"Slowly the handsome young detective walked down the street, surveying the pastiche of clean living superimposed over the real filth and grime of the big city," The young man narrated to himself as he walked down the street, receiving unnoticed odd looks from fellow pedestrians. At his heels trotted a Growlithe, simply named "Ruff", an imaginative name that the man had coined when he was much, much younger. Jackson ("Call me Jack.") Daniels made his way along the sidewalk to the cafe where he was supposed to meet his partner in crime... so to speak. And despite the young man's... youth, he wore an old-fashioned style of dress, reminiscent of a time in American history when Private Dicks (that's detectives for you people who don't get it) had offices with eyes painted on the door and a bottle of scotch was always in a desk drawer. Coincidentally, Jack had some scotch in his pocket at the moment.
"The city smelled," he continued to narrate, oblivious. Ruff, at his feet, just shook his head as his partner continued on. "It stank of corruption and vice. Like an infected wound, it smelled of... cheese. And there were not enough anti-bodies in the system to fight back. That's where men like me come into play. We're like antiobiotics... we go in and clean out the infection so the wound can heal itself. Then we're off to be thrown into a medical waste container, to be taken care of and disposed of properly."
The cafe with the outdoor seating came into sight and Jack's monologue shifted track.
"I spotted her, I thought, as I came up to the cafe. Even this place though was corrupt, a festering pile of filth. The food was greasy and overpriced, never enough on your plate and the drinks were never filled fast enough. Service was a laugh," Jack continued on, sitting himself down at the table across from his partner even as a passing waiter gave the man a dirty look. "But at least this time the view was good. I let my eyes wander up and down her lovely body, settling for a few seconds on a precious patch of exposed skin, her cleavage inviting. Her panty-hose clung to her like-"
"JACK!" Isabella Sun yelled, startling the man out of his narration. He blinked, a bit red-eyed, a dozen times before he reached out to take her glass of water and took a couple cautious sips.
"... I was doing it again, huh?"
"Uh... yeah." Izzy's voice was humorless, she was clearly displeased with his conduct and showed it. How dare he show up to their meeting like this, still half-drunk and saying that-
"Sorry. I really am. I got into the scotch last night. Got a phone call yesterday, from the PD in Saffron. Buddy of mine, we had done some Academy work but actually stayed in touch since then... he... got hurt. So I crawled in a bottle of scotch and turned on every noir movie I had."
Izzy's expression softened but her voice was still disapproving, "And did it help you?"
Jack delivered her a winning smile as he removed his fedora and set it on the green steel patio table, "Not a whit. I feel miserable."
Izzy sighed. "Really Jack, if you ever need to talk..."
The man waved his hands politely, "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll leave the psychology stuff to you, you leave the self-destructive expressions of emotion to me."
Izzy was silent, but her expression spoke volumes. For a few moments there was a tense and uncomfortable silence between them, Ruff looked between the two worriedly.
"In fact," Jack said finally, reaching down to scratch Ruff behind the ears. "You could say last night was actually pretty... Ruff."
Jack's reward was a groan from Izzy as she raised a palm to her forehead in exasperation, but a small smile on her face told him he'd managed to ease her worries for the time being.
"So what's the word, miss partner of mine?" Jack asked as he waved a waiter over, the same one he'd managed to offend as he walked in.
"Well," Izzy started, pulling a manilla folder out of her stylish courier bag. Everything about the woman was stylish, in sharp contrast to Jack's antiquated look that said he was more a shopper of thrift stores that dealt in sixty year old fashions, Izzy was more of the modern working beauty, every facet controlled to express a beautiful, if impressive and intelligent, response in the people she dealt with. She looked years older in maturity than her twenty-two years of age, and if anything she exuded the aura of being the brains of the operation. Despite this she constantly deferred to Jack's experience and instinct, as well as his own sharply insightful mind.
"Here's what I've gathered so far on the local activity," She was referring to a series of major industrial accidents in the area that had been occuring over the past four months. Every few weeks a factory, plant, or facility was being destroyed in horrible ways. Local environmental activists cited that the facilities had all just built poorly and quickly and that they should all have been shut down years ago, but the company which owned them all protested by citing the fact they had never actually failed safety or environmental inspections. The major issue though was that every investigation had turned up nothing. Electrical failures, toxic waste disposal failures, more and more, but everything was related to spontaneous equipment failure and nothing could turn up obvious signs of foul play besides the large number of accidents occurring so quickly.
A large number of people had been hurt too, and now employees were afraid to go on work and on the verge of striking. The families of those who had died were demanding compensation, loudly, despite the fact that their families had been working at the facilities with full knowledge of the dangers inherent. Nothing looked good for the company, and without the out of a scapegoat like citing corporate espionage they were looking more and more doomed to bankruptcy and failure. What made it all worse was that the insurance company which had been covering the company had canceled their contracts after the third incident, effectively leaving the bill squarely in the company's hands after that date.
Still, the incidents had been curious enough for Jack and Izzy to come to the town a month before, and both had spent most of their time doing the mundane sort of investigation they knew how to do - interviewing employees, witnesses, and family members. Looking into public records, examining the sights of the accidents firsthand. And though they had turned up no more than the official investigations had, they saw enough to know there was more to it than met the eye. With that in mind Jack had asked Izzy to employ some of her assets (both in looks, demeanor, and Pokemon) to do some investigation on her own while he looked into some things on his own while exploiting his own talents (instincts, attitude, and Pokemon). That had been a week prior and now they were meeting up to compare notes.
"Well, it took a lot of digging," Izzy began as Jack ordered himself something to eat and drink after apologizing sincerely to the offended wait staff. "But I might have turned out a connection... besides the obvious fact that all the facilities were owned by the same corporation they are also the ONLY major corporation in this area. There's little to no competition here, and anything that tries to get started is quickly stamped out. They essentially have a monopoly, but the only reason the federal government doesn't get involved is because they're only in this small area, outside of here essentially no one cares. But there's a lot of people in the area who think that's wrong and aren't unhappy that this company might be going out soon."
"... despite the fact that for a long time there'll be a shortage of jobs and good in the industry until other companies fill the vacuum?" Jack asked.
Izzy shrugged, "Most people don't look at all the pieces in a puzzle. They see one name everywhere and think about how great it would be to have some more choices, and it gets to a point where they think that ideal is good enough for really bad things to happen."
"Hm... Anything else?"
"Besides that... Nothing concrete. I think we can rule out foul play from the local citizen's part, though."
"I concur, my own investigation came to the same conclusion. Oh thank you," Jack took a moment to thank server as a platter with a sandwich and fries appeared in front of him. He began to talk through bites. "However, I did notice something odd."
"What's that?"
"The times."
"The times?"
"The times." Jack took a large bite of his sandwich, chewed slowly, and swallowed, much to Izzy's annoyance. She wanted him to get on with it. "The times, and to an extent, the dates. You have a list of the incidents, correct?"
"Right here," She pulled a crisp piece of paper out of her bag and put it on the table.
"Now if you will, please examine those dates and times."
"Fine, fine. The 6th at 3:12, the 15th at 9:21, the 9th at 6:36, the 27th at 12:09, the 3rd at 6:15, the 21st at 3:27, the 12th at 9:45, and finally the 30th at 12:57. What's so strange here? Sure they all fall more or less at the same hours but that's been explained as being peak times of operation for many of these plants. There's no pattern or reason behind-"
"They're all multiples of three."
"... what?"
"I said that these are all multiples of 3. The 6th at 3:12? Multiples of three, the day, the hour, and the minute. Every other date and time is the same. The 15 at 9:21, the 9th at 9:36? Three, three, three. I believe in coincidence, but I don't believe in providence having a hardon for the number three."
Izzy shut her eyes, trying to grasp it all, as well as ignoring the last comment. "So what you're saying is that despite the fact that there's no evidence to support it besides this tenuous analysis of the dates and times... that there was foul play involved."
"Correct. You catch on quick, kid."
Izzy bristled a bit at the "kid" comment, but let it slide. "Any hard evidence besides this?"
"None at all, though I'm sure this guy isn't done yet. My guy tells me that, same as it told me there was something strange about the dates and times."
"Sure it wasn't indigestion?"
"I dunno, my stomach has been feeling a bit..." Jack paused for effect. "Ruff."
At hearing his name used in a second bad pun the Growlithe in question laid down and puts his paws over his head, hoping to shut out the bad stuff.
Izzy's eye twitched for a moment before she took a deep breath and calmed down. Truth be told, there was a lot to be said for Jack's gut instinct, it had proven that much to her in the short time she had known him already. Still, this looked to her more like coincidence than anything el-
A loud explosion a few miles away interrupted their conversation. Despite herself, Izzy looked at her fashionable, but functional, watch which showed date and time.
The 12. 12:15.
God. Damnit.
"Let's go!" Jack was on his feet, Ruff was ready too. Izzy took a moment to recover her documents before she was running off after Jack and Ruff, no mean feat in her one inch heels.
"Oh god damnit!"
Izzy yelled before pulling her heels off and sprinting after Jack and Ruff, catching up to them quickly much to their surprise.
"Uh... hi." Jack offered lamely.
"I swear to god, we'd better find the guy responsible for this or I am just going to tell this city to screw off!" Izzy growled out through gritted teeth. Jack was a little intimidated, but that feeling passed quickly as a look of determination crossed his face.
"Not a problem. We're close to the scene of the crime and with Ruff here we'll find the perpetrator, no problem."
Izzy didn't quite share his confidence.
Meanwhile, the perpetrator (for there was indeed one) slipped a hand inside a garishly colored lime-green suit jacket pocket and put the Pokeball away. He was almost amused by how easy it was to do the work in this town. Then again he had perfected his trade to an art form in most ways, but it was aided by the fact that were simply few, if any, obvious suspects in the area to pin blame on. Leave no fingerprints and let the victim hang themselves while bleeding to death, he said, was the best way to cover up a murder as a suicide. Jonas McDaniels smiled with twisted humor as he continued to watch the scene from the back of the crowd. The most obvious thing he could have done was run away, or even stroll. Someone leaving the scene of a major incident before the police had chased them off was the most obvious suspect, in his mind. Plus this allowed him to survey his handiwork.
The target this time had been a water purification plant. Almost ruefully easy. Thousands of gallons of raw sewage and sludge flowing in at any given time? What better use for his Muk? He had let it into the sewers with explicit directions on where to go and what to do some miles back, having given it a small digital watch to wear to keep it timed to the schedule. And it had performed admirably, Jonas admitted. His entire team had. And with this last target taken care of, the terms of the contract had been fulfilled and he was ready to collect his fee. After that, he said to himself, he would allow himself to treat his Pokemon to something nice to show them appreciation for the fine job they had done.
But before then, he still had to make the getaway.
To his right a man and a woman ran up, both panting for air, as if they had just run a marathon. The woman held her designer shoes in hand, her feet were obviously red from the dash. Between them a Growlithe stood, stalwart and fresh despite the run that exhausted his human compatriots.
"Do you... think we... made it...?" The woman asked between gasps of breath.
Jack stood up straight and surveyed the crowd, starting with Jonas, sweeping over the heads of the people splayed out before him, and sweeping back. The smell of raw sewage and fire, the screams of fear and anger and pain, it was all a suitable backdrop for his mood. Jack locked eyes with Jonas for just a moment, then he looked back down at Dizzy who was still studying her feet intently.
"C'mon Bella, get yourself together, we've gotta take a look around."
Izzy just glared, he KNEW she hated that name. She opened her mouth to say something but she caught the expression on his face, she paused with her mouth open.
"Don't stand around like that, you might swallow a fly." Jack said quietly as he slipped off around the edge of the crowd.
Izzy just growled and followed him, wincing with every step as she realized what she had just done to her feet. What had motivated her to do that again? Oh yeah, the earth shattering KABOOM.
She found jack a hundred feet later, standing in some shadows by a building and half hidden by a tree. But he wasn't looking at her when she walked up, still wincing, instead his gaze was fixed on the garishly dressed man.
"Just so you know, it actually WOULD be a step back for you in style to start dressing like that," Izzy said as she plopped down on teh grass at the foot of the tree, massaging her aching feet.
"He's the culprit," Jack said, with certainty. Izzy just frowned.
"And how do you know that?" She asked sweetly.
"Don't yet. Hunch, and... well I'll find out in a minute." Jack said finally.
"And how do you plan to find out?" Izzy asked, but feared the answer.
Absently, Jack reached inside his coat and pulled the scotch out, unscrewed the cap and took a tiny sip. "I'm going to ask him."
"WHAT?!" Izzy couldn't help herself. Jonas decided at that time to finally leave the scene, and Jack followed behind him, quietly tailing the man. Izzy was a hundred steps behind Jack, grumbling about her feet and unaware of the grass stains that now addorned her designer skirt that hugged her respectable tush.
Jonas took and abrupt turn into an alley, and Jack was right behind him. Jonas finally seemed to realize he was being followed only when Jack cleared his throat loudly.
"What the he-" Jonas wheeled around in surprise. "You're not going to try mugging me, are you?" He asked dangerously.
Jack just laughed, "No no, I don't want your wallet, unless it has the names of the people who hired you."
Jonas's voice grew even more dangerous, even as he feigned ignorance, "I don't follow."
"Oh sure you do," Jack insisted, smiling. "The people who hired you to sabotage all those facilities."
"I'm quite positive I don't know what you're talking about," Jonas said, "Now if you don't get out of my way I'll call the poli-"
"Don't worry about the police, I'm kinda like one anyways," Jack said with a grin. Izzy stepped into the alleyway behind him suddenly, grimacing at the wet and dank conditions inside. Wisely, she put her heels back on, even as the hard leather constricted her foot she was glad for the protection as she stepped up to stand next to Jack.
"But yeah, here's a question for you, if you don't mind answering," Jack said, reaching into his coat. "Does this brand look familiar to you?" He held the bottle of scotch up by accident, "Oh pardon me, that's for my condition. Here we are." Jack held up a blue bottle.
Jonas looked at the bottle in curiosity for a moment before his eyes widened in surprised and recognition.
"What is tha-?" Izzy asked before she was cut off by Jack tossing her the bottle. She barely caught it, and she turned it around in her hands to read the label. "Shadow Moon Brand Aftershave Lotion?" She asked quizzically, at a loss.
"Yep, Shadow Moon Brand Aftershave Lotion," Jack said confidently. "It turns out it's actually quite a premier item, or at the very least it was a special order. I spent most of the last week tracking down the scent through every drug store and boutique in the city. Luckily, Ruff here has quite the connousieur's nose." At that recognition the Growlithe barked happily.
"But ho-"
"Ruff noticed something at every incident, there was one peculiar smell, a constant, even if horribly faded at the scenes of the earliest incidents. It took me a while to understand, and after that we narrowed it down to what it could be, then narrowed it down even further. The big break, so to speak, was a little specialty store at the edge of town that had a mail order catalog with scent samples. One rush delivery later and that," Jack pointed at the bottle in Izzy's hands. "Is my little piece of daming evidence."
Izzy suddenly grew irate, "And you didn't share this lead with me why?!"
Jack just shrugged, "Wasn't a lead, more of a hunch than anything else."
Izzy just hissed but kept her mouth shut. She probably would have berated him for something so tenuous, or at least dismissed it herself personally leaving him to work on it, but here he had, once again, found a connection where no one else could.
"You still don't have anything resembling concrete evidence," Jonas objected, looking cool with his hands in his pocket and a relaxed stance but inside he was fuming.
"No. You are in fact correct. However, I do have authority to arrest someone based on such circumstantial evidence, and from there the case could be built. For example I'd wager that if we were to interview witnesses again they would probably remember a badly dressed man hanging around the crowd after each incident," The unsaid joke was that Jack could be such a badly dressed man. "I'd also lay good odds that in that coat of yours are the very tools of sabotage - your Pokemon. That sound like solid enough evidence?"
Jonas burst into laughter, "You've got it all figured out huh? Damn, I knew this contract was unreasonable but I still thought I had it pretty well executed. Not even a suspicion till a pair of cowboys ride into town to fix everything." At that Jack just smiled.
"Okay," Izzy said, confident now that the man in front of them was indeed the perpetrator, "What was the deal with the dates and times? Why the multiple of three? Is that some obsession of yours?"
Jonas now looked genuinely confused, "Pardon me?"
Izzy looked incredulous, "You mean you didn't do that intentionally?!" She shrieked.
Jonas seemed lost in thought for a moment as he reviewed the various jobs he'd done in the past four months, a small smile of wonder grew on his face, "Well damn, how about that for a coincidence?"
Jack just shrugged, "I guess I was wrong about that much." Izzy just groaned and cupped her face in her palms.
"So, now what?" Jonas asked cheerily.
Jack was equally cheery, "I take your ass in and find out who you're working for then lock them up forever."
"Uh huh, that's cute," Jonas replied. "But I have a better idea."
With that his jacket flew open and a Pokeball came out and erupted into the form of a Raichu, Jack could see that the pocket's Jonas's coat had no bottoms so he could reach in and get a Pokeball surreptitiously if the need arose.
"Flash!" The Raichu turned into a ball of incandescent light that caused Izzy and Jack to clutch at their eyes despite themselves. Even after the light faded there were still flashing spots in front of Jack's eyes, and it took him another moment to clear those. When he did he discovered Jonas was nowhere to be found, but a noise above him caused his eyes to dart to the top of a ladder leading to the roof of one of the buildings, and he saw a bright neon orange pant leg disappear over the ledge.
"He went up!" Jack yelled, reaching inside his coat and pulling out a black and blue Great ball. "Gimme some eyes up there!" he commanded as Noctowl was freed and soared into the sky.
Jack went for the ladder, taking it two rungs at a time. Izzy was behind him, moving more slowly as she was still trying to get the spots out of her eyes. A noise like an electrical discharge and a strangled off squawk greeted Jack as he got to the top of the ladder, and was greeted with the sight of Noctowl plummeting from the sky thanks to an electrical attack from the Raichu. He cursed and retrieved his Pokemon a second before it slammed into the rooftop. Then he was off the ladder and sprinting towards where he thought he saw the attack originate. On the street below Ruff followed him, using his sensitive nose and ears to keep track even when he lost sight of Jack. Izzy was shakily following, muttering something about work-study programs and psychos.
At the end of the building he could see his quarry, on the next rooftop and running. The gap was small, but the drop was long. Jack hesitated only a moment, taking a few steps back before running forward and leaping, placing a hand protectively on his hat. When Izzy got to the gap she immediately halted, looked down, and took a few steps back muttering before stopping and slapping herself on the forehead.
"Farfetch'd, go help him!" She reached into her ever-present bag and pulled out the Pokeball, releasing the the Duck Pokemon to go aid her partner. It flapped and fluttered a moment before it caught up to him, gliding comfortably with leek clutched protectively in its bill. At the end of the roof Jonas had suddenly stopped and was messing around with some billboard advertisement planted on the rooftop. The corporate mercenary stiffened as he heard the noise of gravel being shuffled on the rooftop and he turned and looked at his persistent pursuer.
Then he sighed, "Oh man. Theodore, quick slacking off would ya?"
With that he busied himself with whatever it was he was doing while Farfetch'd suddenly stopped in midair like it had hit a brick wall. Jack came to a skidding halt at the occurrence before he was knocked off his feet by some invisible force. A moment later he spied a darkening silhouette that started with a mad grin and demon eyes and solidified till the teeth and eyes were worn by a shadowy form.
"Gengar." It said politely, bowing, before it flipped forward and stuck out a longue, nasty tongue and licked Jack up and down his face, sending a freezing chill down his spine. He suddenly found he couldn't move. Then the Ghost Pokemon walked over to the struggling Farfetch'd, looked at it curiously, then delivered a brutal kick to it that sent it flying back and into an Air Conditioner to make sure it wouldn't try getting up. Then the Gengar faded away, laughing viciously the entire time.
"Ah, yes." Jonas said as he managed to remove the large 3d plastic bar of soap from the billboard. He pressed a button on it and a few parts of it fell off until all that was left was a harness, some nozzles, and on top of it was a white crash helmet. Jonas smiled and pulled the helmet on, taking time to make sure it was comfortably secure. Then he pulled the entire thing onto his back and snapped the harness properly.
"Theodore, we're leaving," Jonas finally said, and the Gengar came into being near his feet. He took a Pokeball out and retrieved it, for some reason Jack noted that the Pokeball was as garishly colored as the man's clothes. Jonas just grinned, even while Izzy materialized into view while holding her Abra and Ruff in her arms.
"Oh my, looks like perfect timing. Love to stay and chat and all that, but I must be going," Jonas said, laughing. "Ciao."
And with that he pressed a button and the nozzles on the bottom of the soap-bar backpack, the rocket fuel kicked in and then the man was speeding off into the distance till at last he disappeared out of sight. There was silence for a moment, then Jack slowly rose to his feet, rubbing his stiff limbs as the paralysis wore off. Both he, Izzy, Abra and Ruff just stared into the distance.
"Well," Jack finally said. Izzy groaned, she knew already. "I guess he made a bclean/b getaway," Jack punctuated this statement by pulling a pair of sunglasses out of his coat and putting them on.
(YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!)