Looker had agreed that the information Myles Aguirre provided to us is worth investigating into and in the end, I was the one sent for the job. We have no idea just what the featured item of this auction is but if it is indeed so valuable that even Team Plasma want to get their hands on it, then we might need to prepare for the outcome where we have to actually actively bid for that item to prevent it from falling into Team Plasma's hands. In that case, my family's wealth will be needed because the price for that featured and final item will definitely be in the millions.

Of course, I'm fully intending for the PWL to foot the bill and pay us back the money owed if it comes to that, but for now my family is willing to spare the cash if we indeed need to urgently buy off whatever item it is from that auction house. For all we know our interference might not be even necessary and that the featured item was merely all hype and no substance. Our main focus is to investigate and find clues regarding the Plasmas and their current objectives. We only participate in the bid only if I deem it necessary.

Like Myles Aguirre had shared, this auction is held in the form of a masquerade where every participant has to attend the auction with a mask over their face to protect the identities of their customers and ensure confidentiality for as much as possible. It works well for my cause as well, so I'm not complaining. Vance had also volunteered to tag along for this trip since he has experience in this sort of thing from his days working as an ACE operative, and also because he's too worried about me to send me off alone to that kind of place.

The auction is being held in the evening. Since we are going there masked and our identities obscured, Looker has gone to the trouble of crafting the profiles of the fake identities he wants us to act under the guise of while we are at the auction. I will play the role of a rich little girl with too much money to know what to do with, attending the auction for the fun of it. I don't need to play the stereotypical role of a spoiled rich brat since my non-existent acting skills will probably not fool anybody anyway, but I do need to give off the feeling of harsh aloofness, confidence, and authority that someone of my upbringing will naturally exude. I need to act as if I belong among the high elites of the upper class society all along. Vance will act the role of being my bodyguard.

I would never have known that such a big underground auction could possibly take place right under everyone's noses until I attended it myself. The place itself is situated quite close to the edge of the district where only the truly rich and influential will live and frequent, and bordering just right next to it are the dark alleys that lead to the slums located beside this bustling district. A stark contrast of rich-poor disparity, but I guess this contrast is what allows such underground dealings to fester.

Rena walked by my side as we entered the grand and luxurious building where tonight's auction will take place. Participants are allowed to have one pokemon out to accompany them within the building's premises but said pokemon cannot exceed a certain size. Rena is the best choice since her abilities allow her to detect dangers before it happens. Not only that, Dolly and Wacky and my little ghostly companions are able to conceal their presence in my shadow, so my personal safety is already being taken care of. Vance chose to let his weavile out with Macky hiding in his own shadow. I can see other participants sneaking glances in our direction the moment we enter. They are curious about the identity of this obviously young girl, which family or who she might be affiliated with to be able to receive an invitation as well, and her purpose for being here. This was what I was warned about by Looker before coming over, that I am going to attract attention for being there just on virtue of being my age. It was why he asked me to just act the part of a rich little heiress, because it is indeed what I really am so it will not be difficult for me to play that role well. Furthermore, anyone who could possibly receive an invitation from this auction house has to have some respectable degree of influence or wealth, so the only reason why a girl my age could be invited is due to my background. Being a little girl that comes from an incredibly rich family will tick all the right boxes such that nobody will be overly suspicious of who I truly am and try to pry into my true identity.

"Relax, look confident. People can innately sense fear and uncertainty so you need to be sure that you do not project any of those things."

Vance's soft reminder kept me on my toes. I kept my head high and my back poised, just as how I was taught and had practised before coming over to this underground auction. We were here early and the venue had not truly opened yet, so we were directed by the ushers to wait in the foyer. There were already a number of guests here. Some were alone and keeping to themselves, some were socialising despite not knowing who each other were, and some obviously knew each other with the way they were conversing.

As for Vance and I, we simply kept to ourselves in a corner of the foyer. I am simply sitting down on a posh looking chair as Vance stood behind me. Our foreign accents will immediately expose that we are not from Unova so we make it a point to not converse with others unless strictly necessary. Waiters are walking around serving drinks and when I was offered a drink by a passing waiter, I accepted it with a nod of my head. Vance did not accept any drinks to play a more convincing role of acting as my bodyguard.

"You picked wine," I heard Vance softly accusing me from where he was standing behind me. I simply took a small sip from the wine glass to savour the taste, glad that I had picked a mask that only obscured the top half of my face, allowing me the freedom to eat or drink even with a mask on.

"It's really good. You don't want any?"

"You are underage."

"This is an underground auction taking place in the black market, and you are talking to me about being underage?"

"I'm so going to tell Mum about this."

"I'm doing this for work. It'll be weird if I ask for orange juice now, won't it?"

"I'm still going to tell Mum."

"Do that and I'm going to tell Flannery about your newfound obsession with Elesa. So, let's try this again, what am I drinking right now, brother dear?"

"... Grape juice."

I pretended not to hear how Vance was grinding his teeth for being blackmailed by me once again.

Our conversation was cut short as several unknown masked individuals made their way over at this moment, clearly intending to make acquaintances with us. However, neither Vance nor I want to engage anyone in conversation because this will reveal our foreign Hoenn accent immediately. Once people figure out that we are from Hoenn, then it isn't difficult to piece out my identity because unlike Unova, there aren't too many rich and influential families within my region that have enough influence to be offered an invitation to such an auction.

This is when being a child has its perks as well. I am allowed to act rich and spoiled without raising any eyebrows. All I did was to lazily gesture to Vance as though I am ordering my bodyguard around. Vance simply stood in front of me, his imposing figure blocking anyone's view of me and preventing anyone from getting close to me with how he positioned himself. Meanwhile, I simply angled my body away from those people to continue sipping on my glass of fine wine, idly stroking Rena's sleek and smooth fur from where she is sitting and resting on my lap.

The message was loud and clear. I have no interest in socialising with anyone present.

As expected, those individuals simply walked away with grumbles under their breath after I just snubbed them in their faces.

"Good acting," Vance complimented me when he retook his position behind me, continuing to act the role of my bodyguard.

"You are not half bad either. Did this in ACE before?" I softly replied without looking back while lazily swirling the contents in my glass. If I didn't know this masked person was my brother I would have mistaken him to be a professional bodyguard.

"It's not often that I was assigned on bodyguard missions, but enough."

"Oh? You had guarded other rich ladies before?"

"Nah, it was always stinky old men. Rich little girls? You are the first, sister dear."

"Why, I'm honoured, brother dear," I took another sip from my glass as I carefully observed the foyer. More and more guests are filling up the room and it wouldn't be long before the organiser opens up the main hall where we will be ushered to for the auction that will be taking place.

"You know what? After what happened just now, I can see why people like the idea of having a full-time bodyguard. The feeling of ordering someone around at your whim… Hmm, splendid."

"You want one? I'm sure Dad and I can arrange something for you if you really want one, but it definitely will have to be a female bodyguard."

"I'm just joking," I quickly changed my tune when I realised that my older brother definitely will not hesitate to search for a bodyguard for me if I ever opened my mouth to ask. Once again, I have severely underestimated what my family can really do and how protective my brother can be for me.

"No, on the contrary, I think this might be a good idea."

"You are the walking disaster of Petalburg. Every single time you think something was a good idea, an accident will happen. So thanks, but no thanks."

"You wound me."

"It will heal," I flippantly waved a hand while keeping my eyes looking forward the entire time, ignoring the existence of my "bodyguard" as what I think most spoiled brats my age will do if they were raised with this type of treatment ever since they were born. My eyes caught sight of movements as things finally progressed into the next stage.

"Oh look, they are finally opening up the main hall."

"The auction hall can be viewed from the ground floor and also from the gallery on the second floor. But the ground floor prohibits guests from releasing their pokemon, so if we want to keep our pokemon around at our side we can only go up to the gallery," Vance helpfully informed me as we watched the other guests slowly making their way into the auction hall.

"That's fine. Let's go to the gallery then," I replied as I stood up, taking great care to not wrinkle the expensive dress that I'm wearing today as Rena helpfully picked up my handbag with her psychic powers and passed it over into my hands. I left my wine glass onto the tray held by a nearby waiter as Vance and I walked up the stairs to reach the gallery. I soon found out that unlike the ground floor which is filled with rows of luxurious cushioned seats, the gallery has no seats available in order to make room for the pokemon companions that guests like me are bringing into the auction hall.

Vance and I found a good spot in the gallery where we could comfortably lean against the railings to observe the auction that will be taking place below. Not many people chose to come up here like Vance and I did because of the fact that there were no seats available and we can only stand, but it is also precisely because of this that the gallery felt a lot more spacious in comparison. Also, like this, there will be way less prying eyes looking our way and that is something Vance and I would prefer.

"This is really grand," Vance remarked as we observed just how impressive and magnificent the venue looked like. This auction house is the best underground auction house in the whole of Unova and their reputation really isn't for show. This is a part of the world that I wouldn't have known of or interacted with if it wasn't for the nature of my job.

"Can't act like a country bumpkin now or our carefully maintained cover will be for naught. You need to act indifferent to such things, brother dear," I teased as Vance and I spoke to each other in a volume where we wouldn't be overheard by others. Everyone here at the gallery was keeping their distance from everyone else. The closest person to us, as far as I could see, was another man standing near the corner of the gallery. Like us, he was leaning against the railings to get a better look of the auction that will be taking place down below. He also has a weavile, who was trying to wave to Vance's weavile in greeting only to be interrupted by its trainer when he grabbed it by the back of its red feathered crown and got it to sit down obediently on the railings, much to my hidden amusement.

Our gazes met for a short moment as we both exchanged silent nods of acknowledgement before we both turned our attention back to the ground floor. The auction will be starting soon.

I had never been to an auction before so I don't really know what to expect, much less an underground auction held in the black market on such a scale. The first few items to be put up on auction were illegal drugs. Other than the usual drugs for human consumption, there are also those to be consumed by pokemon which provide them some dangerous boosts to their capabilities at the cost of their health, the very reason why they were labelled as illegal in the first place.

The next items that were put up for auction were pokemon themselves, and I had to make an effort to not let my disgust show when I saw just how the pokemon that were being auctioned off were being mistreated. These pokemon are being auctioned off for a high price due to a variety of reasons; their pedigree, strength, unique colouration, and other reasons. While such things can also be seen in legal auction houses all around the world where people will auction off any rare catch they might have gotten their hands on, it is mandated by law for these pokemon to be handled and treated with extreme care. Here, however, is an area where the laws could not reach.

Following that, there were other items that I would have never imagined to be auctioned but upon careful consideration, could understand why they were being valued so highly in the black market. The values of passports on the black market especially, made a lot of sense. There are those of more commercial value, like stolen data from so and so famous company groups. Then there are also the more gruesome and bloodied items. Harvested organs, items made from harvested pokemon parts, most notably the ivory ornaments made from mamoswine tusks. Even evolutionary stones can be auctioned off here if their rarity and size makes it valuable enough to be auctioned off in such a high end place. Then there are also fossils, some of which were so very well-preserved that I have no doubt researchers like Shannon will not hesitate to sell their kidney just to get their hands on one of those.

Following that, it took a lot of self-control on my part to not outwardly show my disgust at the kind of things that appeared thereafter which people auctioned off on the black market. Nevertheless, after a long time we finally waited until only one item was left: the featured item that Myles Aguirre informed us that Team Plasma has a vested interest in getting their hands on and is something relating to Ability Holders themselves.

I wasn't expecting the featured item to be what it is. Nobody expected the featured item to be what it is.

The curtains opened, revealing a large cage that even Kratos could easily fit in. However, what was in the said cage barely took up any space. A little girl that was only around five years of age by my estimate sits with her knees hugged to her chest in a timid gesture within the cage. She was so small and malnourished, wearing nothing better than rags on that small frame of hers. Her skin is dark tanned, a skin colour not native to the Unova region. Her dark bushy purple hair is so long, thick, and unkempt that it doesn't seem like she ever had a chance to cut her hair before.

The featured item is a child. These sick bastards are selling children on the black market.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Presenting to you the star of tonight's auction, a descendant of our very own First Champion, the Mad Conqueror Nicholas Harlow!"

Even when the crowd went wild with shouts of disbelief or cheers of excitement it was like I wasn't able to hear anything. My focus was on the child trapped within that large cage on stage, my thoughts whirling at overdrive while somehow going still at the same time. I knew from the very start that I would be witnessing unsavoury things the moment I decided to attend this underground auction in order to search for clues about Team Plasma, but in the end it turned out that I had still underestimated just how dark the underworld can be.

I never thought that slavery still exists in this day and age.

Perhaps it was because I was lucky enough to be born into a family that is the near equivalent of modern royalty, perhaps a large part of me is still seeing the world through rose-tinted lenses despite knowing that the world isn't as glamorous as it seems. Knowing that such things still exist is one thing, but it will never compare to the impact you will feel when you truly understand and see it with your own eyes.

That was what I was feeling right then.

I was snapped back into reality when a loud angry roar could be heard. To my surprise and disbelief, a group of sawks and throhs pulled out a haxorus up on stage using thick large chains. The haxorus was obviously weakened, as could be seen from the countless wounds that it was sporting and thus, unable to properly resist the combined strength of the sawks and throhs. The haxorus' appearance gave the audience at the front rows quite a huge scare and most had stood up and fled towards the back almost immediately. They are not willing to risk their lives if the haxorus somehow managed to break free of its constraints.

What happened next showed me the extent of human cruelty.

It was sudden. The sawks and throhs had obviously received instructions from their handlers prior to this, for they shoved the haxorus into the cage with no hesitation. The haxorus was still in a blind rage, too angry to care about anything and lunged at the first thing it spotted in the cage to vent its anger: the little girl.

The realisation hit me. In this world, there still exist people who hold very little regard to the lives of others. People had shoved an angry dragon and a helpless little girl into the same cage for sport.

My hand had already reached out towards where I kept my pokeballs, almost on the verge of calling out my team to save the little girl, consequences be damned, and I would have done so if it wasn't for Vance stopping me in time. His hand had tightly gripped onto my wrist and gave me a slight pull backwards, jerking me out of my thought processes and effectively halting whatever I was planning to do.

"Something's not right. Watch."

Vance had probably picked up on a few details I had missed thanks to his experience as an ex Ace operative. In any case, he was proven to be right. The little girl had stood up and took a step forward towards the haxorus which had lunged at her. The crowd had collectively screamed when that happened. Everyone expected to be the witnesses to a gruesome scene where a little girl got mauled to death by the haxorus.

It did not happen.

All the girl did was to raise her hands as though she wanted to try touching the rampaging haxorus. She succeeded, but what got everyone tongue-tied and silenced the entire auction hall was how the haxorus had suddenly froze before becoming docile almost immediately, lowering its head to gently nuzzle its snout against the girl. The little girl stroked the dragon as though haxorus was some common pet she had raised within her own home.

It was impossible, yet this was indeed what happened.

I recalled Myles' words with great clarity. The featured item of this auction is what Team Plasma will be trying to obtain, something rumoured to be related to Ability Holders. I had assumed it to be an object, the fact that the item could possibly be a living breathing human just never crossed my mind. Now, however, all the dots are finally connected after I realised that there is only one explanation how and why the little girl was able to calm the rampaging haxorus with such ease.

She is an Ability Holder. She's not only an Ability Holder with a powerful ability at her disposal, she's also definitely a descendant of the Mad Conqueror as the ability she displayed is just too strikingly similar to what historical records had documented about what the Mad Conqueror had achieved more than 500 years ago. His ability was so terrifying that he conquered the entire region almost without much support from anyone else other than a ragtag army of Ability Holders that were almost always outnumbered by their opposition. The Mad Conqueror had so few allies, yet was still able to become Unova's first Champion all because of his ability to command dragons with unbelievable ease.

For Ability Holders, abilities can only be passed down through inheritance of blood. The Mad Conqueror was the only known Ability Holder whose ability relates to dragon types and hence this makes dragon-related abilities the rarest type of ability in the world. Now, it had finally made its reappearance in the little girl trapped within that large cage, which would mean that the girl has to be his descendant. I wasn't the only one to make that connection, the crowd had also obviously come to the same conclusion I did from how they had gone crazy over the performance the girl displayed earlier.

What I am concerned about was something else entirely. Team Plasma is here for the girl. She's so young, so impressionable and easy to influence. If Team Plasma were to sink their hands onto the girl and train her to be the next coming of the Mad Conqueror to fight for their cause…

The very thought of that is terrifying. That situation must be prevented at all costs.

"What you saw speaks for itself! No more words are needed, nothing else needs to be said, the starting bid starts at twenty million!"

Knowing that this is the climax of the auction for tonight, the host began to hype the crowd and the crowd responded. The bids climbed to forty million almost immediately, then sixty, then it kept on increasing and increasing. Eventually, more and more bidders dropped out of the competition until the bid started to bounce back and forth within the hands of a small handful of bidders who were still trying to outdo each other.

I could understand why these bidders were willing to bid such a high price for one little girl. An ability to tame dragon types with immediate effect is a priceless one, simply because it is a very powerful ability that has not been seen in anyone else other than the Mad Conqueror.

However, I plan to put a stop to things here. These people obviously wanted to groom her to be their personal hunting hound, to direct her to attack wherever they point their finger to. She deserves a fate better than that. I looked back at Vance, and while I couldn't see the expression on his face thanks to the mask he was wearing, he gave me a small nod.

Never before was I so glad that I was born into the Vera family.

The increments of the bid were getting smaller and smaller now that only a few bidders remained in the competition, only starting to inch towards the seventy million mark. I plan to win this bid and end this inhumane act entirely, so I quickly wrote down my bid on the bid card and raised it into the air for the host to see.

"EIGHTY MILLION!"

The crowd turned towards the gallery the moment the host announced my bid and I could feel the attention of the entire auction house on me. I suppose my actions would lead to such an outcome. My height was a dead giveaway to the fact that I'm obviously not yet of legal age, but I am somehow able to easily part with eighty million. Nobody would ever expect that.

The few bidders who were trying to outbid each other dropped out of the competition after I came into the picture, which was the outcome I wanted to see the moment I raised my bid card.

"And in a surprising turn of development, eighty million! Descendent of the Mad Conqueror, with the same ability to tame dragons, now worth eighty million! Eighty million calling once! Calling twice! Calling-"

Knowing that I already have this bid in the bag, my mind started to plan about what I am going to do with the girl. For her safety, it would probably be best to send her out of Unova where Team Plasma cannot reach her. Looker and Sebastian would probably be able to help out with that. Who knows, maybe Dad and Mum wouldn't mind adopting her into the family as well. I wouldn't trust anyone else to be able to raise the girl without any thoughts about abusing her ability for their own gains.

Then, I was violently derailed from my thoughts by the most ear grating screech I had ever heard.

"NINETY MILLION! Ninety million, folks, from that gentleman over there by the gallery! Ninety million! Any other takers?!"

It's the man who was standing closest to us near the corner of the gallery, the man with the mischievous weavile. The uncomfortable screech was the weavile's doing in order to promptly interrupt the host so that its trainer's bid will be noticed by him.

Ninety freaking million. How on earth can somebody easily part with ninety million? Does he own a bloody country or something? Not like I'm one to say this, but I was able to halt the bid at eighty million earlier thanks to my family accumulating wealth for more than half a millennium and families like mine are rare and few in between even across the entire world.

So, how on earth was this man able to easily bid ninety million without a damn care in the world? Does he also belong to a family with a similar standing to mine? The chances of that happening is so astronomically low that it's not even funny.

The man's head turned slightly towards my direction, probably aware that I was staring at him. His weavile laughed at us in a taunting manner, its hostility and mocking towards us plain for everyone to see that even a fool can easily pick up on it.

Is he the representative Team Plasma had sent to retrieve this little girl from the auction? That is the most likely explanation. I wouldn't be surprised if an organisation like Team Plasma can easily part with ninety million just to get their hands on her. After all, the girl's talent will definitely be a great boost to whatever nefarious plans they are hatching deep within the underworld.

"CALLING ONCE!"

To make things more infuriating than it already is, the man actually jerked his head towards the direction of the stage. He was gesturing for me to hurry up and come to a decision whether to continue with my bid and not waste his time any further. It's both a taunt and to mock me, I know that, but there's nothing I can do about it.

"CALLING TWICE!"

The booming voice of the host of this auction reminded me that I do not have much time left. I quickly scribbled something down on my bid card and raised it up once more.

"NINETY FIVE MILLION! Holy- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, NINETY FIVE MILLION!"

Dad will definitely be asking questions after he learnt of this. To be fair, it will be a justified price to pay in order to prevent Team Plasma from getting their hands on the little girl, and I'm definitely going to get Looker to help my family get some form of compensation from the Unova League once this is all over. The size of my family's wealth might be unfathomable, but it wouldn't be fair to us to keep forking out the money needed to keep this world-saving gig going.

I turned to look at the only bidder left that was competing with me. He picked up his bid card once more and in an infuriatingly slow manner, wrote down his new bid without a shred of urgency, slowly and mockingly flipped his card that purposely allowed me to catch a glimpse of his new bid before raising it up high so that the auctioneer is able to register his bid. His action is a taunt, it is a challenge, it is to mock me because he knows that I will have to pay a very hefty price in order to outbid him.

"ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILLION!"

One hundred and twenty million. The things you can do with a hundred and twenty million; buy an entire island, create a huge leap in helping to solve poverty and food scarcity problems in certain rural areas of the world, buy you a trip to space at Mossdeep Space Center. Even governments would not carelessly spend such a huge amount and yet, right here, is a man who callously bidded a hundred and twenty million and looks as if he can still raise the bid far higher than it already is.

The man mockingly bowed in my direction, his arm gesturing towards the stage to signal to me to continue with our bids -if I still want to try and outbid him- and never in my life had I wanted to strangle somebody as much as I do now.

"CALLING ONCE!"

The voice of the auctioneer reminded me that I don't have much time left. My hand reached out to my bid card once more, only for someone to grab onto my wrist. I gave Vance an annoyed glare, but I immediately swallowed any discontentment I had when I saw him shaking his head.

"CALLING TWICE!"

The only thing I could do was to glare at the man and his weavile, which was already doing some sort of celebratory dance on the railings in its excitement.

"CALLING THRICE!"

The Plasma representative had won the bid and he knew it. He even mockingly tilted his cap in my direction as a show of farewell before turning and walking away, presumably to collect his prize, and there's absolutely nothing that I can do about it.

I don't know why, but never had I felt so defeated and helpless. The only thing I can do now is to watch as an innocent child falls into the grasp of an unscrupulous Plasma villain and there's nothing I can do to help her.

That feeling really sucks. I joined the interpol to help save the world, yet I couldn't even save a single child.

"SOLD!"

Character and pokemon list:

Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Member of the International Police

Pokemon on hand:

1) Rapidash (Flamel), male

2) Swampert (Bigblue), male

3) Banette (Dolly), female

4) Flygon (Snap), male

5) Absol (Kelsa), female

6) Charizard (Toothless), male

7) Cradily (Lily), female

8) Espeon (Rena), female

9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male

10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male

11) Clefairy (Joy), female

12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female

13) Pangoro (Hulk), male

14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless

15) Scizor (Archer), male

16) Lapras (Chill), female

17) Gengar (Wacky), male