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Chapter 11: Public Disturbance
Chief Sherles shook his head as he arrived at the scene. There was a crowd surrounding the area, balking. Sherles sighed. Civilians.
He ducked under the yellow crime scene tape McGregor had set up, nodding at the officer, who was now keeping the crowd back.
Detective Tabet met Sherles and led him inside. "What's the situation?" asked the Chief. The Pyrite Town Police Force was small, and Tabet was the only one with any formal training, from when he worked in Sinnoh, and so he took the lead on more serious cases. The detective waved Sherles inside, not wanting to be overheard by a gossip-prone crowd.
It was a sparse room, clearly meant for nothing more than storage. It also clearly had not been used in years, based on the rust.
Seven men, some balding, all wearing red vests, black pants and some sort of visor-like device around the back of their heads which almost certainly served no practical purpose were sitting on the floor, hands handcuffed behind their backs.
"We've identified four of them as members of Team Snagem, and the rest appear to be so as well" explained Tabet.
Team Snagem. They'd started as basic pokémon thieves, nothing special. But then they'd gotten bolder, using some sort of machine that could override the ownership locks on pokéballs. Where it had come from, Sherles had no idea. But it appeared fate had turned against them. Phenac City PD had reported that Snagem's HQ had exploded earlier that day, and now this.
Sherles stopped his reminiscence and asked the obvious question.
"What happened here?"
Tabet shrugged. "McGregor reported to a public disturbance call and found them unconscious. He called for backup and, upon identifying them as Snagems, restrained them."
Sherles rubbed his chin in thought. "Unconscious, huh? So someone else was here, and they don't like Team Snagem." Tabet nodded. "Do we have any witness reports?" asked the Chief.
"Even better" replied Tabet. "The grocery store on the corner has a security camera. It caught these guys plus one more coming in." Tabet held up his P*DA. "I've got the video here. Around 5 PM, eight people entered this building."
Sherles nodded. He could see the seven prisoners, surrounding a large, bald, muscular man, wearing what really could only be called half a shirt, with a full burlap sack over his shoulder. "Can we tell what's in that bag?" asked Sherles.
Tabet shook his head. "Sorry, sir. We found the bag's over there, but it's empty. We haven't seen anything that looks like it could have been in it at the scene, either."
Sherles closed his eyes in thought. "What else do we have?"
"Around ten minutes later, this guy leaves." Tabet fast-forwarded the video until the larger man left, empty-handed this time.
"Recognize him?" asked Tabet.
Sherles thought for a second.
"No, but he looks like a bodybuilder, and if he's ever been in any of the pro contests around here, there'll be a picture of him on record. I'll have someone look into that."
"Well, our muscular friend doesn't come back" Tabet continued as he fast-forwarded again. "but around ten minutes after that, we got a noise complaint. Right after that call, Mystery Man Number Two leaves." He paused the tape. Sherles could clearly see their prime suspect. He was young, not more than twenty, with white-blond hair and a horizontal strip across his face. A scar, perhaps? The long blue coat seemed distinctive too.
"How did he get here?"
"Dunno boss" shrugged Tabet. "None of the footage of the last few days shows him coming in, and I doubt he lived here."
Sherles rubbed his chin, as he often did while thinking. "Do we have any idea who this guy is?"
Tabet shook his head. "One of our Snagem friends here" he said, gesturing towards the prisoners "might know, but they don't seem willing to talk. I think they're scared of someone. I'll see what I can do."
Sherles nodded. "I'll get back to the station and get this picture out to the media. Someone has to know him. Maybe we'll get lucky."
"Sir, no matter what happened here, this guy is definitely anti-Snagem. Are we searching for him as a suspect or a witness?"
The Chief thought for a second. "Person of interest."
Tabet nodded and went to prepare the Snagem goons for transport back to the station. They were going to have some full jail cells tonight.
Sherles shook his head as he passed under the crime scene tape again. What was going on here? There was only one obvious explanation, but it almost didn't seem possible.
How could one kid take out seven Snagem goons at once?
Hey! I'm back. Stuff's happening. So forth.
IMPORTANT UPDATE NOTE: Upon re-reading an earlier chapter, I realized that I'd messed up on continuity here and have edited this chapter accordingly. I apologize for any confusion.
