Lieutenant Luther enters the hotel lobby with a squad by his side. He stands before the other lucario, who sits on the sofa with her two riolus. She orders them both to leave her for a moment as she faces the group. “You have to answer for Azumarill, Delilah.”
The female lucario stares at him and stands. “Luther, you have it all wrong.”
Luther takes a step inside. “You sold Mayor Mary Azumarill out for Team Rescuers. You had her killed, as well hurt many innocent pokemon. You even exposed the plot to them and had others target the misfits. You think you could fool me and the Aura Army?” He points to her. “Ah! Yeah, I know about all of that, especially when you were doing this to keep Zach away from you, as you believed. That’s one of the reasons why you did it.”
“I’m innocent, Luther. I’m telling you now.”
“Take a seat.”
“Don’t do this…”
“I said, sit down, Delilah!” She does as she’s ordered and sits back onto the spot of the sofa. Luther takes the chair to her side. “Lana is dead. So is Elle the shiny celebi, Gloria Goodra, Jay the Buizel, Kenji, Gar Gar, Casey, Miffy… Today, I went about and settled all political business of this region, so don’t tell me you’re innocent, Delilah.” Delilah looks away with fear and worry. “You may have escaped Heroto before the chaos worsened and caused the town to burn down, but you will not escape justice. Sooner or later, you knew your luck would run out and you’d be cut down.”
She starts to sob. “Please… Don’t do this to me…”
Luther turns to one of his soldiers. “Get her a drink from the bar.” He puts his arm around her shoulders and looks at her. “Come on, don’t be scared. You think I’d do that to my own sister? You think I’d make your kids orphans? I’m their uncle, Delilah. I wouldn’t dare do that to them; it wouldn’t be fair.” He takes the drink from his soldier who gives it to him before passing it to Delilah. “Here, drink up.” Delilah accepts it and takes a drink. “You’re out of local government and politics; that’s your punishment. You’re finished.” He presents a map and points to an island on it. “I’m sending you and your children to live on Noman’s Island. You are to stay there, and you’re to wait for any instructions I give you. Understand?” Delilah nods. “Delilah, you’re my older sister, and I love you. However, you’ve caused a great mess of things, and it goes beyond my power. There is no fixing this; not with what you’ve done.”
“I understand…”
“Delilah, you have nothing to worry about. Only, don’t tell me you’re innocent. Because that insults my intelligence, and it makes me very mad. You don’t want to get me angry now, do you? Now, who approached you first? Was it Lana or Elle?”
Delilah pauses for a moment before answering. “It was Lana…”
“Do you want to tell me why?”
“She promised me a place in the government when Team Rescuers came back as the prime guild, as well as protection for me and my family. She knew about Ezma’s death, and thought it was unjustly. And Elle… She wanted revenge against Zach for killing her sister… And Gloria and Jay talked her into it…”
“Good… Your transport is waiting for you outside. It’ll take you to the docks. There, my troops will escort you onto the ferry. Call me as soon as you set foot on Noman’s Island.”
“Luther… I…”
“Go on,” he interrupts. “Get out of my sight. Don’t forget your children, too.” He stands and goes with her to collect her children. Afterwards, Luther escorts them outside and into a vehicle with guards. He stands before the transport and watches it take off with his sister, niece, and nephew inside of it.
A mewtwo in a similar uniform as his approaches him. “Permission to speak, Sir.”
“Permission granted,” Luther replies. “What’s on your mind, Captain?”
“You think it’s a good idea to leave her alive? I know she is family to you, but she has blood on her paws, despite not being involved in conflict herself. She collaborated with Team Rescuers. The council would’ve wanted her dead, don’t you think?”
“She’s done a lot of bad things,” Luther mentions. “I am no different; for I have done things I wasn’t proud of, myself. We all make mistakes in our lives, Captain. Yet, we all learn from them. It is a shame Team Rescuers never learned from theirs, ever, and caused great catastrophe. Delilah, too, but she wants to change. Unfortunately, accepted a false promise; only doing it to keep her children protected.”
“You think this is justifiable?”
“The council would see it that way. Yes, Delilah did something horrendous this time, much more than in the past, but this costed her reputation for a second time and she is expected to pay for it fully. The council would see banishment as a fitting punishment for her doings. Believe me, this fate is much worse than death; for she will wander on with everyone knowing her wrongful deeds, but still go about her life, much like she did before. Only now, she will learn from it.”
“What about her children, Sir? They’re not going to be taken away from her?”
“Both Mabel and Zackary know their mother’s doings, past and present, but ripping them away from her isn’t the answer. It’s bad enough the Team Rescuer kids are now orphans because of their parents’ extreme values. We don’t need to create the same problem here. All the kids will be reeducated so they can make better decisions than their parents.”
“And what about Zach the Riolu? Are you going to tell him the truth?”
“Zach doesn’t need to know about this, nor that his commanding officer is his uncle and has been helping him the whole time. It would be very awkward and he wouldn’t be able to cope with it.”
“Are you still going to protect him, too?”
“He has proved to hold his own, I’m afraid. He’s shown he doesn’t need my protection or help anymore. I cannot keep him in the Aura Army, either. Besides, he has his own family; the misfit pokemon.”
“What will become of him and the misfits?”
“Just wait, Captain. We will break the news to everyone. We have more work to do here, however. Get on the horn and order the army to sweep the ruins of Heroto. It’s time to start the cleanup process…”
“Yes, Sir.” The mewtwo turns and heads back into the hotel.
Luther sighs, watching the billowing smoke in the distance. “Heroto may be gone, but perhaps it was for the best… A town built on unstable beliefs… It was only a matter of time before it all fell… A lost cause, finally buried for good… We must now salvage whatever we can from the ruins… Hope must be one of them…”
