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Usagi had been through a lot in life, in terms of her professional life and being uprooted from her home and having to be vulnerable to the dredges of society. These experiences had been frightening at first, but nothing ever did keep her calm in moments like these. It was supposed to be a normal kind of day at work. Serving the people of Mauville with her child at school and not a care in the world. Caramel was busy serving customers as the titular namesake of the cafe, with the Corvisquire resting on a perch by the window. [break][break]

The door broke as Usagi looked over in concern, only to be met with the cold stare of the man before her. She jumped at the sudden sound of glass breaking and the door being kicked open. Her customers did as well, with some freezing in place. Usagi winced at the mention of them wanting her. What in Arceus' name could they have wanted with her. "Y-Yes. I'm the owner here. Do you need anything, or..." The sudden appearance of the Noivern bursting through the front window had caused her to stumble, though not before the BOOMBURST that had flung loose projectiles everywhere. She held her hers up to her face to protect it, being slammed to the back wall with the resulting TAILWIND. [break][break]

"K-Kanto? You're with Rocket then?" The woman didn't fight back, not that she had the ability to anyway. The Milcery hid behind one of the fallen cabinets that had been broken from the powerful winds, while the Buneary stood in place, helpless against the two more powerful foes. It began to bounce back and forth, ready to charge up an attack but her trainer noticed it. Out of worry, she frowned. "Caramel, no! Don't do anything rash." She turned back to Cillian while looking down at the mess he had made. [break][break]

"What do you want from me? I haven't been involved in the Kanto Alliance for years now. I'll give you anything you want, j-just don't hurt me." Above her, a picture of the woman alongside her child hung on the wall by some fortune. His auburn hair was neat and trimmed tidy, wearing the school uniform and carrying a Growlithe in his arms while smiling at the camera. Usagi stood beside him wearing a similar apron and clothing as she wore now.

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[attr="class","tag"]Yoshimoto Usagi

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She watched him as the gears began to turn in her head. His face was familiar, one that she had likely seen some time ago, but why? Usgai narrowed her eyes while thinking back to the times back at her workplace where there were people of interest to keep an eye out for. Across the wall of infamy and kept separate from everything else, dotted along the list of names that posed an extreme risk, there was the man’s face. Her face sunk in horror at what had just stepped in front of her doorstep. [break][break]

Cilian Quinn, Avatar, Underboss, a walking cataclysm that threatened to pull anybody close by him into certain doom. [break][break]

"Is that what this is? Some time of long term revenge I had coming?" Usagi asked, though doubted that it was targeted because of some legitimate reason. "Or are you j-just here for intimidation?" A younger, healthier version of herself likely could have dealt with him no problem, even with her inexperienced Pokémon, but she wasn't exactly a field agent either. Those years of stress eating and retirement had resulted in a bit of a mom body. [break][break]

His gaze turned to the picture on the wall of her son. Suddenly, all that fear in her body revolted in a single moment. Her motherly instincts kicked in as she stood back up in full. "He's none of your concern right now." The woman hissed at him through a temporary bitterness. "You're after me, not him." His question was definitely one she had considered before. Her little boy had taken up the importance in her life, but was it the only reason? [break][break]

"Times change." Usagi was somewhat somber with the other man and gazed at the other customers, some frozen in place and others having escaped. "I didn't want him involved in my work, and he deserved a mom to grow up with. I thought I had tied up loose ends before I left." She had kept an eye on the organization while retired, pleased with what it had accomplished though a part of her did wonder if she should have ever left. [break][break]

The adrenaline of him involving her son was slowly withering away, leaving the anxious and uneasy form of Usagi to come down from her high. "What do you want? Money? Revenge?"

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[attr="class","tag"]Yoshimoto Usagi

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The threat of involving her own flesh and blood was enough to get Usagi to comply with his demands, at least not to lash out against her or the store any further. The mother glared at the Rocket but said nothing as he spoke about what he was after. Not after some poor customer raises a hand to try and summon help, only to be thoroughly punished. Usagi winced at the sound of their blows against the poor man, though tried to keep her composure.[break][break]

Somehow, it was even more de-humanizing in person as it had been in her thoughts all those years ago.[break][break]

"Co-conspirators?" Usagi asked incredulously as her temper flared for a moment. "Those people have names, families, histories, things they left behind only to face destitution here thanks to Rocket, and you'll just sweep that under the rug to call them thugs?" Her mouth opened to fully let her feelings be known, though the Noivern and Luxray were a good enough factor for her to shelf the train of thought.[break][break]

Usagi frowned, thrown against a wall and given a choice. It was either her family or her fellow countrymen. Either decision was likely going to have ramifications that followed with them. She couldn't let anything happen to her son, but it meant sacrificing the livelihoods of other people in the field or even back at their homes. Her gut tied itself in knots at what her base instinct was to do. Usagi looked back Up at Cilian with a pained expression.[break][break]

"Fine, I'll tell you." She said, "but every customer here gets to leave first unharmed. Once they get to safety, I'll tell you everything."

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[attr="class","tag"]Yoshimoto Usagi

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Her gambit to try and negotiate the release of all of the people inside of the bakery wasn't going as well as Usagi would think. Cilian denied the request but at least promised no harm would come to them if they didn't try anything rash. To prove his point, one person with their phone caught would experience the joy of having a Luxray's canine sink inside of their arm. The echo of the phone hitting the floor rang across the silence between them all while the woman stood in place. The panic was settling in again, and this was as good as the deal was going to get. [break][break]

She hated being this powerless. Her Pokemon weren't exactly trained for battling in any capacity. The Lopunny had been in perhaps 2 fights in its life, tops, and the Corvisquire and Milcery currently hiding underneath the counter had nary a lick of damage to them in their existence so far. It put her at a disadvantage while Usagi continued to stand on the razor's edge here. She could take a stand against Cilian, throw hands in her first real fight and risk everything. Or she could cower and fall into place, just as what had happened to her people as many years ago. Her fists balled underneath the countertops, cursing herself for her own inabilities before giving a dejected exhale. "Fine, I'll give you names." [break][break]

Usagi moved to the rightmost wall near the turn that led to the emergency exit, though she moved some decorations out of the way and press on the lower edge of the wall, near the countertop. The wall gave away and revealed a hidden cubby, where a spiral binder rested inside. After putting everything back in its place, she set it down for the Rocket to observe. Flipping through pages, he could see entire documents about the Kantons that Usagi had helped. Entire pages of people who had kept in contact, payments rendered for services to leave Kanto or even Hoenn, services of people who facilitated these services, and numerous other discoveries inside dating back years ago. But the most up to date document had a date of about 5 years ago. [break][break]

"That's everything I have." Usagi said, her eyes going back up to Cilian. "From when I started the organization to when I stepped down to retire. Anything else isn't with me." [break][break]

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[attr="class","tag"]Yoshimoto Usagi

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For but a moment, Usagi worried that this wasn't good enough for this man. He thumbs through some of the pages in the binder with an unpleased expression. The silence between them had began to slowly bleed the confidence and second wind from the woman's body. Her fear felt palpable in the air between them. His fingers danced along the pages before falling still. Usagi's heart picked up while she looked at him with a defeated expression. All seemed well for the moment before he thanked her and promptly left. [break][break]

The moment that Cilian had left, the woman let out a breath of relief and put her back against the wall before sliding down. The civilians inside of the bakery had took this moment to leave as quickly as they could, while others were phoning 9-1-1 to report a Rocket attack in Mauville. Usagi's hand went to her pockets and pulled out her cell phone, dialing frantically to an emergency contact. Every ring was another dagger embedding itself into her heart. Another innocent being painfully uprooted. Finally, after a while, somebody picked up. [break][break]

"Hey, it's Yoshimoto. We have an emergency." she said in a serious, rushed tone. "There's been a breach. You need to recall everybody now." she said, the voice on the other end of the phone caused her to worry more. "I don't care how deep they are, if they stay where they are right now, they're going to die! Just send the recall and I'll meet with you this afternoon." One hushed argument on the phone later, Usagi looked down at the mess on her hands. The Buneary rushed over to embrace her, which the woman sighed and went to squeeze her in return. "I know, I know. You were so brave." [break][break]

The remainder of the day was spent with the Mauville authorities and cleaning up the mess she had made. Her stomach wrenched in disgust at her inability to fight back against the man's demands. Desires of getting even and vengeance went through the woman's mind, and Usagi just covered her face in her hands and pouted. She couldn't let this happen again. If there was a next time, she would be able to defend herself at the very least. But how was she going to figure out how to learn how to battle at her age?... [break][break]

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