Unbroken Disguise

Things had escalated quickly, and N was not ready for it.

Elesa, someone who by all accounts should be considered one of the strongest trainers in the region, was eyeing the two of them with suspicion, her hand on a pokeball that for all he knew contained her ace.

N didn’t have any friends with him beyond Mimikyu, a strange pokemon he knew little about and whose prowess in battle was up in the air given that he hadn’t seen the little fairy attack anything except a tree. And even then, he hadn’t actually seen the attack, just the destroyed tree left in its wake. Was that the power behind a single move? Or had he simply walked upon the scene at the climax of Mimikyu’s training?

Though Mimikyu’s strength probably didn’t matter at all. Only a Champion level Pokemon could expect to take on a Gym Leader’s entire team on their own when things were serious. Those Gym Battles weren’t a true show of their strength, no matter what trainers running the circuit wanted to believe.

Time for de-escalation then.

“I don’t understand, why are Mimikyu’s questions getting you so worked up? You seemed like you were about to be best friends just a moment ago.”

That seemed to give the model pause, but she didn’t pull her hand off of the pokeball.

“I just think it a bit suspicious that a Pokemon I’ve never heard of before shows up, specifically looking for me, and then just so happens to know about what is largely considered private information. The people that live in Undella aren’t the type to go spreading rumors like this, so that leaves the question of just how Mimikyu came across that sort of knowledge.”

Mimikyu had not been idle while the two humans talked. The last message had been erased and replaced with “Does it matter? If I had some sort of nefarious purpose in mind, don’t you think revealing myself to you like this would be a bad move? I just need a way to contact Cynthia and you were the easiest way to make it happen since we were here already.”

“That’s…” Elesa thought for a moment, “I suppose you make a good point. My apologies.” Her hand came off of the pokeball and she returned to a more neutral stance. “Cynthia’s trips to Caitlin’s home in Undella are supposed to be a retreat from the pressure of her daily life, so when a stranger starts bringing it up… I just don’t want that ruined for her.”

Since when has the Champion of Sinnoh been so entwined with the top trainers of Unova? For N to not have heard anything about this… it seemed there was a major gap in the intelligence network. That would need to be corrected…

“I get that, but I need her help with something. So if you could get me in contact with her…?” The board now read.

The blonde hesitated, but ultimately nodded in agreement. “I suppose I could give her a call and let her know that you’re trying to get in contact, but as Champion she’s a very busy woman, so I can’t promise anything for you. What is it exactly that you need her help with? She might be more inclined to agree if I can let her know what you’re after.”

Mimikyu wiped the board clean, but instead of immediately writing once again, the marker came down to its chin, tapping against it while he considered what to write. The sight was made a bit odd by the fact that Mimikyu’s actual chin, if it even really had one, was just above the floor, and the false Pikachu chin went ignored.

After a moment, the marker met the board once more. “Tell her that… I’d like to collaborate on some research into the Spear Pillar.”

Waves crashed against an idyllic shore, the sun shone high in a sky with little cloud cover, and the Wingull and Pelipper up above squawked just enough to keep beach goers from falling asleep. Undella Town was a quiet place on the outskirts of the Unova region that saw little traffic from those who didn’t live there, which made it the perfect spot for those who spent a bit too much time in the limelight to kick their shoes off and relax.

Laid back in a chair beneath the shade of an umbrella, the Champion of the Sinnoh region tried to enjoy some time away from home. The Grand Lake Hotel and Sunyshore City back in her home region had beautiful beaches as well, but with how hot those spots were for tourists, she hadn’t been able to truly enjoy them in a long time. She wouldn’t be able to let Milotic swim in the ocean,or Garchomp bury herself in the sand, without hundreds of trainers trying to challenge her to a battle. These trips were as much an opportunity for her team to relax as they were for her. Or rather, most of her team. A lone occupied pokeball was still at her side, the Pokemon inside not exactly being suited for things like this.

But it seemed that beach time was over.

Lucario appeared at her side in a blur, his furry paws holding onto her ringing phone.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to use Extreme Speed to get my phone to me before it stops ringing?” She chastised her friend, knowing that this would not be the last time it happened.

Lucario ignored her question, shoving the still ringing phone into her hand before using the move again to disappear from her sight.

“I don’t appreciate you kicking up all this sand!” She yelled half-heartedly after him, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference.

On what was probably the last ring before the call went to her voicemail, she answered the phone, not even bothering to look at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Hey Cynthia! Sorry to bother you when you’re vacationing, but I’ve had a little something come up!”

Elesa? Odd that ‘something coming up’ resulted in a call to her and not that slacker Alder, but that only served to peak her interest. Elesa wasn’t the type to call her over something small. “It’s fine, Elesa. The duties of a Champion wait for no one. What can I help you with?”

“Are you familiar with Mimikyu at all?”

Mimikyu? If memory served they were Pokemon native to Paldea and Alola, which made a Unovan Gym Leader bringing them up all the more strange. Relations between the League and such far flung regions weren’t exactly positive at the moment, so it was unlikely that a trainer had brought one into the Gym. “Vaguely, why do you ask?”

“I’ve got one in my Gym right now asking for a way to get in touch with you. I’m not entirely sure how, but he knows that you visit Undella Town regularly enough that he asked when you’d be there next…”

That was concerning. A Mimikyu, or what was being reported as a Mimikyu, being intelligent enough to communicate that clearly with a human? Cynthia was fairly certain that they weren’t Psychic types, which made that odd. Although misidentification was possible. She didn’t expect a Unovan Gym Leader to be able to identify every Pokemon out of regions that distant, not under Alder’s leadership anyway. And the information they were after… Someone spying on League officials? Or rather, if the Pokemon sought to contact her and gave that information up freely, perhaps a defector? It had been quite some time since there’d been reports of a Pokemon changing allegiances on their own. Best not to jump to conclusions though. “You say that the Mimikyu is asking? Is it alone or with a trainer?”

“Well, it came in with a young man, but he doesn’t seem to be a trainer. No Pokemon on his person, and he seems to be just as confused about the situation. My intuition tells me he’s being used, but it’s hard to be certain without some psychic checks…”

“And did Mimikyu tell you what it is that it wants to contact me for?”

“When I asked it said something about collaborating on research into the Spear Pillar, but obviously I don’t trust a word of that. I figured that there’s a probable security risk involved and that it would be best to alert you as soon as possible.”

“Thank you for that, Elesa. Tell them that I can be there in an hour.”

I don’t like small talk. An awkward silence is preferable nine out of ten times. If it weren’t for Elesa promising that Cynthia was somehow going to be meeting us within an hour, I would have come up with some excuse to leave already. How did Cynthia plan to get here within an hour? No idea.

Well, some ideas.

I mean, she’s Champion, right? They’re a big deal. And while everything gets painted over in a cutesy light, the world comes close to ending on a regular basis. It would make sense for the strongest trainers in the world to have some sort of system in place to get where they needed to be as soon as possible. The question was how.

Teleportation pads? The ones that existed in the bases of criminals seemed to only work on short distances, but if a criminal could come up with that much then perhaps the greatest minds on “team good guy” had worked out a way to make it work long distance? That would have to be in set locations, sure, but that wasn’t too big of a hindrance. It would be easy to hide something like that away in the back of a Pokemon Center or Gym… maybe even both?

Although if teleportation is on the table, it would probably make more sense to have it done through Pokemon. To my knowledge that sort of thing was restricted to Psychic types, and not even all of them could manage it. But how did that sort of thing actually work? Weak Pokemon used it to escape from a battle immediately. Having one of your team use it took you back to… the last Pokemon Center you visited? I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried that, so I might be wrong on that one.

But Cynthia doesn’t have any Psychic types. Or did she? I vaguely remember a few members of her team changing over time, but I don’t think a Psychic was ever in the roster. Maybe the Elite Four guy loaned them out? Lucas… no, that’s not right… Lu… ah, whatever, it’ll come to me eventually.

What was I on about?

Psychic types! That was it. The last member of the Sinnoh Elite Four could loan them out as necessary. But was that actually feasible? How many people would be expected to have a Psychic on hand to teleport them at a moment’s notice? Just the Champion? The Elite Four? Gym Leaders? Probably the people in charge of those special battle spots too, like Frontier Brains and Subway Masters… And that’s probably just the minimum, or so I would assume. Did an Elite Four member, or maybe a Gym Leader in other regions, have the time to train that many pokemon just for them to transport important people? I kind of doubt it.

Of course, all of that speculation assumes that it involves teleportation at all. Maybe she just owns a private jet or something that can get over here that quickly. It’s possible that she’s even in the area already. Saying she would be here in an hour didn’t mean that it would take her an hour to arrive. She could be scoping me out right now, trying to put the puzzle pieces together… or, planning to take me to some underground research lab that will experiment on me horrifically, but I’m hoping that’s not in the cards.

I’m being stared at. Why are they staring at me?

Ah. Right. Small talk. That I was completely ignoring… Eh. “I’m just a Pokemon” is a decent defense right? I’ll just write that-

It hurts.

It hurts it hurts it hurts

it huRTS MAKE IT STOP-

N did not sign himself up for this.

When Mimikyu had mentioned using some of Elesa’s connections, he figured the Pokemon meant something like getting in touch with someone back home, wherever home was for the ghost.

Finding out he was trying to contact the Champion of Sinnoh was a shock, but with N’s past, it wasn’t that out of the ordinary in comparison. Maybe they had known each other, it’s not like he knew much of anything about either of their histories.

Elesa’s suspicion was annoying, given the fact that he was as clueless as her, but it was understandable. Getting subtly grilled for information over the course of an hour while they “waited for Cynthia”? It made him consider leaving Mimikyu on his own. This wasn’t his problem, really, he had just been a passing acquaintance of everyone involved.

But trainers hurt Pokemon. He couldn’t just leave Mimikyu in the hands of a Gym Leader, and presumably a Champion if Elesa hadn’t lied, when it was within his power to stay and help protect the fairy.

He just wished the little terror responsible for this mess would actually pay attention and stop leaving him to flail about trying to respond to Elesa’s “casual small talk”.

“What do you think, Mimikyu?”

No response. Had he been zoned out this entire time?! N was done suffering alone. He would sit here and stare until Mimikyu finally realized he had been called out.

It took an embarrassingly long time, but luckily Elesa had joined in once she realized what was going on. Mimikyu startled, moving to lift the marker before suddenly-

All he could see was black. The terror he had felt from Mimikyu’s presence in the past felt like nothing when compared to this. If he moved at all, if he made a noise, if he made it known that he existed, he was certain that he would die.

“Really?” An unfamiliar voice called out as he tried to clamp down on his panic. “This is why we don’t probe the minds of unfamiliar Pokemon. Completely unprofessional.”

The sound of a pokeball opening, and then he could see again.

Champion Cynthia was in the center of the room, glowering at a Gallade.

Elesa was standing still, pale as a sheet of paper, eyes wide, and mouth agape. Probably not too dissimilar from how he looked right now.

And Mimikyu…

Mimikyu’s disguise lay limp on the floor, the Pokemon presumably unconscious within it if the bulge around the bottom was anything to go by. A Lucario knelt over him.

“What did you do?” N was barely able to get it out as a whisper, still trying to recover from the experience.

“What did you do?!”