Chapter 16: Kiritsugu Chapter the Third

Emanuelle looked around the warehouse, eyebrows rising. “You know, for a man who dresses in suits, I was expecting something more Jaune Baud.” She commented as Kiri led them back to the break room in the rear. The two entered the rear room, revealing a foldable cot, a small kitchen setup, and a table covered in disassembled guns. “...where do you keep all of those?”

“It depends on the opposition I expect, Ms. Emanuelle.” Kiritsugu explained, checking each piece of the various disassembled guns carefully before nodding, “For example, if I was to embark on an assassination of a highly place Flare Operative, I would bring only the Sniper Rifle, while leaving most of the other weapons in this safehouse.”

“...okay. But why here?” Emanuelle asked, genuinely curious, though there was a glint of understanding in her eyes.

“Off the grid, mostly.” Amelie replied. “This isn’t even a real safehouse; Kiri figured out that this building still has power and water, but the owners are tied up in a legal battle. Thus, we’re completely off the grid.”

“In addition to that, I do not doubt that Flare is willing to commit significant resources to remove us from the face of Garde if we are ever discovered. I’ll be attempting to secure other safehouses, but I lack the network and funds I am used to operating with.” Kiritsugu reported blandly, a small amount of frustration showing on the man’s face.

“Maybe we could build a Secret Base?” Emmanuelle shook her head. “Not the point. So, Flare. I know the basics of who they are, but do we know their overall goals or leadership yet?”

“No. However, they attacked a hospital with the intent to wipe the memory of all present. They are currently unprepared to be public, and have lost a key advantage in that.” The assassin reported, before frowning, “However, I would imagine many of the old nobility have ties to them, given their wealth and style of dress.”

“Not much to go on. And those that were captured didn’t know anything?” Emmanuelle asked.

“I wish. The grunts are useless; it’s all cell based.” Amelie grumbled. “And Renault… well, he got out. We don’t know how yet.”

“Likely connections and bribery.” Kiritsugu declared, reviewing his current estimation of how influential Flare was and finding it a tad wanting. Escaping prison after assaulting a hospital should have been practically impossible. The fact there wasn’t a Kalos Wide Witch Hunt for the man right now was also extremely telling.

“Great. So, what’s the plan?” The young woman frowned. “Hunting down their cells might work, but until we manage to catch a major player or operation, we can’t really hurt their actual organization. And without knowing their goals, we can’t fortify anything against direct action.” She absently pulled out a Pokeball, releasing a familiar pokemon; a lanky dog with white bones and an orange muzzle. Though his countenance was the same, his happy panting and hanging tongue were not. “Houndoom, anyone around but us?”

The black dog sniffed twice, then shook his head. “Alright.”

“Hmmm, we have a few options open to us.” Kiritsugu posited, humming thoughtfully, “I can offer myself as visible bait while you wait in the shadows, hopefully drawing out one of their leaders who will attempt to engage me in an ‘honorable’ Pokemon battle, though I doubt they will show me that courtesy, and as a whole, I am unwilling to rely on that outside of an emergency.” He continued, tapping his foot in place, “Another alternative is seeking connections in the underworld of Kalos, and hoping that Flare has largely turned their noses up at them, thereby allowing us to gain intelligence through that aspect.”

“Flare might be stepping on toes, actually. That might work.” Emmanuelle agreed. “If you’re going to be getting into Pokemon battles, you might need to pick up more of a team, though.” She looked over at Amelie. “I mean, you’re strong, I can tell, but it only takes one steel type to ruin your day.”

Kiritsugu nodded in agreement, “I am aware of that deficiency, and am working to correct it. Amelie and I are hard at work scouting for experienced Pokemon to add to our team.”

“Eh. As much as headhunting is a thing with Pokemon… the right Pokemon tend to find their way to you.” She touched the balls at her belt, even as Houndoom moved to get scratches. “I know my team and I were really lucky to find each other.”

Kiritsugu blinked, before looking at Amelie, who shrugged in response, “She is correct. Headhunting is a thing that many trainers do, but they often end up running into Pokemon they never would have considered otherwise, as if they were destined for each other. The Church of Alpha generally believes this to be Arceus’ will, but who can really say.”

“Interesting.” Kirisugu paused, then knelt and extended his hand to the canine Pokemon. The dog sniffed twice, then gave him a grin and a few quiet barks. “What did he say?”

“You smell like gunpowder, clock oil, pain, plasma, and love. Also blood, but it’s not yours.” Amelie said. “We need to get you a proper shower.”

Elle smiled as Kirisugu stood. “I suppose you should meet the rest of my team, since you a passed the sniff test.”

Kiritsugu let a smile appear on his face, relaxing his usual stoic emotional control, “I’m glad. I would very much like to meet your team, Elle.” Left unsaid was the more pragmatic reasons for the request. After all, he was also being genuine.

Elle pulled back her jacket, revealing a belt with five Pokeballs upon it. In sequence, she tapped the first four balls, releasing several Pokemon of varying sizes. The first was a tall yellow being with a pair of small horns, calling itself an Ampharos, while the second was a blue orb covered in leafy growths, three large puffballs extending from her body, called Jumpluff. The third was a large bird with blue-red feathers and a hooked beak named Braviary, while the last pokemon was a small blue fox-cat called a Meowstic, who looked up at Kiri with unabashed curiosity.

She hesitated over the final ball, noticeably more weathered and scratched then the others. “...my starter… they’re a little unnerving. And their existence is a little bit of a secret. I’m pretty sure we can trust you, but I do need to ask…”

“You have my silence.” Kiritsugu promised immediately, for once dead serious. The young woman trusted him not to reveal her starter’s existence to the world, and unless they threatened the world itself, Kiritsugu would take the secret to his grave. He was, after all, trying to be a better person now, for Illya and Shirou.

Without another word, the last ball sprung open on its own, and Kiri felt his eyebrows rise at the pokemon thus revealed. Dark brown fur covered most of its body, while patches vaguely shaped like bones lay as though exposing its skeleton. Slightly tattered ears rose above a familiar vulpine face, the obvious hallmark of an Eevee evolution, while a thin, almost stunted tail wagged behind the canine being.

But the most distinctive features were the bandages and the fire. The eyes which looked up at Kerry were nearly molten, turquoise witchfire burning within, while darker purple flames coalesced around the ratty tail to form the vague outline of an Eevee’s fluff. Strips of vellum-like bandages hung around each foot and the neck; but these last adornments couldn’t hide the deep wound in the chest of Elle’s starter, leaking blue flames upward.

“Mour-ay-on…” The revealed Pokemon spoke, then titled their head to look at Kiri. “You’re an odd one.” The genderless voice of the undead Eevee echoed in Kiri’s mind.

“So I am.” Kiritsugu nodded, crouching down and offering his hand for the Eeveelution to sniff.

“I assume the league issued a general gag order to ensure that no intrepid trainer murdered their Eevee to try and evolve them into a Moureion?” Amelie guessed, offering her own insight into the situation. Kiritsugu had been rubbing off on her recently, and her on him.

“That’s right.” The Mourieon said, his burning tail waving slowly. “I am Haboo. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“I am Kiritsugu, Haboo. A pleasure to meet you.” Kerry replied with a polite nod and wave, before nodding towards Amelie, “And this is my partner, Amelie. Though I am still unsure why she puts up with me.”

“You’re not that bad. Well, except for your cooking.” Amelie deadpanned.

“Is that what that smell is? I thought I smelled plasma.” Haboo said. “...hmm. I believe I’ve seen you on Pokenet. You’ve become a meme, you know.”

“What?” Kiritsugu asked, blinking in shock.

“You made quite an impact, fighting through an entire hospital then vanishing into the aether.” Haboo stretched and leapt up onto a table, shadowy flames outlining an object in their trainer’s bag, withdrawing a tablet computer. “The ‘right behind you’ memes are most common, along with a spate of Unovan mysterious stranger memes. You don’t ever wear a hat, do you?”

“Not generally, no.” Kiritsugu offered, blinking as he drew out a silver cylinder from one of his coat pockets, taking a pull from the device, “I’m more known for my cigarettes, but, well…”

“He’s on vapes until I’ve weaned him off nicotine, then we’ll see if he still wants to just smoke water vapor.” Amelie grunted, looking for all the world like a pissed off healer, “Stupid man throws himself into deadly situations without regard for his life, why was I surprised that he smoked.”

“Okay, so at least you’re not an actual cowboy stereotype. Appenica might be disappointed, but that will distract them from your real face.” Elle said, taking the tablet from her starter and spinning it around to show an image of a highly distorted image of Kiri’s face. “But yeah, you’re all over the internet at this point.”

Kiri’s throat went dry as he looked at the image. It was vaguely like his own face, and the accompanying full-body shot captured his more disheveled appearance mid-mission perfectly. “Ah… how many people have seen these images?” Even a few dozen would give Flare a possible means to track him–

“Well, this image has three hundred fifty thousand views and a hundred thousand likes.” Kiri felt his soul leave his body as Elle continued. “The Emiya Man doesn’t have huge popularity yet, though there’s a couple of weird subforums; some want to emulate you, some want to hire you, some want to kill you, and a few want to donate money.” She paused. “Do you have an account for that last one?”

Kiritsugu blinked, processing the information as rapidly as he could. He clearly hadn’t been keeping up with the development of the internet close enough if he had somehow missed the ease of mass communication it offered, “I should be able to create an untraceable one soon enough, given my connections with the International Police. That said, it seems like I’ll be spending a truly unholy amount of time figuring out how the internet works in this world, seeing as I missed much of it’s development in mine due to my… health issues.” He paused. “Ah, I wonder if my children have seen this…”

“Well, yeah. They commented on some of the original threads about it.” Elle said, and Kiri blanched, heart rate rising. “Have you really not called–”

Elle looked up as Kiri lunged at her. “They have links to me on here? With THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND WATCHERS?” He screamed, eyes wide. At her nod, he began scrambling around, collecting his weapons as she watched. “I’ve got to go, Flare could–”

Elle grabbed his elbow. “Easy there. One, Flare is purely Kalos-based, nor seems interested in expanding beyond the region. They don’t have agents over there, and inserting ones will be difficult.” Kiri yanked his arm free, but stayed focused on her. “Second…” She tapped her way through the pad. “There’s already been a contract put out with their names on it. But not for killing or capture.”

Kiri frowned as he looked at the contract, his eyebrows rising. “Who put out a two million Poke contract on anyone taking a contract on my kids?” His eyes narrowed. “Who is ‘Walked 500 Years’?”

“That would be one of our resident Immortals, and one of the few that the International Police is aware of that actually earned that as a blessing.” Elle mentioned with a frown, shaking her head at Kiritsugu’s wide look, “Remind me to run you through the standard briefing for Special Agents at some point.” The woman stated, looking at her Moureion with an exasperated sigh, “Seriously, the world will seem so much stranger, but it’ll also make so much more sense.”

Kirisugu took a pull from his vaporizer, then carefully set down the armload of grenades and pistols he’d shoved into the crook of one arm, much to Amelie’s relief. “Okay. So Flare is unlikely to try to send people after my kids.”

“If they do, they will have to be very circumspect. Whoever they send will need to be extremely loyal to not be tempted by Lady Akari’s offer, very powerful to actually manage to capture them without being confronted, and very stealthy to retrieve them without being caught.” Haboo said firmly.

“Right.” Kiri looked back at the pad, then looked over at Amelie. “...I should call them, shouldn’t I.”

“Yes, you absolute moron. Why are you even asking?” The Kirlia replied with a roll of her eyes, fond exasperation wafting off her like waves.

“Because I am terrible with personal relationships.” Kiri said, looking back at Elle. “Ah… do you know of a secure way to do a video call?” Elle nodded, and sat down with him.

Amelie hopped down and walked over to Haboo and the rest of Elle’s team. “So… um. Elle mentioned you all had fought criminals before. Do you all keep things… non-lethal?”

“Not always. It depends on the criminal organization. Cypher, at this point, is a group we largely default to lethal force with, though we always prefer to capture people alive.” Ampharos stated with a frown, shaking his head, “While it is regrettable, with Cypher in specific, it is necessary. The remnants of that group are always fanatical, and most of the time will fight to their last breath, and commit suicide if they realize they’ll be captured.”

Jumpluff bounced on her feet sadly, then perked up. “The successor groups are usually easier to take alive, though! They don’t even use gas masks, so sleep powder and tailwind works wonders on sealed buildings.”

Amelie nodded. “Kiri defaults to lethal, an artifact from his past life. Not sure whether Flare is worth that, though. Thoughts?”

“We’ll see.

They did attack a hospital.” Ampharos observed.

Houndoom yipped quietly. “Cypher reeks. Haven’t gotten a taste of these ones yet, but so far I don’t like their scent.”

As Amelie moved to speak, a loud ringing came from the pad, now propped up on a table. After a few rings, a voice sounded from the pad. “Wyrm? Wyrm-eee… E-on?”

Kiritsugu blinked at the purple vulpine face staring back at him from the pad. “...ah, hello?” He racked his brain, then came up blank. “I think you’re an Eeveelution, but I’m coming up blank. Elle, what’s a Wyrmeon?”

“... That’d be a new eeveelution. One I don’t recognize.” Elle shrugged, pulling out her phone with a severe look before making an ‘ahhh’ sound, “That’s your son’s Pokemon.”

“Oh.” Kiri said at the same time the Wyrmeon perked up, and rapidly grabbed the device pointing at him with his teeth. Seconds later, the screen was a blurry mess of moving lights as it was dragged down a hallway, emerging into an area which sounded like a kitchen. A few seconds later, the Pokemon sprang up on a counter, where a hand took the device from him, setting it beside an industrial cooktop manned by a red-haired preteen.

“Who is– old man?” Shirou asked, eyes widening, but his spatulas continued to move. “Wait a second-”

“Why didn’t you call earlier?” Illya asked, sending Kiritsugu into a minor fit of shock as she poked her head in, “I’m pretty sure you could have found our number, and we’ve been in the news several times. What took you so long, papa?”

“Ah…” Kiri swallowed. “I may or may not be hunting down a terrorist organization, and I didn’t want to put you all in trouble.” He looked aside. “I should’ve found a way to reach out through my contact over here sooner, but… well…”

“... Fair enough. I doubt you learned about us when you were deposited here, given that big sis said you were hospitalized for quite a while.” Illya allowed with an easy shrug, though her eyes promised vengeance at a later date, “Now, what are you doing calling us so late for you?”

“Ah, my new partner– not like that, before you ask!” Kiri interjected, recognizing the impish look on Illya’s face, looking achingly similar to the one his wife often wore. “She told me you all saw me through a meme, and that’s when I realized keeping our relationship quiet was not viable. So I went ahead and called.”

“About time, I suppose.” Illya muttered with a shrug, before grinning, “Rather curious that you found another female assistant though. Perhaps daddy has a thing~?”

“He’s not my type, and I don’t think I’m his.” Elle chimed in, Kiri shifting the device to get her in the shot. “I prefer my partners short, sweet, and female. Dunno about him.”

Kiri just nodded. “This is Emmanuelle, an agent of Interpol. We’re working together on this case. Speaking of which, if you ever meet the Immortal known as Akari, you need to thank her. She’s covering for you from assassins.

“Huh, that doesn’t surprise me, but I’ll have to thank her.” Illya nodded, blinking at her dad’s look, “Papa, Lady Akari and I regularly chat over the phone. Well, as regularly as you can chat with a famous immortal heroine.”

“Oh. Well… please don’t get involved with any of the gods she is supposed to be buddies with. My heart has only recently been healed, I don’t think I could take it.”

Illya ginned again. “Too late for that, papa.” Her smile got fierce. “Now, it’s great to see you after all this time, and I’m glad you were trying to rescue me. But I still owe you some torment, so until and unless I figure out how to curse you through an internet connection, expect a hug and a vicious beating when I see you again.” She said matter-of-factly.

“... You are most certainly your mother and I’s daughter.” Kiritsugu sighed, his lips quirking in a smile, “I’m glad you are feeling better, Illya.”

Illya nodded slightly. “Shirou has been a wonderful brother. So glad I got away…” She peered at her father through the screen. “So, did the god-llama give you an Eevee, too?”

“... No.” Kiritsugu blinked, looking baffled for a few moments before he smiled ruefully, “I was stuck in a hospital anyway, and I have a therapist already. I don’t particularly need fluffy therapy.”

“A pity. You aren’t eschewing Pokemon companions, are you?” Illya lectured. “Let me tell you, there’s a lot to be said for learning magecraft from them.”

“And more!” Shirou called out. “Also, tell the old man off for the whole circuits thing for me!”

Kiri frowned. “...wait, Shirou, I haven’t opened your circuits yet. Were you trying to force things without that?”

“He was using his nerves as makeshift circuits.”

“...you’ve stopped that, right?”

“I did, yes. But you should have caught it sooner.” Illya snipped.

“Right. And I do have a companion–” Amelie teleported into view of the screen. “-my therapist and assistant, Amelie here.” The Kirlia gave a bow.

“Nice to meet you. Is dad–” Kiri took a step back as Amelie spoke to the screen, blinking slowly as his daughter somehow understood the words of the little psychic-type. She’s doing so much better…

“So, what’s the plan tomorrow?” Elle asked Kiri after he’d said his goodbyes.

“We… eliminate a Flare Cell. Capture their leader alive, and… convince them to inform us where the center of operations is.” Kiritsugu remarked dangerously, shaking his head at Elle’s uncomfortable look, “No, the convincing will not involve torture. Torture doesn’t work anyway. I’ll just be hypnotizing him or her or them, and if that doesn’t work, we can resort to Amelie invading their mind.”

“Meowstic does that on occasion.” Elle nodded, even as Kiri laid out a small map of the area, the Pokemon gathering around to look at the area. “Have you located a major base?”

“I have. I planned on leaving it be until I had secured more firepower, but I think you and your team will be a more than adequate substitute.” Kiri explained. “There may not be too much actual manpower here, it seems more like a workshop– I mean, a lab.” He corrected.

“They’ll probably have a few cells on call if they get invaded. We should ensure they can’t communicate when we attack the lab.” Emanuelle remarked, receiving a firm nod from the Assassin, “We should also attempt to erect a anti-teleport net, but that will require support from the International Police proper. We should contact Booker to arrange things.”

“Right.” He shook his head. “Working with a team… this should work a lot better.”