based permanent speed gains was a bad idea, but growlithe did the explaining for him by making a sharp turn to the left. Arcanine was unable to make the turn in time, crashing into lucario as it went for a bone rush. Both pokémon went toppling to the ground, ending in a massive heap that was followed up with a flamethrower from growlithe. Perhaps it wouldn't do much more than make the arcanine and its trainer mad, but Looker needed mad right now. Emotions were his advantage to harness, not theirs. Kingambit was unaffected by the falling of its comrades. If anything, it seemed to be energized by the shifting in the odds. The dark and steel type continued to press its assault on starraptor, kowtow cleave clashing with a close combat from the bird. Giacomo cheered his pokémon on passionately, suggesting areas to strike while Larry remained as impassive as Looker. The only difference was that Larry's apathetic response appeared to be borne of boredom rather than as part of a strategy. "End it in a timely manner, please," Larry requested of Looker and his own pokémon at the same time.
This order was carried out in two completely different ways. Lucario was supposed to be disoriented as it disentangled itself and Looker was supposed to take advantage of this with another flamethrower. Instead, the lucario seized the arcanine next to it and hurled it in the way of the blast, allowing the fire pokémon to take the brunt of the blast and remain mostly undamaged. Mela cried in a protest that was ignored. At the same time, starraptor pressed its assault and received no reward. Despite its attack being super effective, Giacomo's pokémon somehow wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. Something had to be wrong. Looker's first instinct was to concentrate to see if zoroark was somehow still active, but he sensed no activity from the crater Larry had left it in. There had to be some unknown element at play, and as Looker wasted a precious second looking at starraptor, he realized what it was in exchange for letting growlithe get hit by another extreme speed.
Starraptor's attacks were fierce, but none of them actually connected. The bird pokémon was striking out, but it retreated as soon as it thought it was about to receive return damage. Was this because starraptor was afraid? That made little sense. Even Looker knew that gym leaders put their pokémon through more rigorous training than the vast majority of trainers. He'd personally seen how willing this starraptor was to follow Larry's orders to the letter regardless of the consequences. It was too unfortunate that Looker realized that right before Larry did. There was no reason for Looker to assume Giacomo was trying to meet starraptor head on in the first place. A warning would be too late. Starraptor had noticed something was wrong from the start and had been subtly trying to warn its trainer by crying out and moving oddly, but Larry had pressed on anyways. Perhaps that was what he wanted, but Looker wasn't about to let an ally fall for no reason.
As arcanine charged forward, growlithe prepared another roar. The arcanine immediately tried to change course, but it wasn't Looker's target. Instead, Looker directed growlithe to roar at his ally. In another burst of red light, starraptor completely disappeared, instantly replaced by a new pokémon without larry's input. In the space where starraptor had been standing, lucario had fired an aura sphere that would have surely knocked the pokémon out. "This kills momentum," Larry complained as he adjusted his tie in response to being saved. "But we'll adapt to this new work flow."
"Would you stop scratching the record?" Giacomo complained at Mela's general direction. "We're not here to look pretty you know!"
Mela responded to this with a curse word Looker had never heard before. "Come on, I'm doing my best out here! I don't have the noble motivations necessary for this crap!" That was interesting, but not as interesting as arcanine getting up and charging at growlithe once more.
In that split second where Looker turned his attention to arcanine, Eri made her move. Approximately forty seconds had elapsed since the battle started, and Eri had demonstrated far more competence for this pace than her comrades. That made her Looker's next ideal target as Larry's flamigo held Mela and Giacomo's attention. Looker also realized as lucario's bone rush crashed into growlithe that Eri knew that he knew about her. He'd read that she preferred straight-on fights to hiding behind others, that she was usually on the front lines rather than allowing battles to play out for her. It was because of this that Looker had written her off as Larry's problem, that he should be able to focus on the more hot-headed Mela and Juliana's pokémon while Eri fought fair. Larry's information was sorely lacking.
Lucario had been waiting for Looker to stop paying attention, to drop his guard just long enough to get a clean strike in and take out what was perceived as the more dangerous unknown factor. Even under normal circumstances, growlithe would have had trouble taking this attack. It was these kinds of strikes that it relied on its trainer for direction to avoid. Battles with single pokémon allowed for silence, but the chaos of a group demanded full active participation that Looker had neglected for a fraction of a second too long. Growlithe went flying, crying out in fear and pain as the bone rush moved so fast that it seared part of growlithe's fur off. The pokémon collapsed in a heap, coughing at Looker's feet. "Growlithe!" Looker cried out, kneeling down in spite of himself to inspect his partner.
Inside Looker's mind palace, a single file stuck out from an overturned drawer in his study. While his conscious thoughts remained entirely focused on growlithe, the analytical side of his mind was still working, factoring in the current situation in the context of previous similar experiences. This had happened before. Looker had been confident, then overconfident, then desperate to prove his reputation's worth to the point that his pokémon had suffered. He'd promised that this wouldn't happen again, and yet here he was. A different place, a different pokémon, and the same fool allowing his friends to lay down their lives while he stood idly by and wondered why he hadn't seen things more clearly earlier. A weak whimper from growlithe pulled Looker out of his daze. Growlithe was alright. It was badly injured, but still breathing. Only the respect that Looker presumed Eri had for foes, no matter the circumstances, was keeping a pokémon from taking advantage of their prone state.
Looker pulled out a pokéball. His other pokémon was currently doing its best to evade Juliana. If he withdrew, then Juliana would complete the scenario that she'd likely had drawn up from the beginning. No matter the circumstances, he couldn't allow that to happen. But if he forced growlithe to continue, the scenario where Juliana won and he was fired or worse would play out instead. Neither option was tolerable, so that meant Looker had to forge a new path. The man rose to his feet, giving growlithe a pat on the head as he did. The growlithe looked up, and seeing that its trainer had risen, tried to do the same before stumbling and falling. Looker shook his head. "You've done more than enough, growlithe. Rest now." With that, growlithe was returned.
"One to go," Giacomo announced, the three former Team Star admins surrounding Larry and his flamigo. "And this one doesn't know how to act without orders, does it?"
Larry took in the situation with the same deadpan expression. Looker paced over to him. "It would be wise to call your partner back," Looker advised. "We can buy time and-"
"A gym leader does not run from a challenger. It's in my contract," Larry interrupted, his voice startlingly clear. "Much as I want to, this is not a battle I can afford to slack off on. This is my region too." The man straightened his tie, the flamigo in front of him looking all the more outclassed by the three beefy fighters bearing down on it.
"Big words coming from someone who's willing to attack people just because someone tells him to do it," Giacomo spat back. "You're supposed to be the pride of Paldea? No wonder this region's going to shit."
"You kids think you know what it means to be an adult, huh?" Larry responded, no longer bothering to hide the irritation in his tone. "You don't get to do what you want in life just because you feel like something should turn out a certain way. No matter what Juliana does, Paldea will still fall. Professor Turo has seen to that. The least we can do is hold together what's salvageable."
Again, Larry implied knowing more than he let on. Having it verbally confirmed was nice, but Larry had said it in a way that he could probably deny knowing anything later if he wanted. Ever the businessman. It was more surprising that the pragmatic man was committed to continuing the fight. Larry was unfathomably devoted to his job, but this battle was stacked against him. More importantly, these three weren't Larry's primary objective, a fact he knew well.
"If that's how you felt, then you should have taken advantage of the chaos to flee and warn the League that we're under attack. They might still be able to get here in time."
"Maybe," Larry admitted to Looker's observation, standing up straighter as he sized up his three opponents with a sweeping gaze. "But there's something that's been bugging me for a while. Maybe it's the way that these guys have been talking at us, or maybe it's the fact that I've been stuck following you for the last 24 hours. We don't see eye to eye, agent Looker. As Paldea's gym leader, this is my job, same as this is your job as an investigator. But as a member of the elite four and Geeta's right hand? One of my responsibilities is to be proactive, to eliminate threats before they manifest on and off the battlefield. And Geeta causes lots of threats to appear. I follow her because she is the only one who can truly save this region from itself. I carry your lives on my shoulders as well as my own into this conflict. So as you can see, I have a lot of stress built up. In a situation like this, where my team is overworked, underpaid, and out of patience for being jerked around, we tend to need a stress reliever. In this case, it's the opportunity to go all out, just for a few minutes."
Looker had been under the impression that he'd seen the extent of Larry's abilities, but the man was giving him doubts with the way he spoke. It was as if Larry had cast aside his façade completely, making him seem much older than Looker had estimated. The longer Larry held on to these emotions, the more likely he would be to finally explain something to the detective. "I see. Well, I have no intention of stopping you, if that is how you feel." There were multiple reasons to stop Larry, but putting an end to Team Star took precedence. All Looker could do was hope that damage control would still be possible in the aftermath.
"If he's not giving up, we'll have to do this the Team Star way," Mela decided, pulling out a few more pokeballs. "You know about horde battles, right Mr. Gym Leader?"
This was another reason that Looker had suggested finding an alternative method. Had they won the initial skirmish, they might have been able to prevent the admins from releasing more pokémon. Now, even when they had the advantage, Mela was still suggesting making things all the more difficult for the lone gym leader. "I don't like it, but we have a job to do," Eri agreed, withdrawing a few more pokéballs.
"Your odds are bad, man," Giacomo added helpfully with his own pokéballs in hand.
"Are they?" Looker asked, withdrawing a familiar device from his pocket. Eri recognized it instantly, but the others failed to do so, throwing their pokeballs only to realize that nothing was happening.
Had Looker not noticed that Juliana was already present, waiting for him when he first arrived here, he would have turned the device on sooner. He wouldn't have been able to win against Eri and three amateurs in direct combat. But now, with the advantage overwhelmingly in the enemy's favor, risks had to be taken. Once they understood what was happening, Mela scoffed. "So what? It's still 3 versus 1. Don't tell me you think that's any better for you?"
"You face a member of the elite four, representing the Paldea League," Larry answered firmly. "In Driftveil City in the Unova region, they have a format of battling that involves both sides using three pokémon at once. I was required to learn this style as part of my business dealings with the gym leader in that region on behalf of the Paldea League. What I mean is that you are not presenting me with an unfamiliar scenario here. I've seen stronger presentations."
It was the closest thing to a direct threat that Looker had ever heard Larry utter. The three Team Star admins hesitated, unsure of what direction to respond to this threat from. Looker started backing away slowly, letting Larry's inversion of his passive presence give Looker an opportunity to set himself up to make a move at a critical moment. Once more, Eri stepped forward first. "I am Eri, the strongest of Team Star's admins! From the bottom of my heart, I desire to see this region changed. I wish for its very foundations to be ripped out and replaced with a system where the weak are not preyed upon any longer. If you truly desire to stand in my way, I will give it my all to stop you!"
Somehow, Looker's request from earlier was now being fulfilled in earnest. He wasn't complaining as he reached the nearest terminal and inserted a small USB device outside of everyone's notice. A real criminal organization would have surrounded him the second he lost the ability to fight back. Instead, Looker just needed a few more minutes of distraction from Larry and kadabra. Mela and Giacomo didn't join in with their own battle cries, but they stepped forward in solidarity with Eri anyways. The moment had come. Larry raised a hand. "Then this is a 3 on 1 battle. Begin with throat chop!" Larry commanded, thrusting his hand forward like a man 27 years younger than he was.
Flamigo rushed forward, swinging its neck aggressively into arcanine. The speed that it achieved felt unreal. In one instant, flamigo had been standing there, and in the next, it was glowering over arcanine as the pokémon cried out in pain. The pokémon's eyes were cold, inhuman orbs regarding a fallen foe without pity. How it had moved so fast wasn't a question Larry was entertaining at the moment. "Close combat. Faster!" He urged, clenching his outstretched fist.
Flamigo responded, moving so fast it looked like an entire flock of flamigo was surging forward and assaulting kingambit. Unlike starraptor, however, flamigo had the advantage of knowledge. When kingambit tried to dodge to bait an opening for its friends, it was struck in another body part that it hadn't even realized was under attack. Kingambit eventually lost the ability to properly defend itself and was subjected to a flurry of blows from the pokémon. "This flamigo was one of hundreds. It did the exact same thing the rest of its flock did every day until I found it. I raised it myself into what it is today, the pride of its flock, the one who bears all the strength of the common man on its shoulders. It's frankly too much to ask of one pokémon, but I've never received any complaints. Keep it up, flamigo!" The pokémon screeched in triumph as it landed one more blow with its powerful neck to send kingambit hurtling into the ground.
This celebration was short-lived as Eri's lucario finally caught up with the help of extreme speed, determined to put a stop to flamigo's momentum. Flamigo immediately took to the air as it was pressed, looking for a better angle to attack from the sky. When the lucario looked up, flamigo knew it had found it. "Brave bird, double time!" Larry commanded.
"Protect!" Eri ordered, desperate to stop Larry's assault.
But this was the golden moment that Looker had been waiting for. Nobody who followed every rule or broke every rule would be able to truly understand what it meant to have the power to effect change. In the seconds that he'd had to observe Larry's fighting, Looker had figured out Larry's secret to flamigo's incredible power. Though he wasn't the most familiar with this pokémon native to the Paldea region, he knew they stored their energy to fight in their belly. Though the brilliant blue light surrounding flamigo made it difficult to see, the pokémon had definitely gotten smaller since it had been released. Somehow, Larry had found a way to make flamigo take full advantage of its latent energy to bring out extraordinary power, but that wouldn't last forever. If Eri knew this, stalling was how she was dealing with it, but Looker wasn't about to allow that. As Lucario raised a paw to put up the barrier, it was tackled from behind by Looker himself. "Sorry, it's 3 on 2!" Looker exclaimed just before flamigo slammed into the two of them, lucario too distracted to finish protecting itself.
The attack hurt worse than Looker could describe. It wasn't the first time Looker had been struck by a pokémon, but it was definitely one of the fiercest attacks he had taken. He was fortunate that the lucario was doing the brunt of the damage taking for him, but he still felt a rib or two break as he was hurled into the ground. The only silver lining was that Lucario was very much knocked out by this move. Flamigo landed next to Larry, the man unperturbed by Looker's interference. On the contrary, Larry nodded in a sort of respectful bow that Looker would have appreciated more if he could breathe properly. The remaining two Team Star admins were still in the middle of trying to get their pokémon to stand up when Larry bore down on them. "Time to remove your assets. Liquidation," Larry ordered, flamigo instantly sending a stream of water in arcanine's direction.
The pokémon attempted to dodge, but in a motion that eerily resembled its pre-evolved form, the pokémon fell just short of getting away, a flamigo shrouded in waves of water pounding into it and thoroughly knocking it out. As Larry bore down on his final opponent, Looker became worried. There couldn't be much left in flamigo's tank, and kingambit didn't appear to be nearly as dazed as arcanine was. A grueling battle wasn't an option, but there wouldn't be any more surprises from Looker himself to score a cheap knockout. Before he could think of something, however, a flash of light appeared in the middle of the room, followed by Juliana and gardevoir with a kadabra under its arm. "Really gave me the runaround there. Hey guys, you still doing this? Well, stop. We have things to do."
Oh, it was that simple? Looker wanted to laugh aloud as the clash between trainers immediately halted. Everything he had done up to this point could be made irrelevant with the wave of someone else's hand. Who cared about the law when someone stronger than the law told them to go away? It was disgust directed against that sort of oppression that brought Looker to his feet before the lucario that remained unconscious on top of him. Withdrawing a pokéball, Looker returned his kadabra from gardevoir's clutches. There was no need to risk further injury. He could clearly see the backpack in Juliana's hand. "I am curious as to what your plan was, detective," Juliana admitted as she sauntered back over to the main controls. "You could have destroyed this place, gotten all violent and stuff, threatened my friends again, so many things. But I had a feeling you wouldn't do that. Well, I guess I was counting on it, hoping you would make my life easy. You know why that was such an easy bet to make?"
"Because you and I feel the same way about this region," Looker answered immediately. "A day, a single day was all it took for me to see this region's suffering and the people's apathy to it. The destruction you wrought was in your assumption an apt wakeup call to see these problems addressed. But that's just what you want them to think. If you truly intend to solve the problem yourself to spite Geeta's apathy, such grandstanding isn't necessary."
Juliana put a finger to her chin in mock contemplation. "Is that so? Well, we'll see. Giacomo, is the camera ready?"
"It's been ready, girl," Giacomo waved off. "Hope you're ready to see what years of planning can do."
"Then it's up to Clive to patch in the correct emergency broadcast code," Juliana answered. "Make sure the backups in your bases are ready to go. And keep an eye on those two." The last order was directed at Juliana's gardevoir, which teleported next to Looker and Larry just to prove that it could.
Larry tsked and put his pokéball away. He had probably been hoping for Looker to deactivate his device at an opportune moment, but the way things stood actually worked better for Looker than trying to fight back. As long as she was still trying to prepare something, Looker had a chance to speak. "You want to put a signal out to the entire region, to warn them of the impending threat, tell them some action needs to be taken. To that end, you can't take any action that would place people in immediate danger, not even your friends. If even one person died as a result of your actions, people would be unwilling to listen. But that doesn't matter, does it? All you cared about was making sure people were listening, that they saw their champion bravely sacrificing herself. You knew what I would do because you're running away from responsibility too, Champion Juliana. Tell me, why does it have to be you?"
Juliana paused, her fingers hovering over the controls of the panel she'd been working on activating. It surprised Looker that she seemed to know what she was doing, but that hardly mattered as much as her hesitation. Looker's words were getting through, or perhaps they had been piercing right through the champion the entire time. He stepped forward, ignoring the warnings given to him to stop from everyone else in the room, including Larry. Gardevoir's eyes glowed, but Juliana waved it off distractedly. "It doesn't, does it? Larry here showed us just now that Geeta's oppressive yoke as you'd describe it doesn't crush human spirit, not even his. Perhaps your actions will save this region, but you're not the last line of defense. We of the International Police have had our eye on this region for a long time. I'm investigating Champion Geeta just as much as I am helping her, Juliana, and it seems to me that this AI of yours didn't tell you about the region's problems objectively. There's no need for you to be the one to do this. Well, I can think of one. What if, by happenstance, you managed to learn a way to solve the problem by yourself and get back at the one who killed a friend of yours? What a stroke of luck!"
Looker's chest burned, his breathing becoming labored and challenging his ability to walk in a straight line. Still, the reluctance he saw in front of him compelled him to keep going. "Isn't it an empowering feeling, to take the world on your shoulders and do what has to be done? You've done it before, so why not one more time? This is what you were meant to do, isn't it? You don't have a choice, but even if you did, you wouldn't want to be anywhere else, making an enemy of the world to keep it united. So that's where we stand, Champion. You smite the two foes before you, turn that key, place your message, and take your leave. You know who wins in that scenario? Because I do, and it's not the Paldea region. It's you. Juliana proves that Geeta is actually a criminal, sacrificing herself to silence anyone who says otherwise. Meanwhile, the region is left without a leader because its two most influential trainers couldn't be bothered to sit down and talk things over. If that's what you want, then activate this elevator right now and do what you came here to do."
"Do it already!" Eri added before turning sharply to Looker. "And you, back the hell off before-"
Eri cut herself off when Juliana snapped her fingers. She had adopted a serious expression, rising to her full height yet remaining dwarfed by the hunched over Looker as he moved to stand right in front of her. Within her open bag, Looker could see several pieces of computer hardware haphazardly fastened together along with some teraite ore. The champion reached into the bag, withdrawing a USB drive from the bag. She palmed the device back and forth in her hand. "Is that your final deduction, Mr. Looker?"
From this perspective, Juliana appeared much younger than before. If the AI in her hand could talk right now, Looker would get all his answers. All he'd need to do was plug it into the main computer. It was then that the reality of this situation tried to crash down on Looker, drag his body into the critical recovery mode that it was supposed to be in. The man wanted to stumble, fall, sleep. But he'd done enough of that today already. The reason I came to this region is for this moment right here. What a farce. Any decent man could handle this job. "Your faith, do you find it wavering at the moment?" Looker questioned. "Is the resolve you believed unshakable faltering at the first light being shown upon it? Is it?"
"Shut up," Juliana ordered weakly. "You don't understand me. Nobody ever did."
"You never let them in the door," Looker argued, holding a hand out. "But it's not too late to do something about that. We can fix this together."
Juliana looked at Looker's open palm, doing its best to remain steady even as Looker felt his vision start to blur. She realized what he was asking for, what he was offering. "You expect to walk this road alone, that you must rely on the façade you put on and the word of others to get by. That isn't possible, is it Larry?"
"You've caused enough trouble without dragging me into this," Larry complained, no doubt still trying to find a way to get a signal out to Geeta.
There was nothing more that stood in Juliana's way, yet still she hesitated. "I'm scared. Is that what you predicted, detective? That committing to this would be scary?"
"People are scared of getting attacked by wild pokémon or being late to work. What you think you feel in this moment, Juliana, is a natural response. What you do next is how you actually feel."
A final, pivotal moment was spent pondering over this fact. Looker had a sneaking suspicion that, had he been given more than a day, he might have been able to change the outcome, but it was not to be. Juliana shook her head and inserted the AI's USB into the machine. Immediately Looker's USB whirred to life, but its noise was drowned out by the groaning of the elevator coming online. "I can't do it, Looker. Something is telling me that this has to be me, and I can't ignore it. The region will be saved by Juliana Violet."
"So be it, then," Looker nodded as the computers around them began executing whatever program the AI was having them run to get things moving. "Time will see how correct you are."
In any other situation, Looker would have used that opportunity to strike at Juliana. What Juliana didn't know was that Looker was physically incapable of moving fast enough to stop his foe. It was difficult to remain standing, let alone engage in combat. Juliana had won, but Looker wasn't done playing yet. He would have to wait for the final pieces to fall before he made his move. The man checked his phone with Juliana's permission. Help wouldn't arrive in time anyways. An exact copy of whatever was on Juliana's USB was being uploaded to headquarters. What followed was several uncomfortable minutes of watching Juliana get her stream set up while Looker did his best not to look suspicious. As he watched her shoot her advertisement video, proclaim her intentions and lay the world's troubles out so simply, Looker mused that she would have made a good candidate for top champion herself. Yet power corrupts. Perhaps it's better that a star like this burn out before we get the chance to see it dim and lose its radiance. What a morbid thought. As the video stream was ended, Giacomo focused on making sure the video was being sent out to the region while Juliana turned to see the approaching elevator. They probably had moments at best before the rest of the League's forces arrived thanks to Larry. None of that mattered as a small ping on Looker's phone indicated that his upload was successful. This was the limit of his abilities, and it stung the man's pride a little. Larry approached Looker, having stood off to the side and done his best to look professional despite being guarded by a teenager and a gardevoir. His tie and suit had become disheveled in his battle, making it look like he'd woken up late for work and gotten dressed in a hurry. "Why did you change sides?" Larry asked.
"I was on the same side the entire time, as were you," Looker responded simply. "There were never any enemies in this room. I'm trusting you to make sure your boss understands that."
Larry was silent for a moment, absorbing Looker's implications. The sight of his partner getting attacked had changed something within the man, that much Looker could tell. It showed him a myriad of interesting facets of Larry's personality that he regretted being unable to properly explore at the moment. "I'll pass the memo on, assuming I have a job to do it," Larry finally responded before turning to face Juliana. "Hey, you're done, right? I have a meeting to get to, so I'm going to head out."
"Sounds good! Have fun!" Juliana waved the man off like they hadn't just been trying to destroy each other minutes ago.
Looker was a bit surprised that Juliana was just letting Larry go, but he was more surprised that Larry didn't want to stay. It seemed that the man had a bit more of a heart than Looker thought. There wasn't any time to ensure that Larry would be alright as the man left Zero Gate behind. He was surely planning on getting out of range of Looker's device to come back and try again, something Juliana likely wasn't thinking about. He'd have to make his final move before that happened. "Are you planning on bringing that AI with you?" Looker asked as he noticed Eri starting to gather it up.
"Of course. Geeta would just destroy it," Juliana answered like that was obvious.
"I see. That makes sense, I guess." The words Looker was searching for faltered in reaching his mouth.
Eri raised an eyebrow at Looker's passive response. "Shouldn't you get out of here too? You're definitely gonna need a doctor."
Hearing this, Looker forced himself to stand up straight. He approached Juliana, who was making her final checks on the elevator. Though it put everyone on alert, the sense of purpose Looker could feel in his steps distracted him from his injuries and the impending threat long enough to muster his courage. When she noticed him, Juliana paused. There was no manipulative look in her eyes, no concern for either of their wellbeing, just idle curiosity for discerning Looker's intentions. One more time, Looker found it within himself to smirk as he felt the door he'd run up against open just a crack. "Tell me, is there room for one more on that elevator?"
Geeta sat uncomfortably at her desk in the Paldea League's auxillary office. She wouldn't have minded using her current office, but the noise associated with construction was a bit too distracting to accommodate. Her secondary office didn't have windows, but the homey atmosphere almost made up for this with various plants and gifts from other regions she'd visited being used to decorate it instead. She never saw visitors in this office, so she was free to decorate it how she saw fit. It harkened back to her earlier days when she was just another Larry in the machine that was Paldea before she took over. Until she could get rid of this region's need for Larrys and Professor Turos, she would still have a job herself It was as these musings occupied Geeta's mind instead of her upcoming meeting with the international police detachment that a knock came at her door. "Come in," Geeta invited calmly.
Two men filed in. One of them was one of Geeta's subordinates, but the other was a man dressed similarly to Looker. Seeing him brought a small headache to the Top Champion as she recalled her decision to bring the International Police into this matter. Looker had been an unexpectedly difficult man to corral. Geeta had assumed that Larry would be able to keep him under control, but she'd already had to step in once to make sure neither of them did anything to unnecessarily terrorize an innocent, even if he was Professor Turo's son. In the present moment, however, Geeta wanted to know why the man she wasn't supposed to meet for an hour was already here. "Urgent message, Ma'am," Her employee informed her. "Juliana has made a move."
"On the mountain?" Geeta asked, remembering that Looker had apparently fled to that area after his embarrassing failure at Uva Academy.
"At the Zero Gate. She's broadcasting to the entire region."
The Zero Gate? Despite being briefed on Juliana's words, Geeta hadn't expected Juliana to move so quickly. "Then shut it down," Geeta ordered. "You don't need my approval for that. Tell Larry to hurry up and do his job."
"We tried to shut it down, but it keeps getting rebroadcast. Both the academy and all of the Team Star locations are broadcasting. We can't shut them all out at once. Larry said he and Looker got overwhelmed by Juliana and retreated to meet up with Larry's reinforcements, but there's been no reported sightings of Looker since last night."
So Clavell had chosen to abide Juliana's antics. That betrayal would be one she'd be slow to forget. "Then blackout the cities," Geeta ordered.
"Iono refused our request," The man responded nervously. "She refused to allow an emergency broadcast to be blocked and went as far as to stream it. Cities we blacked out are seeing it through her."
Cursing silently, Geeta pulled out a phone. "What was the broadcast?"
The man in the suit stepped forward. "We recorded it, of course. Special agent Faller, subordinate to Looker, ma'am. Apologies for my boss's incompetence up to this point. Here's the video."
Geeta pressed play and was greeted by the face that had absorbed most of her thoughts for the past few days. Juliana was standing in front of the elevator to Area Zero with her miraidon behind her, using the backdrop of the Area Zero crater and the various computer screens behind her to make herself look more important.
"Hey there, Paldea Region! I'm Juliana, a student at Uva Acadamy! Sorry to bother you, but I have something important to announce! As you may have noticed, the mountain around Area Zero has a biiit of a crack in it. Well, don't panic, the mountain's not gonna collapse, because I did that! Before you get mad, let me explain. You can see those black teraite stones running through where the crack is, right? Well, they're all over the region, and if we don't find a way to release the power contained within them, then the whole regions gonna go up like vhooosh!" Juliana spread her arms out in an explosion that was decidedly inappropriate for what she was trying to convey.
"We're not going to have a home if we don't all pull together to stop this from happening, and I need everyone and the Paldea League's help to put a stop to this catastrophe. To do that, we need to go down into Area Zero to confront the source of the tera phenomenon directly. To do that, I'm going to need tera shards. Lots of tera shards. Like, more than I could ever feasibly obtain in a lifetime. But you guys, you awesome residents of Paldea, you can do it. So I'm announcing a new Treasure Hunt on behalf of the academy and the Paldea League! Go out there and collect as many tera shards as you can! IF you love the region as much as I do, do your part and find tera shards of every type! Bring them to the Paldea League, they'll know what to do with them, and when the time comes, we should be able to save this region." Juliana bowed her head.
"It's true that I'm asking a lot of everyone, but I really hope you want to save this region too! If you're doubtful, just think about it. It might not be a drastic change, but surely you've noticed that the wildlife in Paldea is suffering a bit more each day, that stronger and more dangerous tera dens have been popping up everywhere. This teraite is choking our land, and pretty soon we won't have places to live. I know you have a ton of questions, but I have to hurry if I want to make it to the bottom of Area Zero in time. Don't worry about me, I'll have my miraidon here to keep me company. You all just focus on the tera shards. I'll let Top Champion Geeta answer any questions you have about how things got to this point. We probably only have about a month to do this, so do your best, everyone! I promise I won't be the one to let you all down!" With that, the broadcast began to loop just as Geeta had been informed and the recording ended.
The assistant indicated their phone. "We've been getting call after call already asking where tera shards can be donated and whether this is legitimate. What should we be telling them?"
Geeta sat back in her chair, thinking hard. This callout could only mean that Juliana had figured out what was necessary to stop the tera phenomenon, or at least she'd been fed something to that effect. "We need damage control on this. Spread the word that the video is fake, that things are fine. If people want to donate, have them bring tera shards to the gym leaders for now and we'll figure out how to return them later. We'll need an official response within an hour. Prepare the conference room and postpone my meeting with the International Police team."
The man working under Geeta left, but the other man remained. Geeta eyed him suspiciously. "Is there more to report?"
"Agent Looker sent a file upload to our database several minutes before the broadcast went live. We're working on decrypting it now, but he included a message that essentially stated that he was following Juliana into Area Zero. We suspect that this may be under duress from Juliana."
"So it would seem," Geeta responded, far more interested in reality than the man's hypotheticals. There was nothing the police could get their hands on that Geeta couldn't explain away easily. "This video, did it broadcast to other regions?"
Faller nodded, his expression hardening. "This is going to become an international incident if you don't officially support her. The investigation will be passed to the higher ups and out of both of our hands. Juliana made a mistake in abducting one of our own."
Only then did the implications of what the man was saying dawn on Geeta. Had this been part of Looker's plan? He knew how his organization would likely react to his disappearance. So, your deduction led you to believe that I'm not to be trusted, agent Looker? Well, it's okay to be wrong sometimes. I suppose I did throw you off course by casting the first stone, didn't I?
The top champion chuckled to herself in spite of her company. Faller tilted his head. He'd been instructed that Geeta's actions were to be heavily scrutinized and reported on, but he hadn't expected her to respond so flippantly to a direct threat to her authority. The top champion rose from her seat, giving the agent in front of her a kind smile. "Well then, let's not keep the public waiting, Agent Faller. There's going to be much for both of us to do if we want to save this region from its savior."
