"What's that, little lady?" asked the officer. "Did you say you've been robbed?"
"Mmmhmmm," I said, sniffing as if I'd been crying. "A boy with a Farfetch'd snuck up behind me and gave me a fright with his Pokemon. I dropped my suitcase, and he took it and ran!"
"Ah!" said the officer. "That kid again! We get complaints about him all the time. Not to worry, miss. We'll find him. What way did he go?"
"He was going this way," I said, pointing up the road. "Although, I fear he might have gone into the bushes."
The officer took a pokeball off his utility belt and released a Growlithe. "Growlithe, search the forest for a Farfetch'd."
"Grrrrowlithe!"
I held my chest as if I were about to faint.
"Something the matter, miss?" asked the officer.
"Pokemon just give me such a fright," I said, channeling my sister Lilly.
The officer looked at me sympathetically. "Don't worry, miss. Growlithe will find your suitcase. Hop on, and I'll take you to Fuchsia. The boy is never too far from it."
"Thanks, officer," I sniffed.
I sat in the Fuchsia City Police Office wondering what Giovanni had put in that suitcase. Wondering what I would say if I were asked. Hoping that whatever it was killed the boy if he opened the suitcase.
"Don't worry," said the blue-haired woman behind the front desk. "Our officers are some of the best in Kanto. I bet you have your suitcase back before evening."
"Thanks," I said.
"How old are you, anyway?" asked the woman.
"Ten," I answered truthfully.
"My, where were you going all alone?"
"To my grandmother's house," I lied.
"Awww," said the woman sympathetically. The phone rang. "Fuchsia City Police, this is Jenny," the woman said into the receiver. "Oh no, not again! Okay...I'll let the Asylum know." She sighed and hung up the phone.
"Jenny?" I asked.
"Yes, miss?"
"That's funny. There's a Secretary Jenny at the Cerulean City Police Office too. You even look like her!"
"Oh, yeah!" said Jenny with a laugh. "That's my sister! All of the women in my family are secretaries, and they're all named Jenny."
"Just like the Nanny Joys," I said. I felt a tug at my heart thinking of Joy.
"Yeah!" said Jenny. She picked up the phone again and dialed a number. "Kanto Sanity Asylum?...yes, hello, this is Secretary Jenny of the Fuchsia City Police Office...we've found her...yes, Agatha...they're bringing her in now...thanks...yes, we'll be careful...yes, thank you." She hung up.
My officer entered the lobby, holding the ear of the boy with the Farfetch'd in one hand and my suitcase in the other. "Jessie?" he said, using the fake name I'd given him previously.
"My suitcase!" I exclaimed.
The officer handed it to me happily. "Well, young man? Anything you'd like to say to this young lady?"
"I'm sorry...," he stammered, looking at me funny. I thought he would rat me out then and there, but he didn't. He looked scared of me, if anything.
"Good," said the officer. "Now let's call your parents and get you home."
I was on my way out when two Growlithe and an Arcanine bounded through the door, nearly knocking me over. "Out of the way!" ordered a second officer. "Dangerous inmate coming through!"
She didn't look dangerous. She was an old woman with unkempt blonde hair sticking out every which way. She wore a generic white dress and looked like she was struggling to walk. Two officers were helping her in, one on either side of her, and her hands were cuffed behind her back. Her eyes were blazing with fury. One of the officers was carrying a cane which resembled Giovanni's.
I pressed my back against a wall and watched. I wanted to know what this woman had done that made her so dangerous. A third officer met them in the lobby, pushing past my officer and the boy, who were moving down the hallway.
"Alright, Agatha. We know you have one. Where is it?" asked the third officer, who appeared to be higher in rank than the others. Agatha threw her head back and cackled, spat in the third officer's face. He grimaced, then said calmly, as if to a misbehaving child, "Agatha, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."
"I prefer the hard way," she said in a raspy old woman's voice. "COME OUT, HAUNTER!"
"SHE'S GOT A HAUNTER!" the officers yelled, looking around frantically. Jenny ducked under the desk. The cane in the second officer's hand popped open, and in a flash of light, a Haunter appeared in the lobby.
"Holy smokes, do you think she evolved that?" asked the first officer.
"Who cares? Capture the thing!" said the third.
"Haunter, Shadow Ball!" Agatha ordered. The Haunter formed a black ball in its arms and aimed it at the officers.
"Arcanine, Fire Fang!" ordered the first officer. Arcanine jumped up and nipped at the Haunter, causing it to faint, but not before Haunter released the Shadow Ball. The Shadow Ball missed the officers but busted through the doors, leaving an open hole for the station's entrance.
"No, Haunter!" Agatha screeched. The first two officers smacked her with nightsticks, and she collapsed in a frenzy of wails. I was frozen in my place. Her screams pierced through my soul.
The third officer trapped the Haunter in a pokeball, and then he made eye contact with me. "Little lady!" he exclaimed, rushing towards me. He put a reassuring arm on my shoulder. "Little lady, I'm so sorry you had to see that. Are you alright?"
No, I was not alright. They were binding the woman in a straight jacket. All the while, she was murmuring, "My Haunter...my Haunter...my Haunter...!"
"Come, little lady," said the officer. "I'll walk you out." Reluctantly, I went with him through the big hole in the wall. "Are you hurt?" he asked when we were out in fresh air.
"No," I choked, tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Good," he said. "I'm very sorry you saw that. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No," I said. "I think I understand."
"Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to make sure the likes of her will not escape again. She'll be shipped back to the Kanto Sanity Asylum where she belongs."
"Yes," I repeated coldly, "where she belongs."
"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked.
"No, thank you. I have what I need. I can get along on my own," I said.
"Have a nice evening, miss," he said, and then he put his arm around me. My eyes fell on the pokeball attached to his belt, and a crazy notion occurred to me. I hugged him, burying my face in his chest and weeping. He reciprocated, murmuring, "There, there, little lady."
I detached the pokeball and slipped it into my purse.
I wasted no time in getting to the beach. It was the dead of night, but the full moon reflected off the water, providing enough light to see the names on the boats. I found the dingy tucked away in a grotto overpopulated with algae. Satisfied that I was alone, I sent out Seaking to clear some of it away.
Before I set out for Seafoam, I had to know what was in the suitcase. It still felt full, so I'd been satisfied that the boy hadn't taken anything, but I got the distinct feeling he'd opened it based on the way he'd looked at me. I couldn't go any further without satisfying my curiosity. I unlatched the fasteners, braced myself, and lifted the top. I flinched when I'd opened it, wondering if a Pokemon or something was going to attack me, but nothing happened. I stared down at the contents of the suitcase in my lap. It was money. A lot of money. Cautiously, I picked up some of the bundles and counted. There had to be at least $100,000,000. Maybe $200,000,000. My heart pounded, and I laughed. I was a smuggler. What was the money for? Where had it come from? I didn't know, but I knew it probably wasn't good. It was obvious Giovanni was rich, but who is so financially secure they can just hand millions of dollars to a ten-year-old? I closed the suitcase, and I journeyed south to Seafoam.