Mission Six: Fairy

"We need not be afraid of expecting the unexpected, but let us wheedle each instant we enjoy and endear each happy moment we encounter; let us watch each step we take and each move we make, ever since happiness is a loving and appealing fairy, but utterly frail and vulnerable."

― Erik Pevernagie

Fairy 6.1: Brand Identity
Rachel

June 16, 2020

TROUBLE IN PARADISE? ALOLA'S ECONOMY FACES AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Join Avenue Journal

Alola's economy shrank 83% year-over-year from January 2019 to January 2020 due to the appearance of Necrozma, an extra-dimensional pokémon that left most of the Mid-Pacific in darkness for months. Approximately 75% of the commonwealth's population temporarily evacuated. The tourism industry was decimated and the agricultural industry faces lingering problems from the period of darkness. Four months after the crisis ended recovery has been slow. Over 100,000 residents have yet to permanently return. A recent poll found that a majority of prospective tourists…

COLONIZERS LOOT ALOLAN HERITAGE TO LINE THEIR POCKETS
The Rallying Cry

Alola has an artistic tradition dating back centuries. The Royal Museum in Hau'oli was once the third largest art gallery in the world. Now it is controlled by a majority haole board and an all-white executive team. With tax revenues and tourism down, Hau'oli faces the threat of bankruptcy. A source has brought to our attention a plan to pay the city's debts and avoid bankruptcy by selling part of The Royal Museum's collection to private…

TOP FIFTEEN CHAMPION SCANDALS
Hivemind

We like to think of league champions as upstanding figures. They don't always live up to that. With the recent news about Alola's ex-champion, we thought we'd take a look at the worst things champs around the world have been caught doing.

ERNEST GAGE SUES INTERPOL FOR DEFAMATION, WRONGFUL ARREST
Hau'oli Tribune

Six weeks after his arrest and subsequent grant of clemency, Gracidea Clothiers CEO Ernest Gage is suing the International Police Association for alleged civil rights violations. Mr. Gage and his wife were briefly arrested on charges of conspiracy to sexually assault a minor via preternatural means. He claims that he had already been exonerated by Alola's Department of Family Affairs when he was arrested. The suit alleges that the INTERPOL officer, a lesbian, was retaliating against him for his conservative beliefs and donations to various Church of Life aligned charities. INTERPOL fired and have publicly distanced themselves from the former officer, Lila Takeda, stating that her conduct…

ANYONE KNOW WHO OWNED THE SECOND VULPIX? $300 REWARD
Justin's Journal

Hello, fellow travelers. As you're no doubt aware the scandal I've dubbed 'Ninetalesgate' began with Kukui's ninetales stealing a vulpix. Leaked 911 calls show the ninetales later stole a second one. My friend at Austin Analyzes Alola managed to confirm that the first vulpix belonged to Cuicatl Ichtaca, by far the most interesting island challenger this year. But no one seems to know who the second vulpix belonged to. The records are all sealed. There can't be that many vulpix trainers…

INTERPOL LETS IN ALIEN INFILTRATOR
Bullseye Media

Look, there's been a lot of discussion of the Gage debacle. And I stand by what I've said before: literally everyone in this story is a monster except for Ms. Doe at the heart of it. A conversion therapist straight out of a nightmare, a cop trying to play hero while failing to keep anyone safe, a spineless governor, and an embezzler rotting in prison where he belongs. But I've only recently learned that the former cop, one Lila Takeda, had added a metagross to their team in early April. Details are scarce—they don't want you knowing…

HOW TO GO ON AFTER LOSING AN ACE
The Battler

Rory Kukui was never quite good enough to be ranked. We've had him on our "100 Trainers To Watch" list for six of the last nine years, but the Top 100 has eluded him. It seems now that he'll never crack that barrier. His ninetales, Kalani, was his former ace. She was recently euthanized by Dr. Shirona Karashina (#2) after stealing multiple pokémon and assaulting a minor. He's not the first trainer to lose their strongest pokémon. Competitive battling can be a dangerous sport. Pokémon are impressive healers but sometimes an injury proves career ending. Even trainers with a strong supporting roster can struggle to fill the hole left…

Yeah. You get it. Everything sucks.

You close your laptop and press your hands into your forehead like they'll stop your budding headache. Alola was already in decline with the Ultra Beasts hurting tourism. Necrozma might as well have been the death blow. Federal money and insurance will fix all the infrastructure, but the residents and tourists might never come back. The islands will persist. They'll just be poorer than they used to be.

There's opportunity here. It's just buried in a whole lot of risks. Lower income households are more likely to have kids go on the island challenge. Poor children are also less likely to finish it. When they come home their parents don't appreciate having more mouths to feed. Naturally you can step in as the responsible way to get rid of their pokémon. You won't release them and disrupt the ecosystem. You won't lock them in an overcrowded shelter cage to waste away. You'll find them a loving home or a more dedicated trainer. The families also get a little extra spending money. Everyone wins.

The major problem, and opportunity, is that the island challenge is on the brink of collapse. Some of the current challengers are still finishing. Those were mostly the kids who stayed through The Blackout. The ones who left have mostly not resumed their challenge. If they came back to Alola at all. The trainers who stayed suffered abnormally high mortality, further reducing your contractor pool. Now should be peak recruiting season with the school year over but it's barely busier than last September or October. Maybe people are just waiting a year for the ecosystem to bounce back and a few of the tougher captains to retire. Maybe they'll never go on a journey at all.

Whatever their reasons, it's bad for your short-term finances. You can only profit from the future challengers if the company is still operating in a year's time. Yet, if you can survive, you think there's a lot of upside. The legislature's noticed that the island challenge is off to a really slow start. There's a growing consensus that someone should do something about that. Olivia's pushing for subsidies for journey supplies and an expanded league infrastructure. All of that will require tax dollars and there aren't a lot of those to go around right now. If VStar can partially redefine itself, expand into some of the services Olivia's talking about, you could present yourself to the government and the public as the way to bring the island challenge back without fleecing the taxpayers.

And then there's the Gage debacle. Thankfully no one's seriously trying to pin that on you. Helps that Little Miss Gage is officially anonymous. She isn't really; Gage's kids are on his Wikipedia page with their ages listed and the reports all give her age. The media still isn't reporting her name. That means they can't report that she was with VStar before going back. As for the fringe figures online already making the connection, it's quite tenuous. You couldn't exactly force her to stay away from her family. Even if you could and wanted to, it's forgivable to have lost track of a child in the first 24 hours of The Blackout.

If anything, the situation is a net positive for VStar. Island challengers fleeing abusive homes are quite common. They're pretty much the only people taking the island challenge after recent events. Those kids tend to have very little financial support, which drives them to you. It's not something you've been able to leverage directly yet—Ernest Gage is on the warpath and you're hesitant to try and publicly profit off of his recent scandal. Even you can't imagine the frivolous lawsuits he'd file against VStar on his daughter's behalf. She isn't legally emancipated yet. You could pressure her to do so, but your access to her is limited. Shirona, Olivia, and Lila are reluctantly giving you access to Cuicatl. They'll close ranks the moment you bring up Genesis. And you get it. When you were ten you wouldn't talk to anyone about your mother unless you were forced. Still won't.

You'll have to wait until Gage has calmed down a little. Then you can attempt an ad campaign to capitalize on the opening he gave you. Problem is finding subjects. Blurring out faces detracts from the authenticity of the ad. Not many current minors will go on the record about their abuse at home. VStar's too new to have many older contractors who fit the bill. Hiring actors undermines the whole point. Best you can think of for now is a quick, mostly text-based ad that lists some depressing stats, makes your point, and ends.

Or you could try to get Cuicatl to do it. Girl flinches at any touch. Not hard to figure out why. She's desperate enough for money that she might be willing to talk about anything if you dangle $15,000 in front of her. You'll keep it in mind. It's best not to push her loyalty too far right now. Last time you spoke she tried to attack you. That can be salvaged, but not fully and not immediately.

Chris and Winston come into the meeting five minutes late. Seven minutes after you arrived. Jabari was slumped over in the corner when you got there. He grunted out an acknowledgement and then kept staring at his desk for a frankly uncomfortable amount of time. You consider prying. Seeing if his secret's changed. No. He would be taking more effort to conceal his feelings if it was that serious. Probably wouldn't respond to small talk. Best to just sit in uncomfortable silence.

"Let's get started," Chris calls out once he throws open the doors to the conference room. Victini is perched on his shoulder. Your boss looks confident despite the bags under his eyes and his company's finances. Confident or high. Or both. You really don't need to be dealing with a coke arrest right now. Those can be a pain to sweep under the rug. Winston walks in just behind his boss and plops himself down beside him at the head of the table. Jabari's hunched in the back and you're two seats down from Chris.

"Emmanuel and Rick aren't coming?" you ask.

Chris just snorts. "Oh, I know what they'll say. I do read their emails, y'know. Sometimes. They'll talk about bankruptcy this, liability that—quitter talk. My New Year's resolution was to listen less to small men trying to drag me down to their level. You can fill them in later if you feel the need."

You're going to need to push back on that. Later. When he isn't around other people. It does you no good to undermine him when he's playing a part.

"Now, first order of business." He stands up and starts to pace. Victini hops off his shoulder to sit on the table. You don't know why the god bothers to attend. He almost never talks. Surely there's something better he could be doing. "I was searching online for VStar recently, trying to get all the news and all that, and I noticed something in the autofill. Third search result: 'VStar Cuicatl Ichtaca.' I was fifth." He abruptly stops and whirls around to glare at you. "The fuck is that about?"

"There's a great deal of interest around her due to Kukui's mishap," you say diplomatically. "One professional trailer executing another's ace gets people talking. People were already interested in her because of the tyrantrum incident." You can see Jabari wince when you bring that up. "When it came out that she was at the center of the latest drama there was a spike in interest. It will wane in time."

Chris starts pacing again. "She's a bad face for the company."

"Would any face other than yours be a bad one?" you ask. "I do have to promote some of our contractors for PR."

"No. It's just her. She's political." He spits the word out in such a way that you know exactly what word he wanted to use.

"She's never publicly commented on American politics."

"No, no. Not like that. Not mudbray-copperajah stuff. I mean, like, I was at a golf event the other day, right? Grand Hano. Great course. I don't play much but can't turn down an invite." Why the hell would he be publicly seen at a charity golf tournament hosted by Ernest Gage? Does he understand what a goddamn nightmare that could be if it came out? "And they were all talking about our virtue signaling. You know? Promoting a blind Aztec for the race game points. We can't do that. Those aren't my—those aren't our values."

You take a quick look around. Jabari's fists are clenched but he's staying quiet for the moment. Winston nods approvingly.

"A majority of our contractors are non-white and female. She's not far off from our target demographic."

"Fix that," he snaps. "The target demo. That's not what the pros are like. I want winners using this. Champions. We can't—we can't just be a charity case trainer thing."

You very much are 'a charity case trainer thing.' Anyone with the preexisting experience and financial support needed to go pro wouldn't be working with you. Miss Ichtaca is the exception that proves the rule.

Winston clears his throat. "If the suits are right about Alola—"

"—they aren't—"

"I know. But even if they aren't, maybe we should start thinking about expanding out of Alola."

Chris slows down before stopping completely. Then he finally sits back down at the table. Good thinking. Distract him with thoughts of a big victory just ahead. You wouldn't expand quite yet but it can't hurt to at least make preliminary plans.

"Yeah," he says. "Yeah. We should do that."

You clear your throat. "I propose Orre for our second location. They have a… persuadable government and a mostly unregulated pokémon trade and journey system. We could be the first movers as they clean up the Trinity Dead Zone. Probably some extra value in the pokémon there, too."

Jabari grunts. You have no idea what that means. Cuicatl's bloodline would be more helpful than your own here.

"Nah, Texas is where it's at," Winston counters. "Big region, lots of cool pokémon, friendly governor. Maybe he'd just let us take over the journey system outright. Pokémon Centers are pretty much socialist, right?"

You aren't opposed to Texas. Orre and Florida are just better. In Florida you could market yourselves as cleaning up invasives and still have access to some formidable pokémon. It's part of why Alola works as well as it does. As well as it did, anyway. For its part, Texas is already more than accommodating towards the only person richer and stupider than your boss. Maybe that's a strike against it. You don't want your boss getting on emerald boy's untested rockets and blowing himself up. Then there'd be no one to pay your salary.

"Good ideas. But not what we'll do. We're going to Unova."

That's frankly one of the worst options. It's almost as corrupt as Orre, sure, but there's a reason Plasma could take off there. A lot of bleeding hearts and fairly strict catch quotas.

"Not sure that's a great idea, boss," Winston mutters. Holy crap. He's going against Chris. If the actual voices of reason are gone does he have to step up? "Kind of politically correct up there. Not very business friendly."

"No, no, it makes sense." And back to the pacing. Shit. "I was champ there." Before he vacated the title to go do whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted. Why be the strongest trainer in Unova when you could be the strongest trainer in the world? "People know me." True. "People like me." Ehhhhhhh. "I know the land. The pokémon. I can make it work. And if I prove it can work there, I can make it work everywhere. We could get big. Real big. Tech money big. Change the world."

Victini bristles with pride beside him. He always likes the unrealistic visions. Probably because they make him actually work to make them succeed. By a certain definition of succeeding. You've had to explain to Chris before that there can be collateral damage when he single-mindedly pursues a goal. He could beat criminal charges in court and still have the entire media believing he's guilty. Make short-term profits while destroying a company's long-term viability. Win every battle and still be less popular than the runners up. Stumble to the top of his sport and still never find the fulfillment that he was looking for.

Not like you can help with the emotional stuff. If he wants a therapist, he can hire one. You're mostly around to keep his worst indiscretions out of the public eye. He's done things that would make Kukui's fuckup look trivial. At least the professor only got his own ace killed. He could still visit the wronged parties in the hospital. Chris would have had to plead for forgiveness to a child-sized casket. Not that he asked for forgiveness. He doesn't think he did anything wrong.

Jabari breaks the silence by grumbling something incoherent.

"What's that? Speak up!" Chris shouts. Definitely high.

"There are no remote islands in Unova. We have a repeat incident and civilians will get killed."

"That's why we keep our holding facilities here."

"Shipping pokémon that far is expensive."

Chris waves a hand dismissively. "Just keep them in their balls on a charter flight. Not like the pokémon can rampage if something goes wrong. They'd just die. No idea why we're still paying for the fancy transport ships and planes."

"People died the last time you cut our security budget."

"Because one of your people fucked up. If they'd done everything right—"

"That's why you need redundancies—"

"Why would I pay people to be redundant—"

"People get tired. People make mistakes."

"Then hire better people."

"With what money?"

Jabari is just as upset as before but now he's letting it all out at someone else. And Chris is digging in his heels. Even after you got him to agree to let you quietly apologize and make promises to the regulators that nothing like it would—or could—happen again. You don't store dangerous pokémon anymore. You've hired a third party to do it instead. Less liability that way.

"Can we, uh, talk more about why you want to expand to Unova?" Winston asks.

"Oh. Right. I never got to the most important part. It's important we go to Unova so we can bury Plasma and their sympathizers at their source. Pokémon are ours. They're for our benefit. Xerneas Himself says so." Odd. You've never taken him for a religious man. You glance at Victini. The god, a pokémon, isn't disagreeing. "Guess what, N? We can do what we want. We will do what we want. You—and your followers—lost. Now stop whining about it."

That speech would play well in some markets. Not Unova, not Alola. And it doesn't work coming from you. Some customers that don't really care about pokémon liberation would still be turned away if you just came out and said that you didn't care how pokémon were treated. You have to at least give the image that you're ethical. That image doesn't need to survive serious scrutiny, just be enough to reassure the buyers and contractors who don't like to think of themselves as bad people. It's not like the media's going to do much more than present your critic's best arguments opposite whatever bullshit you come up with and ask their uninformed readers to pick out which one is true. You'll really need to talk to Chris about his speech. Later. When he's not so worked up. Ideally when he's sober.

"Wait?" Winston asks. "The green hair and psychic abilities. Is, uh, is Ichtaca related to N?"

You are really regretting letting Cuicatl's abilities slip. It came out on accident at first. Explaining to Jabari why Cuicatl sounded so different in person than on the news. If you hadn't told him he would've conducted his own investigation and then freaked the fuck out when he found out who his brother was traveling with. It was best to be up front and tell him in the gentlest way possible. Then he'd let it slip to the board when Chris was questioning if Cuicatl was even capable of higher-level capture missions. Chris really wanted Melony Davis to be your main Class V candidate. You like Melony. She's a reasonably intelligent girl with a solid grasp of battling. Interested in making money. But she's cautious. Doesn't have the drive to go out of her way to finish a thesis and then conduct risky captures. Cuicatl's strings are readily visible and so, so easy to pull. You barely even need to do anything to get her to risk everything.

(Lila is taking care of her. So are Olivia and Shirona. They won't let her go too far. Besides, someone has to be the Class V contractor. At least she's competent.)

Chris knocks twice on the table and you get jolted to the present. Damn it. You try not to get too lost in your own head. It's a bad neighborhood. Best not to be caught alone.

"What?"

"Well, is she."

You sigh and think through how to play this. Chris has probably seen the Reshiram video. The internet isn't entirely convinced that was Cuicatl given the poor lighting and shaky camera, but most suspect it. Whether you deny it or not Chris will convince himself that she's related to N, and he'll probably spin a grander story than reality.

"I think they're distantly related," you concede. "I've never asked her. She's never mentioned him. If she had Plasma resources she probably wouldn't be working for us."

"Or." Chris lets the word hang dramatically in the air as he raises up his arms to talk for him. "She was with her older brother when everything went to shit. Got away, made a new identity in Anahuac, and then came back to America posing as a broke refugee. She's here for another shot at undermining our way of life."

You take a deep breath. "Why would Plasma royalty work as a pokémon bounty hunter?"

He frowns. "Right. Still. It would be kind of fun, wouldn't it? Like, if Zekrom and Reshiram decided their hosts weren't worthy anymore and found new ones. Then I could crush Plasma's queen and her entire ideology once and for all. Maybe carry onto Anahuac and finish what we started in '87."

Jabari scoffs. "You think Reshiram would find you worthy?"

"Obviously. Who else—"

The lights flare, the table shakes, and for a moment you think that Necrozma came back. And then everything settles. Victini turns towards his trainer and speaks in hushed mental tones to all present. {Why would you need another god? Am I not sufficient?"}

"I—no. I wouldn't need one. You're enough to crush Zekrom, Reshiram, Kyurem—all of them recombined. I was just fantasizing." You think he's actually sweating. And apologizing. Interesting. It's been a very long time since you've seen him like this.

Victini doesn't confirm or deny his words. Just lets out an adorable huff, folds his arms across his chest, and floats himself out of the room.

Chris shakes his head like he's trying to wake up from a dream. Or trying to rapidly become sober. "I need to deal with that. The rest of you, uh, just do what I said."

You adjourn the meeting the moment he leaves the room. No one challenges you.

June 16, 2023

The major news outlets don't like to talk about trainers on the island challenge. They'll run a profile when someone actually wins, but not beforehand. It's just extremely depressing when the kid inevitably flames out or dies. Hard to build a local celebrity when they'll probably fade out of the limelight within a year. The real celebrities are the kahunas and captains, not their opponents. Cuicatl's interviews are almost the only television appearances from an active challenger outside of battle.

The blogs and specialty publications are more than happy to fill the void. You idly search through some blogger's personal forum while thinking through one of your most difficult problems.

Cuicatl beats Nanu! Video and battle analysis.

Justin, Site Admin

I know some people were a bit skeptical this would work out. Her vulpix hasn't been training with the rest of the team for long, tyrunt struggle against the kind of tricks Nanu pulls, and her metang's armor can't block dark hits. We were all wrong: she won with three pokémon and no Z-move. Metang tied Nanu's grimer. Then her tyrunt went ballistic and tore through Nanu's raticate, one of his weaker persian, and took an earthquake from incineroar. Incredible performance. Seems the little dino learned close combat like Dianthea's. Her golisopod finished the fight.

I have three big takeaways:

Shirona was seen in the crowd. The rumors that she's mentoring Cuicatl are confirmed!

Her vulpix was a no-show. Is she healed yet? The reports didn't mention that she'd been hurt or killed, but it's strange she'd rely on metang instead of vulpix for the grimer match. That's just a much better matchup. For now I'd assume she only has the three pokémon she used against Olivia. Bit weird she hasn't tried to catch more this late in the challenge.

Her pokémon already kick ass. That tyrunt is going to be an absolute monster once she evolves. Seems she's wearing an everstone color, too, which means that we might see a monster trucking tyrantrum when she fights Hapu!

Only challenger this year that I think has a shot at getting through two members of the League. I would be shocked if she didn't go pro. Best get her autograph while you can, that thing's going to sell for big money down the line.

…

Green Grass Grows

I've met her! We camped together on Ula'Ula. Kept texting for a while after that. She still responds, sometimes, but I think she's busy or distracted. Her food is the best! Like, I didn't know trail food could be good? I wish Mom would let us go back to Alola. I want to see her again. Good to see her winning in the meantime! I'll text her my congratulations.

Neurotox

Holy s***. How much would I have to pay you for her phone number? And is she hotter in person? Idk she seems kind of ugly on film.

Justin, Site Admin

Interesting. Could you DM me proof?

Neurotox: Please don't be creepy to the challengers. She's sixteen at most.

Green Grass Grows

Yeahhhhhh how about no Neurotox.

Justin I'm not giving you her number but I guess we can talk? Don't think she'll want to talk to you, though. She's kind of shy.

Fiting Spirit

Good trail food? What blasphemy is this? Forget battle and husbandry advice, I want her recipes.

Green Grass Grows

Rice, veggies, I think lab pidove when we met. Whole bunch of spices. She cooked most of it beforehand at the Pokémon Center (didn't know you could do that) and just heated stuff up on the trail.

Watcher Kirstin

eww Neurotox. why?

EDIT: watched the video. she absolutely dominated him lol. somewhere a tyrantrum breeder is sitting on a slightly taller hoard of gold.

Slugs By The Bay

How fascinating. Her tyrunt has learned to use her muscles instead of her teeth. Does anyone know if Ms. Ichtaca can speak to elemental dragons? I have been looking for a reliable translator for my goodra. I can compensate her well for her services.

Dracozolt

Odds she takes Selene? Rumor has it that Lunala's weak right now.

Fiting Spirit

Slugs By The Bay "Compensate her well for her services." Gonna make her an offer she can't refuse while you're at it.

Dracozolt Not a chance. Her roster's scary but she kinda sucks in a fite. I'm not even sure she'll make it past Hapu. Unless she evolves her metagross. Says a lot that she needs a f****** metagross to carry her across the finish line.

Bells Toll 4 U

Green Grass Grows Check your text messages.

Slugs By The Bay Cuicatl is busy with thesis prep right now. She can probably help in a few weeks if the situation isn't urgent. Check your business email for more information.

I highly doubt Cuicatl evolves her metang. Even she has her limits. I'm sure she will fill out her team soon enough. Hopefully with more sensible options.

Castler

Sure, sure. "She's not evolving her team." Get real. She's Aztec. I met plenty of 'sweet, innocent kids' like her in '87. I thought like you until a little girl literally stabbed my friend in the back. They're all brainwashed. We should've torn out the rotten heart of their cult when we had the chance. Can't believe our government is just giving them a metagross and a tyrantrum. Mark my words, American blood will be shed before this is all over.

Slugs By The Bay

Thank you, Bells. I look forward to working with Ms. Ichtaca at her convenience.

You're guessing from past posts that Bells Toll 4 U is Lyra Miura. Cuicatl herself doesn't have an account on any social media or forums. It could theoretically be Genesis but you know Lyra fancies herself as Cuicatl's manager. At least she did when lives were being lost in real time. Figures she's trying to bypass you now. You'll have to give Emile a call and warn him that Bells is a scammer. Assert that you're the only reliable line to Cuicatl. You'll probably have to make a post casting doubt on Bells while you're at it.

You close the computer and sigh. Another problem. Of course another problem pops up while you're still trying to figure out how to solve another. The last time you spoke to Cuicatl she tried to kill you. Now you need to reestablish a cordial business relationship. There are limits to what you can do. You can't promise to get her mother's pokémon back. You're pretty damn sure you would have known about a hydreigon going up for public sale anywhere in the world with the feelers you've put out. You're guessing the dragon ended up exchanged privately in a notoriously opaque country. You also can't undo the sale of her tyrunt's mother. Doing so would do irreparable damage to VStar's finances and reputation. You definitely can't promise her enough money to buy the tyrantrum back from a Nigerian oil tycoon. He has a fascination with maneaters. An ordinary tyrantrum of her strength and purity would sell for $25,000,000 or more. He was willing to pay $8,000,000. Would've shelled out considerably more if he thought you could find another buyer.

There are still things you can do for her. She cut you off when you tried to explain last time, but the tyrantrum's new owner would happily host a trainer who could keep his very dangerous and very expensive trophy happy. Might even pay for her airfare and lodging if he found her interesting enough.

The thought gives you pause. You should meet up with him again. Soon. Check his secrets. Maybe do some stealthy digging. There's a fine line between interest and "interest" for people who know they can get away with anything. Just another thing on your plate.

The paperwork for her Class IV is ready for her signature. She won't need it for the capture missions you have picked out, but it could be useful. Maybe she'll end up with a dragalge instead of a skrelp. You can still provide her with the money she'll need to feed her team as they grow. Tyrantrum need a lot to eat. You have a spreadsheet prepared in case she wavers. Ninetales are still large canids with unique needs. If her vulpix can still evolve. You aren't sure how injuries work for that line. Or evolution for that matter. You vaguely remember it being different from traditional ninetales evolution but can't remember the details. You're not entirely sure if the details are well understood at this point. Not many trainers evolve either vulpix. The ones that do tend to be a bit… odd. Insular. Doesn't help that the ninetales themselves seem to be rather private. Then, if she does evolve her metang, tyrantrum's insurance rates will rise tenfold. You're curious how Lila is paying their premiums. Didn't think INTERPOL paid that well. Or maybe they're banking on a wrongful termination suit. You'd be happy to recommend them a lawyer. You know a few. Some even have morals.

Back to Miss Ichtaca. Your approach will depend on how she walks into the meeting. Obviously, you need to be conciliatory: she probably feels wronged. You can even concede on some little things. Just not the ones that matter to the bottom line.

Now, time to run interference against Miss Mirai. Show her why you're the professional.

Then you'll have to figure out how to work with Cuicatl without upsetting any of her de facto guardians. You're happy people are looking out for her. Girl needed more than you could give. It's just annoying. Most of the kids you work with have no family worth talking to or one that can't help them. They're alone and you're the only adult with actual influence who's willing to listen. You aren't malicious. You do try to help where you can. But the bottom line comes first. They understand that. You never hide it. And now she has three people with as much influence as you pulling her in other ways. Reminds you why you try not to rely on kids with stable family situations. Too much risk your investment is undercut.

Lila's an ex-cop who treats you like you've done something illegal. There's no talking your way out of it with them. Even the best law enforcement have an 'us and the criminals' mentality and you're solidly in the criminal category for them. Lila will try to limit your influence on principle after the tyrantrum world as she wants it to be. In her ideal world VStar wouldn't exist. That means that, to her, you're doing something wrong. Even if you're filling a role that isn't filled. She will oppose you on principle. Thankfully she's rather busy and has a lot of problem children she keeps tabs on. Easy enough to distract her. It was the same with Lila before they got fired. You'll have to help them find work. For your own sanity. Maybe an Elite Four post?

Then there's Shirona. Lila is currently a pariah and you've outmaneuvered Kahuna's before. You never should have reached out to the champion. She has money, physical power, and a lot of public goodwill. If she thinks VStar is worth throwing her bully pulpit against then you will not survive. The only upside there is that it's so easy to spin and she knows it. Just a jealous contender for world champ mad at the man who defeated her. Then there's history. She's tried to be a politician before and got burned. Odds are good she won't crush you directly. You can just stall out the clock until she goes home and you can be a bit bolder when giving Cuicatl risky missions. The problem is, Cuicatl's journey is also on a clock. Once she has her V you're going to have to start searching for her replacement. Just part of life when your contractors can only work for a year or so.

June 17, 2020

The buzzer shakes you out of your paperwork. Damn it. You had a nice groove going.

"Miss Bell, your 10:00 is here."

"Thank you. Send her in."

You set your papers to the side. Cuicatl's slower than expected so you manage to get your desk all the way clean. Not that she'll appreciate it. When the door opens you stand up to escort her to the couch. "Hello, hello. Long time no see."

She just grunts. Using the cane today. Not any of her guide pokémon. You can guess that the tyrunt doesn't want to deal with you and the vulpix might still be injured. Come to think of it, you're not sure you'd want a metang in your office. They're pretty good at intercepting signals. Wouldn't do for them to read the wrong email.

"I wanted to start things off where we left off: I'm sorry I didn't consult you about the decision in advance. But I'm afraid I can't reverse it."

The girl glowers at you. This time she almost manages to look you in the eye. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because I didn't do what you think I did. Yes, we sold the tyrantrum. But. That doesn't put her out of your reach. The new owner is eager to have you visit. Anything that smooths things over with his pokémon is good for him."

She doesn't react much at all. Disappointing. You'd take anything that gave you an idea of how you were faring.

"When?"

"After you get your Class V license. I should also have some extra work lined up for you then. Your skills as a translator are in demand."

"Lyra mentioned that." Spot on about her alias. Glad you could nip that in the bud. All in a way that can't be easily traced back to you. So, so easy to manipulate a crowd of teenagers into disliking someone. They barely need an excuse. Then their interactions will start to rub off on the older users. Make them reflexively distrust the forum pariah.

"Rest assured, I have more contacts than her. As long as you're with us you'll be able to pay your bills. Even save up more money for when the island challenge ends."

Cuicatl flinches. Right. Challenge ending. Going home. Had she not put that together yet? After she beats Hapu she has three months to challenge the league and then her visa's up.

"I have your Class IV paperwork ready for your signature. You won't need it for the capture missions, but it'll be nice to have until you get your V." She barely reacts. None of her current pokémon need a Class IV. "Maybe you'll come across something on Poni you want to add to your team."

That gets a small frown out of her. Why? "That would be bad, yes. If I met someone who needed help and couldn't give it to them."

Is that how she frames all of her captures? You remember watching the camera feed of her first conversation with Pixie. Yes, she framed it as helping her, but it was obviously just leading the fox along to the answer she wanted. You thought you might have a protégé on your hands.

"I can get you a lost of pokémon on your route that need a Class IV license. Speaking of, your route:" You reach under your desk to pull out a map before instantly remembering why that isn't helpful. "Ah, I'm not sure how familiar you are with Poni's geography. I can email you a map so your travel companions can review it."

She nods slightly. "There's a canyon."

"There is a canyon. It's usually the last major hurdle in the island challenge. Two captains, a fairy totem in the island's main port and a dragon totem in the heart of the canyon."

"Fairies and dragons…" She sounds almost wistful. "A good ending."

"I think they were intentional about that, yes. Then there's Hapu." You pause, unsure how to voice your concerns here. "I'm not sure how your current team will do against the Poni trials. Only one is fully evolved at the moment. None of the others can easily evolve, especially not before you get a Class V. I would think carefully about your final two or three team members.

Cuicatl tilts her head quizzically. "Three?"

"I wasn't sure if Pixie can still battle."

"Oh." She leans back in the chair and looks down into her lap. Some body language transcends blindness. "She can't."

"I haven't told you the capture missions yet, have I?" You know you haven't. It's just a trick to get her mentally switching to something else before you continue there.

"No."

"Three on Poni. Skrelp by the coast. They're getting popular with aquarists. $1,250 a skrelp. We can take up to five. Machoke and skarmory are always in demand. We can take one of each. They're found in the canyon. $2,000 for the machoke, $3,500 for the skarmory."

Those are higher than your usual rates. You had to fight to give her a slight boost. Make her want to stay.

"Okay. I can do that."

"Good. Now, let's talk about something happier. If you can give me your passport and visa info I can figure out what other documents you need to get to Nigeria. Shouldn't be too hard."

"My… passport." She frowns. "I think it's in the locker? I haven't had it in my pack."

"That's fine. I can escort you there."

It is not in the locker. Her pulse is hammering as you lead her back to your office to talk it over. "Do you remember what airport you flew into? You might have left it there."

"West Harbor Airport."

"That's in Unova. Did you do a layover?"

She shakes her head. "No. I. Must have. My mother mentioned it. Um. Is there more than one airport?"

Usually none worth mentioning. But Malie Airport handles flights that aren't allowed in Gage International for security reasons. A direct flight from Anahuac might qualify.

"Which island did you arrive on?"

"I… Melemele? I didn't take a ferry over. Or. No. Maybe I did?"

You get it. You're asking a girl to remember details from nine months ago. That's practically a lifetime at her age. And she didn't seem to be in a good headspace back then. Maybe a really bad one if she was… thinking about what you thought she was when you saw her on the boardwalk. Regardless, you can have her call them both.

She does. They don't have it. Which is fine. She probably would have needed it to register at a Center.

The intake centers in Melemele don't have it, either.

Now you're getting worried that she accidentally made herself stateless. Would Anahuac even take her back without documentation? Probably if America deported her. And she's a bit too high profile to just overstay her visa. You're not entirely sure she'd want to go back to Anahuac, either, now that she's a military asset to them. Or maybe that's a draw. Her pivots hint at some paramilitary training. Maybe that's universal there.

Cuicatl herself is drenched in a layer of sweat and practically shaking.

"And you're absolutely certain you had documentation, right? That you came here legally." It's a dumb question. No airline would have taken someone from Anahuac without layers of screening.

"Yes. I think. I don't remember getting the passport but I know I had one. I got registered as a trainer and…" She trails off and stares into a random corner of the room. Probably trying to clamp down a panic attack. You've been there.

"Would you like me to get you water? Something to eat?"

"N-no. Just." {Where's the bathroom?}

"I can take you there."

{No. I can go.}

Oh. She wants to be alone.

"Would it be okay if I left you alone in the office, or do you need to use the bathroom?" You try to keep your voice gentle. Calming. You hope she doesn't find it condescending.

{Office is fine.}

"Okay. Reach out to my mind when you're ready."

Hopefully she has Pixie on her. Hopefully one of her guardians can do something about this. Because, as annoying as they are, right now the girl needs more help than you can give. In more ways than one.