Eevee Therapy for Little Magi Chapter 65: Orre's Legacy (Patreon)

Misora rummaged through the bag in front of her, scrabbing through the unfamiliar contents as she followed the loud chirping of a ringing phone. “Here you go. It’s not routed through your work phone?” She asked the woman in the front seat of the car, Elle accepting it with a nod.

“Not this one. I don’t want calls from my personal life to get recorded on my work phone–” Elle stopped as she caught sight of the caller ID, immediately jamming her thumb on the red button next to the name. “-especially not ones which could lead to drama. Ugh.”

Kiri shot a glance over at her as he drove. “Problem?”

“My sister. Eight years since I last saw her, and I bet the only reason why she’s reaching out is to somehow leech off the attention we’re getting for this op,” Elle growled. “Why did the two of you stick me on interview duty?”

Flare’s recent uptick in activity, combined with the very public activities in Lumiose City itself, had forced both sides into a propaganda war. Flare had been trying to portray the League as heavy handed and throwing doubt on their declarations of Lysandre as their leader through multiple third parties. Looker had requested someone involved in the Flare raid attend a press conference and interview, in order to put a public face to the affair.

AZ had, of course, removed himself from the situation, which left three potential sacrifices to the media. Elle had been the one to go before the camera.

Mostly because Misora was very understandably avoiding the responsibility. She was officially supposed to be on vacation, and had just revealed both a new use for Keystones.

Also, Mana had stopped holding back. There was that too.

“You know why I begged off, Elle.” Because she really didn’t need to explain it again, given this wasn’t the first nor second time Elle had bitched about this specific issue.

“And as for me… well,” Kerry chuckled.

“I get it.” Elle grumbled as they rolled north. “If I’d known Jovi was going to be this much of an ass about it, I’d still have gotten you to handle it.”

“This much of an ass? She’s called once,” Mana piped up from her spot in the backseat.

Before anyone could respond, the phone rang again. Elle only glanced at it before hanging up once more. “No one ever told Jovi no in her life and made it stick. Even I let her drag me around as a kid; she still hasn’t grown up at all.”

“I assume that just answering the phone would only encourage that behavior?” Misora asked, receiving a nod from Elle at that. “Ouch. That sucks.”

“Yeah. She’d beg and plead for me to mention her in the next interview, or to invite her to Kalos so she can ‘take credit for how much she helped me.’” Elle did the air quotes, idly ignoring yet another call. “Bitch still calls me ‘big brother’ whenever she calls. Honestly, I don’t even know if she’s sane at this point.”

“Concerning possibility of yes,” Kiritsugu snarked, earning himself a chuckle from the Pokemon in the car.

Amelie sighed. “Could just be entitlement, but it does sound like something more serious. Did she do anything to help you out against Cipher, back then?”

“Hardly. She seemed really surprised when I was the one to bring them down, actually. And then she started bragging about how I’d only done it with her guidance. It was cute when she was six. Not so much, now,” Elle finished. “I mean, she did help Professor Kane with the Purification Chamber, as much as she could. She’s smart, just not as smart as she claims she is.”

“That’s all besides the point, however,” Kiritsugu finally stated. Because while the conversation was interesting, it was probably best to change the topic at this point.

“Right.” Elle pulled the battery out of her phone, then switched to a tablet computer. “Three hours ago, a trainer on the outskirts of Decize posted about several weirdos in odd outfits intruding on his land. The attached pictures were deleted and the post removed minutes later, but the Porybots covering that region still noted it down, and when emergency calls went out minutes later, they escalated it straight to the League instead of dispatching police. We were closest, so we got sent.”

“Why the escalation?” Kiritsugu asked, Amelie nodding along beside him.

“Meets the criteria for possible Team activity. Mentions of strange outfits aren’t a red flag on their own, but coupled with a state of emergency right after? It’s not a good sign,” Elle said grimly. “That they managed to erase the pictures of their arrival means something probably happened to the first person involved, at least.”

Kerry grunted in acknowledgement as they hit Decize’s outer limits. “Team activity right now probably means Flare. When did the call go out?”

“Twenty minutes ago, but if they were raiding for something they’re probably still here, or there’ll be a clear trail,” Elle said as they pulled into a parking spot outside the city center, wincing as she spotted broken windows and torn up cobblestones. “Looks like a storm blew through…”

“They’re not bothering to hide their presence,” Misora noted, grimacing at the sight of the devastated city-center. “We should probably follow that trail of destruction.”

Kiritsugu nodded, sliding out of the car and following the obvious signs of fighting until they cam within sight of the central square. Two dozen people were busily cleaning up the mess, many of them sporting visible bandages or scuffed clothes as they hauled around trash cans.

One man, in a full suit and tie, spotted them as they approached. “Ho, strangers! It’s a bad time to be visiting us, you might want to come back later,” he called out.

Elle paused before answering. “Now’s the right time for us to be here. I’m Agent Emmanuelle, League investigator, here with my associates. We’re responding to emergency calls coming from this town. It looks like the danger has passed?”

“It has, yes. I’m glad to see someone came so quickly!” the man said loudly. “I’m the mayor here. We’ve not had any trouble from ruffians like this before.” He stopped to shoo away some onlookers. “Back to work everyone!” He turned back to them. “Men on bikes, wearing red. We chased them off, and they fled on the road East. If you hurry, you should be able to catch them!”

Mana blinked slowly. “He is aware that the description doesn’t match up, yes?”

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to come with us,” Misora stated instead of answering Mana directly, directing a level look towards the Mayor. “Your description doesn’t match with any of the information we have access to.” Offering him a contrite look, she continued, “You understand, yes?”

The man seemed startled for a moment, then gave a brief nod and looked over to the other workers. “Go ahead and keep working, these people just need to talk to me for a moment.”

Kerry caught the brief flash of a handsign. Misora noted the oddly stilted behavior of the other workers. Mana and Amelie could tell the man’s demeanor didn’t match his tone of voice.

Elle, and her ghostly partner, had a much deeper recognition of the situation. With a quiet curse, the woman drew her sidearm as her shadow stretch to touch the man. “Hold it, everyone put your hands where I can see them,” she barked out an order.

“Now wait a minute, that’s–” The ‘mayor’ said, just before Haboo popped out of his shadow and flashed up and over him. With a sound like a tearing curtain, the man’s entire form was pulled apart. His clothes were replaced with pale gray and dark blue body armor, he lost six inches of height, and his weathered face was replaced with a rugged jawline, eyes hidden behind a visor.

“Cipher. Surrender or suffer,” Elle spat, acid dripping from her tongue as her pistol came up.

 “-well, SHIT. TAKE THEM OUT!” The false mayor roared, snagging two balls off his belt.

Two thirds of the ‘workers’ likewise pulled their own Pokeballs, disguises failing as they marshalled for battle. The remaining eight looked around in horror, some of the revealed ambushers scrambling to take them hostage.

An Extremespeed to the stomach of the ‘mayor’ took him out of the fight completely, the Cipher agent sent flying into a building with a complete lack of mercy. Five other pokeballs hit the floor moments later, releasing their inhabitants as Misora took command of her team, barking out quick, snappy orders as she took cover behind her Vapreon.

In the same instant, Kiritsugu drew, fired, and downed another agent going for a hostage, Amelie catching another in a psychic grip before flinging him into a building. Air knocked out of his lungs, the man collapsed to the floor, down but not completely out of the fight as the Kirlia refocused her attention on another foe. Kiritsugu’s other balls popped open, Froakie and Quilladin moving to engage the released Pokemon by the other agents, while Braixen took up a defensive posture.

Amelie moved to engage one of the Pokemon, a Fletchinder, before she stopped and shuddered. “What… you feel… wrong,” she groaned, Kerry looking down at her in concern, feeling her pain through their link.

Elle’s head snapped around, horror and rage warring on her face as she snatched something from inside her coat. A high tech headset projected a screen over one eye, and she shuddered. “Shadow Pokemon! Be careful everyone!” She screamed as an aura of darkness rippled over the fiery bird.

“Mana, handle it!” Misora barked, the Primeon immediately heeding the order - disengaging from her current foe and grunting as she absorbed the Flame Charge the Fletchinder had been about to use on the stunned psychic type. Not about to let the bird get away with that, the Primeon retaliated with an attack of her own - Tri-Attack. The converging bursts of fire, ice, and lightning blasted her opponent backward.

One of the Cipher agents managed to grab the last of the fleeing civilians, yanking out a knife he had on his belt. Before he could even raise it to his hostage’s throat, Kiritsugu blurred, his pistol shifting as he rapidly swapped magazines, sighted, and fired in one sped-up motion. The man’s head came apart in a splatter of bone and gore, the man he’d grabbed squirming free with a panicked shriek.

The Cipher agents, and most of their Pokemon, stopped dead for a split second at the death of one of their own, even Misora flinching as the man’s body slumped to the ground. Elle didn’t even hesitate, her own pistol coming up. “Under League Declaration 3625-XD, all agents of the criminal organization ‘Cipher’ are Hostis Personae Generis. Your deaths are not necessary; but neither will they be mourned,” she said coldly, even as Mana wrestled the Fletchinder to the ground and knocked it out. “Surrender now, or we and our teams will escalate to lethal force.” Her entire team had emerged from their balls, fanning out around the group.

Several of the armored grunts, obviously newer than the rest, raised their hands or recalled their teams. But the few Cipher veterans among them just scowled, drawing their own weapons and gesturing to their teams. One of them, an older woman with dark gray hair, spoke. “It’s victory or death, walking this path. Kill me if you must, I’d rather die on my feet than rot in a League cell for life,” she spat, her chunky pistol coming up.

For her troubles, she was kicked into a building with excessive force by a pissed off Lopunny, Astolfo wading into the melee even as Misora quietly Mega-evolved him, an utterly pissed off expression plastered across her face.

Within seconds, the three teams had descended on the remaining Cipher agents with minimal mercy; broken bones and lacerations covered the defiant criminals, those that weren’t slain by fast blows. Elle grimaced as she hauled the ‘mayor’ to his feet, the leader panicked as he was pulled up to her height. “You are going to tell us everything, or I’m going to have Meowstic rip the thoughts from your head,” she hissed.

Before he could speak, a scream came from city hall. Elle looked up, before Kiritsugu waved her off. “We will take a look, you get answers. We may need to move fast,” he said, securing the last of the living Cipher agents with rope and zip ties. He and Misora crossed the square, following the sounds of the scream through the doors.

They found one of the scattered civilians desperately trying to staunch the bleeding of a woman who was slumped over her desk, the mangled remains of her arm torn off by some sort of cutting move or a blade. While most of the office space was empty, two bodies lay in a corner, while muffled thumps came from a nearby office.

Kiritsugu reacted the fastest, leaving Misora behind to provide first aid while surging ahead with both Mana, Amelie, and Astolfo supporting him. Their trainer remained behind with Suiko, the Vaporeon’s trilling and Misora’s own barked orders to Mana and Astolfo fading as they burst through the door.

Inside, they found a man weakly thrashing against the floor, struggling with the bonds on his arms and legs, mouth gagged with his own tie. He stopped as he saw an unfamiliar face enter, Kiritsugu crouching over him and removing the gag, revealing the face of the ‘mayor’ from earlier. “Who are you? What’s going on?” The man gasped, eyes bloodshot and cheeks ruddy from both his struggles and from tears. “Is Margot alright? Samuel? Tomas?”

“Interpol. Team Cipher appears to have infiltrated and replaced a significant portion of your city.” Kiritsugu rattled off, Astolfo pacing around the room before nodding and rushing back to his trainer as he spoke, “I do not know. There are two unresponsive bodies outside, along with a woman who is currently being stabilized by Ace Trainer Misora and her team, and a panicked individual who was attempting to provide first aid to the aforementioned woman.”

The man sobbed. “It happened so fast…” he cried. “One moment it was normal, then the door was kicked down… who is Cipher? Why did they do this?” he asked as Kiritsugu cut his bonds.

“That’s not known right now. The regular authorities are on their way; we’re just the advanced team,” Kiritisugu responded tightly. “Mr. Mayor–”

“Adam. I don’t… I don’t think I’m worth the title right now,” he cut the agent off.

“...Adam. We may need to ask you what you saw and experienced, in order to catch those who did it,” Kiritsugu said simply. “Come along…”

They left the office, Kiritsugu stopping to steady the man as he caught sight of Misora draping a jacket over one of the bodies in the corner. Amelie was busily trying to resuscitate the other man, burst of Heal Pulse and careful use of Life Dew and telekinesis causing the downed man to cough weakly as the wound in his stomach was cleaned out.

“...Tomas is dead. He’s been working for me for three years.” Adam muttered dully.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t arrive sooner,” Kiritsugu stated, taking a few moments to let his statement sink in before moving on to the point. “Misora, anything?”

“Nothing. They’re professional, I’ll give them that,” His newer partner replied immediately, grimacing as she stood, her Lopunny’s Mega Evolution fading as she did so. “We’ll have to see if Elle managed to get anything out of their leader.”

Elle had taken a little while to interrogate her prisoners, so Kerry and Misora had kept busy. Sweeping from building to building, they found both more prisoners and more bodies, human and Pokemon both. They’d also encountered a few Cipher peons who had been working to open safes, secure and lock Pokeballs, or scan bodies to design replacement disguises. The death toll and the number of missing people quickly climbed, including the local Nurse Joy and most of the local police.

Many of the people outside the town center hadn’t even known of the attack except for some ‘ruckus’ which the ‘mayor’ had said had been handled. However, checks confirmed that those areas were also not fully spared. Scattered households were found to be empty, neighbors reporting seeing the homeowners just days or hours before they’d vanished.

“It’s one of Cipher’s most despicable tricks. They’ll approach a village and then just… empty it. Piece by piece, until there’s no one left but the few they leave behind to make the place feel alive,” Elle spat. “They kidnap all the Pokemon, and then keep the town open to kidnap or ambush travellers.”

“And it only didn’t work because we had Porygon on high alert,” Misora grimaced, eyes blazing with fury. “Right. We need to see if this ties to Flare at all, because if it does…”

She didn’t need to say more. Cipher was quite literally an enemy of every human and Pokemon on Garde. If Flare had aligned with them…

“Oh, it does. According to the team Admin, Flare hired them,” Elle said darkly. “They invited Cipher in, both to spread chaos and to secure a fresh stream of people.” She looked around, watching as the police cordoned off the battleground in the center of the square. “...Flare’s desperate, and Cipher is willing to stoop to any low for resources and an opening.”

Haboo hissed. “They have admitted to having a staging ground some kilometers north of here. And apparently, there’s an old enemy of ours waiting there.” They added, the normally silent ghost trembling as they spoke. “The last of Cipher’s dynasty.”

“... Explain,” Kiritsugu stated.

“Most of Cipher… well, Orre was a shithole,” Elle admitted. “Sand, rocks, rust, and precious few Pokemon. They joined for money, and out of desperation. When we beat them, they stood down peacefully… for the most part. Even Greevil decided he was too old to rebuild it for the third time, and just paid off the local league enough for clemency,” she grumbled. “But his older son, Ardos? He never gave up, and he’s the one who planted the seeds which sprouted into so many of the third and later waves of Cipher bastards.”

“So a high value target,” Kiritsugu summarized. “One that you have a personal connection to.”

“Mhm. He’s slippery. Sends me the occasional death threat, but I haven’t even seen him in five years. Bastard always ducks out before I can arrive. But this time he doesn’t know I’m coming.” Elle bared her teeth.

“Or he does,” Kiritsugu pointed out immediately, “You’re known to be on this case now, Elle. He could have done this to bait you out. It may be better to request reinforcements and wait.”

“...we do need to at least bring in a Purification team… and I need to requisition my specialty equipment,” she slowly reasoned. “Fine. Twelve hours. But the longer we wait, the worse it’ll be for those kidnapped.”

“Agreed. We just can’t rush things,” Kiritsugu stated firmly. It was better to be sure with things like that. He already had significantly less time to prepare than he’d like.

Then again, such was the price of working with the law. At least in this world, it seemed to be far better than the alternative.