Okay, this month will still have some traveling in it but much less than the last few, and hopefully we can get this train back on its tracks until it reaches the final station. Thanks for your patience, and hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 139: Borrowed Strength
It takes Blue one day to conclude that Viridian Gym doesn’t seem to have any unique culture, and two battles to realize it does; they’re just hiding it.
It’s not like Surge or Erika’s gyms, where the members use clothing and distinct social norms to create an alternate culture. It’s not like Koga or Blaine’s gyms, where the Leader sets a strong top-down expectation that everyone does their best to abide by.
Instead, it operates mostly like Brock and Misty and Sabrina’s gyms, with an obvious speciality in a particular pokemon type… and an additional, much less obvious specialty that no one seems to talk about.
Blue felt it in his first evaluation match. With 7 badges, he was paired up against one of the most senior members in the gym, a woman nearly as old as gramps… who nearly beat him by swapping between a torterra and a quagsire that covered his whole team on their own.
It was humbling, and then it happened again with his next opponent, whose mamoswine shrugged off Soul’s Flamethrower and was swapped out for an absurdly thirsty gastrodon as soon as Maturin was sent in.
Blue only managed to win both times by throwing his whole belt at them. He tried to talk about their strategies and training regimen after, and was told to “puzzle it out on your own, if you can,” and even knowing he might be getting baited, that’s not a challenge he could turn down.
A day of watching battles among gym members makes it clear that even the newer members have trained their pokemon to hyper-specialize, and not always to that pokemon’s strengths.
“I saw an absurdly tanky krookodile, a rhyperior built for speed, and a mixed-attacking excadrill,” he tells Elaine as he walks the short distance from the gym to the trainer house he’s staying in. “They don’t just do it to take their opponents by surprise, it’s all about what team they’re part of. I watched the gym’s Second battle a few times, and I swear he has three different fully trained flygon that he uses in three different teams.”
“So it’s like Koga’s gym, sort of?” Elaine’s voice is muffled through his earpiece, noise cancellation keeping him from hearing what’s probably lots of wind, and he pictures her standing on one Cinnabar Gym’s balconies. “But no, from what you’re describing, they wouldn’t say ‘this blastoise is my tank,’ they would say ‘this blastoise is the tank for my team that specifically needs a tanky blastoise,’ and it just… wouldn’t get used in any other teams?”
“Yeah. It’s all kinds of expensive but incredibly effective if you can pull it off, which apparently the gym members can. People coming for their badges are mostly early in their journeys, they don’t have the resources or the skill for it, but I’ve already noticed some of the smarter ones pick up on the idea that they should be training their pokemon to fit together more deliberately.”
“Hm. That seems potentially bad, though? It’s an unrealistic standard when you’re just starting out and at higher risk of losing pokemon.”
“True. I’d call it gatekeeping, but… they’re not making it a condition of joining the gym, it’s just a powerful enough effect that if you don’t do it you get wrecked.”
“And how do you feel about that?” Her tone is teasing. “You said Fuchsia was your last revolution, and then…”
“Cinnabar was a special case. I mean it this time, I’m going straight for the badge, no membership, no culture building.” He didn’t mention Giovanni’s offer to her or Glen, or anyone else. He trusts them not to think he’d take a free win even if offered it, but his private talks with Leaders always feel… well, private, but also something more. Mildly sacred.
“But if you did have time…”
“Oh, I’m actually all about it.” He grins. “If anything I guess I might push for them to actually teach it, directly? It’s alluded to in the classes but not taught, and I’d call that a dereliction of duty except I get it, like you said most young trainers aren’t well positioned to try it. Even older trainers still on their journey are actually better off with a team of generalists that collectively cover all their bases.”
“So maybe teaching it to anyone outside the gym would be actually counterproductive.”
“Right, but it’s also definitely the edge that someone needs to beat the Elite Four. It’s not really a strategy, if anything it’s a meta-strategy that you then still have to work to create yourself, but it puts their teams on a whole other level. The fact that the gym is focused on Ground types is basically the only reason they’re beatable.”
“If I’m hearing you right, that means you’re going to have to retrain all your pokemon, or get new ones?”
“Yeah, there’s no way I’m going to one-shot Giovanni like this. I need a team deliberately built to beat him, with each mon trained to work together to do it.”
“Which means lots of extra training, and I’m guessing that’s where we come in?” He can hear her smile over the phone. “I’ll let everyone know. A few were just wrapping up their business in Cinnabar anyway, and Glen was planning to head there as soon as he gets his badge.”
“What about you?”
“Your last gym? Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ve already made spreadsheets of all the 8-badge teams Giovanni ever fielded for my game, sharing them with you now so you can start flowcharting.”
Flowcharting makes him think of Red, a flash of his pale, sweaty face lying still in his hospital bed causing Blue to falter mid-step. He feels a cold lump in his throat, like he swallowed a ghost that’s slowly sinking down into a hollow in his chest… a hollow that grows with each passing week that Red stays in his not-quite-a-coma-but-the-doctors-don’t-know-what-else-to-call-it.
Blue starts walking again, eyes scanning around to see if anyone noticed him abruptly going still on the sidewalk. Thankfully it’s dark enough that he’s probably not going to be recognized from a distance unless he’s under a streetlight.
He misses Red on a practical level, but he’s also scared for him in a way he’s never been before… and that fear bleeds into his worry about the next calamity. If Rocket attacks and Red doesn’t show up to stop them, they’ll get bolder. If he, Koga, and Leaf can’t reach a deal with the ninja (specifically one that stops them from appearing to capitulate while letting a subgroup splinter off) he’ll have dangerously equipped political rivals once he becomes Champion…
“Blue? Still there?”
“Yeah,” he says after another moment to recover. “Thanks, Elaine. I’ll look it over before I check the market.”
“Finally time to throw your money into the arena, huh?” She laughs as she hears him sigh. “It’s fine, Blue. Anyone who judges you for using every advantage you have before facing Giovanni at 8 can do it themselves, and if they win, well, they’ll probably deserve to beat you too.”
Blue smiles. “Fair.” It still stings, given how hard he worked to avoid buying pokemon for the past few badges, but he can’t deny that it helped hone him into a better trainer. Now he needs to become an even stronger one, and new, raw pokemon are the material he needs to do it. “Let me know if you need anything from my end.”
“Same to you. Home stretch, right? Exciting.”
“Yeah.” His smile fades. “Exciting.”
“See you soon.”
“See you.” He ends the call and walks the rest of the way with his gaze down, trying to push away the hollow ache in his chest.
Blue does his best to put on a smile as he arrives at the Trainer House, greets the receptionists warmly, and returns a few waves by the trainers in the lobby as he makes his way to the elevator. Most of them are young and new to their journeys… which is to say, they’re about his age. Yesterday he even saw a classmate from Pallet Town, here for his first badge. They’d been friendly acquaintances, but there were years of new experiences between them now that made them practically strangers.
Again the mental flash of Red lying in bed. Again the growing of the hollow void in his chest.
He reaches his room and rests against the door for a moment after he closes it, eyes shut as he taps his earpiece. “Call: Aunt Laura.”
Red’s mom picks up after one ring. “Hi, Blue. Everything okay?” She sounds tired enough that she’s not trying to hide it from him, and his heart aches a little more to hear it.
“M’alright. Just checking in.”
“I appreciate that.” He can hear a bit more life enter her voice. “Actually, I was thinking of messaging you and the others. I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
The hollowness is gone, and Blue straightens away from the door as his heart starts to beat faster. “Is he…?”
“It’s hard to say. There’s been a change, it may just be variance. Still, I noticed that… his sleep seemed more peaceful. The doctor admitted his signs were a bit better, but,” Laura lowers her voice. “I’m waiting for a psychic to come by and confirm it. Still, he’s been sleeping for nearly three hours straight, now, without any issue or intervention.”
Some of the hollowness fills in, and he feels tears gathering in his eyes. “That’s… really great news. I’m glad.”
“Me too. How are you, honey, really?”
“I’m fine, Aunty. Really. Just… missing him.”
He hears her sharp breath over the phone, and her next words are watery. “Me too. I’ll tell him you called.”
“Thanks. I’ll come by again this weekend.”
“I’ll tell him that too.”
In case he can hear us. In case he understands. In case he’s not permanently brain damaged.
His own breath catches, and he forces his voice to be normal. “Night, Aunty.”
“Goodnight, Blue. Love you.”
“Love you too.” He closes the call and stays at the door for another minute, then drags himself to the shower, letting the hot water wash away his tears until he feels wrung out.
He should be happier. He was, when he heard the news. It’s good news. He should be more hopeful, not less.
He stays in the shower until the water runs cold, then finally shuts it off and prepares for bed. He lies under the covers with his computer on his lap, tabs open to check listings for Flying, Water, Grass, and Ice pokemon, building hypothetical rosters on his phone and running sims with them against each listed team Giovanni has fielded in the past, until that starts to feel too restrictive. As far as he can tell, Giovanni hasn’t repeated a single full lineup for an 8-badge match. Blue should assume he’ll swap at least one pokemon from a previous team.
Nidoking or Rhyperior to lead, Camerupt and Swampert to pivot, Excadrill and Garchomp to sweep… Or maybe Flygon or Hippodon to lead, Steelix and Quagsire to pivot? The pain of losing Gon to the renegade below Silph strikes Blue anew. I’d need a new breloom altogether anyway, he tries consoling himself. One trained specifically for maximum strength and can swap with a tanky pelipper…
He exchanges messages with his friends as he goes, asking for feedback and thoughts. He even sends a few messages to Leaf, more for the benefit of her training than because he expects her to have novel insights. But he also keeps catching himself typing to Red before remembering and stopping himself. The third time it happens he sets the laptop aside, palms pressed to his eyelids.
It was good news. Laura shared good news. He should be heartened.
At this rate, Red might only sleep through Blue’s eighth badge, rather than waking up after Blue has already become Champion.
And there might not be all that much brain damage. And he probably won’t be as crazy as Rowan was. And he may even still remember who he or any of his friends are.
It’s something all the psychics have warned about. I feel like I’m trying to empty a pool with a cup, Jason said when Blue asked. The analogy probably wasn’t deeply thought through, but Blue couldn’t help but wonder…
What else are you scooping out?
What’s going to be left, when all the water’s gone?
Blue thought he was humbled when he lost against Brock in his first challenge. He thought he was humbled when they lost Aiko in the storm, or when he struggled to take down a couple renegades while Red took on a whole damn building full of them.
It still felt good, knowing Red was rising with him. Knowing that they would be working side by side to keep Indigo safe. Humbling, but good.
Then the unown attacked, and Red got his brain scrambled stopping Rowan, and they just have to hope that another crazy psychic doesn’t pop out of the tall grass, or else that Sabrina or Agatha or Will could stop them if they do and not get knocked out themselves in the process. Worse, they have to hope that Rocket doesn’t attack again and find out Red isn’t around to check any new major attacks.
Too many threats that Blue can’t deal with on his own. Outside the remit of Champion, sure, but whomever he ends up needing to work with to keep the region safe, he wants Red to be among them.
He wants his friend to be among them.
Blue wipes his eyes again, then opens his message history with Red. The last thing he sent him was some random slowpoke meme that Glen shared, and the grief hits him anew.
hey bud. missing you a lot tonight
His fingers have typed it out without much thought, and now hover over the send button.
Blue takes a breath, and almost deletes the words… then taps the button to send them instead.
Breath out. Breath in.
The hollowness in his chest is a little smaller.
Blue lifts his phone to take a picture of the flowchart he’s made so far.
what do you think? missing anything obvious?
Blue sends both the picture and the text, then just lies there for a while. As if he’s waiting for Red to respond.
A few months ago, after a chat with Duncan, Blue asked Red and Leaf about their “shoulder” versions of each other. Red seemed surprised, but admitted he got a lot of good advice and help from his “inner Blue and Leaf simulations,” while Leaf admitted that hers of Blue and Red had been helpful too, though not as talkative as Red’s seemed to be.
Blue’s inner-Red and inner-Leaf seem even less talkative. But maybe that’s something he can work on.
He looks over the lists again, then the flowchart, trying to specifically recall the way Red talked about the previous gym challenges.
im worried about the pivots, Blue sends, remembering that some of Red’s most helpful comments came from Blue just thinking out loud to him about his strategies. ground and rock have too much coverage together, and every ground type can learn rock moves, and he’s definitely going to have a water/ground that has ice attacks too in case i bring a flygon or gligar… i guess if i buy a skarmory i just have to worry about camerupt and stunfisk…
He types his thoughts to Red, pausing between each to give his mind time to imagine his friend’s response.
Why don’t you make a status team?
immune to paralysis, strong against poison and fire types, ice and sleep are unreliable… leech seed definitely worth having though
Maybe something too weird to predict? He’ll expect one ice type, what if you bring six?
and what, just try to brute force down his ice counters? it would make the rest easy if i can, but big gamble
All Fighting types?
why would that help?
He won’t expect it!
might as well bring all dragons then
Well, why not? Is this a fame and status thing again?
Blue isn’t typing his responses anymore, instead playing the argument out in his head. He’s frowning at his phone as though Red is actually responding, though.
yes, it is, but also it would be robbing myself of an actual power up. i’m not just trying to win, i need to figure out how to make a team good enough to beat him, or else someone else on victory road who did will beat me, and if i do it with a team of dragons then people will be ready for that
Well, if you’re not sure how to break through his pivots when he’s expecting you to bring Ground counters, I still think the answer is to surprise him somehow. You had lots of ideas of how you’d create your perfect team someday, right? Why not just pick one of those that has a particularly good anti-Ground focus?
Blue sits up, a little at first as the idea starts to unfold, then fully as it takes hold, a mix of memories and excited imagination. He did have a lot of ideas for this, before they left for their journey…
He digs through old folders on his computer until he first finds the original “dream team” he developed for becoming Champion, as well as the hypothetical ideal he created for each Leader. Skimming it now makes him snort—lots of dragons, of course, with a smattering of anti-Steel and anti-Ice pokemon to balance them out.
He re-archives the files and keeps digging for the more realistic hypothetical teams he imagined catching throughout Kanto. An arcanine shows up, of course, as does a gyarados, and an exeggcutor for reasons he can’t quite remember. Again he puts those back in the archive after a quick skim, a little embarrassed by how much his younger self still had yet to learn despite the confidence he still remembers feeling so well.
Finally he reaches the lists he and Red made when they started planning their journey route, and he could predict what sort of pokemon he might find along the way to each gym. It holds up surprisingly well; pidgeot, of course, and arcanine, and sandslash… a golduck, which he hasn’t felt a need for given his starter, but also a beedrill, which he remembers wanting to pick up for Erika…
Blue archives the documents again, then re-opens the first and second to cross-reference them with some of the more expensive pokemon on the market. In many ways he’s far luckier than his younger self could have imagined, and if he’s going to do this, he’s going to do it right… not just for getting his 8th badge from Giovanni, but for Victory Road as well.
He doesn’t have Red at his side for now, but that doesn’t mean his friend doesn’t still need Blue to help keep him safe.
He’s earned a rest. It’s all of them that need to pick up the slack, now.
Swish. Swoosh. Swish. Swoosh.
Leaf doesn’t quite lounge on the couch of the Indigo League waiting room, but it’s hard not to. It’s plush and comfy enough to sleep on; the room in general looks more like a hotel lobby than a government building. Not a fancy one, there aren’t marble tiles or intricate chandeliers or anything, but it’s certainly a step up from the mayor’s office in Pewter.
Swish. Swoosh. Swish.
The receptionist glances up from her monitor to where Leaf is trailing her hand back and forth across the back of the couch, enjoying the slightly-fuzzy texture. Leaf smiles at her, and the receptionist smiles back and returns to her work.
She still remembers how it felt, sitting in Mayor Kito’s waiting room. There’s nothing to be worried about, and being nervous will just make things harder. A thought that helped calm her nerves a little, at the time. But this situation isn’t really like that one. There’s plenty to be worried about, and… nervous isn’t quite what she’s feeling.
It’s much more comparable to the questioning at the Celadon police department after the quakes. She remembers that nervousness; her sweaty palms, the knotted feeling in her stomach, the way her heart pounded as she was questioned about the data leaked from the casino’s hidden lab…
“They’re ready for you, Miss Juniper.”
“Thank you.” Leaf arrived just a few minutes ago, but wouldn’t have minded a longer wait on the comfy couch, which is maybe a sign that she needs to get more sleep. She pushes herself to her feet and walks toward the door on legs that don’t tremble, opens it with a hand free of sweat…
…and faces Champion Lance, Special Administrator Looker, Director Tsunemori, Elite Agatha, and Professor Oak.
The tension in the room gets to her in a way waiting outside didn’t. People’s expressions range from calm masks to openly frustrated, and she feels tension slowly coiling in her stomach.
But she still doesn’t feel cowed. Every time she feels the temptation to bow her head or give in to her doubts, she remembers Red fighting for his sanity day after day, and she feels her back stiffen, her chin rising higher. She saves her tears for when she’s alone, or among family and friends.
“Miss Juniper,” Lance says. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course. The Professor said this is about my stories?” She looks to Professor Oak, who nods and gives her a slight (encouraging?) smile… but the tension in him is still obvious.
“You want me to give up my source.” She is carefully keeping her gaze on the Champion, but she sees Professor Oak shake his head and turns back to him.
“It’s okay, Leaf. I’ve already told them about Dr. Fuji.” He sighs, looking worn and old. “I was so relieved when Laura found him. I hadn’t really expected her to. But I was also wary. His behavior was odd, his story of what he’s been doing for years didn’t add up, and… part of me knew that someone who disappears for a decade to work on top secret research may not always engage in ethical research. I wanted to believe in him, but his second disappearance… if there’s anything he told you that might help us locate him, or any notes on the story he told you that might—”
“I still can’t be compelled to reveal any such notes,” Leaf says. She didn’t bring a lawyer, but she did read up on her rights. “Can I?”
“No,” Lance says. “But I’ll remind you that you’re a guest in this region.” He glances at Professor Oak, who’s frowning at him now. “A highly vouched for guest, yes. Many would even say a heroic one, myself included. But when it comes to Indigo’s security, we can’t take chances that you aren’t being used unwittingly.”
Leaf’s heart beats a little faster, but she does her best to keep her face calm. It feels like they’re going to bring up the ninja story at any moment, but if they don’t, she’s still not sure what all this is even about…
She turns to Looker. “I’m confused. If I’d wanted to keep Dr. Fuji’s secrets, why would I have helped find the lab in Cinnabar?”
“It’s like the Champion said; Fuji, or the Dreamer, may have wanted to use Leaf the pokemon-rights-advocate. But that Leaf shares a body and mind with Leaf the intrepid young reporter.” Looker’s smile is wry. “Even the best manipulator can’t predict everything a person’s going to do.”
“And if you’re being psychically influenced, they can’t be controlling you all the time,” Elite Agatha says.
“Influ—what are you talking about?”
“Nine days ago the dreamer spoke with me,” Champion Lance said. “They threatened to stop the unown research themselves if we didn’t. As of this morning, fifteen people across four labs have abruptly decided they would rather find a different field to work in. All cited a growing fear of the risks, the doom foretold by the dreams, or both.”
“Some have moved on to other projects,” Professor Oak says. “Ones they claim they’ve always been more excited to work on, passions that they’ve been putting off for one reason or another. Others have decided to start advocating against unown research.” He shakes his head, face drawn. “It’s what I hoped for, when I called for a pause on unown research. But not like this.”
“Okay,” Leaf says, speaking slowly as hear heart pounds against her ribs. “That… definitely sounds suspicious. But you have no proof it was them yet, right? They haven’t claimed credit?”
“No, but the ability to do this reveals more than we dared fear of their abilities,” Elite Agatha says. “I took for granted that, if roused to act, the Dreamer might send the nightmares again, perhaps worse than before, or perhaps concentrated in one of the cities with a lab, night after night, holding it hostage. This is much more subtle, much more troubling, and worst of all, when it gets out—”
“It’ll turn public opinion against psychics,” Leaf says, feeling numb. All of Red’s hard work…
“And justifiably,” Tsunemori says, voice quiet but firm. “Most of the people in this room are charged with protecting people, in this region and others. The public trusts us with power insofar as we can tell them, honestly, that we can help keep them safer against things they can’t protect against on their own. If that stops being true, what comes next… if we do not descend into anarchy, it would be because we return to an age of brutal warlords.”
Leaf wants someone to disagree, but the room is silent. The numbness is fading, the horror rising to take its place.
She still distinctly remembers the conversation above Cinnabar’s secret lab, with Red and Blue and Jensen and the rangers. Ira had been the one to suggest that the hybrid might be manipulating people’s minds, and it seemed like he, Blue, and Jensen were prepared to assume the worst of them, to treat them like a manipulator and murderer just because they were powerful and unusual.
Tsunemori is saying more of the same. If the hybrid really is manipulating people… Leaf can’t defend that, but she also wants to understand why, what would drive them to do such a thing.
Most people won’t. They’ll want to be safe, at all costs. And she can’t fault them, not really, but if the Champion treated the hybrid like a threat from the start, maybe they didn’t have a chance to actually reach for a mutual understanding…
Eventually Elite Agatha stirs. “There are many psychics who have wondered, deep down, how far they could push projection. How deep.” She meets Leaf’s gaze. “I’ve examined those who changed their minds about unown research, and thankfully whatever the Dreamer did, it leaves traces. It’s important that we can say with some confidence that even a monstrously powerful projector like the Dreamer, the likes of which the world has never seen before, can’t act with impunity. That people can still trust their leaders to be free of manipulation.”
“Assuming you’re not compromised yourself, of course,” Looker says.
Agatha smiles. “Of course. Which you all have no reason to believe, given how hopeless this investigation would be anyway if I am, but the public doesn’t, which means more conspiracy theories. I’m looking forward to them already.”
Leaf’s heart sinks as she finally understands why she’s really here. “I trust you, Elite.” She meets the old woman’s gaze. She’s been to visit Red a dozen times in the past couple weeks, and knows how hard the Elite has been working to help him… which, thankfully, seems to actually be paying off. The last time she went to visit Red, he’d been sleeping peacefully, and just the sight of it made her heart ease in a way that it hasn’t been since she first learned of his “injury” facing Rowan. “Do it.”
Professor Oak stirs. “Leaf, you—”
“It’s okay. I’ve gone through something similar, before.” To be allowed to stay at the Cinnabar lab excavation. “And I want to know.” She looks back at Agatha. “I need to. But I’m guessing this is going to be extremely thorough, rather than just a few pointed questions to get a sense of my intent?”
“Yes.”
“Then I have a request.”
The Elite nods. “I can guess what it is, but go on.”
“If you’re going to want me to think of the meetings I had with Dr. Fuji, as well as times I thought about writing the story… there are things I know that are secret, and for very good reason.” And some things I’ve done that may be illegal. “I don’t think I can keep myself from thinking about them entirely with those prompts.”
“I’ve merged with many minds over the course of my life, child.” Agatha bobs her head briefly. “It takes a lot for me to judge others, these days, and even more for me to share their secrets. Just do your best, and try not to stress about it. You have my word, I won’t use anything I see against you or those you’re trying to protect.”
Leaf lets out a breath and nods, then closes her eyes and waits for Agatha to merge with her. She wishes for the hundredth time at least that she was at least “sensitive” so she could feel it if that happened.
“Alright, let’s start where it makes sense. Maybe they got to you earlier, but the most likely chain is they got to Laura first, then got her to bring you in for more influencing. Think of that first meeting… that’s it. I know it’s been a while, but try to take me through it sequentially as best you can… Good…”
Leaf does her best to follow one prompt after another, reliving her experiences with Dr. Fuji, her decision to write the story from his notes and outline, and the many days and nights spent turning them little by little into an actual novel.
Along the way she manages to use her anti-psychic training to not think of too many associated things her mind would normally wander to, and she mostly manages to avoid thinking of secrets that belong to others… but she utterly fails not to think of her other fiction regarding the ninjas, and her meetings with Leader Koga and Janine that inspired it; the process was too similar, and while she does her best to avoid following memory trails through the conversation with Koga’s old clan, she’s too worried about it to fully succeed.
“Breathe, Leaf. That’s it.” Nothing in Agatha’s tone indicates surprise, and Leaf can’t help but wonder if she already knew, somehow, and what it might mean about her potential involvement. “Almost done. Just think of the day you found the lab in Cinnabar…”
A few more prompts, while Leaf does her best to keep her body relaxed and her breathing steady, until finally…
“I think that’s it,” Agatha says. “Rest easy, Leaf. So far as I can tell, you’ve reached all your motivations and actions honestly.”
Is there a hint of irony there? No, surely Leaf is just oversensitive, and still expecting the other shoe to drop. It takes her a few breaths before relief starts to seep in.
“So what now?” she asks, glad her voice sounds mostly steady.
“Now we apologize for the intrusion, and ask for your help,” Lance says. “As I said, you’re a visitor here, but you’re one we’d be proud to call our own. Your assistance with the renegades and local incidents, your work with the Safari Zone, the investigations you’ve done… I would understand if you believe you’ve done enough, and if you’re angry for suspicion. But you are, currently, our best chance of finding the Dreamer and ending this.”
“‘Ending’ how?” Leaf asks, stomach clenching.
“By persuasion, ideally,” Agatha says. “We’re not looking to start a fight.”
“But we do need to prepare for one, if they won’t listen to reason,” Tsunemori says. The usually soft-spoken woman has her fingers interlaced, gaze intense. “Thank Arceus they’ve only targeted Indigo labs so far, but we have no reason to believe they’ll stop there. They claimed to be an Indigo citizen, and we can’t let one of our own commit acts of literal terrorism unchecked.”
Lance nods. “It would be cause for sanctions, a travel ban, or worse. We need to solve this problem before every unown lab in the region is depopulated, and the Dreamer moves on to Hoenn or Sinnoh.”
Leaf feels her nails digging into her palms, and forces herself to relax them. She’s not going to get arrested, which admittedly she wasn’t really expecting. She’s not going to be deported either. She could just shrug and promise to think about it and then think about it and conclude there’s nothing she can do. She has no way to contact or find Fuji or the Dreamer…
…but if they’re not actually some extremely talented psychic, if they’re actually a pokemon-human hybrid…
“You’ll try to resolve it peacefully, if possible?”
“As Agatha said, we’re not looking for a fight,” Lance says. “We have enemies enough. Should I take that as an indicator you’re willing to help?”
“I can’t just sit by. Not with how bad things might go, one way or another.”
“What can you do?” Agatha asks with a slight frown. “From what I saw, there’s nothing in your memories that would give you a way to contact them.”
“I can put it in the story,” Leaf says. “It’s risky, given the public perception if you’re wrong. And maybe they’re not even reading it anymore. But I would be surprised if Dr. Fuji isn’t, at least, and if he is, then the Dreamer would probably be told.”
There’s silence in the room for a moment, and Leaf knows why; if the Dreamer really has been doing this, they’ve shown themselves capable and willing to manipulate others to achieve their goals. If Leaf proves herself an unwilling accomplice after all, she may get a visit soon to change that.
“That’s a great risk to take,” Looker says, just as Lance was about to speak. “You must care about this region a great deal.”
His expression is calm, his tone friendly. But she knows him better than that, after their time in Cinnabar.
“I’m not doing it for nothing, so you can save your suspicion.” Not that he would. “I’ve been teleporting back to Unova at night, so it’d be pretty hard for the Dreamer to get to me, but that’s been due to other concerns, and I’d like to ask a favor.”
“We already offered you a protection detail,” Tsunemori says, brow furrowed. “You turned it down.”
“It’s not Rocket I’m worried about.” The idea that they might try to hold her hostage to coerce Red was worrying, but the loss of privacy and mobility from having a security detail was worse given the worry that if a ninja comes after her they wouldn’t do it in ways the guards could protect her against. “I want resources to carry out an investigation into Indigo crime and corruption.”
The words felt scary to think, let alone say. It’s a spur of the moment decision, a sudden glimpse at potential leverage for the negotiations with the hidden ninja clans, who sent a message just a few days ago asking for another meeting next week.
Professor Oak and Director Tsunemori are frowning, Lance’s face is blank, Agatha is smiling, and Looker seems more intrigued than anything.
“Under whose authority?” Tsunemori asks.
“My own, as an independent journalist. I’m not asking for money or manpower. I want access to records.”
“Records that might implicate someone in this room?” Looker says, steepling his hands and leaning his chin on them. “Or someone connected to one of them?”
“It’s not an Interpol matter,” Leaf says. “And I’m not going to leak any info by confirming or denying. I do think it’s important for me to make the ask with multiple people present, though.” She gives Professor Oak an apologetic look. “Sorry for involving you without warning.”
“I suppose it’s only fair,” he says with a small smile. “I’m stretched thin these days, but I’m happy to act as witness, at the very least.”
They begin to discuss the details, and Leaf does her best to focus on those without letting her mind linger too much over her other motivation: if the Dreamer really is a pokemon hybrid, she wants to meet them before they end up on an irreversible crash course with human society… not to mention her friends.
The evidence, if it exists, will be in the lab… but also in the people who worked there, wherever they are. She can’t help the excavators dig faster, but she can try to find out another way, even if it’s evidence that won’t convince anyone but her.