Unbroken Disguise

“There’s good news and bad news.” Alder said as he walked back in on the little backroom meeting. It seemed that the discussion on Fairy types and their origins had run long. That, or Alder was just a very efficient guy.

“We can’t afford to have any bad news Alder.” Cynthia gave him some serious stink eye. “You’re the Champion of Unova, solving problems is your responsibility.”

Something about the way she said it bothered N. When people thought of Champions their minds went to power, leadership, cunning… so why did it almost sound mocking when it came out of her mouth? Perhaps not all was well between the two? Though it was impossible to know if it was a personal matter or if the League was not as unified as they might have the public believe. Something to look into at a later time.

“Welp, the bad news exists whether we can afford to have it or not.” The frown on his face suggested that he wanted to snap back at her, but he stated it matter of factly. “The good news is that I’m pretty sure I just set a record time for initiating a lockdown and quarantine for such a large area! Nimbasa isn’t a small place, and getting Lostlorn as well… of course, then I got the bad news.”

“Will you just spit it out already?”

Alder looked hesitant to do so, but he obliged his fellow Champion’s request. “It would appear that my efforts were pointless. There are reports coming in from all over the League-” Cynthia’s phone chimed, as if to prove his point, “-that this isn’t an isolated incident. Fairy types are mysteriously finding themselves scattered throughout League territory. Coincidentally,” His finger quotes told just how much he believed that, “A large number of them just so happened to be dropped in areas that contain Pokemon we already know to be susceptible to infection, like this one here ending up in Lostlorn with all the Cottonee. I haven’t heard from the others yet, as they’re no doubt responding to incidents in their own regions-” another notification on Cynthia’s phone, “-as you’ll probably be off to deal with in a moment, but I think this is it. We’ve passed the point of no return, whether we like it or not.”

Cynthia very much did not like it. Quickly checking the notifications she had received, and with another three chimes coming in all at once when she opened it, Alder’s analysis seemed to be correct.

“Damn it all!” She threw her phone on the ground, the device bouncing off into a corner, most likely busted after such rough treatment.

Not particularly caring about the mood of the Champions in the room, N thought it a prudent time to ask a question important to their future. “So… does this mean that the mental lock and possible imprisonment are no longer necessary? We can’t exactly be blamed for the information getting out if people are suddenly going to discover Fairy types all over the place.”

Alder got halfway through nodding his head in agreement before freezing, looking to Cynthia for her input. Or approval perhaps? Though it would be strange for the Champion of the region they were currently in to defer to one from another.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” It was hard to tell which of the men she meant. “I need time to sort through this mess and convene with the others. You-” she pointed towards the two in the room not explicitly affiliated with the League “-are not to leave Nimbasa until you have my approval.” Her eyes narrowed before she amended herself. “No. You’re not to leave the Gym. Keep them here, Elesa.”

Walking out the door, she gestured for Alder to follow her. “With me. I need a new phone and a new Psychic.”

He was quick to follow.

“...what just happened?”

It took N a moment to realize he was the one who had said it. What a day this was turning out to be. A new friend, a new type, government conspiracies, and house- no, Gym arrest? The squeaking of a marker drew his attention.

“Not sure. Are league officials always like this?” Mimikyu asked.

“Honestly, this is one of the better interactions I’ve seen between those two.” Elesa sulked.

Her two… prisoners? Looked at her in disbelief.

“What? It’s true!”

“Hmmm. Not exactly what I would have expected from a trainer who Samuel spoke so highly of. A draw with a trainer so obviously fresh? If it weren’t for the fact that we had him in a video call, I would think that the professor gave me the wrong name.” Professor Rowan stroked his mustache as he considered the boy who had just left the lab. The performance from the Pikachu in particular was disappointing with how many reports it had been featured in. Had the pair been sandbagging perhaps? Certainly a possibility, but if that were the case then the boy had the “easily riled teenager” act down pat. “Only time will tell, I suppose.”

His musings were interrupted by one of his assistants. “Professor, you’re receiving an urgent call!”

Of course. Another urgent call, that just had to go through to the leading professor in the region. It’s not like he had research to conduct, or trainers to assist in the start of their journeys. Why not bother him day in and day out over the most mundane garbage that the growing bureaucracy of the League deemed “urgent”? But if he wanted to keep the funding that he was getting, it was necessary to respond to each and every one of them and at least pretend that he gave a Pachirisu’s behind.

He was singing a different tune when he saw just who was on the call, however.

“Cynthia! To what do I owe the pleasure? I was under the impression that you were vacationing in Unova.”

“We have a problem.”

“Big enough that you can’t even go through the motions of exchanging pleasantries? Well, let’s hear it then. You’re not in active combat so it can’t be too bad.”

She glared at him for that comment. “The League’s efforts have proven useless. Someone,” he hoped their end would be quick with how much hatred she said it with, “has decided it would be a good idea to transport Fairy types all over the League’s territory. I was called in for one such case here in Unova, but it seems to be widespread. I just got out of a call with the others, and it appears that containment is impossible.”

“How dreadful.” He responded, pretending to care. It had taken many years, but he had managed to build up a reputation as a gruff man that was oh so helpful for hiding his sarcasm. As if he would be bothered by the spread of this so-called “infection.” If they wanted him to be invested in such a thing, they should have given him a sample to study. But noooo, “allowing even a single Fairy type into League territory would be too dangerous,” they said. “We don’t care that every professor whose work was at least somewhat respectable wanted proof that it was harmful,” they said.

If that was the game they wanted to play, then why should he care when their doomed efforts failed? They were never going to be able to keep the Fairy type out of the League forever, even if them being dropped off everywhere all at once- if that story was true in the first place- was suspicious. If anything, this would be good for his research! How was he meant to be properly studying Pokemon evolution if the prime subject for the topic matter, Eevee and its many paths, was impossible to research completely? He couldn’t just ignore an entire evolution path! And with how many Porygon the League had monitoring the telecommunications, he couldn’t even discreetly message the professors on the outside for the information he needed. That was a quick way to see your funding vanish and, depending on the severity, perhaps find yourself with much more significant consequences.

As always, however, Cynthia was none the wiser to his true thoughts.

“We’re still conducting the investigation at the moment, but it’s likely that the announcement will be made tomorrow. I’m calling to ensure that you’re up to date on the official story.”

“Yes, yes, I make sure to read all of the documents you lot send out. I know my part to play.” Nothing quite like pushing out propaganda and lies after all. “Fairy type? Why, I’ve never heard of it! They were only just discovered you see…” Despite the fact that they had been known about outside of the League since the early days of Pokemon research. But play the part he would… for the most part. If a few promising young trainers who might be able to help his research along just so happened to find out a bit more than they should, then that would be a terrible accident and he would have no idea how they would have come across such things. In fact, had one not left his lab just a short while ago? If Samuel was willing to give such a ringing endorsement of the young man… A bit of investigation was in order.

He wasn’t the only one with secrets, after all. Such a thing could be ignored, granted it wasn’t anything too dangerous.

“This kinda sucks, ya know.”

“I am well aware, Mimikyu. Though it would seem to me that my involvement is entirely your fault.” N gave a half hearted frown, but only because he was frustrated. It wasn’t actually Mimikyu’s fault. It was the League. To think that even the contempt he had for trainers and their backers before this wasn’t enough.

The two of them had been left alone in the back rooms of the Gym while Elesa coordinated with her crew to help those affected by the sudden quarantine. There was only one exit, and with Elesa and her team on the other side, it’s not like they had the option to just walk out. Teleportation was an option, but that would require both calling for backup, which he was not keen to do, and drawing the ire of the League down upon him, which was also a bad idea.

“I don’ understand any of this nonsense. The League are s’posed ta be good guys, all law and order types, ain’t they? Though I s’pose ya’d disagree with that assessment.”

“And why do you think that?” It was true, of course, but N didn’t think he’d given Mimikyu any reason to suspect it.

“...You ain’t as sneaky as ya think.” Mimikyu answered after a moment’s thought. “I can tell that yer not a fan of the League, or trainers in general.”

Unfortunate. Though was he really so easy to read, or was it simply because of Mimikyu’s nonhuman nature? N didn’t particularly care if Pokemon knew that he didn’t like the thought of them being captured and forced to fight for the pleasure of humans.

”I thought it a bit silly of ya, based on what I’d seen, but if the top people of the League are like that… I never woulda suspected that outta Cynthia.”

“...Neither would I. It’s far worse than I thought.”

“So ya didn’ know either then? Interestin’...” Mimikyu seemed to consider something for a moment, a shadowy… hand? Paw? Set of claws? Reaching for his not-chin again. “I gotta theory for ya, mind if I run it by ya?”

“We’ve nothing better to do.”

“I told ya about how the big bad Fairy type is immune ta dragons, right?”

“You did, yes.”

“I was thinkin’... how many of the top trainers in the League use, or even specialize in dragons? Cynthia has got ‘er Garchomp, and without the Fairy type in the mix her Spiritomb has no weaknesses at all. I’m pretty sure Alder had a Dragon type… Druddigon I think? Plus the strongest Unova gym uses dragons as well. Drake over in the Hoenn Elite Four uses dragons, as does Champion Lance and Clair over in Blackthorn… and that’s not even countin’ all the other trainers with Fightin’ and Dark types.

In my eyes, a very significant portion of the high rankin’ people in the League are afraid of fairies not because they think the spread is some sorta dangerous alien invasion or somethin’. It’s because they’re afraid of what it’ll mean for them in terms of strength. They’re afraid that some Fairy specialist will be able ta sweep through ‘em like a hot knife through butter.”

N considered the little ghost’s theory. “That… does make a lot of sense. In a society where strength is praised, and battle is the main focus, doing what they can to keep their competitive edge would be a high priority for them.”

“I thought so. Course, that don’ mean it’s necessarily the case. I’m jus’ speculatin’ here. But based on the info we have now, it’s what makes the most sense ta me.”

Hours went by. With the two of them practically, if not literally, locked in a room with just each other for company, small talk could only go on for so long, and speculating on the reasoning for this Fairy panic could only go so far with the information they had gotten. That led to a lot of silence, some of it awkward, some of it not, in which the two had nothing to do but think.

Mimikyu thought of the future.

Assuming things go well and we get released, I don’t exactly have high hopes for getting Cynthia to help me with my little plan. I guess that’s fine though, this was just a fortunate, or maybe unfortunate rather, run in with her. Plan A has always been to get to Ash, and if my research is correct then he should be near the start of his Sinnoh journey now. That means I need to get out of here, preferably soon.

Mimikyu’s eyes roamed over to N through the slits in his disguise.

I wonder though. Being able to talk properly with N has been great, and if I just ditch him for Ash and co… Well, I suppose Ash is better than most at understanding Pokemon, but it’s not the same as a one to one translation. Can I really leave N without losing my mind? I’ve never traveled abroad like this. A far off land where even the locals with the best understanding of your language have to do a lot of guesswork…

…do I have to leave N though? If Ash is just starting Sinnoh, there should be plenty of time before Plazma’s plans kick into high gear. If he was just wandering around and stumbled into me in Lostlorn then he doesn’t have a specific goal in mind at the moment. And those ninja guys haven’t taken him out of here with a smoke bomb yet, so he’s not under some strict watch. Not yet, at least.

I guess there’s only one way to find out.

“Hey N. I was wonderin’... what are yer plans from here?”

“My plans? What do you mean?”

“I mean what’re ya doin’ next? Where are ya goin’? Do ya have a plan?”

N thought it over. “...I suppose my plan was just to explore for the moment. See more of the world, get a better understanding of the relationship between people and Pokemon. Why?”

“If that’s yer plan… I’m not plannin’ ta stick around Unova. That little bit I told the girls about wantin’ to research the Spear Pillar is… I s’pose you might call that a half truth, but either way it means my next destination is Sinnoh. And if ya don’t plan to look into any specific area, and are jus’ lookin’ to see more of the world… what do ya say ya come with me? Explore Sinnoh together? I’m no expert, but if yer goal is to understand the relationship between people and Pokemon, it can’t hurt to get the perspective of another region, can it?”

“You want me to come to Sinnoh with you?” N was clearly bewildered and blindsided by the request.

“If ya want to. I ain’t gonna drag ya with me or anythin’, but yer an… interestin’ guy, and I wouldn’t mind gettin’ ta spend more time with ya.”

“Mimikyu, that’s…”

“Ya ain’t gotta answer right away. We’re locked in here ‘til Cynthia says otherwise, and even then I gotta work out transport. I don’t know if Cynthia is gonna be up for lettin’ one of her precious Psychics risk gettin’ contaminated by me or whatever.”

“...I’ll think about it.”

That’s all I can ask for, N.