Pokemon - From the Brink

Chapter 28 - Truth

"As you say, the Prime Minister called me on the day he went missing." Kudou said, composing himself as he became the centre of everyone's focus.

"What was your relationship with the Prime Minister?" Megan asked, arms folded.

"He and I have been friends since middle school... When he was elected he offered me a place on his staff, but I declined. I suppose he must have still held me in high esteem, right until the end..." The man shuddered.

"Please, continue."

"Right... He called me because... Well, he..." He trailed off. "Are you sure Poppy is safe?"

"She's fine." Kai replied. "Nothing will get to her."

"That's a promise." Megan added. "A promise on our honour and on Alfred's life – your daughter is safe."

"Right, sorry... Thank you." Coach Kudou took a deep breath and prepared to face the memories of what he had heard on that day. "He called me to warn me about a threat. Said that some alien creature had infiltrated the U.N. meeting and made strange demands..."

"What did it want?"

"...Apparently, it told all of the officials in that meeting to pour their resources into finding the best Trainers their countries had to offer, and to pool them all together for the Continental Cup."

"What...?" Darragh stared.

"Why, though? If that's what it wanted, it didn't even have to show itself – it could've just let things go on as normal and that would've happened anyway." Kiria frowned.

"Not so." Kudou shook his head. "It told them to do everything in their power to create the strongest teams possible – no matter who the roster may include..."

"Wait, what are you saying...?" Megan asked.

"They were told to gather people who could exhibit extraordinary displays of strength and power – no matter how they had used it in the past... It meant that anyone - from the casual Trainer to the prison-hardened criminal - was on the radar for this tournament."

"What...?"

I thought back to when the Asian team had been selected. Everyone had been surprised when Caleb had made the cut. We all assumed that his hot-headed nature and violent tendencies would tear the team apart. I had always found it strange that Kudou, a man who seemed to value discipline, would ever consider adding the ruffian to the squad. Even stranger had been when Caleb had practically tired to harm or even murder me with an antique scythe whilst we were on Liocott Island. Kudou had done nothing but give him a few choice words – anyone in their right mind would have kicked him off the team and reported him to the police. Was this why he had let it slide?

"...It makes sense..." Paolo spoke up, his mind heavy with thoughts of those who had perished on his team's bench. "On my team, there were rumours that one guy was an ex-convict who had recently gotten out of prison... Supposedly, he'd been locked up for consistent grievous bodily harm and robbery charges..."

"What?! That's absurd!" Midorima gasped.

"How the Hell did they get away with that?!" Hikaru was in disbelief.

"It's more common than you'd think..." Gabi looked up with a grave expression, realising the forced corruption that had been flowing through the tournament from the start. "There was a guy on my team who I swore was the spitting image of a guy who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a young family... But when I brought it up with our coach, he said it was a ridiculous accusation..."

"No way..." Yu blinked.

"There was even talk that maybe a whole half of the South American team was made up of gang members and drug lords..." Paolo gritted his teeth.