CHAPTER 11
Police Station, Viridian City, Kanto
"Bring those fingerprints we found in that observatory!" An officer ordered as another brought him a mold. The mold looked like it was carved in, very detailed, with hundreds of tiny lines circling towards its 'centre', the whole thing looking rather like a spiral – a fingerprint mold. The officers had found the fingerprints that day in the morning when they had gone to recheck the observatory for clues. It had come as a surprise to them, since the prints hadn't been there when they had last checked. They had made copies of the fingerprints and now they were about to check them.
"Here you go." The officer briskly handed the mold to the first one, who placed it in a device and started scanning through the trainers' database to see if there was a match. The trainers' database was a catalog of all the registered trainers, coordinators and performers who were going to participate or had already participated in leagues, contests and showcases.
After what seemed like hours, the fingerprint matched with someone they had least expected. The shock of seeing that name and face was so much, the officer who had been trying to find the match thought that he must be seeing things.
"Ash Ketchum," Officer Jenny said thoughtfully. She had been standing behind her subordinate for a while to see if she could see something that the others hadn't.
"But how is that even possible? He isn't even an adult yet." Another officer burst out, shocked at the revelation.
"And he has just won the Kalos League. Why would he throw something like that down the drain by doing something underhanded?" Still another one asked.
"I think you are just letting your imagination run wild." Officer Jenny said, looking up from the screen. "Don't forget that we found the prints today and not yesterday. It's strange how they appeared out of nowhere. Of course, we will have to look into this but don't jump to conclusions unless you have the proof."
"So, what are we going to do?" The officer, who had been sitting at the screen, asked.
"I don't think we should arrest him. I, for one, know that his heart is full of love for pokémon and people, both. I remember meeting him in the Viridian Pokémon Centre, when his Pikachu was injured."
"But things do change. Who know he might have change?" came the doubtful reply.
"I doubt he would have changed much, if anything at all. Besides, we won't get an arrest warrant easily for he is a League winner. All we can do is, get him for questioning and check if he has an alibi to confirm where he had been last night."
"Well, let's go then."
"Yeah, we'll need only two officers. I'll be accompanying you. We'll see what we can do. Besides, I still need to talk about that break-in at the professor's lab." Officer Jenny said, as she strode out the door, followed by two of her officers.
Pallet Town, Kanto
"Finally!" May exclaimed as she lied down on the grass, tired from her continuous training. She was trying to perfect a combination with her Blaziken and Glaceon that Dawn had suggested with Serena tweaking it with some basic, yet interesting ideas. The whole training was to help the Princess of Hoenn to complete and perfect the fire-and-ice combination that she had decided to use in that year's Sinnoh Contests. She had already competed in Kanto and Johto, but now she had decided to go for Sinnoh.
"You want to battle?" The three girls turned towards the source of the question to see Trip looking at Paul with his signature smirk plastered on his face. It seemed like he had challenged Paul to a battle.
Paul looked him up and down, then grunted and turned, as he walked away from him, apparently deciding him to be an unworthy challenger. Trip's expression darkened at his response as his smirk disappeared, replaced with an angry expression. "You really think you are that strong, hotshot? Let's battle it out."
Paul stopped and looked back. He had never been the one to back out of any challenge. He closed his eyes and smirked. "Alright then, let's do it."
"What's going on?" Ash asked, appearing behind Trip with his partner sitting on his shoulder, both of them looking curious. He didn't need an answer though – he could see what was about to ensue by seeing the glances exchanged by his two rivals.
The two trainers stood at the opposite sides of the field, as Trip let out his trusty partner, Serperior. Paul threw a pokéball as well, as his Ninjask appeared on the battlefield. The two pokémon looked each other down as their trainers exchanged determined glances, once again. The others gathered around the field, excited to see another battle.
"Alright Serperior," Trip started, but the sound of police sirens interrupted him. Mad at being interrupted, he turned towards the police car as everyone saw Officer Jenny come up to them, looking grim.
"Is something wrong, Officer Jenny?" Ash asked, looking ready to help as ever.
"Have you found something about the break-in?" Gary asked restlessly, earning shocked glances from everyone. Noticing them, Gary cursed himself, wishing he had opened his mouth later.
"What break-in are you talking about?" Iris asked concernedly.
"Well, you see," Jessie started, "someone broke in at the lab in that room where you had kept all your pokéballs."
"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed. Hearing the commotion, Professor Oak and Delia, who had been inside the lab facility, came out. Seeing the police officer, the two came up to them, as Ash asked worriedly, "Was anything stolen?"
"What happened, officer?" Delia asked.
"Is it something about the break-in?" Professor Oak asked.
"Nothing was stolen, Ash." Gary replied to Ash's question as Officer Jenny turned towards him.
"I think we might have found something, Professor Oak, but," Officer Jenny glanced at Ash as she continued, "we might need someone. Are you coming to the Police Station?"
Everyone was shocked, thinking that the officer was hinting that Ash was to be arrested.
"What did I do to end up in prison?" Ash asked shakily, for once appearing unsure of himself.
"Huh? No, I mean we'll need you for questioning." Officer Jenny replied.
"You aren't going to take Ash anywhere, not until you tell us the reason." Delia replied firmly, as she brought her hand in front of Ash, as if protecting him from danger.
"We can't tell you the reason here. Come to the Police Station if you want to know." Officer Jenny replied plainly, as she waited for Ash.
Ash considered his decision. He knew he hadn't done anything for the time he had been there at the lab, along with others and that he was never alone and by himself. The others would explain that. All that was needed to clean up this mess was to go with Officer Jenny and explain everything.
Finally deciding, he stepped in front of his mother's arm as he said, "Let's go."
Everyone's jaws dropped at his decision, as he started walking towards the officer.
"Are you sure?" Cilan asked doubtfully.
"I am. I guess it's the only way to clean up this mess."
"Well then, you are not going alone. I will come as well." Everyone turned towards Serena, who had spoken. She had a determined look on her face, as she started walking towards Ash. Ash couldn't help but smile as he waited for her to catch up.
"And maybe the Oaks should come as well." Officer Jenny stated, as Serena reached Ash. The two Oaks knew that she would want to talk about the break-in that, somehow, was related to Ash, so they joined Ash and Serena who had already started walking towards the two cars standing on the side of the road.
As they all walked away, the others exchanged glances, before nodding firmly. They weren't going to let Ash go through this mess alone. The cars had already left and there wasn't any other means of transport with them, unless they used their flying-type pokémon. They looked at their pokémon, as they contemplated if they should go on them or not. Misty had her Gyarados, but she wasn't sure if it could fly well enough or long enough for them to reach Viridian City. The only other pokémon that could fly and act as transport vehicles to them were Dawn's Togekiss, Iris's Dragonite, and Ash's Staraptor and Charizard. Instead of riding them, they decided to run all the way there. They exchanged glances again and nodded.
All of them started running, before Delia interrupted them with concern, "Take care of yourselves as well, okay?"
They nodded and resumed running, knowing it would take them about a quarter of an hour to reach the outskirts of the city.
Meanwhile, in the police car, Ash and Serena were quiet, thinking about their situation. Professor Oak and Gary were in the other car that was following them.
"So, what's all this about?" Ash finally asked, not able to contain himself anymore. "Why am I needed for questioning?"
There was silence for a while, only cut by the muffled sound of the wheels on the road, as Officer Jenny considered how much to tell him. She finally started, "Well, have you heard of the raid on the newly-constructed observatories in Kanto?"
"What?! What happened?" Ash exclaimed as Serena's head snapped to the officer, both of them listening attentively.
"There are two observatories in the south of Kanto and two new have been constructed on the east and west recently. These observatories are used for space and astronomical research by the scientists, like finding planets other than ours in the universe and the like, by using the satellites revolving around our planet. Recently, some unknown people have raided all of them – the old ones and the new ones both. We went to check for clues and all but found nothing, not even the captured scientists. Whenever we reached there, the whole place was always deserted – shrouded with deadly, suffocating silence."
A shiver went down both the teens' backs as the officer continued grimly. "When we went to the first raid site, we sent quite a lot of officers in there to go and have a look, and capture anyone found there. So far, none of them has come back. Every time, someone went inside, all we heard was light sounds of scuffling – that's it. No one came back. It is as if there is some unknown spirit residing in there that doesn't let people escape. It has already struck fears in everyone's minds and so now, no one is willing to go and check the other raid sites completely."
Silence prevailed as Ash and Serena let the information seep in their minds, shivers running up and down their spines. They didn't know all of this had been happening while they were enjoying themselves and celebrating. A thought occurred to Ash as he said, "But what has that got to do with me?"
Both the teens waited for the officer to speak, as they sat at the edge of their seats, waiting for the answer. The officer answered, "We didn't go inside the rest of the observatories after the disappearance of our officers during our first mission, but we keep checking for clues outside the facilities, especially the doors and the foyers at the immediate entrance. What we found today on all of the doors was your fingerprints, Ash."
"What?!" Serena exclaimed.
"Bu-bu-but how?" Ash stuttered. "I was with the others all the time. Isn't that right, Serena?"
"Of course," Serena said with assurance. "I can give my word for that. As far as I remember, Ash was never alone ever since we came back from Kalos."
"And there's no way I could travel all that distance in one night alone." Ash said.
"I know that," the officer said, earning surprised glances from the two teens. "And I can't believe Ash could have done something like that, not after your first impression on me at the Viridian Pokémon Centre, six years ago. You do remember blasting off that annoying trio, don't you, Ash?"
"You remember me?" Ash asked, surprised.
"Of course. Not many civilians help the police, you know. And that too, without expecting anything from us."
Ash scratched the back of his head as he gave an embarrassed grin. He didn't know he was one of the very few people that helped police – not that he had ever thought of it either. Serena looked confused, but she knew one thing – that whatever it had been, Ash had helped in it, with his usual helping attitude shining through. She decided to ask about it later. Instead, she decided to focus on the problem on hand.
"So how did the fingerprints appear there?" She asked curiously and worriedly. She didn't want Ash to end up in trouble for something he didn't do.
"That's the strangest part." The officer replied thoughtfully. "When we had checked for anything earlier, there was nothing – no marks, no prints, no stains, nothing. The whole door looked plain smooth as though it had just been polished. And then, when we checked this morning, the handle of the door was covered with fingerprints. We checked them in the record of registered trainers and they matched with yours, Ash."
"Well, that's really strange." Serena murmured thoughtfully.
"And what's even stranger," the officer continued, "is that when we brought one of the best chemists in the city to check if any strange reaction had occurred, he checked it thoroughly and told us that the prints were printed with the help of some kind of invisible ink. This special ink was made such that it wouldn't show at all, unless you use the special powder that shows up fingerprints."
"But that sounds stupid." Ash said looking at the officer in the mirror. "I mean, who would do something that would look so obvious that it has been done by someone else, other than the one person who is their target?"
"We wondered that as well, when we were on our way to your home." The officer said, staring at the road ahead of them. "But we didn't find any foot prints or anything near the door. The grass near it didn't look trampled at all. Instead, it looked quite fresh, with the morning dew dripping from the leaves. It is as if the prints appeared out of thin air. The worst part is I don't think we could find any interesting clue, unless we go inside the observatories to see what has been going on."
"But you could have gone. Why didn't you?" Serena asked skeptically. She knew that Officer Jennies were known for their bravery and their ability to keep calm in any situation, unless it looked like a hopeless one.
"I want to go inside, but no one else is willing to come along. I'd rather not go without having some kind of backup plan, in case something happens and I need to transfer whatever information I have quickly."
"Now that sounds like Clemont's job." Both the teens said in unison. They looked at each other and started laughing. Officer Jenny couldn't help but smile as she sensed a spark between the two.
By this time, they had crossed the outskirts of Viridian City. In a few minutes, both the cars were standing in front of the Police Station. All of them got out and went inside. The Oaks tried to give Ash a reassuring glance, thinking that he might be worried, but were surprised to see a thoughtful expression on his face.
Ashy-boy thinking so hard? Gary thought to himself, astonished. Ash actually thinking? That can't be true! Hmmm… well, I guess nothing is impossible.
They went inside as all the other subordinates and constables looked up from their works. Seeing that it was Ash and his friends, they stared at their senior questioningly. Officer Jenny didn't look back at anyone. She simply went into another room behind the first one, as everyone followed her. Once everyone was seated, she stood in front of them, staring at the ground pensively.
"So what about the break-in?" Professor Oak asked.
"And how is it related to Ashy-boy?" Gary put in.
"Don't call me that!" Ash yelled at him, completely fed up of that name.
Officer Jenny was about to start, when Serena interrupted, "I think you should wait for others to come. I remember them running after us, as we left for here."
"The others are coming too?" Ash asked, surprised at the revelation. Serena nodded in response. Officer Jenny ordered some water for them, as they all decided to wait for the others to come.
Pallet Town, Kanto
"I hope Ash will be fine." Delia's voice was heard from a speaker, as Jake and Sadie listened to it carefully.
"Mime Mr. Mime," her partner pokémon said, trying to reassure her.
"I know, Mimey. There's no way Ash could have done something that brings the police here. I wonder how he's holding up right now. I hope he'll be fine."
Sadie cut off the connection with the bugs as Jake said, "Well, it looks like the fingerprints did their job. Not that I am too optimistic about the result; they can easily figure out something weird about all that – after all, fingerprints can't appear out of thin air."
"Yeah. Do you think we should let the HQ know about completion of our main missions?" Sadie asked, looking at him.
"I think we should." Jake replied as he put through a call to the HQ.
Team Rocket Headquarters, Kanto
"Who is it?" Giovanni asked his assistant. He was petting his pet Persian as usual.
"It's Jake and Sadie." The assistant replied.
"Those two new recruits? Pick up the call." Giovanni ordered as he turned towards the hologram that appeared and showed the two on their knee, looking down.
"What is it? Are you done?" He asked the two, as he stopped petting his Persian and waited for their answer.
"Yes, we are done. We also built one at the north; only one because we didn't find any extra parts to make another." Jake said.
"That's fine. One is enough, as long as it points in the right direction. All we've got to do is, wait for the satellites to come up."
"We have a question, boss." Sadie started hesitantly, exchanging glances with her partner, who gave an imperceptible nod.
"What is it?"
"You told us we're doing it for a good cause. Can you tell us what the good cause is?"
Giovanni's face darkened slightly, as he asked in an unquestionable voice, "Why do you want to know?"
"Well…" Sadie started, bringing her index fingers together and playing with them. "You see, I love pokémon and I don't want anything to happen to them while we do all this."
Giovanni's face darkened even more, as he realized that the girl shared the same trait with Ash when it came to pokémon. If he told them the truth, there was a huge possibility that she would want to separate from the Team Rocket – and he wasn't willing to let go of such useful recruits; not until he was done using them for his main purpose.
He looked up to them as he said, "All I will tell right now is that nothing is going to happen to any pokémon, if our plan is successful. I will tell you the cause, once we start with the plan."
"But boss, why do you need to hide…?" Sadie started, but the connection was cut off by the assistant. Giovanni returned to petting Persian, who had been waiting impatiently for the call to end.
"Why didn't you tell them?" The assistant asked, as she stood beside him.
"That girl," Giovanni started, "has the same trait I hate so much. She'll go to any length to stop me if she realizes that our plan may lead to death of a few pokémon. That boy seems to agree with her as well. If they came to know about this, they will probably separate from us. They have been quite useful to us so far and I am not willing to let them go so easily. If they separated and went to police, we might get charged with murder."
"But you could have given them a little hint or something – like a harbinger to what is to come."
"Don't forget that they are more – in fact, way more – intelligent than those three idiots I kicked out. They can easily reach to the conclusion that there's more to it than I have been telling."
"So… I guess you have been using the fact that she has been completely alone all her life, to our advantage."
"That's right. It was a good thing there was no one to guide her. I don't look forward to brainwashing any of my subordinates if I can help and if they harbor the feeling of hate towards the world. My job is only to use those feelings to my advantage, while making those people trust my way of dealing with everyone."
"But we had to brainwash that boy, isn't that right?"
"Yeah, we had to. He wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble, if he had agreed with us in the first place. But now, I'm not so sure. It seems like her love for pokémon has started to affect him and is starting to bring back his memories. So long as he doesn't recall them all, we will be able to use him."
Pallet Town, Kanto
"What do you make of that?" Sadie asked, staring at the blank hologram. They had just been asking their boss, the reason they were doing so many missions, but the boss had disconnected halfway through their conversation.
Jake shrugged his shoulders, as he shut down their Holo Caster and kept it in his bag. "I think he's hiding something we're not supposed to know."
Sadie sat back down, pensively thinking about their conversation with their boss. "What do you think he's trying to hide from us?"
"How do you think I am supposed to know? Would I have been sitting here doing nothing, if we knew?"
"How stupid of me! But honestly, why do you think he would try to hide it from us if it's a good cause?"
She got a shrug in response. Not having anything else to say, she lied down on her back, staring at the darkening sky, as Jake continued with writing whatever program he had been writing the night before. He had kept some kind of connection with the main server at the isolated telescope, so that he could type whenever and wherever he wanted to.
"How long is that programming going to take?" Sadie asked, breaking the silence once again. The pokémon and everyone, they had been keeping an eye on, had left the field with all the teenagers running towards the police station in Viridian City. Not having any desire to follow them, the two had gone away from them in the forest and contacted their boss to report their progress.
"Not much, if I keep on typing like today. Probably around two to three days." Jake answered her question, as he got up for a while to stretch himself.
"Wasn't it going to take you longer?"
"It was. But there wasn't any need to keep an eye on them all the time; they were too busy with their celebrations to notice anything else. I wish you would have helped me though; it is too much of a strain to type it all out myself."
"I would if I could, but since I don't know programming, I can't." She paused, got up and stretched herself, as she continued, "I guess I must start with making dinner now."
"Well at least you can make delicious food."
"Thanks; glad you like it."
Viridian City Outskirts, Kanto
"Guys, wait for me!" Clemont exclaimed, panting with the exertion he had been putting himself through. They had just reached the outskirts of Viridian City. While mostly everyone had run through the gates, Clemont was panting behind everyone, with Bonnie, Iris and Brock waiting for him.
"You are just too slow!" Bonnie chided him. "Just look, everyone has already left us behind."
"Well then, you guys don't wait for me. I will catch up with you later." Clemont said breathing hard as he caught up to them.
Bonnie and Iris acted up on his advice and ran ahead. Brock stood there with Clemont as he helped him up.
"Why did you wait for me? You could have gone ahead." Clemont said, catching his breath.
"I can't leave you alone. After all, you are my friend as well."
"Thanks. Let's go now. I don't want to miss anything." The two started running again, as Brock mentioned that they weren't too far from the police station.
Meanwhile, Iris and Bonnie were already halfway through the distance the two boys had to travel yet. Iris didn't feel tired at all; the same was with Bonnie. The two of them had more energy than others, so they could run long distances without tiring out.
"Is Clemont really that unfit? No offense, but he seems to tire out rather easily." Iris said, glancing at Bonnie.
"He's so obsessed with inventions; he doesn't pay attention to his health at all. He doesn't participate in any sport either, so I guess it makes sense he isn't that fit."
Iris resumed looking forward, but this time thoughtfully. Bonnie spoke again as they turned a corner, "You don't seen tired at all either; are you tired?"
"Nope. You see, I grew up in the forest and I loved jumping from branch to branch, using the hanging vines. I spent every day most of my childhood like that, so I guess I am quite fit."
"I see," Bonnie paused, turning the gears of her mind. She continued, "I know! Why don't you train my brother to be faster than he is? Make him do something – anything that pulls him away from his inventions and makes him active."
Iris sweat-dropped as she said, "But don't you think that would be pretty cruel on him, considering he has never really exercised much?"
"Nah, nothing is cruel for Clemont." Bonnie said, dismissing her doubt.
By this time, they had turned another corner, and they could see all the others waiting for them outside the police station. They were beckoning them and motioning them to hurry, as they started entering the premises.
Just as the two girls reached them, May, who was the last to enter, turned towards them and asked, "Where's Clemont and Brock? Weren't they with you?"
"They were," Bonnie said, "but Clemont was tired out, so Brock waited for him. I think they will catch up to us soon."
"May, Bonnie, Iris, come on, what are you doing standing there? Hurry!" Dawn yelled at them from inside, getting annoyed glances from the constables working there.
"Coming!" May yelled back. The three were about to run inside, but they were interrupted by the familiar panting of the inventor, as the two boys caught up to them.
"You're late! Now let's go." Bonnie berated her brother, as Brock hid a smile. He knew what it was to have a little sister, since he had two as well.
They all went inside and into the room where the rest were sitting, along with Officer Jenny checking some files. They had expected Ash to have a grim look on his face, but they were surprised to see him looking expectantly towards the officer.
The officer looked up as everyone seated themselves behind and beside Ash, Serena and the Oaks, completely filling up the room. After certain that everyone had seated themselves comfortably, she got straight to the point and explained to them, what she had to Ash and Serena in the car.
Gary interrupted her as soon as she finished explaining that part of the case. "But you still haven't explained how all that's related with the break-in at the lab."
Ash and the others looked just as concerned and interested as he did. Officer Jenny closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and looking straight at Clemont as she said, "You are Clemont, right?"
"Uh… yeah." Clemont said hesitantly, wondering why he was picked up or what had made the officer do it.
"And you are an aspiring inventor, am I right?"
Clemont nodded as Gary looked fed up. He was about to interrupt the officer again, when Misty, who was sitting behind him, put her hand across his mouth and pulled him back.
"Tell me one thing," the officer said, "Considering the technology now, do you think it is possible to fake fingerprints?"
Clemont looked pensive, as he thought of all the different inventions and devices he had heard of so far. Finally looking up, he said, "It's possible if you have a fingerprint sample and a special device that uses gamma radiation to scan it. Since gamma is very high frequency radiation, it cannot be stopped easily. The more you expose it to an object, the more the object absorbs it and the more its formation changes at atomic level. In short, if you have a detector that can recognize even a tiny change in the absorption of the gamma radiation, you have pretty much a copy of that fingerprint. All you have got to do is put it in a 3D printer, and you can leave a clue and make it look like it wasn't you, but someone else."
"What's all this 'gamma, gamma' you were talking about?" Bonnie muttered under her breath.
"It's a kind of radiation," Max said suddenly, freaking her out.
"What radiation?" Bonnie asked, for once feeling intrigued.
While Max started to explain to her about all that, Officer Jenny closed her eyes, as she thought about what Clemont had said. The others waited expectantly, hoping Ash would be cleared of this mess.
Finally, after a minute of turning over the case in her mind, Officer Jenny opened her eyes, as she turned towards Meowth and started, "Didn't you say that there was a pokéball rolling on the floor when you had gone to check for the intruder?"
Meowth nodded slowly, realizing where this was going. James realized that as well. Even though, he hadn't been there on the spot, he could imagine quite easily what could have happened.
"So you mean to say," he started, gaining everyone's attention. "That that pokéball was used to make a copy of the owner's fingerprints – in this case, Ash – right?"
"I can't say it is the truth since we'd need some kind of proof, but it is a more plausible possibility than Ash doing something that crazy."
"And it kinda makes sense," Gary said thoughtfully. "After all, the intruder didn't steal anything."
"It seems that Ash's going to need some time to get out of this predicament." Iris said considerately.
"Yeah, but it isn't completely hopeless one," Serena said broodingly. "It seems like Ash was set up. After all, why would someone go to the extent of getting a copy of his fingerprints?"
It seems like I underestimated your intelligence. Officer Jenny thought to herself. It's almost like you guys are on the case, instead of the police.
"I know!" Ash exclaimed suddenly, scaring everyone for a second with his loud voice. He turned towards the officer as he asked, "How about all of us helping you catch him?"
"But I don't think I should let you in charge completely." Officer Jenny pondered for a while, before coming up with a decision. "I'll let you help me on the condition that you will report to me every new clue that you find."
"It's fine with me. How about you guys?" Ash asked turning towards his friends.
"It's fine with us as well." Brock said, getting enthusiastic nods from everyone.
"Alright then, let's get him." Ash yelled. Everyone shouted out their approvals, punching the air above them, Ash's enthusiasm infecting them as well, as they all left the police station behind.
The explanation of Clemont about using gamma radiation has no background research from my side. I practically wrote it from whatever I knew about science, so of course it could be entirely wrong.
My externals are going to start soon and they will end somewhere in mid-January, so I will probably be busy until then, unless I get the time to write. Hope you don't mind about the delay. Thanks!