Chapter 11: Kiritsugu Chapter the Second

Amelie stared at the fire, before looking back at Kiritsugu. As the building burned merrily, she stared at him in a deadpan. “I thought you said you could cook.”

“I said I could prepare food. Trail rations. Those easy-prep meals seemed like a reasonable offshoot,” Kiri sighed.

“At least it was in an enemy base. We can just blame it on shoddy construction,” The Kirlia mused. “...did we get those Flare guys we had tied up in there out before the fire started?”

“Yes. I didn’t want to chance them escaping, so I took them back to camp. They’re all sedated there right now,” Kiritsugu answered idly, turning around and placing his hands in his pockets. “We should probably get going. Thankfully, we managed to recover enough intelligence on Flare’s general operations in this area.”

“How did I miss that?...” Amelie mused, even as a group of men dressed in fire uniforms ran up, tossing out balls containing water and fire pokemon. All of the men had an emblem of a Pignite on their backs. “Oh, there are the firefighters. I assume we’re not staying for questioning?”

Kiri shook his head, walking off into the woods without a pause. “Definitely not. Even if this badge works, I don’t want to get put into the system.” He ran fingers over his new Interpol badge. “...take out?”

“Sure. There’s supposedly a really good Kantoian Restaurant around here,” Amelia offered, pointing Kiritsugu in the general direction of the city. “We should probably drop off all the Flare Grunts and Lieutenant we picked up at the police station first though.”

“No need to worry about that!” Kiritsugu froze as a familiar voice came out of a nearby alley, Looker walking into view with a smile, one which Kiritsugu and Amelia returned after a moment’s pause. “Good to see you again, Mr. Emiya! You’ve been keeping busy, I see!”

“I have,” Kiri nodded. “Going to join us for dinner?”

“Certainly.” He paused. “Ah, but… I have to ask. Your skills as a fighter are unparalleled, and your magic is a wonder. But are you trained in investigation, at all?” Looker asked as they walked down the street.

Kiritsugu paused, clearly considering something, before he shook his head. “Informally yes, but not to the extent I’d need to for this undertaking.” He paused, before shooting the agent a wry look. “Why did you want to know?”

“I thought as much.” Looker acknowledged. “Mr. Emiya, Interpol is used to working with people out of their element; usually, we partner them up with a more experienced agent. Now, we don’t have any locals, but one of our members is no longer needed in her former role.”

“Someone else to keep Kiritsugu in check? Yes please!” Amelia declared brightly, pumping her small fist in delight. “He set a building on fire by trying to heat a prepackaged meal in a microwave Mr. Looker. A MICROWAVE!”

“Hmm? Prepackaged? Mr. Emiya, how did you manage to do that improperly?” Looker asked, eyebrows rising.

“I… don’t know,” Kiritsugu admitted after a moment, “My son didn’t allow me in the kitchens, however. Something about burning water?”

“I see,” Looker acknowledged as they reached the aforementioned restaurant. “While I could just assign the agent to you, will you be accepting of your new partner?”

“I would like to meet them first,” Kiritsugu stated firmly.

“Excellent.” Heading into the restaurant, Looker continued, “I may as well give you some backstory as she makes her way here.” Moving to the counter, both men ordered before taking a seat. “To begin with, our agent has long been specialized in dealing with shadow pokemon. Have you done any research into that phenomenon?”

“Only at a surface level. Amelia?” He replied as he took a seat, Amelia taking her place beside him.

“Only the very basics of identifying them. I assume you are speaking of one of the two heroes of Orre?” The Kirlia guessed, her psionic voice sounding utterly surprised.

“There are three, actually. Everyone forgets Rui, I find,” Looker acknowledged as a tray of rice balls were set in front of him. “But, yes. Emmanuelle dealt with the second wave of Cipher, an organization of arms dealers who attempted to create a method to strengthen and destroy the individuality of Pokemon for use in competitions and criminal activity. These altered beings are known as Shadow Pokemon.”

“Wait, how did they ‘destroy individuality?’” Amelie asked, a tinge of horror in her voice.

“Application of trauma and exotic energy to seal the heart of the Pokemon. This in turn results in a powerful attacker whose assaults tear at the aura of the targets, but cannot grow, relate to others, and has a tendency to break into berserk rages.” Looker sighed. “They are… monsters. Tragic ones.”

“As interesting as this is, that tells me nothing about my potential partner,” Kiritsugu droned, filing the information away to look up later. It was very possible Flare would look into the procedure, given their stated ideals.

Looker coughed, obviously a little disturbed by Kiritsugu’s nonchalance. “Yes, well… Cipher was active for nearly a decade in the Orre region, but ran into the issue of needing powerful pokemon for conversion in a remote region with few local pokemon. Though they did purchase some, most of their Pokemon were acquired via the use of Snag Machines; these devices allow the user to steal Pokemon from others. However, these tools also allowed both the first group of heroes and Emmanuelle to steal back Shadow Pokemon, and help them regain their hearts. Cipher was a powerful threat willing to kill, bribe, and kidnap to attain their goals. Starting at age twelve, Elle has been fighting that organization, and the successor groups who have taken up their methods.”

“So she has plenty of experience dealing with criminal syndicates” Kiritsugu assessed, sounding pleased. “How soon can I meet her?” He continued after a few moments thought, taking a sip from the glass of water that had arrived while they’d been talking.

Looker peered over Kiri’s shoulder, and, no fool, the hitman joined him in looking back. The slender woman who’d entered the building was sporting a scarf and long jacket, the yellow duster covering most of her body. A red ponytail hung down her back, held in place by a pair of goggles as a headband. Emmanuelle looked around, before her gaze lighted on Looker. “Hello, sir,” She said quietly as she slipped between the tables, taking a seat. “What’s the new mission? I thought we’d finally managed to halt the production, but you said it was urgent…”

Looker smiled. “Ah, yes. This is an urgent mission, but so far, we have seen no indication of Shadow Pokemon. Emmanuelle, meet Kiritsugu Emiya, your partner in this mission. Mr. Emiya, would you like to fill her in on the situation?”

“I can do that, yes.” Kiritsugu acknowledged, “Take a seat and order something. We’ll be here for a while.”

Over several small courses of sushi and soups, Kiritsugu laid out what was so far known about team Flare and their operations. By the end of it, Elle was frowning as she sipped her tea. “So this isn’t a Shadow Pokemon case. But it is a case of embedded domestic terrorism with nebulous goals and deep pockets. Is that right?”

“That is how it appears.” Looker said. “Accounting for the absence of Shadow Pokemon, the parallels seem obvious.”

Emmanuelle nodded absently. “Yeah.” She looked at Kiri. “So, what’s your team, besides Kirlia? I’m guessing you have a partner trained for pursuit or information control, maybe a brute for entry work. What else are we working with?”

“I’m not a Pokemon Trainer,” Kiritsugu stated clinically, taking a sip from his drink as he took in the woman’s shocked face. “I’m a retired, professionally trained assassin from another world. A Faller, if you will. Flare ticked me off enough to come out of retirement.”

“...oh. Wait, so you have no Pokemon?” Elle shot a look at Looker. “Umm. So–”

“Mr. Emiya is a wizard! He has some sort of time magic, as far as I can tell, and can strengthen himself like an Aura user. Plus, he is very good with guns.” Looker explained.

“When you say ‘very good’ with guns…” She looked back at Kiritsugu.

“I can manipulate time, though doing so taxes me,” Kiritsugu admitted. “As for how good I am with a gun, I can place myself on the level of or above that of Tier One Special Forces; the best of the best within my world.”

Elle looked back at Looker, whose smile turned wry. “Ah… considerably better than our elite agents without their Pokemon.”

“...okay.” Elle leaned back. “Right. Well, my team has my Ace, a supporter, a flier, a tracker, and a couple of blasters. If we get the chance, maybe you could pick up a brute or guardian? If we’re going after an entrenched group alone, we might need them. You know, for breaching doors and stuff.”

“We can just use explosives.” Kiri paused, even as Elle blinked. “Ah, do you know where I can get resupplied? I’m running out of what I took from the last armory I raided.”

“I can supply you, yes, but it will take time. Please write-up what you need, and I’ll see about getting it dropped off if it’s reasonable.” Looker checked his watch, then stood up. “I think I’m leaving both of you in good hands. Keep us posted on your plans, Mr. Emiya!” He dashed out of the room, only stopping to drop a handful of coins and bills on the table.

“Hmmm, at least I will have the supplies I am used to having,” Kiritsugu mused briefly, before he turned back to his companion, “Given that we are going to be working together, Ms. Elle, perhaps you can give a general assessment of your skills beyond Pokemon training? And perhaps we can work out a plan on bettering myself in that area…”

Elle nodded, before raising her hand to call for another pot of tea. “Sure thing, let me just wet my lips a little more…”