Gunner Graves. Gunner Graves. Gunner Graves.

The name sounded familiar on her tongue. She whispered it several times while glancing at her scheduled meetings. Her brow creased in contemplation. She rare met with individuals from the Hoenn Bureau of Intelligence and Counterterrorism. That was a job for the council, not the Head Professor. It was indeed intriguing, but easy to assume this was in relation to her current travels to Kanto and the report that followed.

Eva was still peering at her computer when the masculine voice drew her emerald gaze up and over to the door.

Gunner Graves.

Seeing him aligned the pieces of her puzzled mind, “Good afternoon, please come in,” she rose from behind her desk out of courtesy to greet him. A few steps brought her closer, a hand extended in welcome, “It’s good to see you again,” her pink lips curved into a knowing grin, “Agent Graves,” the last they met he was a paralegal.

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Gunner Graves

Eva was an understanding person, especially when it came to secrets. Her shoulders shrugged nonchalantly with his apology, “No need,” she shook her head, using the other hand with wistfully wave away the idea of deception, “I understand,” and she certainly was amused.

Once the polite greetings had run their course, she turned back to lead him further into the small office. She rounded the curve of her desk and welcomed Gunner to take a seat in one of the comfortable chairs opposite of her, “I’m good,” a lie, but personal matters have no place here, “Busy. I have a lot to catch up on,” she quickly caught on to how that could sound offensive, “But always happy for a break in the monotony,” she amended with a pleasant smile to make sure he didn’t feel bad requesting a meeting, “And you?”

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Gunner Graves

Eva noded along in understanding, leaning back in her own chair to take a more casual position. She folded her hands across her chest, bouncing idly in the leather seat, “Our duty never ends,” she smiled wearily, all too familiar with the pile of shit they have to deal with in Hoenn. She could only assume how much the intelligence team had on their plate.

A single brow raised at the mention of her report. Of course the agency would be interested. Gunner wasn’t the only one vying for a personal meeting to speak on the matter. Her smile spread wider but it lacked any sort of brightness, only amused, dark humor, “Ooohhh yes indeed it was,” she sighed before continuing, “I should have expected it,” she admitted, but it still was a surprise when she read it, “Rocket controls a lot of the narrative over there. I didn’t go into detail of that in my report considering the media outlets are,” she raised her fingers to put air quotations over her next statement, “Private entities.”

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Gunner Graves

Gunner’s interest piqued her own. She didn’t have to wait long to understand why. He openly offered the information and it drew her back from her casual recline in her desk chair to sitting straighter with her hands folded on the wooden desk. A mix of emotions flashed through her gaze when she critically assessed him, “Department of Defense, hm?” she forgot that Hoenn had sent people over to aid the Kantonian government. She was never directly involved with them.

“It’s . . . Not great,” she considered how much she would sugar coat it for him to stave some of that guilt away, “Anyone not officially indoctrinated into Rocket is heavily policed. Even the faintest whiff of mutiny it met with swift and harsh punishment. The limitations on pokemon ensures the general public wouldn’t have the fire power to fight back. If they decide you’ve done something wrong, you’ve done it,” she paused for a moment to decide what to say next, “Many struggle to obtain the necessities which make them rely on the government that put them in that position to begin with. What little they do have, the Game Corners in every city encourage them to lose it on the dream of something better that will never come,” by their design, of course, “Unfortunately, my trip was cut short,” forcefully so, “I wasn’t able to dig more.”

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Gunner Graves

Eva could sense the change in demeanor as she spoke. Kanto to her too was once a place filled with joyous memories. It’s where she grew up, explored her passions, fell in love, found her purpose. The state of it now was difficult to swallow. The guilt she felt for abandoning the region to flee to Hoenn was even more so – suffocating even.

“In a way they do. Not in the typical degree of poverty we think of when we think of the homeless. It’s difficult to afford the basics, yes, but the government provides so much aid that they are able to survive,” perhaps that would give him a sense of relief she was about to shatter, “But it makes the common people heavily rely on the government to a point that if they don’t support them, they would indeed be in deep shit,” she continues, folding her hands together on the desk in front of her, “Children go to school, families work, but there is no opportunity for growth to get out from under the government’s support.”

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Gunner Graves

Yes, it wasn’t living. The pain she felt for her old home ran deeper than it did when she left. A part of her wished she never actually went back, maybe she’d be a bit more emotionally well off.

“Ahh yes, Cinnabar” she wistfully replied, leaning back in the chair again, “They loved to talk about that,” any sort of undoubtedly positive contributions to the broken region, “First they focused on getting Game Corners in every town,” priorities, “Once that was settled, they focused on rebuilding efforts in the other parts of the cities. You can go to a Game Corner and find a construction job fairly easily,” she thought back on the few cities she had visited, “Most of the rebuilding is complete, though delayed. There’s no shortage in people looking for work,” her previously explanation would make it clear why.

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Gunner Graves

None of this was easy to talk about, and neither of them were simple civilians looking into the nightmare of Kanto from the outside. They both had been invested in the region’s well-being - and the people that lived there. Eva imagined this was equally as hard for Gunner to talk about or consider. The limited information from Kanto since Rocket’s takeover was expected. Her report was likely surprising, and unwelcome. It’s not what they wanted to hear and not what she wanted to write about or even see first hand. Sometimes she wishes she never went back. The war already haunted her but now her mind had fresh memories to add to the vault of guilt.

Eva could tell by the change in his tone that they were approaching more sensitive subjects. There were deep emotions involved that likely plucked at finely tuned strings ready to snap. She would tread lightly from now on, feeling a sense of responsibility for protecting him to a degree. But he deserved to know the truth though, didn’t he? Didn’t everyone? Isn’t that why she wrote the report?

Eva swallowed hard, her gaze drifting down the stained wood of her desk, “Some were buried, some were lost, some were burned. I didn’t ask so . . . I don’t know all the details of the casualties,” she thought back to seeing her own grave. She had been ‘lost’ or ‘burned’. Who knows what else they lied about to the mourning families of Kanto.

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Gunner Graves