Chapter 81: Interlude – The Directorate

INTERLUDE - The Directorate

It may have seemed strange, but Cynthia had always preferred the Directorate’s building over the League's, at least from a pragmatic point of view. The League was an ancient, beautiful building full of history, built akin to a giant cathedral, which she loved, but in terms of utility? The sleek, modern design and straightforward hallways were much easier and less time-consuming to navigate. And time seemed to be what she lacked the most these days. The Champion had the Directorate built on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, two years after becoming Champion. Almost twenty years since she had handed her absolute powers over to a civilian body.

The Directorate sat relatively close to Sunnyshore, and the location had originally been chosen due to its closeness to the Pokemon League and how easy it would be to fly from one to the other. Yet that measure that had meant to link the two systems— trainers and civilians— together hadn’t worked. Today, people felt the same adoration for Cynthia that they had all those years ago, but when it came to the actual League itself? It was hard to find anyone who actually cared for them other than trainers themselves, and honestly, who could blame them? It was much easier to feel connected to the government if you actually saw the people who participated in it. Directorate members were often seen all over the region, and they worked in Sinnoh’s second most populous city.

The League, meanwhile, sat on the Lily of the Valley island, far away from any type of civilization, and it was originally built so the strongest trainers who reached the place alive could live among themselves and reach the pinnacle of strength, back when Sinnoh was still called Hisui and people were still settling all over the region. From that primitive system, the Elite Four and Champion organically came to be. They had no doubt drawn inspiration from Kanto and Johto, who, according to history, were the first regions to have done so. When the strongest trainers finally came back to mainland Sinnoh, they subjugated its inhabitants and took control of the region and established a system akin to modern ‘gym leaders’, whose original purpose was to keep control of the region’s most populous settlements. However, the seat of power remained unchanged. The League ruled with an iron fist from a faraway island.

Until Cynthia herself divided it. Still, even now, she never regretted her decision. The League had too much power, and implementing checks and balances was the remedy. It was only a matter of time before a future Champion grew mad with power— and it certainly had happened many times in the past. Massacres, slavery, and countless horrors had been orchestrated in the past all throughout the world by trainers. Now that Cynthia had changed the natural order, she hoped the future Elite Four and gym leaders would join the civilian government to stop any future tyrants instead of aiding them like in the past.

If they didn’t? Well, all her work would have been for naught, but at least she would have tried. Strongly worded letters and investigations could only do so much in the face of murderous trainers.

Ah, those worries were for future generations. Right now, she needed to make sure they got to be born in the first place. Cynthia sighed and entered one of the many empty offices in the building. The Directorate was in recess and negotiating right now, so she could afford to take a break from saving Vernon’s job. The Champion immediately grabbed her Poketch, which had been vibrating relentlessly for the past hour, and called the number back.

“Rowan,” She sighed, feeling exhaustion creep up. “How was your flight up to Canalave?”

“Oh, you know I hate flying,” The professor answered. “But I adore Canalave, so the trip alone is worth it. Anyway, I have found a few nuggets of information regarding your… inquiry.”

Cynthia had contacted Professor Rowan to help her dig for more information about Dusknoir. She was very familiar with him, seeing as he was Sinnoh’s most well-known Pokemon Professor, and he extensively researched the phenomenon of evolution. When she contacted him about having seen a Dusknoir, he jumped at the occasion to help her research.

“So?” Cynthia asked.

“Well, of course, it would have been too easy to just find the answer in the Canalave library, but I believe my new assistants— Dawn and Lucas, have found a lead. It was a peculiar old book in the library’s corner about ancient Sinnohan history, which is why I didn’t think to check, but the book alludes to a certain Elite Four trainer that owned a Dusknoir.”

“Does it allude to how it evolved?” Cynthia asked. She liked the professor, but his passion tended to make him ramble, and she needed to go meet Vernon right after this call.

“Well, this is a primary source written by a League trainer from the time, so I would give it more credence, but it is said that when his Dusknoir was still a Dusclops, it would— ah, you are familiar with Dusclops, right?”

“Fantina owns one, so yes,” Cynthia said, her voice unchanging but tapping her feet.

“Well, they say that Dusclops would steal the spirits— which is what they called souls at the time— and use the amount that it had taken to weave some sort of cloth it attached in between the wispy appendages on its back, slowly turning it into a cape. When it got big enough, the ghost evolved,” Professor Rowan recited.

“Do we know how many souls that would take?” Cynthia asked.

“I’m afraid not. The book is rather light on the details. But they do say that looking at the cloth too much could render you mad with the voices of the trapped souls ringing in your mind,” He continued.

Cynthia nodded to no one in particular. That lined up with the voices she heard coming from Dusknoir’s mouth, and if the evolution required human souls, then it made sense that Dusknoir kept sustaining itself with them, as Fantina had told her.

“Thank you, Rowan,” Cynthia said. “This is great progress.”

“We’re not done yet. We still need to parse through more books from the same time period and cross-reference to see if the facts line up or if the trainer who wrote this was just embellishing his story for the readers.”

“Sounds good. I have to go, but call me again if anything comes up.”

“Very well. Good luck with your negotiations. I’ve heard you’re having a hard time.”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Cynthia said before saying goodbye and hanging up.

One vote. One vote was all that separated her paper-thin majority from becoming the minority and firing Vernon. It was one thing for the majority of members to oppose her, but if the Prime Minister also did, she wouldn’t even be able to bring her measures to a vote since she needed their approval to do so. Cynthia exited the room, surprising many staffers and interns walking through the gray-white halls of the Directorate. She quickly strode towards Vernon’s office and knocked.

“Who is it?!” The man said aggressively. “Go away!”

“It’s me, Vernon,” Cynthia said. “Unlock the door.”

She heard grumbling behind the door as Vernon Harper unlocked his door. He looked incredibly tired and depressed. His usual well-kept hair was disheveled, and he had stubble all over his chin. Cynthia tilted her head and scoffed at the cardboard boxes littering the room.

“Are you packing?” She asked.

“Of course, I’m packing, Cynthia,” Vernon said in an exasperated tone. He was angry at her, and Cynthia couldn’t blame him. She had maybe cost him his job. Even though he would remain as a Directorate Member even if he lost the position of Prime Minister, he would no doubt lose his next election in a landslide. “I’m one vote away from hell.”

The Directorate worked in a proportional manner. Each city had a number of members they could elect, and the more people inhabited the city, the more members they got, for a total of two hundred and fifty. Some smaller cities like Celestic— her hometown, or Floaroma didn’t like the system because they said that it gave too much power to Sinnoh’s population centers, but there was no way to please everyone.

“I have one more card in play,” Cynthia said with her usual smile. “I’ll present a recent report the LSS finally gave us about Team Galactic.”

“So you’re finally ready to deliver on your promise and tell me what the fuck is going on?” Vernon sighed.

Cynthia grimaced internally. It was true that she had told him she would explain everything about team Galactic, but the Champion had wanted to gather all the facts first, which was why the League had been so silent these past few weeks. Still, now that the first substantial report had been produced, she would present it to the Directorate— albeit in a redacted manner— and hope to sway their votes. Cynthia didn’t have much of a choice here. She doubted the members of parliament would believe her if she suddenly accused some of them of taking bribes from team Galactic without solid proof, and there was also the fact that the LSS had purposefully spread misinformation which had no doubt caused the death of young trainers.

All on her command.

For the good of Sinnoh, Cynthia thought, steeling herself. It wasn’t the first time Cynthia had done something so unforgivable, but she was a pragmatic person at heart. The lives of a few trainers, or the potential devolution of the situation in mass riots and panic from the public learning too much, which would give team Galactic free reign? She would pick the former every time. She had done what she could by asking the rangers to give the trainers thorough lessons before allowing them in, and that had cut the casualty rate by more than half. Even now, a small voice at the back of her head was telling her to just burn down everything she had built to save the region.

Cynthia shut that thought down every time it came up. She would deal with the repercussions from the other gym leaders later. Maylene would be the angriest of them all, but Volkner and Candice would probably start getting cold feet.

“Yes, I will tell you what’s going on,” Cynthia finally answered. “Now clean yourself up, look confident, and join me in the chamber.”

Vernon reluctantly nodded and left his office, jogging toward the nearest washroom. Cynthia placed a hand on her forehead and sighed before returning to her smiling state as she waited for him to come back. Surprisingly though, it was Sophie Richards that walked through the door, one of the Directorate members suspected of having been bribed by team Galactic. She was young— still in her late-twenties and full of ambition, which often meant making mistakes. Unfortunately, there was no money trail, but she had just bought a mansion on Sunnyshore’s beaches, along with two luxury cars. The woman was so blatant with everything that it boggled the mind.

“Ms. Richards,” Cynthia said politely.

“Cynthia,” She smiled at her. Not using her title of Champion was another obvious jab. “I was just visiting my future office.”

Sophie Richards was now the front-runner for the future Prime Minister position despite having changed her vote just slightly more than a week ago. She now often gave fiery speeches on the floor about the tyranny of the League despite having wholeheartedly supported it beforehand.

“Well, I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you, but feel free to have a look,” Cynthia said.

“Vernon looks to be halfway done packing already,” Sophie smiled. “But since you’re so sure of yourself, let me give you a hint. We’ve already flipped two more members. Your reign is over, Cynthia. Your puppet Vernon is losing his job today, no matter what speech or new information you present.”

Cynthia was surprised, but she didn’t let it show. She could have been lying, although it didn’t look that way. Cynthia’s gut wasn’t often wrong.

“Do you really believe what you’re saying, Ms. Richards?” Cynthia smiled. “You seemed to have had a sudden change of heart recently, along with a large increase in funds.”

The woman faltered for a split second— a mark of her inexperience— and returned to her confident expression.

“What are you insinuating?”

“Oh, nothing,” Cynthia waved her hand dismissively. “Just an astute observation.”

“Good, because I’d love it if you tried to bring that up when you speak to the chamber. They’ll treat you like the fool you are.”

Vernon stepped into the room as the two women stared at each other icily.

“Sophie, get the fuck out of my office,” The man snarled. “I don’t want anyone in here.”

Ah, Vernon. Always rude and straightforward, but that was the thing that made him a ruthless negotiator before team Galactic and public pressure got involved in the halls of the Directorate.

“I look forward to redecorating it,” Sophie said with glee as she left.

“Anyway, I suppose it’s time to make our way to the chamber as well,” He said as soon as she was out of earshot. “I hope what you’ve got is good because things are looking dire.”

“I’ve gotten new information, and it actually looks like you’re losing your job,” Cynthia deadpanned.

Vernon had to do a double take and had the wind knocked out of him. “What?! You said you had a card up your sleeve!”

“Calm down. Think clearly. You’ll still be a member, and your election isn’t for another year. We have time to switch things around.”

“So the new information you have…?”

“It won’t change anyone’s mind, but it’ll start to make some of them doubt the prevailing narrative that the League is out to get them, at least.”

“Fine,” Vernon sighed. “I trust you.”

“And so do I. Keep your chin up, Vernon. Act confident.”

“Hard to do, but I’ll try my best.”

Cynthia and Vernon stepped into the semi-circular room featuring seats for every member of the Directorate. They stepped down the stairs, and Vernon took his usual spot in the Prime Minister’s chair, which sat at the center of the room, while Cynthia stood next to them with the LSS report in hand. Above them was a huge statue of a faceless armored man wearing a cape and holding a lance— a monument to humankind and its advances, but also to the suffering trainers of old had wrought. Cynthia carefully waited for all members of the Directorate to take their seats. Whereas in Unova, there were different political parties and the seating was arranged by which one a member identified with, Sinnoh’s parliament was arranged by city. Members from the same cities sat together, although Cynthia believed that would change soon, with the collapse of the coalition government.

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Vernon grabbed his hammer and tapped on his elevated desk three times.

“Order! The Directorate is now in session— order!” The Prime Minister yelled. Eventually, the chamber became silent, but Cynthia noted that before, he could silence the chamber in mere seconds. “Champion Cynthia is here to address the Directorate. You have the floor, Champion.”

Cynthia watched as the staffers finished handing out copies of the League Secret Service report to every sitting member, and then she finally started.

“Dear members of the Directorate,” Cynthia started. “As you no doubt know, a new terrorist organization known as team Galactic has revealed itself to us this year—”

She heard a heckler toward her left who interrupted her.

“The gentleman from Veilstone does not have the floor!” Vernon yelled.

Cynthia continued. “I apologize on behalf of the League for our silence these last weeks. We were gathering as much information on their organization as possible to make sure all the facts we would reveal were correct. I had the most recent and substantial report distributed to you, so feel free to read along as I summarize it.”

The Champion paused for effect, then took a breath. “Team Galactic has been active all around the region, but their nexus of activity seems to be around the Eterna region. First, they have been found active around Eterna forest, trying to lure a rare ghost type that we do not yet know the identity of. Second, they have been agitating the protests to turn violent, as it is in their interest to keep to government paralyzed into dealing with its internal issues instead of them…”

Cynthia kept going, embellishing her speech as much as she could. She could see from the member’s faces that she wasn’t flipping anyone, but that had been expected after Sophie Richards’ taunt. It was about planting the seed in their mind, as Gardenia would say. Next up, staffers again went around to pass a different report, this one about the attack on the power plant at Valley Windworks. Cynthia believed it was finally time to rip off the band-aid and let them know team Galactic was more dangerous than it seemed.

“During the attack on Valley Windworks,” She started. “Team Galactic stole data pertaining to tearing holes through reality itself.”

There were murmurs and whispers now. Good.

“I learned of this the day of the attack, but I had the League investigate further and make sure all the facts were correct,” Cynthia lied. “But I am sure now that team Galactic is a threat,” She said, still omitting the fact that the threat was existential. “The Directorate and the League must stay united during this time, at least until the situation is dealt with. I am calling for you to return to your senses and unite in a coalition government once more.”

There were claps and cheers from the half that supported her and jeers from the others. One member of the opposition from Jubilife stood up, and Vernon gave him the floor.

“Why is so much of these two reports redacted? Do we not deserve to know the full extent of what is going on in our region? How are we supposed to work with you if we don’t have the full picture?”

“The League believes these facts getting out would be a threat to national security,” Cynthia honestly stated. “I apologize, but the remaining information will be revealed at an adequate time.”

Another member rose, waited for permission, and spoke.

“You say team Galactic is a threat, but they haven’t killed anyone yet or caused substantial damage. What guarantees do we have that this isn’t a lie from the League?”

They have, Cynthia thought. And so has the League.

“You don’t. But the fact that I am here, and my political agenda is at your mercy, is it not? I have no reason to lie.”

Questions kept coming, and Cynthia kept answering them as honestly as she could, but there were lies sprinkled in there too. Right now, she needed to make team Galactic come across a dangerous threat that could kill and cause significant damage, but not end the world. It was a small tightrope to walk, but Cynthia could only hope they were convinced.

Still, in the end, it didn’t look to be enough. Cynthia had flipped one of the three people Sophie had turned to her side, but that meant that the opposition still held the majority. Wasting no time, they immediately brought the position of Prime Minister to a vote, fired Vernon, and put Sophie up as his replacement. The woman let out an evil grin at Cynthia as she walked to the Prime Minister's podium, but the Champion just smiled back. She wouldn’t unnerve her. Cynthia had faced far too much to be emotionally rattled by a mere girl.

Vernon immediately left to finish packing. The office technically wasn’t his, it was the Prime Minister’s, and he no longer held the position. Cynthia stayed to listen to Sophie’s speech, which laid out their legislative agenda. None of it could actually pass without Cynthia’s signature, but it was still egregiously anti-trainer, and they could form committees to ‘investigate’ League activities. Another one of those checks on the League Cynthia had placed in good faith was now being abused for personal gain.

Cynthia finally left when she felt her Poketch ring again. She stepped into the empty office once more and answered. It was Gardenia calling.

“Cynth!” She immediately yelled, clearly panicking. Her tone was usually calm, so Cynthia knew something was wrong. “It’s a catastrophe. There’s— there’s—”

“Take a deep breath and start over,” Cynthia said.

“We just had everything leaked. All of our data, trainer information, emails, League communications, including gym leaders and the Elite four! It was like— it was like someone hacked the gym’s entire digital system.”

Cynthia pinched the bridge of her nose. “Stay here. I’ll be on my way,” Cynthia said.

The media would have a field day with this. A leak this massive had never happened before, and she needed to get to the bottom of it now. Cynthia strode through the halls of the Directorate and exited the building. She ordered the two League trainers that had been accompanying her that she would need to fly back to Sunnyshore instead of being driven there. She released Garchomp, who let out a low affectionate growl.

“Fly me to Sunnyshore, please. Volkner’s gym,” She said.

She climbed on the Dragon’s back and grabbed her shoulder spikes tightly. She jumped into the air and started gliding toward the city. Of course, she wasn’t going as fast as she could have— which was the speed of sound. Cynthia would never be able to hold on at those speeds. Garchomp landed with a loud thud in front of Volkner’s gym, surprising many trainers who were no doubt waiting to sign up to challenge the gym leader. Unfortunately for them, she would have to take him away for a few hours.

Garchomp bent down to enter the building, and Cynthia walked up to reception.

“Good afternoon,” She said. “Get me Volkner and his gym Kadabra.”

“C—C—Cynthia?!” The receptionist yelled as he practically fell out of his chair. “Right away, ma’am!”

“Thank you.”

It took a few minutes, but Volkner lazily walked through the door and into the gym’s lobby with his usual slouch and his hands in his pockets. He wore clothes too large for his frame and had that familiar bored look on his face.

“Cynthia, I was in the middle of a gym battle. I had to adjourn and ruin a kid’s day. Plus, he was winning, so this better be good,” He said. “And we’re going to have to talk about that report on team Galactic later.”

She nodded. “It’s not good, but it’s important. Have Kadabra teleport us to Gardenia’s gym. You had the previous one replaced like I asked, right?”

“Yep, yep, yep,” He groaned, releasing the Kadabra. “He has enough range for that, and he’s been to every gym already, so he can bring us. Sorry kids, I’ll be back later, or feel free to battle Jonathan instead of me.”

Cynthia recalled Garchomp, blinked, and she was suddenly at the entrance of Gardenia’s gym. She asked for the gym leader’s location, possibly traumatizing the young girl working reception, and quickly made her way to her office.

“Gardenia, I have Volkner with me. He can help with technical issues, so explain what happened in detail,” Cynthia said. Her Poketch was vibrating. The leak had gotten out.

“Well, I wasn’t there since I was battling, but a few of my gym trainers came up to me and told me that a bunch of popups appeared on the computers they were working on, and no matter what they did, all the information was sent… somewhere. Even turning it off wouldn’t work.”

“Were we hacked?” Cynthia asked Volkner.

“No, that should be impossible,” Volkner immediately said as he walked toward Gardenia’s computer. “We have firewalls, encryption, access controls—”

“So what is it then?” Gardenia asked. “Do I have to interrogate my gym trainers?” She asked in a pained expression.

Volkner held up a finger. “Hold on, shut it,” He said, clicking a few windows open. “The computer looks clean. The log files don’t show anything unusual—” He stopped. “Wait, what is that?”

Cynthia squinted at the screen and saw that one of the files was… gibberish. They were all gibberish to her, but it looked particularly different than the others.

Volkner double-clicked the file, and an orange Pokemon surrounded by bright blue electricity sprung out of the computer. Cynthia immediately released her Glaceon, but it was already gone through the wall.

“What the hell was that?” Gardenia asked.

Cynthia clicked her tongue. “That was… that was a Rotom. They’re incredibly rare.”

“Shit…” Volkner murmured. “That’s why you couldn’t stop the hack. Rotom can infiltrate any electrical device and essentially do whatever they want.”

Cynthia brought a hand to her chin. It all made sense now. The rare ghost type team Galactic had been trying to capture in the Old Chateau was a Rotom.

“It was team Galactic,” Cynthia said. “Nothing stored digitally is safe anymore. Volkner, send out a message and tell the other gym leaders to delete everything that would be deemed confidential. From now on, we’re switching to paper-based communication only until we find a solution.”

“But you would have to do that manually—”

“Do it.”

Volkner sighed. “Roger. What are you going to do?”

“I can’t stay silent about this. I’ll have to talk to the media. Luckily for us, they’ll probably focus on trainers’ personal information being leaked, which is the least important part of this whole ordeal. Volkner, have your people try to find a solution to this problem.”

“I can think of a few things already,” he said. “But we’ll need to mass create Porygon for it, and that’s ridiculously expensive.”

“You have the League’s permission. Talk about it with mayor Sanchez and reach an agreement for the budget. We can potentially reach a bipartisan agreement on it with the Directorate by convincing a few members to flip, but I doubt that would be any time soon. The new government will want to see us squirm for a while. I need to see how effective the new PM is at whipping her caucus first. The money you’ll see will be local for now.”

“Gotcha,” he simply said.

Cynthia bent down and pet her Glaceon’s frosty fur. The Pokemon rubbed herself against her black pants, freezing them slightly.

“When I’m done, I’ll gather all of the Elite Four, some League trainers, and start planning an attack. The LSS is zeroing in on team Galactic’s base in Eterna city, and the International Police will be of help as well. I’m done waiting. It’s time to go on the offensive. I won’t need Directorate approval for that.”

Cynthia Collins was Sinnoh’s Champion. She had done terrible things, good things, and everything in between, but one thing was for sure. For her, there would never be a break.

And that was fine. She had a region— no, potentially a world to save.

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