Pokémon: Out of the Woods | A Galar, Unova & Sinnoh Fanfiction

Chapter 54: The Infiltration

Olive often borrowed gardening tools from Milo's family. They helped her tend to both her own garden and her Gym mission's plants. She was busy battling that morning, but like she had keys to their sheds to borrow whatever she needed, they had keys to hers in case they needed to take something back. Yarden took the train from Turffield to retrieve a wood chipper.

It was a pleasant morning. The fog that descended from Stow-on-Side to Hammerlocke was yet to reach Motostoke. The streets were quiet. Yarden cheerfully whistled as he made his way to Olive's suburban home. The Yamper that guarded the house recognised him. It only followed him in the hope it would get a treat. Mirabelle's Steelix was more wary. It blocked his path to the shed until he showed it the receipt for the wood chipper. He resumed whistling. That wasn't enough to ruin his morning.

The shed's padlocks were hidden in a plant pot. It was open. That was unusual, but Yarden assumed that Olive simply forgot to lock it. He opened the door. The next thing he knew, he was on his back on the floor. Mirabelle's Toxicroak glared down at him. He looked around it to see the garden tools illuminated by the glow of multiple screens. Mirabelle peered over her sunglasses.

'Bonjour...?'

'Uh... I'm Olive's mate... I've just come to get my wood chipper back... I showed the receipt for it to that Steelix...'

'Oh! Lo siento!'

She jumped up and scanned the tools for the wood chipper. She had no idea what one looked like. Eventually, she stood aside for Yarden to wheel it out. He saw several views of Motostoke Stadium and its car park on the screens. One view appeared to be from a camera attached to someone's jacket. The sunglasses were entirely unnecessary in the dark shed, but Yarden was sure that most of the setup was unnecessary. Mirabelle just wanted to feel like a secret agent. As soon as he reached to shut the door, she pulled her headphones back on and returned to staring at the screens. It still wasn't enough to ruin his morning, but it certainly made it bizarre.

The camera attached to a jacket was, of course, on Enn's jacket. Every day, he went to Motostoke Stadium, pretending that he hoped to see Sam. He had already given up hope that Team Plasma would pick him up, but Mirabelle still insisted they would. That morning, her eyes widened. She took off her sunglasses to focus on that one screen. A hooded figure approached Enn in the smoking area. He could see their face. The camera couldn't.

'Well, well, well. Enn Pickett.'

The microphone heard them both. It was a woman. Her Galarian accent had a slight Orrean twang.

'Oh, great... just fucking great.'

'What might you be doing in Galar? I thought you never cared for leaving Daytenne.'

'I thought you were a toddler last time I saw your dad. Just how often do you talk about me to know that?'

So it was Caroline. The International Police knew she arrived in Galar with a real passport 18 years ago, when she was 13. She hadn't done anything wrong then, so there was no reason to stop her at the airport, but concerns were raised about the 13 year-old travelling alone. She showed up on the Gym Challenge with an endorsement from Tance and made it to the Champion Cup. Then she disappeared. Until then, the International Police had no idea what she even looked like as an adult.

'How often do you think about us to recognise me?'

'Can't really help it, can I? Ghetsis is the root of all my problems and you look like him. Well, whatever. I'm not interested.'

Enn turned away. The purpose of that was to step out of the shade so Mirabelle could see Caroline clearly as she inevitably stepped around him. Mirabelle's eyes widened even more. Caroline wore a blatant Team Plasma uniform. There was even a "P" tattoo on her left bicep. Mirabelle took hundreds of screenshots. How dangerous was she? Should Mirabelle have flown to the stadium to arrest her there and then, forgoing Enn's infiltration of Team Plasma? Which was more valuable? She came to the conclusion that it was the infiltration. No-one with a Team Plasma tattoo would talk to the International Police under any amount of pressure.