Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 11, Chapter 1

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Saito and Louise stared in silent shock at the television. Every news channel in the region, as well as several from overseas, were stating the same thing: the Cyllage City Prison had a mass breakout involving hundreds of Team Flare operatives. It all seemed to click into place.

"Those clever bastards…" Derflinger muttered. Louise and Saito shot him a look, but Derflinger looked them right back straight in the eye. "Don't give me that. You were both wondering exactly what they were doing attacking Cyllage, and now we know. They attacked the city to divert resources from the prison so they could stage a breakout. A classic distraction so they could nab the real prize."

Louise scrunched her face, then looked back at the TV. "So, this was their plan all along. They attacked Cyllage not despite it being an extremely visible action, but because of it. Everyone was so focused on stopping them here they didn't think to check elsewhere. As loathe as I am to admit it," Louise sighed and shook her head, "the sword is right. It was brilliant."

"Wait, hold on," Saito interjected, "they lost more people today than they gained from the breakout. How was that brilliant?"

"The people they lost, Saito, were likely considered expendable by their leadership," Derflinger explained, harkening back to centuries of experience. "People who they felt were weak, uncontrollable, or other such undesirables, whereas the people in the prison were likely experienced veterans."

"Quality over quantity," Louise added, crossing her arms and leaning back into her raised bed.

"Yeah, well…" Saito paused, trying to think of ways to further his argument, then snapped his fingers. "The publicity. Police were already after the remnants of Flare before this. Now, undoubtedly a lot more people and resources are being thrown into finding them."

"Bingo," Derflinger agreed, causing Saito and Louise to look at him in mild confusion. "Don't get me wrong, the plan itself was smart. But here's something you need to realize about criminals and terrorists and what-not. They usually aren't the best at long term planning. Sure, they might lay low for a while, wait for the heat to die down, but by doing this they've made themselves public enemy number one. They hurt a lot of people today, and people won't forget that. Team Flare might have won the battle, but if they keep doing things like this, they'll lose the war. Back in the day, there were many teams of bandits, some of them acting exactly like the modern Team Flare. Every single one of them were destroyed, partly because of their own hubris."

Louise and Saito looked at Derflinger as a silence fell over them. The more they thought about it, the more it made sense and they came around to his way of thinking. Derflinger noticed this and nodded by moving his hilt up and down inside his sheath.

"So, don't put yourselves down, 'kay? We lost here, and it sucks. But, don't let this defeat control what comes next. Next time Flare makes a move, people will be ready."

"We'll be ready," Louise added. Saito shot her a look, and she felt a blush creep over her. "Only if we're in the immediate area, mind you! I don't intend to seek them out."

Saito stared at her for a moment longer, then nodded. "That's what I figured. It's not like we're wanting them to keep popping up around us."

He got up out of his seat and stretched, then turned to face Louise. "Well, I'm going to go downstairs and get us some of that delicious hospital food. Want anything?"

"Hmm," Louise hummed, tapping her chin. "I can't think of anything now. How about I text you when I can?"

"Eh, about that…" Saito nervously chuckled, scratching his cheek. Louise stared at him, confused as to his reaction, then her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Saito… Where's your Pokédex?" she asked. Saito laughed half-heartedly, feeling everyone's eyes on him.

"I, uh… I lost it," he whispered, hoping that Louise couldn't hear him. Unfortunately to the Unovan boy, she did. Louise breathed in softly, then closed her eyes and counted to ten.

"When did you lose it?" she asked.

"…at the beginning of the attack."

"You mean to tell me that, for the entire time, you didn't have your Pokédex? The only way for us to communicate?"

"…yes…"

"By the Founder…" Louise grumbled and rubbed her forehead. "Okay, go talk to Nurse Joy. Maybe she found it. Then you can get us some food, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," Saito said as he hurried out of the room. She and the Pokémon watched him go, and when the doors closed behind him, she rolled her eyes.

"Honestly…" Louise sighed then turned back to the tv. Despite its morbid nature, she couldn't help but feel enraptured by it. Her thoughts drifted back to her home country, how similar events would have likely played out. Had bandits attacked a village, it would have taken days for news to reach the capital, weeks for the rest of the country to follow suit. Here, people knew of it in a matter of minutes. It was astounding, really. A lot of things in Kalos were, the more she learned about them.

In the corner, Derflinger watched Louise with a careful eye. She remained slightly oblivious to what was going on outside of this room, but not him. A dark, sickly feeling was building in his gut, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. Or perhaps he simply didn't want to consider the possibility? Sometimes, it was hard to figure out which was which.

'I hope I'm wrong. I really, really hope I'm wrong,' he thought to himself, despite knowing it was futile.


"Geez, a lot of cops here," Saito noted as he made his way down to the Pokémon Center's reception desk. Indeed, there were many uniformed officers prowling the halls, many of them wearing riot gear. It made traversing the halls difficult, often having to shimmy around groups of officers who were too busy to notice him. Manectrics and Arcanines were sniffing out rooms and various small items, searching for something or someone. Saito had no idea what was going on, but he figured he'd find out after he got his Pokédex back.

"Uh, hello? Nurse Joy?" he called out once he finally got to the desk. To his confusion, it was empty. Saito waited patiently regardless, tapping his fingers against the desk while swiveling his head around to find her. When he didn't see anyone, Saito leaned over the desk to get a better look. Again, he saw no one, and he was starting to get worried.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he noticed a suspicious lack of staff. Where was everyone? The only people he could see were patients, trainers, and police officers. Not any clerks, not any nurses, and especially not Nurse Joy. They were here when he arrived, and that was only a few hours ago. Something was wrong, and he didn't like it.

A thought began to build in his head, thinking back to the tests Louise said the nurses made her go through. Those tests were very extensive. Suspiciously so. Before he could ruminate on it any further, however, he heard a flurry of steps as Nurse Joy finally entered the room. Her hair was slightly frazzled, and her white apron and pink dress had slightly brown stains on the front in splotches. Saito chalked it up to dirt and sighed in relief.

"I am so sorry," Nurse Joy said as she settled in, dusting off her apron.

"Everything alright?" Saito asked, seeing the nervous look on Nurse Joy, but she shook her head.

"No, no. Everything's fine, was just helping the police with an investigation." Nurse Joy settled into her professional stance. "How can I help you?"

Saito nodded, then stepped away from the desk. "Yeah, I'm afraid that I lost my Pokédex here before the…you know. Did anyone…?"

"Oh, yes actually! One of our staff found it and turned it in after everything calmed down," Nurse Joy explained as she walked into the back room. She rummaged through a box, and a moment later she came out with a blue Unovan-style Pokédex.

"Yes, that's it," Saito called out as he held out his hand.

"You need to be more careful about these," Nurse Joy chastised as she placed the device in Saito's hands. "Your Pokédex contains your trainer id, bank information, data about your Pokémon, and more. Who knows what someone could've done with one of these?"

"I know, I know," Saito replied, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "My friend already laid into me about it."

"Ms. Vallière, right?" Nurse Joy asked. Saito nodded, and the nurse nodded back. "How is she? Her toxicity levels were fairly high."

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. Wasn't helped by…certain individuals." Saito frowned, scrunching his face, but he shook those thoughts aside. "But she's better now. We got to her in time."

"Good, good," Nurse Joy breathed out. "Were there any complications post-treatment?"

"Colorblindness," Saito answered. "Speaking of, where would we-?"

"I'll write you a prescription right now," Nurse Joy preemptively answered, pulling out a slip of prescription paper. Saito happily took it, then prepared to walk towards the center's food court. Then he stopped and turned to face Nurse Joy.

"Hey, uh, quick question. About the whole Toxapex thing," he called out, catching Nurse Joy's attention.

"Uh, yes? What do you need to know?" she asked, suddenly gaining a nervous disposition. Saito's eyes narrowed, and he stepped over to her.

"Is this center overly-stringent about how they test the effects of Toxapex antivenom?" he asked. "Because, from what my friend told me, they used standards phased out a decade ago. Kind of excessive, actually. Why was that?"

Nurse Joy didn't answer, but Saito could see her face begin to pale. He narrowed his eyes in response, and that dark thought from before came springing back up. She knew something, something that she didn't want to talk about. Normally he would have left it at that, but right now that 'something' concerned his best friend. He had a right to pry.

"Nurse Joy, why do I get the feeling you don't want to talk about this?" he accused, narrowing his eyes towards her increasingly nervous expression.

"I, uhh…" she stammered, causing Saito's suspicion to increase. "I'm not at liberty to say."

"Really, now?" Alarm bells rang loudly in Saito's head. Each passing moment was fuel to the fire, and Saito began to feel anger bubbling from within his gut. He prepared to step forward again, only to feel a firm hand clasp atop his shoulder. Surprised, Saito looked up to see a familiar face looking down on at him from behind a pair of sunglasses.

"Hello, Mr. Hiraga. Fancy seeing you again so soon," Agent Smith greeted. "Let's talk."


Part of Louise wondered what Saito was going to get her. She was starving, to be honest with herself, and after spending a few months in Kalos she was beginning to get a taste for Kalosian cuisine. Fast food, too, not that she liked to admit that. She knew that it was bad for her, but it tasted so good.

"I hope it's a burger," she said aloud.

"Oh, burgers would be nice," Derflinger replied, a noticeable glee to his voice. Louise, however, gave him a look.

"You can't even eat anything," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but I can smell. Burgers smell nice."

"…True." Louise nodded. She could accept that. The smell of crackling burgers over the grill was always a nice smell to hang over the camp at night. "Ooh, and fries!"

Brennaraki perked up at the mention of fries. Her head swiveled, trying to find the snack in question, but to her disappointment there was none. She narrowed her eyes and gave Louise a frown before going back to sleep, grumbling under her breath. Noticing this, Louise couldn't help but chuckle. Her starter always did like having fries fed to her.

Louise then heard the door handle jiggle, and with a smile she turned to face it. That smile evaporated almost instantly, as instead of seeing Saito enter the room carrying food, it was instead Saito being escorted inside by an eerily calm Agent Smith. Without saying a word, the two men entered the room, with Agent Smith closing the door behind him. A heavy silence fell over the group as Louise and her now-completely awake Pokémon team stared at Saito and Agent Smith.

"Uh, Agent Smith," Louise finally said.

"Ms. Vallière," Smith replied. He took stock of the room, then settled back on her. "Toxapex venom. Nasty stuff. I trust you're alright?"

"Yes, actually. Can't see colors, but other than that, I can't really complain," she admitted. That was only possible thanks to over an hour of talking with Saito and was still a sore subject with her. But, given who Agent Smith worked for, Louise figured being professional was of the utmost importance.

"Good, good. Glad everything's alright." Agent Smith walked towards the window, opening the blinds slightly with his fingers. Another silence fell over the room, and neither Saito nor Louise knew exactly what to say. Finally, Derflinger had enough and coughed.

"So, Mr. Scary-Agent-Dude," Derflinger joked, causing Saito and Louise to shoot their heads towards the Honedge with a look that screamed 'what are you doing,' "what's all this about?"

"This," Smith replied, nonplussed to the fact that the Honedge was speaking, "is about what just transpired. What has been transpiring, in fact."

Smith turned around, simultaneously staring both Saito and Louise in the eyes. "For the past few months, a series of incidents has transpired that has caught both my and my superior's attention. A Beedrill Mega Evolving without the presence of a keystone in Santalune Forest. A raid for Pokémon Eggs against the Rivière Daycare involving a resurgent and organized Team Flare. The attempted theft of Pokémon fossils and fossil revitalization equipment from Ambrette Town. Finally, we have a majority of known Flare cells, previously working in isolated groups, banding together to amass an attack on Cyllage City, causing millions of Pokédollars in damages just to stage a breakout of the nearby prison complex. Do you know what every single one of those events had in common?"

Agent Smith took off his sunglasses, boring them deep into the young trainers' eyes. Both Saito and Louise already knew the answer, and Smith knew they did, too.

"They all involved you," he finished, placing his hands on the rim of Louise's bed to push himself up. "Once is an accident. Twice is coincidence. Three times is a pattern, and Arceus forbid there's a fourth. So, I dug in. Gathered the available information, and what I find concerning you two was very interesting. Mr. Hiraga here is nothing special. Your typical run of the mill Unovan trainer who just started late. Got a special exemption to normal League rules to transfer his first gym badge over when his family moved, due to the League being desperate, but otherwise pretty plain. Normal, really."

Part of Saito felt insulted by what Smith was saying, but when Smith turned his head to stare at Louise, any complaints he might have had evaporated.

"You, Ms. Vallière, on the other hand, are very interesting. Showed up completely out of the blue a little over three months ago in Lumiose under the care of Augustine Sycamore, working as his intern. Prior to that date, there were no birth certificates, no medical records, schools transcripts. Nothing. At all. At first, I thought maybe she was a recent immigrant. After she, she does tell people she came from another country, so I reached out to various connections I had across the world. Asked for information pertaining to you. Same story. No records of any kind. It's as though you just showed up out of nowhere, in an alley in Lumiose, in the middle of the night."

By now, Louise's skin had gone completely pale. Her hands were shaking, her mouth felt dry, and her eyes were narrowed into pinpricks. At the same time, her Pokémon were taking protective stances before her and both Saito and Derflinger were rigid, staring into Agent Smith's head. No one said a word, and finally Louise gulped.

"What… What are you trying to imply?" she asked, her stomach threatening to burst.

"I'm implying, Ms. Vallière, several things," Smith coldly replied. "None of which are good for you. So, here's what's going to happen. You, and your friend, are going to tell me everything. Otherwise, I get some of the men and women of the Cyllage Police Department to have you two arrested on suspicions of being an illegal alien and connection to the Team Flare attacks."

Saito and Louise stared at Agent Smith in horror. Both of them knew that he was being serious, but neither of them knew how to respond. Their silence, apparently, wasn't getting on Smith's nerves. Indeed, he simply looked at both of them with an eerily calm expression, patiently waiting for a response.

"You…can't be serious?" Saito finally said with an offended tone. "You…think we're members of Team Flare?"

"Possibly," Smith admitted, turning his attention to Saito.

"But…we fought against them! Stopped them, even!"

"For which the people of Kalos are grateful," Smith shot back. "But I have to wonder why you were there each and every time something happened."

"Coincidence! You think we wanted to have to fight Team Flare?!" Saito was yelling now, completely and utterly infuriated at the baseless accusations thrown against him and his friend. "And what gives you the bright idea that, after everything we've been though, we could possibly be members of Team Flare?!"

"For all I know, you two could be part of rival cells to the ones headed by Maxwell Fletcher and Joshua Carnegie. Your efforts against them could simply be attempts to ensure your independence."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Saito yelled. Smith didn't care, coldly staring into Saito's infuriated and reddened face.

"Keep yelling. That'll prove your innocence." He turned back to Louise. "So, what's it going to be, Ms. Vallière?"

Louise stared into Smith's eyes. Her body was shaking now, but whether it was from anger or fear, she didn't quite know. Probably both if she was being honest. Before she could even answer, however, Smith nodded and stood upright, putting his sunglasses back on. He seemed to have taken her silence as her answer and was now walking out the door.

He was going to have them arrested. Arrested for things they didn't do. Red-hot fury built inside her, and just as Smith prepared to open the door, likely sealing their fate, Louise had enough.

"Wait!" she shouted, causing the INTERPOL agent to stop in his tracks. "How dare you. How dare you baselessly accuse me and my friend of wrongdoing. We have done nothing wrong, our honor is unstained, so for you to come in here threatening to have us arrested for something we didn't do is beyond the pale."

Smith said nothing, instead nodding to himself and turning to face her. "There's a quick way to prove me wrong."

Louise scowled at the man. In that moment, she didn't think she ever hated someone so strongly. Yet, whether she liked it or not, he had her in a vice grip. Either she gives in to his outrageous demands and give him what he wanted, something her pride demanded that she not do, or she refuses to comply and gets herself and Saito arrested. Every part of her being was yelling at her to spit in his face, to refuse him, but then she looked at Saito. She saw the righteous fury in his eyes, but behind them she saw fear. He was scared, not for him but for her. Could she truly live with herself if, by sticking to what her pride demanded, her friend hurt? She looked at her Pokémon to see the same expression on their faces. Could she dare to let herself be separated from them, to let them down after everything they've been though?

After a moment, she found that she couldn't. Louise sighed, looked down, and turned back to face Agent Smith.

"Alright," she finally said, sharp steel ringing in her voice. "I'll tell you everything."

Agent Smith turned around, not noticing Saito's and Derflinger's shocked expressions. He nodded towards her, then sat down on a chair. Smith was patiently waiting for her to continue, tapping his fingers together. Louise starred him down, breathing in and out repeatedly, then began to talk.

She told him everything. How she wasn't born in Kalos, nor any other country on Earth, for instead she was born into a noble family in the kingdom of Tristain from another world. When he expressed disbelief of that, she showed him a small taste of her magic by Saito showing the agent video footage they had shot on his Pokédex during her practice sessions with magic. Derflinger's testimony was further proof of it, which naturally raised the question of why she was here. Louise explained the concept of the familiar summoning ritual from her homeworld, how her magic tried to pull a resident of Earth much to Arceus' ire. Her explanation of her time in the Hall of Origin was, admittedly, the hardest part for him to believe, but thanks to the assistance of Esprit and Maindo, who was reluctantly dragged in, he was able to see the encounter. Saito was, too, and he had to admit it was a breathtaking sight. Awe inspiring, really.

After that, she continued on to explain how she was dropped off in an alleyway inside Lumiose in the middle of the night. Professor Sycamore happened to come across her then offered his home to her. She explained how she met Brennaraki, how he gave her the Beedrillite to deliver to Viola in Santalune, how her natural Void magic intermixed with the energy her body absorbed during her trek through Ultra Space. That mixture confused the Beedrillite, causing it to think, for lack of a better word, that she was the keystone, hence the spontaneous Mega Evolution.

"After that, I decided to continue travelling. That winning the Pokémon League was the best way for me to get home. Every time we've come across Team Flare has been nothing more than a coincidence. We went to the Rivière Daycare to sightsee, only to have to fight for our lives. Saito and I were coming back from dinner when Auspice led us to the Ambrette Fossil museum, and I was stupid enough to run in without waiting for the police. I don't even have to explain what happened here. We were just as surprised as everyone else," Louise finished explaining. "Agent Smith, I don't know if you believe me or not, and frankly I don't really care. About you or your opinion. But I'm telling the truth."

Agent Smith said nothing, interlocking his hands into a pyramid as he absorbed and contemplated everything Louise had revealed to him. His mind was running a mile-a-minute, and it was only thanks to years upon years of experience that he was able to comprehend it at all.

"Okay," he finally said.

"Okay?" Saito responded, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'okay?'"

"I mean 'okay'. Her story checks out. I believe her," Smith explained. Both Saito and Louise held confused expressions on their faces, which the INTERPOL agent apparently was expecting. "Now, since you two were so honest with me, I'm going to be honest with you. I didn't really think you were Flare. Had suspicions, yes, but nothing concrete. What I was most concerned of was where you came from, Ms. Vallière. People don't just appear out of thin air, not usually."

"What do you mean 'usually?'" Louise asked, angry at the man before her.

"What I mean is that we've had cases around the world of people crossing over from other dimensions," he revealed, much to Saito's and Louise's shock. "It's not very common, but it has happened before. Hell, one of my colleagues came from another dimension, so to hear that you did the same wasn't a new thing for me."

"…Really?" Louise asked, genuinely curious.

"Yes, and she's a wonderful person, but that's beside the point. The point is, none of us knew where you came from, and with all the events you had been linked to, it raised suspicion. Frankly, I'm surprised that Sycamore didn't notify us of your situation. Would've prevented this entire issue."

"Maybe he just doesn't like you? Can't imagine why…" Saito mumbled. Louise, on the other hand, thought back to her time as his intern. Exasperation built up in her, and she sighed.

"He probably never got around to it. Oh, I'm having words with him…" Louise grumbled to herself. As much as she admired and was grateful to the man for helping her, the fact that she almost got arrested because he didn't turn in the proper paperwork was infuriating. She then sighed and turned back to Agent Smith.

"So, what happens now?" she asked. Smith pursed his lips and nodded to himself.

"Now? A few things. One, I'll have some paperwork for you to sign. Make your status here official. Then, I'll have to notify my superiors, call off the investigation on you two. After that, dedicate my time to tracking Flare down."

"That we can agree on," Saito replied, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms.

"Which brings me to the other reason I'm here," Smith continued, adopting a more serious expression. "It has come to my attention that several of the staff here at the Cyllage Pokémon Center were not qualified medical personnel."

A sinking feeling filled the pit of Saito's and Louise's stomachs. Derflinger felt his worries come true, and he narrowed his eye at the INTERPOL agent.

"What do you mean?" Derflinger asked, and Smith turned his attention towards the Honedge.

"As it turns out, the Nurse Joy stationed here happened to be a sympathizer to Lysandre," Smith explained. "After his death and the subsequent collapse of Team Flare, she reluctantly decided to harbor certain Flare-affiliated individuals in this center, several of which acted as nurses, clerks, and other employees. Three of them worked on Ms. Vallière here before Nurse Joy finally called us to turn them in."

A heavy silence fell over the group. Louise felt her skin pale, only this time it wasn't due to the actions of the man before her. A deep sense of wrongness and violation permeated in her, and she shivered and held her body close.

"What did they do?" Saito asked, cold fury in his voice. Smith sighed, and again took off his sunglasses.

"We believe that, during the administration of the post-antivenom tests on her person, they illegally obtained several samples of Louise's DNA. For what purpose, we do not know. But, after what you told me, my guess is they were curious about your void magic." He paused and nervously licked his lips. Louise's skin by this point had gone white all over, and Saito was shaking in sheer rage. His fists were clenched so tightly they was hurting, and he was grinding his teeth loud enough to be heard by others in the room.

"Where are they?" Saito demanded venomously.

"They fled the scene. There were seventeen in total, we only managed to catch two," Smith answered. "Ms. Vallière, I assure you that we are treating this theft with the utmost seriousness. We will find them."

Louise could only nod, shivering more heavily, while Saito stared the INTERPOL agent down. "What about Nurse Joy?"

"She's been arrested. What happens to her, now, is out of my hands." Agent Smith stood up and straightened out his suit. "I'm sorry, but I have other duties. I'm sorry for inconveniencing you."

With that, Agent Smith left the room. No one said a word as the door closed. Slowly, Saito's and the assembled Pokémon turned their attention towards Louise, and right then and there Saito came to a decision.

"I'm going to kill them," he declared, and despite herself, Louise couldn't help but agree.

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here's the latest chapter of Outsiders. A shorter one today, but no less important. This is a cool down episode as everyone comes down from the high that was the previous episode, and we have a lot of interesting things to go with.

Now, onto the Q&A:

xyzdreadnought: Thank you for the high praise! I really appreciate that. We do put a lot of work into fleshing out our world for the story, the characters, and everything in between. I'm glad that you like our interpretation of Saito. Yeah, in canon he wasn't the best, but we felt that with a few tweaks, we could make him into a compelling character. It helps that Louise, not Saito, is the protagonist of the story. Yeah, the number of OCs are staggering. Admittedly, sometimes I get confused, but luckily I have a team able to help me. And yes, Derflinger brought up your basic point. Team Flare, like similar real world and Pokemon world criminal groups, aren't the best at long-term thinking, and they ultimately fail.

RandomTandom0: Yep, we wanted Louise to realize the consequences of letting her pride dictate her. Her decision to give Smith what he wanted here was a development from that realization. Her pride told her not to give him what he wanted, damn the consequences, but she controlled her pride and sucked it up to give him the information he sought. Glad you like the story, by the way! The relationships between the trainers and the Pokemon are some of my highlights, personally. They make the story for me, and I'm glad you're enjoying them so much.

keybladelight: Well, the government knows now! Luckily, Pokemon Earth has experience in these matters, so hearing that Louise came from another world isn't far-fetched.

.549: Yep, pride is Louise's biggest flaw as a character, and we wanted this arc to highlight that for her. That way, she can grow as a person.

Vein Bloodborne: Glad you liked the chapter! And yeah, this was a good moment for Derflinger.