Eevee Therapy for Little Magi Chapter 58: Stone and Stars (Patreon)

Isabella sighed as the group crested a small rise, the mirelands long behind them and the forest falling away, as they looked out over the city nestled among the hills and rising up the sides of the mountains. “Okay, show of hands, who’s looking forward to sleeping in an actual bed tonight? We’ve been roughing it for weeks now.”

Every hand rose, including the paws present within the group. Unanimous consent was achieved in record time, for while people and ‘mon tended to enjoy camping, they oft enjoyed it because it was temporary.

Cynthia chuckled and lowered her own hand as the group started down the hill. “My days of constant camping are behind me, thankfully. But in all honesty, I’ve found it nice to be out in nature for a while, not having to deal with the League. And I’ve been enjoying your cooking a lot, Shirou. For camp food, it’s been excellent, and a lot better than anything I can cook.”

“I’ve noticed,” Shirou said dryly. Cynthia had begged off cooking for most of the trip; the one time she’d been guilted into trying, Shirou had taken over after the champion had nearly burned a very pricey side of pork. “Never bothered to learn?”

“No talent, and I’m fine with eating trail mix, prepacked stuff, and foraged roughage when I’m busy.” She waved off his judgement. “And there are lots of cheap places to eat, or places that’ll let you battle for a meal, if you’re looking for them.”

Illya snorted. “Your journey and ours were very different.”

“Yes. I ran into significantly less trouble. At least, before I started making a name for myself,” she responded, ruffling Illya’s hair. She looked down at Veilstone, mapping something out in her mind. “Well, I think this is where we diverge, children. I need to get back to the League, and if we get any closer, I’m likely to start attracting attention. Any last-minute questions before I go?”

“Nope,” Illya stated immediately, shaking her head. For the moment, anyway, they’d exhausted all possible conversation they could have. “Best of luck with the League!”

“I’m good, too,” Shirou said. “Safe travels.”

Cynthia waved, pulling out a Pokeball and releasing her Togekiss, the fluffy fairy-type cooing as she nuzzled up to her trainer. With a small hop, she mounted her flier and took off, the champion soon vanishing over a hill.

“...I wonder why she walked us so close to the city,” Shirou mused.

“She was obviously trying to keep you out of trouble,” several voices deadpanned at once, various intonations deviating from the absolutely dead voices of Ritsuka and Matilda.

Isabella (who’d begged an earpiece and a license for the new Tohsaka-Juniper translation software off of Cynthia) gave a tiny, maniacal giggle. “So, now that she’s gone… how long until we run into new trouble?”

“I’m taking bets,” Anastasia offered with a certain level of gleeful elegance that spoke of her inherent fae nature. The group laughed slightly as they reached Veilstone’s outskirts, only pausing as Shirou spotted a vaguely familiar outfit being worn by a group of men extracting something from a crater.

Looking over the men dressed in white and black uniforms augmented with odd metal plates, Shirou slowly looked at Illya. “Am I seeing things, or do they look a little like those men in the shrine?” He asked his sister under his breath, the group watching as the men and women worked to excavate something from the earth.

“... Ritsuka, it looks like we all owe you some money,” Matilda despaired, rather than explicitly state that, yes, in fact, those were pretty much identical to the people present at the shrine.

Shioru started forward, only for Isabella to grab his elbow. “Hold on, Shirou. One, there are other people around, and no one seems bothered by them. Two, can you see the symbol on their chests and gear?” She motioned to the yellow ‘G’ stylized on their uniforms.

“Ahh. Galaxy?” Illya declared, squinting towards the uniformed figures, “... That would make for an excellent cover…”

“Cover? I don’t think so,” Isabella muttered back. “The Galaxy Expedition Team became the Galaxy Research Corps, and then rebranded into the Galactic Energy Company. And from what I’ve heard, they started leaning into the whole spaceman-future aesthetic a few years back. Those might be actual Galactic employees.”

Shioru thought that through. Right now, all he had was conjecture and one link to a small group of ruin thieves, and the word of Azelf. If they bothered a group of workmen with the backing of a major company, much less attacking them, it would end badly, no matter how successful they were. He nodded slightly, taking a step back. “Fine. But something about them gets me on edge, and it’s not just my run-in with that other group.”

“I get it,” lllya agreed. “We may need to look into this.”

“Or we… could not?” Isabella ventured, shrugging as her suggestion went ignored. Judgemental looks from all present Pokemon that weren’t hers stared straight into her soul as Ana bluntly stated,

“Did you REALLY expect any other outcome, Isabella?”

“No, I suppose not. Fine. Pokemon center first, then we explore the city. There’s the gym, the Game Corner, a lot of restaurants, I’m pretty sure there’s a training dojo…” The diamond clanswoman rattled off as she led them towards the city center. “...and I think Galactic Corporate Headquarters, come to think of it.”

Shirou nodded, shooting a look back at the workmen in their odd uniforms, before he followed the rest of the group deeper into Vielstone.

--(o)--

Shirou sighed as he emerged from the bathroom, adjusting his clothes over his shoulders, frowning as he noticed how tight his shirts were getting. “I have put on a bit of muscle…” He mused aloud, shrugging on his jacket as he did so.

“I’ll take partial credit for that,” Yagi said, emerging from the shower behind him, water flicking off his fur with a burst of aura. “We’re clean and you’re dressed now.” He observed as two of their teammates, Fafnir and Ana, sat up to listen in. “What are our plans for the afternoon? Your sister is likely still soaking, will we wait for her?”

“Yeah. Don’t want to get into trouble with her, and we could take the time to relax, honestly,” Shirou stated firmly, nodding towards where Ritsuka was taking the opportunity to nap. “He has the right idea, being honest.”

“Right.” Yagi nodded. “Rest is important… though I’m not particularly tired. What should we do for the next hour?”

Shirou tilted his head, thinking. He had to admit, most of what he’d do to ‘relax’ was some form of work; training, cooking, cleaning, or homework. “...you know, I have no idea. Ana, any suggestions?”

“You could simply go watch the television,” his new fox offered lazily, stretching from her perch on his portion of the bunkbed they’d be resting at for the duration of their stay at the Pokemon Center. “Alternatively, you could hang out on one of the many online locations dedicated to trainers. Hell, if you want to make some money, you could see what kind of jobs are available around here.”

“We’re looking to relax, so let’s not go looking for work. While I’m all for gaining more treasure, the payout from the Champion for our ruin protection is enough to keep us going for now,” Fafnir rumbled. “As for television, I’m all for that. Yagi?”

“Let’s check the TV schedule, let’s see what’s available to watch.” Yagi suggested.

A few minutes later found Shirou browsing the local schedule, clicking through the website with an interested eye. “...Food Wars?”

“It’s an anime. Cooking competitions made interesting, a little too much. Sometimes their clothes explode,” Yagi explained. “Might be up your alley, Shirou. But they’re also showing Kanto’s Golden Fist fighting tournament, that could be fun to watch…”

Shirou absently clicked on the TV and navigated to the anime. “I’ve had enough fighting recently. Something as calming as cooking sounds nice.”

Two hours later, Shirou had a notepad full of ideas and a sheet of paper of complaints. “...long sleeves are a must when working with hot oil, for one.” He argued to an absently listening Isabella, the girl having wandered in midway through Shirou’s second episode. “Cooking in naked apron is dangerous, male or not…”

“I never did understand the appeal. Then again, it is not as if my clan wore clothing, and my trainer ‘lost’ his spark for love, so eh,” Anastasia commented idly, from where she was evidently taking notes of her own. “Also, oil is a pain in the tail to clean out of fur. And hair. And literally anything that’s not skin.”

Shirou frowned as the show went onto commercial break. “That would explain why Yagi’s not interested in cooking. Is there a way to oil-proof fur? Or I suppose if you’re interested we could just set you up behind a screen.” He mused.

“Raincoat, honestly. One of those ponchos would work perfectly well. That or getting good enough with fine control over psychic stuff to create a body-adherent shell. Honestly, I may chat with your friend’s Espeon and see if she has any advice for me. I only can really do fine stuff so well because my former trainer was… a bit hopeless when it came to cooking,” she remarked fondly, a bit of mist entering the snowpix’s eyes before she shook it away, “Anyway, your sister is about to barge into the room.”

Illya poked her head into the room, eyes wide. “Shirou! I didn’t know you were into anime!” She cheered.

Shirou coughed. “It’s just the one, it’s giving me some new ideas…”

“Food Wars, right? Yeah, it’s good, I’ll be sure to let you watch from the beginning. You’re kinda similar to the main character, though he has a Slowpoke as his partner Pokemon. Not your style, I don’t think,” his sister analyzed, briefly taking a glance at the television before she turned around, “Anyway, we should probably do more than laze around, if only because we’ll regret it when we leave again.”

“We could go take a look around the city, I suppose…” Shirou said, standing up. “I’ll be honest, after three weeks of cooking for twenty people, I could use a break, so maybe we could find a restaurant?”

Illya nodded, heading to the door. “Let’s just walk around and see what we find. I’m up to explore, and we can stop whenever.”

Shirou nodded, heading toward his room to grab Ritsuka. “Get your shoes and coat on, it’s probably going to get cold.”

--(o)--

Veilstone was different from most of the other communities the siblings had visited; it had some older buildings, but was by and large new construction. Electric signs, sleek cladding, and machined steps made up most of the city, which reminded Shirou of Fuyuki City. “So, Illya, what are you interested in?” Shirou asked as they walked to stop near a shopping plaza. “Something substantial, something simple, something local…”

“Anything, at the moment. No offense Shirou, but there’s only so much we can do to make food on the road taste good. Variety, I think. Something we can’t easily carry,” Illya replied apologetically. It was, in fact, actually fairly difficult to ensure a variety of taste and freshness on the road, unless you were willing to spend a truly absurd amount of money on portable generators and refrigeration units.

After all, while your skills in cooking may be decent, there was only so much you could do with, well, trail rations, foraged vegetables, and the occasional fish.

“Well, I suppose… hot pot, maybe? We don’t need to splurge for meat, but maybe…” Shirou stopped, and Illya turned to see him looking at a shop with Galarian accents, a large banner over the top. “...pies and roasts?” he murmured, giving it an appraising look. “That suit your fancy?”

“I’m fine with it.” The group filed in, the hostess motioning to the counter.

“Order at the front, and then take your tables. We’ll bring out the meal as is. Our special tonight is a pie and curry, with either potato or rice.” She offered.

After a few moments of discussion, Shirou stepped forward, “We’ll take 14 specials, half with potato, and half with rice. Just water for our drinks, please.” He said, before rattling off a few different varieties of pies.

“Right away. We’re a Pokemon friendly institution, so feel free to have your team out. So long as you don’t have a Wailord or a Tropius, that is,” the counter staff commented

Shirou nodded, and the group took a seat at one of the long tables. As they did so, a bulky man at a nearby table looked up, raised one eyebrow in interest, then stood up, his Sneasler and Gallade continuing to eat. Illya glanced over at the man, noting his intentionally ratty workout clothes, well-groomed beard, and the faint drift of aura coming off his form.

“Huh, not often that we get a couple of rookie trainers running with a clanswoman.” He said, coming to a stop a respectful distance from the table. “What brings you kids to Veilstone? On your journey?”

“Yep,” Illya replied, offering him a nod. “We set out from Celestic Town and have looped around after making our way south. Not traditional at all, but it’s what’s working for us at the moment.”

The man gave a hearty laugh. “By the dirt on your boots, you braved the mire. Crossed over from Pastoria?” He stopped and looked at Isabella. “Or… did you try for the Eternal Badge? I think I recall seeing that someone had challenged Narimasa lately.”

“That was us,” Shirou said immediately, briefly giving the conversation attention before he was forced to return to managing his starter and Matilda. Who were having a spat over who was going to be watching Vulpix.

Again.

Illya truly did wonder why her starter and brother’s starter couldn’t just admit that they shared custody - along with Anastasia - and be reasonable about it, but a solid part of her was pretty sure they were both doing it for the bit. And because they were bored.

Which, fair, honestly. Not a lot of humans had the translation tech, yet, even if it was rolling out shockingly quickly.

“Hah. Well, if you’ve already fought him, I’m happy to be your next challenge!” He put his hands on his waist. “Yae Komatsu, the Rock Breaker, gym leader here in Veilstone. Pleased to meet you!”

“A pleasure, Leader Komatsu,” Illya replied, offering the man a nod. “I’m Illyasviel von Einzbern. My brother is Shirou Emiya.”

“And I’m Isabella,” the clan girl introduced herself.

Komatsu sat down, still smiling. “Well, it’s nice to see some new faces in Veilstone, and supporting the local economy instead of running to the nearest Charpotle or Ven-n-Out. I’ll expect your challenge soon, I guess. Interested in anything else while you’re here? I’ve got a few minutes before my team is done getting their protein.”

“What’s Galactic been up to lately?” Illya asked, not even having to feign her curiosity. After all, she was curious. Though the things she was curious about were definitely not what Leader Komatsu were expecting her to be.

“...got a personal reason for that, kid?” he asked, his smile dropping and brow furrowing.

“Yes.” Shirou shot a glance at Yagi, the Lucario shooting him a thumbs up. “We had a recent run-in with someone dressed… a lot like the Galactic employees we’ve seen about town. They were doing some shrine desecration.”

“That’s a bit bigger than I’ve seen, but…” He sighed. “I’m sorry to say I wouldn’t put it past them. The Galaxy Research institution was basically the whole reason Veilstone was founded, but since they rebranded and rebuilt their headquarters, they’ve started changing. Slowly in years past, but things have gone weird in the last two years. I’ve heard their people talk about their CEO as almost a prophet once or twice. But the one time I met the man, he seemed like a dead fish.” He scratched his chin. “They strongarmed a lot of folks to sell the land around their HQ to give it more security, and they’ve been shipping in a lot of heavy equipment they move at night. A lot of little things, but I don’t like the direction it’s going.”

Isabella frowned. “That sounds… not too bad?” she ventured. “Not on its own.”

“Yeah, well… when the Riolu you’re training starts giving the stink-eye to anyone in the organization, you start connecting dots without having the full picture. Galaxy has been a household name in this city for years, but they’ve started doing everything in-house. Even let go of the contracted janitors. Whatever they’re doing in HQ, they don’t want people to know about it, and that’s a major change.”

Shirou leaned forward. “If this company is getting into something dark, is there anything I can do to help?”

Komatsu’s grin returned. “Ah, kid, love your enthusiasm. But I don’t know you from any other rookie walking in off the street, even with a team like yours. Come and take my badge, and then we’ll talk, hmm?” He stood, clearing space for the first of several waiters carrying trays of food. “I’ll see you later. Welcome to Veilstone!” He called out as he walked over to rejoin his team.

Shirou watched him go, then nodded slowly. “Hmm, I guess we’re getting into trouble again.”

“Called it,” Ana sighed.