Thirty minutes of fast flying later, Littleroot Town came into view, and at it's heart, an enormous blaze. From this height, Taz could only just make out Norman, surrounded by the trainers of his gym, fighting the blaze with their Pokemon.
As they grew closer to the ground, Taz noticed several Pokemon without trainers; wild Pokemon had come to do their part in putting out the fire. As Skarmory flared his wings, Taz freed himself from the saddle, and leapt to the ground as his Pokemon lighted down. Sprinting to the blaze, Taz stopped alongside a trainer whom he had never seen before, whose Lombre and Poliwhirl spat water by the gallons, and pulled a Pokeball from his belt before stopping. Sending his fire-type partner in would put Infernape at risk.
Taz moved away to find Norman, the local Gym Leader, forcing himself to accept that his friend and mentor may be gone. Spotting Norman, Taz made his way through the crowd of Norman's loyal trainers to the tall man, who greeted him grimly.
"Taz. Sorry to see you under the circumstances kid."
"I need the fire out as soon as possible"
"I'm doing all I can…"
"Do more!" Taz yelled. Norman blinked before his expression softened.
"Look, Birch was my friend too. And I'm going to do everything in my power to find the people that did this. But right now, I have a job to do. Rest, Taz. You may well need it."
Taz turned on his heel and moved away, finding a spot just out of the heat radius and settling down, releasing Mightyena next to him. Skarmory settled on the other side.
Four long, exhausting, hours later, the sun rose over the trees, casting it's light upon the badly charred remains of a once beautiful laboratory, and the many trainers who had fought the blaze were making their ways home. Norman's underlings worked tirelessly, sealing off a perimeter with yellow caution tape, while Norman himself interviewed the woman that had seen the fire and reported it.
Taz and his team, however, were already busy. Haunter, his small, purple ghost type Pokemon, swooped freely, a camera in her hands, stopping occasionally to snap pictures of whatever her trained eyes deemed worthy. Infernape moved carefully, small, plastic markers in hand, searching for potential evidence among the ruin. Mightyena walked alongside Taz, who wore a borrowed hard hat and carried a camera around his neck. Upon his shouler, Pichu sat, his tiny magnifying glass made by the glassmaker of Fallabor Town in hand. Together, they moved through the remains several times, until Taz was certain, before moving out.
Making his way to Norman, Taz motioned for the Gym Leader to join him, and once alone, spoke in an undertone.
"The professor isn't here."