Chapter 28: Kiritsugu Chapter, City of Sand and Secrets

Elle knocked on the cabin door, raising her voice to try and get the attention of the person inside. “Kiri, we’re almost to Dahara. Are you decent?” she asked.

Kiritsugu looked up from the side table, just having wiped it down after reassembling his firearms and hiding them in his suitcase once again. “I am,” he said, responding to her code-worded inquiry with a smile. The door opened to reveal his partner, the young woman looking at him expectantly. “Yes?”

“We’re going to be rounding the corner on the canal soon. If you want to see the city from a distance, we should go take seats at the railing,” Elle offered with a smile.

Briefly, every so briefly, Kiritsugu debated asking what benefit that would provide, before, with a wry smile, he nodded. “Of course. We’ve come all the way out here, we mind as well enjoy the sights while we talk shop.”

“Come on, then.” Elle smiled as they made their way on deck, the young woman frowning a little as she looked at the sandy hills impeding their view of the city. “...reminds me of Orre, a little,” she admitted to Kiritsugu’s questioning look. “Kinda strange how we can be so far from there and things can still be familiar. Does this remind you of anything back where you come from?” She carefully didn’t ask about other worlds, mindful of the other people on deck around them.

“...several places. There’s a place back home which has a lot of history. It tends to attract a lot of attention, but the locals don’t care for foreigners. Leads to a lot of conflict,” Kiritsugu delicately summarized. “Dahara isn’t on a desert, but otherwise…”

“And I suppose you were there keeping out some of these foreigners?”

“Not always,” Kiritsugu admitted. “Ended up working for all sides, trying to keep the violence from getting out of control. And not always succeeding,” he admitted glumly.

“Well, at least you tried,” Elle responded as the last of the savanna passed, revealing the sprawling city beyond it, a lone tower rising above the simple buildings below. “And there it is!”

A brief look at the tower was all that he needed to see that it was utterly unlike the rest of the city architecturally. Pausing the former assassin took a few moments to remember Dahara Tower’s significance. Right. A monument to Arceus, built to honor him for blessing one of his Chosen with the ability to tame the out of control mythical that would threaten the city. “It’s as grand as one would expect for a tribute to the Original One,” he commented, taking a few moments to appreciate the building for what it was before he returned to the matter at hand, “That said, I do believe it to be in our best interests to go over our destinations one more time.”

“Of course,” Emmanuelle eyed the city as they approached. “According to our sponsor, the people we’re looking for already had a home here in the city; perhaps multiple. But we don’t know exactly where. We need to find them.” She tapped her belt. “I’ve got some tracking experience, but you’re the one who’s better at investigative legwork. We have a week before our time as tourists will start wearing thin, so we need to find our friends sooner, rather than later.”

Kiritsugu was about to speak when Amelie emerged from her ball, balancing delicately on his shoulder. “If we’re going to pretend to be tourists, we should visit the Tower.”

“Paying respects to Arceus?” Elle asked.

“Well, yes. But also-” The rest of the balls on Kiritsugu’s belt pulsed, his more recent recruits moving to the rail, even the normally stoic Frogadier looking at the sights with wonder. “-none of us have had the opportunity to be tourists before. I think we could all relax a little.”

“Not a bad idea. Though I thought we had already planned on visiting the tower?” Kiritsugu replied, eyeing the people near him out of the corner of his eyes.

“I doubt any of our friends will be there. At least, I hope they won’t be. It’d be bad if they were somehow camping out in a temple-shrine.” Emmanuelle said. “We’re more likely to find them either in the Old City or the industrial sector of the New City.”

“We do have a lot of ground to cover…” Kerry agreed. “Still, we can multitask.”

“I am looking forward to learning some proper tradecraft, sensei,” Frogadier croaked. “And getting another chance to strike at those monsters.”

“Drop the Chunni, Froggy,” Braixen huffed, eyeing the crowd slowly gathering around the three shinies. “Chespin and I will come out if we’re playing tourist, otherwise we’ll draw too much attention.”

“Where’s all the green?” Chespin asked as he hung over the rail, ignoring the conversation in favor of looking out over the city. “I thought the land near the water was green.”

“That would be because Dahara was built in a desert-like environment, and not on a river. So even though we’re near a lot of water, there’s little to no vegetation that Dahara itself isn’t maintaining. The blue, Chespin, is the ocean, and isn’t good for plant life. At least, not land-based plant life,” Braixen explained patiently, much to the chagrin of Frogadier.

“Why can’t you ever be that nice to me!” they protested, totally not pouting.

“Because you’re old enough to know better,” the fox fired back.

Kiritsugu smiled, his eyes narrowing slightly. Amelie poked him in the ear. “Sad again?”

“Iri would have loved to have seen all this,” he murmured quietly. “New places, new people… she’d have been ecstatic. And now that Illya and I are well, I wish she were here, too.”

“Not like you or her won’t have more chances to explore Garde together.” Amelie sent back. “And you’ll have more family to introduce to her when you do. As for Iri… you don’t talk about her much, but I think she wouldn’t like you moping.”

“She wouldn’t, no,” the man replied with a small smile, shaking off the melancholy with practice born of time. “That said, I do believe we are arriving.”

“We are.” Elle said as the ferry drew into the dock. “Welcome to Dahara, let’s hope we can get through customs without a fuss.”

-(0)-

“When did you even have time to get proper licenses for all those guns?” Elle hissed as the two humans and their partner Pokemon moved down one of the narrow streets of Old Town, making their way towards the local Interpol Office. “I thought we were going to have to use our badges, but somehow…”

“I asked Looker what forms I needed, filled them out, and used the cases to hide the things that are not legal for me to own,” Kiritsugu shrugged as they turned the corner, coming up on the old three-story building. “Expanded space products make it easy, really.”

“...I forget you’re used to operating outside the law back home,” Elle sighed as they reached the Interpol office, Haboo happily leaping out of a dust drift to pad alongside her. “Come on, let’s see what they have for us.”

The aforementioned office was decidedly rustic, with all the people within wearing white hooded robes as they worked at their desks. One of them looked up, then stood and walked around to greet the two agents. “Mr. Emiya, Emmanuelle, I am Henos. Welcome to the historic Interpol Dahara branch.” He glanced over to a corner, where an Espeon sat, idly flicking their tail. “And you’ve passed our security check, so I suppose I should tell you what we know.”

“Go ahead,” Kerry spoke absently as he looked around, taking in the sight of the ancient building.

“Ah, wondering about this place?” The man chuckled. “I am not offended. This used to be the headquarters of a local… ah, revolutionary group. They disbanded a century ago, but one of their members helped found the International Police. Thus, this building was left to us.” He shrugged. “There is a modern office in the New City, but it is more likely to be watched.”

“I assume this is a much less publicly known office, if at all?” Kiritsugu asked, before pausing, and clarifying, “In the sense that people are less likely to take this seriously, given it is listed as a historical site and museum.”

“Yes, that’s also why we’re all in-costume, so to speak.” Henos explained. “Not that these aren’t comfortable, but they are not standard issue.” He led the group over to a door set in the wall, leading them into a room with some modern computer equipment. “I can give you the tour later, if you’d like. For now, though, we should talk about Flare.”

Henos pulled out a series of scanned documents and photographs. “While we still do not have a precise location as to where Flare is based out of, we have confirmed their presence in the city, both foot soldiers and scientists.” He pointed to one security camera, footage showing a group of people dressed in plain clothes but each supporting distinct red hair, loosely escorting a man holding some sort of scanner. “This was taken in the New City. Flare’s grunts have been running errands and picking up packages all over the city, but so far none of our people have managed to catch one long enough to follow them.” He flipped over to several customs records. “Though we don’t know where they went, considering the timeframe we believe these nine individuals were the scientists displaced from your last efforts. Four of them are real scientists, three are… quacks, I believe is the right term, and of the last two, one is a historian and a self-described mage, while the other is a rare species hunter.”

“Have we verified that the last one is a Mage?” Emanuelle asked, suddenly very seriously. “Magic is rare nowadays, but it’s still extremely versatile and effective.”

“We’re not sure, actually.” He withdrew a profile page printed off a social dating platform, sighing as he set it down. “No better sources on this one, apologies. Kurt Dupeng, age 38, formerly a graduate student pursuing a degree in archaeology. Long story short, he supposedly found something which briefly granted him ‘amazing power’, then lost it, and abandoned his career to try and get it back. Ended up as a conspiracy blogger for a while, but all of his content was taken down over the last three years. Archived evidence suggests much of his supposed powers were delusional, but he was capable of summoning fire and mesmerizing people according to some accounts.”

“We’ll mark him down as a minor notable threat, then.” Kiritsugu decided with a firm nod, drawing looks of agreement from the rest of the agents and analysts present, “The other scientists? The ones that are actually notable, and not hacks who are extremely good at playing pretend, at least.”

“Two are researchers specializing in Pokemon moves, one was a Pokeball researcher, and the last a former surgeon who shifted to research in cybernetics and prosthetics. The quacks are a psychic specialist who insists he’s a Legendary trapped in a human’s body, a genuine psychic who claims to be in communication with a demon, and an inventor with a very poor safety track record,” Henos explained.

Elle hummed. “...have we checked to make certain the first isn’t–”

“No, he’s not a Mew playing tricks on the humans. Or a Ditto. Or a Zorua.”

“Right, just checking.” Elle responded.

“Is that a common problem here?” Kiritsugu asked.

“I mean, don’t people pretend they’re gods back home sometimes?” Elle asked.

Kiritsugu remembered all the would-be ‘gods’ that he’d fought and killed over the years. “I see your point.”

“Honestly, it’s the presence of the inventor which cinches that Flare has a serious base here. Back when he lived in Galar, he couldn’t go more than a handful of days without one of his new gadgets blowing up in his face. If he’s been here two weeks without us hearing the explosions, they’ve put him somewhere with good soundproofing and blast resistance.”

“Does that not eliminate a good chunk of the city, in that case?” Kiritsugu asked, frowning as he considered the resources that Interpol should have access to. “Actually, nevermind.”

“Yeah, that strikes off most of the Old City, but the New City has a lot of buildings like that.” Henos explained. “Still allows you to focus on the modern parts of town.” He handed over the files. “Agent Looker isn’t sure how much tech support Flare has, so keep those hard copies.”

Kerry nodded, slipping the folder into his backpack. “Thank you. I suppose we’ll coordinate with you if you spot any Flare members in town?”

“We’ll send you a call, yes.” Henos agreed. “Oh, and here.” He passed over a paper bag and a small, hefty box. “Breakfast and coffee; my auntie makes the best pastries in the Old City.”

“Thanks!” Elle said happily, sniffing appreciatively. The two were escorted out a side door, and Kerry quickly led them down a street. “So, what’s the first part of our plan?”

“I’ve rented a small warehouse and bunk room near the coastline. It’s not off the grid, but it’s usually used for small groups of merchants who come here to sell in the markets, so it has the basic amenities and is mostly out of the way.” Kiritsugu explained. “We can drop off our luggage, secure our spare gear, and then plan where we’re going to sweep first.” He frowned, looking through a few pages of the documents as they walked. “Electronic parts, evolution stones, pastries? Odd selection of things Flare seems to be ordering.”

“Basic lab equipment,” Elle determined after a few minutes of thinking. “The project leader was probably competent enough to have the more sensitive equipment shipped in discreetly beforehand.”

“That matches what we know about Flare. Their leadership seems competent, if really weird, while the grunts are really, really dumb,” Amelie acknowledged as she perched on Kerry’s shoulder.

“It reminds me uncomfortably of some Cipher cells,” Haboo agreed. “With better self-control but worse stealth abilities. If this was a Cipher operation, we’d already be finding bodies or reports of stolen Pokemon.”

Elle grimaced. “If this was a Cipher op, I’d already be looking into the city government for the moles. Kerry, any chance we need to worry about that here, do you think?”

Frowning, Kiritsugu nodded. “Not moles, sympathizers or flat out members. Flare is disturbingly wealthy, and a lot of their incompetence seems to be similar to that of a Nepotism Baby. Or a Trust Fund Baby. I would not be shocked if most of Flare’s membership came from the top 1%.”

Anything in the docs on that?”

“No, though the overview paperwork indicates Henos and their team compartmentalized the investigation, so as not to tip off anyone in the local government. On the one hand, that will give us the element of surprise; on the other, we can’t count on police and government support until we’re ready to go loud, and then we’ll need to call in Looker,” he said as they arrived at the warehouse. “Here we are. Let’s head on in and start planning our search pattern.”

Elle nodded, instinctively biting back any commentary which might provoke Victini’s ire. So far, this mission seemed to be pretty straightforward; there was no reason to say that aloud, and prompt the other shoe to drop.

…here’s hoping just thinking it wouldn’t be enough to cause problems.

-(0)-

“Hoopa, you’ve been staring off into the distance for a few hours now. What’s going on?” Meray asked her charge. The young woman looked up at the childish mythical, who had been frequently breaking off from conversations to look southwest, his brow furrowing whenever he did so.

“Hoopa feels…someone who doesn’t belong here.” The little ghost explained quietly, drifting down to eye level. “But… he’s been given permission? Like a guest?” Hoopa’s nose scrunched up. “Hoopa is confused. And curious.”

Meray’s eyes widened. “Umm, Hoopa, don’t go running off!” She said quickly as she saw his rings start to move. “If they have permission, then you don’t need to get involved.”

“Hoopa is curious, not angry!” Hoopa said back. “Hoopa just wants to take a look. It’s been a long time since Hoopa met an outsider to the world.”

“You mean, a Faller?” Meray asked. “Isn’t that kind of… dangerous?”

“No, why would Meray think that?” Hoopa spun around. “Fallers are fun! They have cool ideas, and when they find Hoopa, they usually ask to go home. Hoopa trades them stories for that!”

“Oh. I thought they’d be trying to catch you all the time,” Meray said quietly.

“Hoopa has met a few like that. Hoopa just sends them away the first time, then sends them home if they try again.” Hoopa waved his rings. “Hoopa hasn’t met a Faller in a while, though. Since before Meray was born. And Hoopa hasn’t met one touched by Arceus in much longer.”

“...should I contact Him?” Meray looked down at the pendant she wore. “Maybe ask him what’s going on?”

“Hoopa thinks that’s a good idea. If Faller is on a mission from Arceus, Hoopa will stay away. If not… well, meeting another Faller will be fun!” Hoopa grinned.

-(0)-

Kerry frowned as his attempt at dowsing failed once again. “The mage and psychic among our targets are either keeping a very low profile, or are behind some significant shielding,” he acknowledged, scuffing out the small circle he’d written on the ground and stowing the compass he’d used for the spell.

Elle nodded as the two walked out of the alleyway. So far, they’d done the same ritual several times across the industrial sector, with no luck finding Flare. There’d been some evidence of magic, but it always led back to either legitimate shops or small temples. “Did your jobs back home have this many false leads?” Elle asked. “You seemed surprised the first time we found that apothecary.”

“Ah, no. Magecraft was concealed from the general populace back home. So I was surprised to see an obviously magical store simply out in public.” Kiritsugu admitted, clearly rather embarrassed, “I thought I was over that reaction given, well, the Pokemon, but apparently, a human-run magic shop was enough to weird me out.” 

“It seems really weird that you hide magic back home, but there’s a lot of Earth that seems weird to me. Would it offend you if I said I really don’t want to visit any time soon?” Elle asked as they walked down the street.

“Not in the slightest,” Kiritsugu replied. “In fact, once I meet up with my kids, I have no intention of going home. If Illya and Shirou want to stay, I’m happy to leave my world behind.”

Elle nodded. It still seemed strange and sad to her that Kiritsugu, who she thought of as a driven but empathetic man, could’ve been so alone back home. Then again, he was an assassin there. And she knew something about wanting to get away from your birthplace. Shaking off the tinge of melancholy, she focused on the mission. “If your normal methods to find their hideout aren’t working, I suppose we’re moving onto plan B?”

“Right.” Kerry reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of the red hair dye they’d found in Flare’s base, one which, inconceivably, had been branded with Flare’s logo. “To set up the monitoring alarms, I’m going to need to perform a ritual at each of the crossroads in this part of town.” He paused. “Normally, I’d do it at night in a city like this, but seeing as I can’t hypnotize people to forget I was poking around here, when do you think would be a preferable time for us to set them up?”

“I’d say dusk,” Elle offered after a moment’s thought. “There will be more people around, but they’ll all be busy getting home. At night, we might have to deal with actual criminals, or nocturnal Pokemon.”

“Got it. We don’t have time to see the Tower, but I think there’s a museum nearby we could visit to burn some time…”

-(0)-

“Have you had any luck so far?” Looker asked, his face visible on-screen as Kiritsugu sorted through his firearms, choosing the loadout of the day. “I did not expect you to call unless you had some results.”

“We haven’t found their base yet, but the sensors we set up have pinged off several of Flare’s agents. That narrowed down our search to a few blocks of the new city.”

Elle coughed from nearby, uneasily inspecting her own firearm. “It’s still too broad of a search area for us to plan a proper ambush or breach, but maybe if we could get access to the local property records, we could find their hideout. It’s a good part of town, people can’t just get away with making the place look abandoned.”

“We can do that, yes. But our inquiries might be noticed. Narrow it down a bit more, and we will be splendid,” Looker responded. “Any thoughts, Mr. Emiya?”

“I think they have influence at the governmental level,” Kerry grunted as he finished cleaning his sidearm, holstering it as he moved closer to the video call. “They’ve been avoiding the local police far too well for me to believe otherwise.”

“Hmm. That in and of itself is a clue. Good observation, and very unfortunate.” Looker sighed. “Once you have driven out this cell, my superiors will need to be contacted. Corruption sweeping belongs to a different branch, one you are not suited to work with, I think. More paperwork, less guns. Hopefully.”

“Yes, that’s… not my specialty,” the ex-assassin admitted.

“One wonders why the locals allow this. Accepting money to work with terrorists seems… unwise.” Frogadier croaked, looking over the map with narrowed eyes.

“Some people let greed overtake their good sense,” Haboo sighed from a pillow set nearby. “And once a person has taken money once, blackmail can be used to keep them in line. A vicious, dark cycle.”

“You’ve seen this before,” Amelie observed from her seat next to Kiritsugu.

“Cipher has never shied away from bribery,” Haboo admitted. “Or kidnapping. Hmm. What are the odds some of that might be in play here?”

“Low,” Kiritsugu answered quickly. “It’s likely that they simply backed a corrupt politician into office.” As everyone gave him assessing looks, he continued. “Flare has resources, and seems to prefer cultivated loyalty over threats. With blackmail, they’d have to keep constant tabs on their victims at all times, and they don’t have that much manpower here.”

“Well reasoned,” Looker said. “We’ll forward you the housing data when we get it through quietly. You are still making excellent progress, agents. Keep up the good work!” The device powered down, folding back up.

Kerry stood up, scooping up the battle rifle he’d readjusted and tucking it into a space-expanded coat pocket. “Let’s get back out on the ground, then. I don’t think we’ll be storming their hideout today, but with the intelligence we can gather now and Looker’s information, we should plan on being ready tomorrow.”

“I will go get Chespin and Braixen,” Frogadier saluted, hopping out of the room.

“...you have better senses than me, Kerry. Does it feel like something’s about to go… off?” Elle asked, trying to put her nebulous sense of nerves into proper words.

“... Possibly. Things have been going strangely well so far,” Kerry responded quietly.

-(0)-

Meray’s face unclenched as she sighed. She carefully raised her arms, placing her pendant back over her neck before she opened her eyes. “Sorry, Hoopa. I’m not getting any signs from Arceus about this new person.” She touched the pendant, her face furrowed. “I know you really wanted to see this person, but Arceus isn’t giving me any sign as to whether we should see them.”

“...Hoopa is not mad at Meray. Meray is trying her best. If Arceus is not responding yet, they won’t.” Hoopa groused, crossing his arms. “Arceus doesn’t talk to you often, unless it’s very important, Hoopa knows.”

“I suppose we could try again tomorrow, if getting their permission is so important to you.” The human observed, looking up at her charge with a small smile. “It’s good that you’re thinking about that, instead of just rushing into things.” Meray’s smile dropped as she caught the pensive expression on Hoopa’s face morph into a small smirk.

 “...Meray, Hoopa has heard a saying before. Forgiveness and permission, something like that, yes?” Hoopa said, flicking his wrists to cause two of his golden hoops to flick into the palms of his hands.

Meray came to her feet quickly as Hoopa’s rings began to spin. “Hoopa, maybe you should–”

“Meray should not worry! Hoopa just wants to meet the new people, not cause trouble!” Hoopa said as the ring expanded, Hoopa darting though. Muttering curses her grandfather would say she was too young to know, Meray darted through after her charge.

The emergence of a mythical pokemon onto a relatively uncrowded city street was met with only a few odd looks and a few trainers pulling out Pokedexes. Meray sighed in relief as Hoopa simply spun over to a tall man in a suit and coat, the figure reaching into his coat in shock. “Hello Faller! Hoopa is pleased to meet someone from another world!”

Beside the man, a young woman with bright red hair blinked a few times before the blood drained from her face. “Ah, Kerry? That’s Hoopa.”

“...and?” The man asked quietly.

“You mentioned gods before? Well, here’s one now.”

“Greetings, Faller! Hoopa is very happy to meet you!” Hoopa waved, moving closer with a wide grin. “Hoopa is looking forward to hearing about your world, and your magic!” Hoopa sniffed. “Time and… blood? Ick.” Hoopa stuck out his tongue. “Hoopa is not a fan of the second.”

Kerry swallowed. The pressure exerted from the being in front of him was like that of the one time he’d brushed up against the Wizard Marshal, but a half-magnitude stronger. “I’m sorry you don’t like my scent, Hoopa,” he said slowly.

“It is not a huge deal! Hoopa has smelled worse! Been worse, for that matter,” Hoopa said magnanimously.

Meray sighed as she walked forward, finally getting her wits about her and coming forward to stand beside her charge. “Hoopa, you can’t just make portals wherever you like…” Her remaining lecture ended abruptly as a door slammed open, yelling and pounding feet echoing through the mostly-deserted street. Meray turned to see a nearby building with its doors wide open, a half-dozen men and women with bright red hair brandishing pokeballs and guns, led by a bald man in a green vest staring as some sort of scanner.

“...well, we found Team Flare,” Kerry said, eyes fixed on the oncoming group. “Your instincts were spot on.” The woman beside him facepalmed and groaned.

And then the shouting started.