Dark 5.10: Informed Consent
Nanu
June 15, 2020
You aren't going to make people go into the desert for their trial. If Tapu Bulu wants to watch he can do it at the edge, near the village he decided to raze. The arena's parking lot is as run down as the rest of New Castelia. There probably were lines painted between parking spots, but they've long since faded and they don't matter anymore. There are never more than six cars in the lot. You, the challenger, the referee, maybe some friends or reporters or the people who run the blogs.
Bigger crowd than usual today. Greg's standing at the edge of the arena in his usual place. He nods at you and sends out his castform to cool things down. The new Channel 3 reporter whose name you don't know and Alex, the long-time cameraman for these battles, have their gear set up by the bleachers. They're suitably bundled up. Two unusual guests. One is fiddling with their smartphone and a bulky battery case. Other just has a notebook. Online people. Whatever. It's public property. Probably guessed whose third trial this could be and wanted to see one of this year's big shots. Not publishing the names in advance doesn't actually do much for anonymity. Notebook boy is in shorts and a t-shirt. He might regret that.
Shirona is huddled next to the challenger, the Gage girl, and another girl you don't recognize. Two of your headaches traveling with each other. Lovely. Shirona's not dressed for the cold but she's Sinnish. Probably doesn't give a shit. The challenger and the other girls with her are dressed formally. Anahuac formal, at least. Ankle-length black dress and a shin-length red one for the Gage girl and her friend. A red and orange poncho with a pokéball sash and a woven skirt for the challenger. Sash is new. You remember the poncho. That had been a pain to find. You would've picked out some basic clothes and been done with it. Never would've bothered finding an authentic wardrobe on a tight deadline with a busybody reviewing expense reports. Probably why you're not in charge anymore.
Shirona glares at you when you make eye contact. And keeps glaring until you're in a staring contest. You look away when she starts kind of scaring you. What'd you do to her? Nothing comes to mind. She's had dealings with Looker before but you've never been stationed in Sinnoh during her reign. They had you in Europe before you were moved back home to deal with the UB spike of '07.
When Joan arrives with her chansey you can finally begin.
"You all know why we're here. Me, Cuicatl Ichtaca, four pokémon, she gets one switch, try not to take it too seriously. Not your first grand trial and certainly not mine. Questions?"
Cuicatl takes a hesitant step closer to the arena and shakes her head. Right. Blind. The Gage girl helps her get the rest of the way into position before slipping off. Her hand lingers on Cuicatl's arm a little too long. They together? Good for them if they are. They've both come a long way.
"Cool. Greg?"
He clears his throat and his froslass and castform move into place. A cold wind runs through the arena before the air around the battlefield flickers and glows. It takes about ninety seconds for the aurora veil to get bright enough. Can't reliably use psychic barriers with all the dark attacks you're throwing around so you have to go this route. You could just battle in a giant concrete pit. There are enough abandoned pools in this town for it. You won't, though. The pit is Olivia's thing. Hala has his stage. Hapu has her island. You have an old asphalt field where the foundation is cracked into pieces and weeds somehow grow despite the constant battles. You'll let the other kahunas keep their gimmicks. You like your arena just fine.
Without further ado you toss out Grunge the grimer. They're older. Probably close to evolving. Good for opening a third trial.
Cuicatl reaches to her third pokéball on her sash - just a basic red and white — and sends out her lead without a word. Cool. Hasn't bought into the cult of showmanship.
A metang forms above the arena and looks down at Grunge. The robot put in good work against Hala and Olivia from the footage you watched. Shouldn't be as effective here.
"Minimize."
Grunge begins to shrink down with a gurgling noise. The metang slams down on top of them without a command. Telepathy? You suppose that isn't showing her cards. Metang can probably talk to any trainer.
The metang lifts themself back up again. Right. Situation at hand. She's been nice enough to bring her pokémon to yours. You should do something to take advantage.
"Knock off."
The metang slams down and splatters some of Grunge's body around. They start to retreat immediately after the impact. Doesn't matter. They're half-coated in Grunge's body. The sludge glows black and vibrates before the robot gets violently pushed back. They wobble in midair for a moment before standing still, awaiting orders. Grunge doesn't give Cuicatl the opportunity. They rocket up, cloaked in shadows, and hit the metang's underside. Shadow sneak. It's good they're taking initiative. Still a dumb play. The grimer is overextended, body stretched out like a pillar. The metang, predictably, drives straight through it. Spinning. Spraying Grunge's body everywhere. That's a painful lesson.
The sludge is still squirming in different puddles. Not too late to bring it back together.
"Shadow sneak."
The different piles fade out of reality for half a blink before coming together. Grunge has learned not to lunge up, just lightly striking the retreating metang. And then they stand there. Grunge's body pulsating, the metang floating and staring down with blank eyes. The only way the metang can be hurt is by attacking. Back where you started.
Except Grunge can set up and the metang probably can't.
"Minimize."
The metang slams back down and immediately takes a knock off for their troubles. They noticeably teeter while rising back up. Grunge probably isn't doing too much better after getting splattered across the battlefield. If Cuicatl had to bring a psychic type to the trial this wasn't the worst way to play it.
You glance at Cuicatl. With both pokémon being nearly silent and her not giving orders you can almost forget she's there. Her arms are crossed over her chest a little too tightly. Probably for warmth. Where'd she live before? Rainforest, desert, mountains? You're pretty sure you never learned.
After another two or three rounds of ramming and knock off Greg calls it. Grunge is just too spread out. You wish he let you take things until the end. Not many pokémon can actually end a match with a grimer. It would be a good lesson for this stage in the challenge. The metang floats towards their trainer. There's no visible damage on them. Just damage to their psionics. They'll be fine in a few days.
Whatever You can still win.
Or you won't.
It doesn't really make a difference.
You swap Grunge for Izzy as Cuicatl draws a nest ball. A tyrunt comes out. Huh. Not the ball-pokémon combination you would've expected. They have fossil balls or something, right? Pretty sure Olivia uses them for her main team. Izzy puffs herself up. The raticate's had a bad run of opponents lately. Probably glad that this one is smaller than her. Even if you don't like the odds.
You glance at the bleachers. Most of the spectators have leaned forward. Might be the only time they see one of these things in their life. The Gage girl cheers and Cuicatl blushes. Great. They are together. Or they will be soon. You remember love. It was nice. Then it wasn't. Now you only have the child support bills to remember it by.
Cuicatl clears her throat. "You know what to do."
The dinosaur lets out an unholy growl and charges Izzy down. The raticate puffs up and flashes her teeth for intimidation before the tyrunt lowers her head and rams her. Odd. You were expecting a bite. Then she starts pushing Izzy against the barrier, slamming into her with full-body strikes.
Is that close combat? You knew Dianthéa's could use it but she's a regional champion and—
Shirona.
Damn it.
"Knock off. Get some distance."
The rat presses back and staggers the tyrunt before the dino goes back in with fiery jaws wide open. Then it just turns into a biting match. Izzy's teeth are bigger. Tyrunt probably bite harder and have better armor. You don't find out who wins: Cuicatl orders a close combat and her pokémon remembers what she should have been doing. Izzy lashes out with wild scratches but it isn't enough.
Shame. Girl can't catch a break.
The tyrunt roars again for the crowd. There are bloody bite mark on her right flank and back. The exposed parts of her skin are covered in scratches. The crowd eats it up. Lots of clapping for a pokémon that hasn't finished the fight yet. You let the dino preen for a bit longer before sending Taylor out.
The persian holds his head high as he forms, barely giving his opponent a second glance. He's gotten arrogant lately. Thinks he can rely entirely on trickery to win his fights. Stopped practicing direct combat as much. You'll give him a chance to try that approach here. See how it works for him.
As soon as Greg says the round has begun, Taylor lunges forward, air whipping up around him. Cuicatl says something or other in Nahuatl and the tyrunt slams her tail on the ground… before the air hits her face. She staggers back, stunned, as Taylor keeps running forward. Ordinarily you'd order a night slash but if Taylor wants to play this way, well, you can oblige. "U-Turn."
"Xihuitl."
The tyrunt catches herself and swings her head around towards Taylor with embers dripping from her mouth. The persian slows awkwardly, clearly weighing whether to continue getting closer before realizing there's no time. He jumps, paw outstretched and swats at the dinosaur's head. He jumps back almost immediately, catching himself and running away. The tyrunt still manages to graze the cat's flank with her upper jaws. Some of the black fur around it ignites.
"Texcalli."
The tyrunt slams the ground with her tail and rocks begin to rise up around her and the rest of the arena. Small pebbles at first. Then more dust surrounds them and they just keep growing. There's an easy-enough way around that. One Taylor will like.
"Taunt."
You aren't sure exactly what pokémon say that offends anything that hears it so much they abandon all reason. You're told it has something to do with psionics, or inverse-psionics, or philosophy. Lila went on a lecture about the Triad of Mind and the essence of Darkness when you asked. Never made that mistake again. Just because Darkness is in your blood doesn't mean you care about the fine mechanics of why it works.
Just that it does.
Taylor's the best taunter of any persian you've used. That's a point in his favor.
Taylor seems to have no idea what to do when a very, very angry dinosaur is charging straight for him in a blind rage because of his taunt. A point against.
(In fairness, it took a lot of learning under fire before you could keep your cool in that kind of situation.)
The persian runs. The tyrunt chases. Cuicatl tries a few orders in Nahuatl that get ignored. Is that the rage? Is the taunt messing with her telepathic link? You decide to shut her down when she closes her eyes and looks like she's focusing hard. Don't want to find out whether she can negate taunts.
"Snarl."
Snarl is supposed to be intimidating. The effect is undercut by the persian practically shrieking it out while an overgrown bird keeps chasing him in circles. It still causes Cuicatl to visibly flinch. Good. You'll keep the tricks to yourself.
"U-turn."
Taylor changes his gait and transitions into a backflip, claws fully extended and ready to tear into the tyrunt.
"Bite! Fire!" Cuicatl calls, language tricks abandoned. You're guessing that her pokémon don't understand Nahua commands. She's just using them as a smokescreen for her telepathy. But if her telepathy's down, well. Don't try to trick a trickster.
Something gleams in her tyrunt's eye at the order. She opens up her jaws and holds her head up in the air, waiting for persian to arrive like a young bird waiting on treats from mama. Taylor tries to change direction but he's already in midair. There's nothing to get leverage against. He slashes the tyrunt across the face before powerful jaws clamp down on his shoulder and fire engulfs his fur. He shrieks in pain and blindly slashes but nothing gets the tyrunt to let go. She shudders when claws enter the bite wound on her side but stays latched on.
Trickery is useful for setting up the best possible circumstances for a fight. But, as Taylor is learning, you still have to actually be able to win that fight.
You'll throw him a bone. You go through the steps of the dark z-dance without any particular urgency. You love Taylor like you all of your persian. Doesn't mean you'll bail them out immediately whenever they get themselves into trouble.
"Snarl," you order at the end of the dance. This time Taylor sounds suitably intimidating. An empty void forms in front of him and the tyrunt's grip finally loosens enough for him to slink out. Loose pebbles, torn up weeds, and the few stealth rocks the tyrunt set start drifting towards the black hole eclipse. The tyrunt tries to run after Taylor but finds herself slowly, inexorably drawn back. Then it ends. The black hole bursts in a pulse of darkness and the tyrunt stumbles forward again.
Cuicatl looks like she really needs to puke. She keeps standing tall like nothing's wrong, like her face isn't twisted up and almost the same shade as her hair. Maybe that was a bit rough on her. Maybe you should give her a break after what she's been through. None of this actually matters.
Nah.
Messing with kids is fun.
Only thing you like about the damn job.
Taylor takes the moment to lick his wound and look at you for further directions. He doesn't see the tyrunt slam into his other shoulder with close combat, knocking him to the ground. That was a weak Z-move. Only logical couldn't keep the tyrunt down for long. Taylor hisses and scratches back, even flings out a weak fake out, but the tyrunt is relentless with close combat and biting. Cuicatl isn't even giving orders at this point. Just trying to catch her breath. The round is over before too long. Taylor just looks relieved that no one is biting her anymore.
Cuicatl's little dragon doesn't look too much better off. She still puffs herself up for the crowd but there's blood staining the feathers on her mane and shallow cuts all over her body. The bite wounds are still bleeding.
An injured metang and tyrunt plus a badly wounded vulpix and whatever her fourth is. Plus a Z-move. Might be enough. Might not be. You wouldn't mind making her stick around for another two weeks. Better odds she finds something worth staying in Alola for. Better odds that she won't want to go home when this is finished.
It'll make it easier for her in the long run.
There's a lot of things you lose sleep over. She isn't one of them. You'd still like it if she beat the odds, if she was the one in a million who finds her happy ending. Doesn't mean you'll just roll over and give her everything she wants. She wants the win? Fine. She can claw it away from you.
You let out Adrian and watch the cat roar. Showoff. Just like all the other incineroar you've cared for. As soon as Greg starts the round you snap twice. He rears back before slamming his forepaws to the ground and sending out a shockwave. The concrete groans and trembles as the earthquake expands. Cuicatl orders something, you can't hear it over the noise, and a few of the stones start to lift up. She's not even trying to win the round, huh? Just set up for the next one. Fine. You'll see if she can land the final blow or if she'll choke at the end like Taylor.
The tyrunt falls flat on her face after maybe twenty seconds and is promptly withdrawn.
Adrian mugs for the crowd, although he doesn't quite get the same response as the tyrunt did. Incineroar are a dime a dozen on these islands. Although they are cats. That means they deserve all of the love in the world and more.
So far Cuicatl's been two-for-two with carnivores. Three-for-three with the vulpix. Apex predators, even. The ninetales is the least scary member of her team once they're fully evolved. That hasn't escaped your notice. All you could really pin down about the girl's team is that she probably had a hydreigon and a reuniclus. Seems the hydreigon wasn't a fluke. Girl loves her monsters. You'll see how long they love her for. Dragon tamers are always playing a game of dominance with their team, never letting their pokémon really sit down and think about why they're listening to a tiny mammal. The correct way to play that game is, of course, not fucking playing it. No one is forcing you to. Just. Don't. That way Interpol doesn't have to take down your rampaging dragons after they've eaten you.
Cuicatl pulls out her final ball and takes a deep breath. A net ball. Water-type? Bug-type? It'd be hilarious if she saved her bug-type for the dark kahuna's incineroar. She hits the release and a surprisingly large silhouette forms. "Go, Leo." The red light fades and shows a small golisopod. Well, small by golisopod standards. Probably no more than six feet tall. Guess she's putting you on the back foot after all.
The moment that Greg starts the round Leo rockets forwards without being ordered. They shoulder check Adrian at high speed and send them both falling to the ground. First impression. A good hit. Probably won't work again.
"Flare."
Adrian pushes himself back up and shoulder checks Leo himself, all while a corona of flames builds around him. The bug hisses and flexes his arms. The largest limbs disappear in a rapidly moving current of water. He wraps them around the incineroar in a bear (bug?) hug and starts digging gouges into the fire-type's back. Adrian keeps pushing forward with a blazing tackle that gradually pushes Leo back towards Cuicatl's end of the field.
"Break."
Brick break? What's her—oh. Break away. Leo stops his hug and slams his razor shell boosted arms into Adrian before turning tail and scurrying to his trainer's side of the arena. Adrian doesn't follow. It's hard to tell how deep the cuts are under his fur. At least the golisopod didn't target beneath the belt. The open flames are an unfortunate weakness.
Adrian goads his opponent by pantomiming tears. Leo just stays prone on the ground, hiding beneath his armor while awaiting orders. Cuicatl's being slow with those. Can she even see what's going on? She's probably reliant on her pokémon to tell her things. That's exploitable.
"Menace." Darkest lariat.
Adrian charges forward, darkness pooling around his arms. The golisopod launches out of his position with another first impression. This time Adrian rolls with the blow before spinning past Leo. His fists slam into the bug multiple times during the spin. Each time you can see Cuicatl twitch a little. Good. You can keep her truly blind.
"Flare."
"Wall."
Adrian launches into another tackle as Leo just turns around and shows his back. He barely even budges when the flare blitz collides. Adrian hisses in pain. Odd Iron defense? Before you can think of a plan the golisopod turns around and slams a razor shell attack into Adrian's sternum. Again, missing the weak point. A second razor shell strikes again before the incineroar regains his composure and charges. This time there's not really a distinct move behind it. He just grabs the golisopod's sides and tries to grapple him to the ground. Leo tries to turn but he's held in place.
Cuicatl frowns. Ah, right. Better put a stop to whatever she's planning.
"Keep it up. Menace."
He continues to try and hold the struggling golisopod while pumping dark energy into his fists. Cuicatl takes a stumbling step back and raises a hand to her head. Good. The bug's on his own. When he next tries to break free Adrian uses the movement to force him off his feet and onto the ground. The moment he's down Adrian raises up his hands and pummels them down in a devastating darkest lariat. He knows how to fight without being ordered. Golisopod probably don't. They're ambush predators that are used to running away the moment something doesn't go according to plan. If you just don't say anything Cuicatl will have no idea what's going on and Adrian can finish the fight.
Adrian lights up with another flare blitz before tackling the downed golisopod. In desperation Leo strikes up with a razor shell… and strikes Adrian directly on the belt. Your cat howls in anguish even as the flare blitz connects and knocks the golisopod onto his back. They aren't quite turtles but that's still got to be a bad position to recover from, right? Unfortunately, it seems that the bug has learned. Even as Adrian's flames grow brighter and brighter, even as you can see scorch marks start to form on his shell, he wraps all of his spindly legs around Adrian and starts pounding him in the crotch with razor shells. Every one earns a roar until the incineroar finally gives up and lashes out with a final darkest lariat before prying himself free and leaping away with a u-turn.
The golisopod takes a moment to get onto his belly as you consider your options. Melee with a physical water-type is dangerous. Adrian's flames are still going strong but you don't want to find out how long that will last for. Despite the burns you're not actually sure that the golisopod is hurt, either. The darkest lariats probably dealt some damage through the armor. Physical force might as well have been useless. You really wish you had a persian out instead of an incineroar. Even a sableye or murkrow might be better.
Cuicatl reacts first, somehow. "Mud."
Muddy water? Mud slap? Mud shot?
Mud shot. Leo digs into the ground underneath him, already torn up by earthquake and dampened by razor shells, and launches a blast of mud at Adrian. He dodges, mostly, but some still hits his side and smothers the flames where it clings to the skin. Well. No choice but to get in there again.
"Darkest lariat."
Adrian ignores the dampened flames and runs forwards again. The golisopod leaps forward, too, all while staying low to the ground. He collides with Adrian's legs, knocking him over as the two fly past each other. The incineroar flips head over heels and crashes to the ground while Leo pivots, turns, and scuttles back in with razor shells at the ready. Adrian manages to catch himself and reach out with darkest lariat covered fists to catch the attack before it can hit his belt. For several seconds the two stand there, crouching down, hands pressed together like a high-stakes arm wrestling match. Then Adrian starts pushing the golisopod back. It's slow, incremental work until it isn't: the golisopod abruptly falls onto his back, dragging Adrian forward with him. His hindleg lashes out, cloaked in water, and slams directly into Adrian's crotch. The two struggle together, rolling to the side as Adrian pummels the golisopod with darkest lariats and Leo keeps kicking the incineroar's flames.
Cuicatl is looking real uneasy on her feet. Your only hope of victory is that she decides this isn't worth the pain before Adrian gives up. She takes out her cane and flicks it to its full length. A flimsy thing. Not really enough to hold her weight. Still a little support while her pokémon takes dark attack after dark attack.
Adrian suddenly bellows and holds a hand to his head. He roars out a cry that probably makes the audience think he's dying. He's not. Just calling it quits. You withdraw him once he's done with his display. The golisopod gets to his feet, glances at you, and turns towards his trainer. When the aurora veil falls he tries to prop her up. You're pretty sure she groans. Any normal trainer would've called it the moment they were getting hurt, too. Fine line between being brave, stupid, and a masochist. You're actually not sure there's a line at all. Anyway, she's at least one of those things.
You walk over the torn-up battlefield. Probably wouldn't be safe to cross without military-grade boots. Thankfully you still have a few pairs that do the trick.
She looks like shit up close. Just like you remember. Paler than usual, arms shaking, eyes closed. Sucks. Best she figured out that weakness before a guzzlord comes for her. Lila learned that the hard way.
"You have your registration?"
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the small book with a trembling hand. You stamp it and hand it back with the darkinium z-crystal. "Think twice before using that," you whisper to her. "Lila always hated that one."
Cuicatl nods a fraction of an inch. That's all the acknowledgment you get. Now this is like old times. Even when she understood what you were saying she never really bothered to respond in any visible way. Sometimes she'd reach out to Looker with telepathy. He hated it. The touch was painful and her words were garbled. Even the ones he understood didn't make sense in context.
You look at the bleachers. Shirona looked unhappy before the battle. Now she looks absolutely murderous. Your hand drifts towards your holster on instinct before you stop yourself. "Show's over. Go home."
Only the Gage girl moves. She gets up to hug her girlfriend while the other girl frowns. Mad at you? Jealous? Who knows? Who cares? The news people and bloggers check their tapes or notes. You turn around and power walk towards your car. Whatever the Sinnish champion has to say, you don't want to hear it.
Doesn't make a difference. Her garchomp rushes past you and blocks the door to your car. You turn around to see her walking with the slow, deliberate gait of a predator moving to finish off their injured prey.
"Do you hate all fallers," she asks, "or just her?"
Shit. That's what she's upset about. No point playing dumb. She's too smart for that. You still can't think up what a good response would be. So you just shut the fuck up. Years as a cop taught you that's usually the best course of action when you're in trouble.
"Tell me, how are you any different than the monster the Gages hired? The one who's going to die in prison."
"I didn't do it," you finally mutter. "That was Looker and Tapu Lele. And she was going to do it whatever anyone said."
She crosses her arms. "Perhaps. You could have still told Cuicatl what happened. You did not. In fact, you spent your first meeting after the fact deliberately causing her harm."
"Girl could've dropped her links. That's on her."
Shirona doesn't act like she even heard that. You're not actually sure it was true, anyway. You've never really cared about psionics since you're immune and all.
"One of us is going to tell her. Do you want it to be me or you?"
Figured she was going there. Always struck you as someone who did what was 'right' over what was smart.
"Why?"
"Excuse me?"
"How would that help her. Doesn't bring anything back. Just causes an existential crisis for no gain. Seen it more times than I'd like."
Her eyes narrow. "That girl has almost killed herself attempting to get back family members who don't exist. She will continue to plunder Alola if she isn't told. Is that not reason enough?"
"And if she wasn't with VStar for that, she'd be with VStar for feeding her tyrantrum. Doesn't make a difference in the end."
She keeps glaring but doesn't counter the point. Knows she's lost that argument. She'll still probably do it out of justice or whatever. Not your fault if she drives the kid over the edge in the process.
"You know we didn't just do it for fun, right?" you ask her. "Kid comes out dying of starvation with only six broken pokéballs. And her prize for powering through all that? She barely remembered her own name. Could barely even move under her own power. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink. Sometimes she'd ramble on about dragons to people who weren't there. She'd somehow fucked up her neural pathways seven ways to Sunday. This? It's better. She's living. She has things to work towards. She can interact with people outside of nails-on-a-chalkboard telepathy. Someday she'll need to learn, but only after she's built something real for herself."
"And after that you just tossed her out, alone and penniless?"
"Would you have rather we hired actors to pretend to know her? We used to do that. Fallers never took that well."
"You could have," she pauses. "No, you should have fixed the brain damage, told her what happened, and sent her to Lila. Let her rebuild her life in a supportive environment rather than having years of lies thrust upon her."
"Lila forced our hand there. They would've flipped the fuck out if they found out we were going to do anything to her brain at all. Couldn't just tell them after the fact.
They actually did flip the fuck out. Tapu Lele had to remove that memory. Their own damn fault for trying to yell at a goddess.
"Does Selene know about this?"
You can't help but roll your eyes. "Does she need to? Kid takes challenges, helps out Interpol, does PR appearances. You really want a preteen governing?"
She doesn't answer because she knows you have her beat. Shirona Karashina tried to govern for a time. That's the reason that kid champions are kept powerless these days.
"Am I being detained?" You flick your head towards her garchomp. "I have places to be."
She crosses her arms. A stray gust of wind picks up her bangs and shows the nasty scar over her missing eye. "I'm going to call Cuicatl over and you're going to tell her everything you know about who she was and what you did to her."
"Look. Kid seems to have a good thing going. Three grand trials in the bag, a solid team, even a goddamn girlfriend. Do you want to risk ruining everything for her by dropping this onto her lap?"
The garchomp growls behind you and you freeze in place. What'd you do to piss her off?
"I assure you, the kid is not okay," Shirona says in an almost unnaturally level voice. "Perhaps she would be if she'd had a supportive guardian and therapy from the start. Not just people who lied to her and then threw her out into the wilds without a pokémon or a friend."
"We usually just keep them in house. Worked out with Lila. Never had a minor wander through before." Not while you've been on the force, anyway. "Fine. We fucked it up. Bound to happen on the first try. There. Happy?"
She does not look happy. Ugh. You're pretty sure she's staying with Cuicatl to help her with her Class V. Can you use that to stall for time?
"If you're going to tell her, don't do it now. Wait until she has the licensing she needs to keep her pokémon before breaking her world, okay?"
The champion takes a deep breath. She rises onto the balls of her feet and puffs her chest like a pokémon trying to appear larger to intimidate a rival away. "Have. Everything. Then. Everything you learned from talking with her, everything she had on her person, every rationale for every decision that was made. Everything. All of it. If you're even a second late or a document short I will make you regret it. Are we clear?"
"Crystal."
She turns on her heel and whistles. Her garchomp springs into action, shoulder checking you and knocking you to the ground as she follows her master. Bastard. When you pull yourself off the ground you realize that the damn lizard slashed up the side of the truck. Probably on purpose, too.
Should you tell Lila? Might be better if they hear your version before Shirona's. But then you'd be stuck in close quarters with an angry Lila. An angry Lila who just caught a metagross. Phone call, maybe? Yeah. That should do it. You'll take a vacation off the island for a week while you wait for them to calm down. No. They'd probably just tell Cuicatl early and defeat the point. Probably best to just let Shirona assume you read Lila in on it without actually doing it. You will need to let Looker know to get everything out of storage. Then maybe let him handle that talk. You were retired when everything went down, anyway. Really just did some grunt work for them.
The car still starts. It still drives. You get the fuck out of the ruined town before the woman and her dragon can change their minds.