Chapter Text
The screen between them fizzled as the pokémon controlling the called party’s repositioned themself. Even as they settled on the older man, static cut across the connection. His Rotom buzzed between the crackles, annoyed by the feeling. They weren’t meant to work with Poryphones, derived from the normal-typed Porygon. Alas, neither he or the caller wished to deal with the other’s technologies. This would have to do. Again.
”As I was saying,” the older man began, his eyes obscured by small, tinted spectacles. “Your expertise proved invaluable once again. We haven’t had any issues with the nest since the refortification.” His thin lips twitched. He frowned, though that disappeared by the caller’s next blink.
”Excellent,” the caller said, folding his arms on his desk. His expression showed nothing. Easier said than done when showing just half of your face. The rest of him avoided being lit. Every fiber of his being ordered- Nay, demanded- For him to meet the other man with both eyes. His waking mind kept the urge at bay. He hadn’t gotten to the concealer in time. His associate- No, coworker- Would have to live with the awkward angle.
Geez. Wish this thing would slow down...
Lucky for him, starting today, his unconscious mind could be elsewhere. A distraction from talking business. He would much rather be doing things.
”Are you falling asleep on me?”
His head jerked back to the poryphone. For all his talk of consciousness… “My apologies, Katsura. I’m pleased to hear you can now co-exist with the nest. Should they still express discontent…”
The old man grinned, exposing sets of yellow-tinged teeth.
The caller stared, going slit-eyed. He made a mental note to himself that the next delivery to him and his gym trainers would have to include toothbrushes and paste.
”I thought a big, bad boss like you wouldn’t drift into La-La Land!” Katsura exclaimed, snickering.
His palms sat in his lap. His left grasped its matching thigh. His right leg folded over his left. “Happens to the best of us,” he said. I’m out of practice. “While we’re discussing fortifications-”
”My gym’s fine! Your handiwork keeps the fire and ice well away from each other, like always.”
”…Good.”
”Ol’ Cindy’s behaving herself?”
A pet name for a volcano. Granted, its eruption some years back hadn’t taken any lives. The previous residents were fortunate to have a fire-type specialist amongst them. Yet he couldn’t do much to slow the process. Nor could the young rock-type gym leader from Nibi City. They could have stopped it had the region’s ground-type specialist been around to offer his knowledge, like every time they required it before.
What a shame. Guren Island attracted tourists from all over the world, once upon a time. Now, he and his nascent organization called it home.
The price, his price, had been the cutting of a thousand ties. Maybe, someday, his efforts would allow him to break through to the other side.