Everyone stood around in Team Sleuth HQ's main floor and watched Aamira. She tossed a poke coin up this the air and it fell on the ground, spinning. It eventually stopped and landed face up.
"Heads?" Quill shouted.
"I guess that means we're doing patrol today!" Aamira smirked.
Quill glared at them. "Alright, let's go on patrol. We have to do a mission some time, you know."
Outside everyone was running around as happily and busily as ever. The few people that lived in the spark division headed out right away. Aipom swung out of a tree by her tail and hung in the air in front of them, scaring them all.
"Hiya!" She said. "Aamira, what happened to your eyes?"
Aamira blinked. "My eyes?"
"I thought they were orange before. Now they're a dark green." Aipom said curiously. "Weird…"
"They're still green? It happened yesterday when I was trying to learn Aura Sphere but I thought they would have turned back by now."
"Maybe it's some sort of side effect." Aipom jumped out of the tree and landed in front of them.
"It didn't happen the first time you used Aura Sphere." Quill said to Aamira. "That's a little strange, don't you think?"
Mankey jumped out of a tree and landed next to Aipom. "Come on. We have to go. Remember? Messenger duty?"
"Wait." Quill said. "Does that mean, you're an individual Investigation Team now?"
"Yep!" Aipom took out her new silver Aura Glass and flashed it in the early morning light. "Silver Rank! But isn't your team still Bronze Rank?"
The four members of Team Sleuth all looked back and fourth at each other nervously.
"I guess that makes us better than you again!" Mankey said. "Well see ya later!"
Aamira watched as they left, unable to believe they pulled ahead of them again. "We've… We've got to do a mission."
"Thank you!" Quill shouted.
Aamira, thinking this the perfect opportunity, turned to Machop and Nuzleaf. "But if we go on a mission only one of you can come with us incase we get a new recruit."
"I'll go wherever you go and defend you from all the horrible monsters!" Nuzleaf said.
"How pathetic." Machop sneered at him. "Still stuck on that prince charming thing from yesterday?"
"My grandpa's a simple herbalist. My dad was too, before he married Queen Bella from a distant kingdom. Technically, that makes me a prince!" Nuzleaf explained.
Machop's eyes widened in shock. He turned to Aamira. Aamira, also in shock and not knowing what to say turned to Quill. Quill didn't know what to say or do and just shrugged.
"Surprised you, didn't I?" Nuzleaf asked.
"What was your first clue?" Machop said angrily.
"But the thing is, I was born before my dad even met Queen Bella. My real mom died in a storm before I even hatched, so technically I'm only royalty by adoption."
"You really are stupid, aren't you?" Machop said. "You didn't have to tell us that much and everyone probably would have been bowing to you calling you 'your majesty' or something."
"But my foster mom sees me as a prince. If anyone gives me any trouble I could just get one of the guards to come here. Besides, I don't like the whole royalty thing. Tried it, didn't like it, moved in with my grandpa."
"Wow, so you're the modest type, huh?" Aamira smiled and forced herself to blush.
Machop noticed and couldn't suppress his anger anymore. He attacked Nuzleaf and the two of them started fighting, completely oblivious to anything happening around them. If a volcano erupted, they'd probably still continue to fight.
"Let's get out of here before they realize you tricked them." Quill said.
"So we've got some time to relax for once?" Aamira walked up to them. "Hey! Guess what! I tricked you two! Again!"
Nuzleaf and Machop continued fighting as if they hadn't even heard Aamira. Quill laughed and the two of them walked away.
"You know, it's pretty bad that they're so head over heels for you that they fight so much and don't even realize when you, of all people, are yelling right at them." Quill said a while later.
"Yep." Aamira looked at the map they found in a good looking mission. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
"Positive. It even said what pokemon are in the dungeon and they're all here." Quill pointed. "Celebi! I just saw it!"
Aamira looked in the direction Quill was pointing and turned back to him. "Quill, you have to stop doing this. Celebi lives in the forest and right now, we're in a cave." A Skiploom flew out from around the corner and flew around them. "See? It was probably just that Skiploom."
Quill looked a little gloomy. "Yea, I guess your right. I'm sorry; I should be paying more attention to the mission."
"So what are we here to do?" Aamira asked.
"A little kid got trapped beneath some falling rocks. Now we have to find the parent who should be waiting by the rocks so we can help get him out."
A Graveler came from around a corner and attacked Quill. Quill yelled in surprise. Aamira tried to use Aura Sphere, but it wouldn't come to her. Instead, she used quick attack and knocked the Graveler on its back.
"What happened?" Quill said. "Why didn't Aura Sphere work?"
Aamira looked sadly at her hands. "I don't know. It was working fine yesterday."
Quill looked at her eyes. "Would it have something to do with why your eyes changed color? They're back to orange now."
"They are?" Aamira remembered yesterday when she had taken the Grace-Seed. So many thoughts had rushed into her head at once that it made her dizzy and caused her to faint. She couldn't tell Quill about the Grace-Seed though, because that would mean revealing her new friendship with the wanted outlaw, Charmeleon. "I don't even know what caused the color to change in the first place."
"Are you sure you don't know?" It had been over two weeks ago that they had met and still Aamira wasn't used to Quill being able to read her emotions and tell when she was lying.
"Uhh… Oh yea. I remember now. You know when I touch something sometimes and I have a thought and suddenly know all about it?"
"When did that happen?" Quill asked.
"It happened a few times. When Chansey handed me that Aspair Berry when we first met a few weeks ago, I knew her nickname was Star when she was younger. Later that night I touched a book on my bookshelf and knew about Floatzel and how they're really good at doing water rescues. The next day at out Investigation team inauguration, I got frustrated and punched the ground and I suddenly knew how to get out. It's happened a few other times too. Some books I don't even have to read because I instantly know all about them just by touching them. Leafeon assumes I'm just browsing in the library sometimes, when I'm actually reading the books without reading them. I guess that's the best way to put it."
"Wait, so you have some sort of special ability? I never really thought much about it before, but I have noticed times when your emotions would change suddenly for no apparent reason and you would sort of space out. But this is so cool! Investigation Teams are all about learning new things! If you can learn things just by touching something, we might be able to become a really awesome Investigation Team."
"But it's not like I'm always having these thoughts or whatever. Most of the books in the library I've actually had to read. I've been trying to figure out a way to make it work, but it's as hard as Aura Sphere, maybe worse because sometimes it goes off when I don't want it to." Truth be told, Aamira didn't really want the ability to work either. Sometimes she would have horrible thoughts and even hear voices. If Quill knew this, he would be panic stricken for sure and she didn't want that.
"But what does this ability have to do with your eyes turning color?"
"I don't know, but after my eyes turned colors I was able to use Aura Sphere and my eyes turned color right after that ability happened."
"When you did your solo training, I fainted and thought something bad had happened to you. You were so panic stricken that I could even feel it all the way at the Dojo. Was that when your ability activated? And why did it activate and what were you thinking?"
"I think when you fainted that might have been when it happened, though I don't know for sure, but I fainted too so it's a pretty good guess. And it all happened so fast I don't even remember what I ended up thinking." For once she could tell the truth. Aamira felt horrible for lying to her only friend all the time, (Or using half truths since he could tell when she was lying.) so it was nice to be able to say something truthfully for once.
At the end of the Dungeon they found a Beautifly flying in a frenzy around a large rock pile. She turned and saw Team Sleuth and immediately calmed down upon noticing their Aura Glasses.
"An Investigation Team! Finally! You must know a way to get rid of these rocks without hurting my little Wurmple!"
"No problem!" Quill said. "Aamira's Force Palm can shatter rocks in an instant."
"I don't know." Aamira said. "It worked in the landslide during the storm in Jungle Overgrow because no pokemon were directly next to the rocks. When Muk got trapped under the rocks any of the pieces would just bounce off of him when they were shattered. I'm worried that I might accidentally hurt Wurmple if I tried that."
"My fire attacks are obviously out of the question…" Quill said desperately.
"It's a good thing I picked something up at the Keckleon Market before we headed out." Aamira pulled out a blue orb from her Collection Bag. "I read about orbs and I thought this one, A Blowback-Orb would be able to help us in a situation like this.
"Woa, good thinking Aamira!" Quill said happily.
"Thank you for being so considerate." Beautifly said. "Please be careful, though!"
Aamira threw the orb at the rocks and it shattered on impact. A strong gust of wind came from seemingly nowhere. It was so strong that Beautifly had to land and the wind lifted the rocks right off the ground and smashed them in the wall behind. Wurmple laid there curled up into a ball with a look of sheer terror on his face.
"Wurmple!" Without even bothering to take flight, Beautifly ran over to Wurmple and hugged him. "I was so worried about you!"
Quill looked up at the ceiling. There was a large hole, almost in a perfect circle. "This was a trap. Someone did this on purpose."
"Yup. We know." Wurmple said. "Someone stole our precious family gem. We chased them here and walked into the trap. It only got me though, so my mom was able to send a distress call."
"You should have told an Investigation Team right away." Quill said.
"We weren't thinking. How would you feel if your most prized possession was taken from you?" Beautifly asked.
Aamira remembered how desperate Charmeleon had seemed when he asked her to help him reignite his flame. Losing something like that must feel horrible. "We'll help you catch the thief!" She said. "Just tell us what he looked like."
"We aren't sure." Wurmple said. "He ran off so fast we could barely even see him. It could be anyone."
"Let's head back to the scene of the crime. Maybe then we'll be able to find some clues." Quill turned to Aamira suddenly. "This would be our first real investigation! Maybe that ability of yours would come in handy!"
"Maybe, if it would work." Aamira said thoughtfully.
Quill and Aamira were both surprised that Beautifly and Wurmple didn't live in a house, but an underground theatre! There was a large stone stage and cushions spread out everywhere for people to sit on.
"We're traveling performers." Beautifly said. "We prefer it in Vine City, but we go everywhere. To different countries and everything! We don't do it for fame, of course, but there's usually always a big uproar when people learn that we're back in town. That's why it could literally be anyone that took our gem."
"We were trying to think of a play to put on using our ruby as a prop, but we couldn't think of anything. We left for a while and didn't think much about if we left the stage unlocked for a few minutes while we went to get lunch. After we got back, all the torches were out. After finally igniting them all again, we found out that our ruby was missing."
Quill looked at the stage through his Aura Glass and gasped. "There are so many footprints!"
"But of course." Beautifly said. "Two actors, a play does not make."
"How soon do you think you can get the rest of the actors here?" Aamira asked.
"In a few minutes. If it's absolutely necessary, I'll go immediately." Beautifly flew into the air.
"I'll stay here and make sure they don't touch anything important." Wurmple said. With that Beautifly flew off.
A few minutes later the theatre had filled with all the pokemon actors. Quill and Aamira divided the group in half and split up the work of figuring out who might have taken the ruby.
"It would seem," Quill said, "that there are only three types of footprints that lead to the pedestal where the ruby was being kept. Two of them were beautifly and Wurmple's. The last one is small and circular shaped."
"That would mean that our suspects would be Turtwig and Skitty." Aamira said. "You're both the only ones with circular feet like that."
Everyone looked accusingly at Turtwig and Skitty.
"Just give the gem back, whichever one of you took it!" Someone shouted. The crowd started yelling at the two of them and Turtwig and Skitty didn't know which way to turn.
Quill flared up and made all of them jump back and instantly fall silent. "Enough! We don't know for sure if either of them did it, they're just our prime suspects."
Aamira looked at the ground where their feet had been with her Aura Glass and looked at their footprints. She looked next to the pedestal at the other footprints. "Turtwig's are way too big, but Skitty's are a perfect match."
Everyone looked threateningly at Skitty, but no one started shouting like last time.
Quill held up his Aura Glass and looked at the footprints. "No, wait. They look the same, but the ones near the pedestal are darker. That means that whoever made these footprints would be slightly heavier."
Skitty giggled cutely. "I guess it's a good thing I went on that diet!"
Everyone laughed. One thing they found out: Skitty was definitely the star of any of the comedy acts.
"But wait!" Aamira said. "That means no one here could have been the one who stole the ruby!"
"Are you sure this is everyone?" Quill asked. "Do you remember anyone else with feet like Skitty's?"
"Wait, mama!" Wurmple said. "There was someone! That Mime Jr.! Remember how he was spinning around and around on his feet?"
"Yes! You're right." Beautifly said. "Oh, but this is a problem."
"Why so?" Quill asked.
"There's a whole village of Mime Jr.s." Beautifly said. "We put on a show there. 'The Jester Prince' I believe it was called. One of our more brilliant ones, if I do say so myself. Anyway, they come from a place called Jester Village in a kingdom down south. It's technically in Sylva, but it's more outlandish since Noctowl is Sylva's leader. They pretty much do whatever they want and act on their own."
"Wait, a kingdom?" Aamira said. "I think we should pay Nuzleaf a visit before we go."
"I'm going too!" Wurmple said. "You might need my help. I can remember what one suspicious Mime Jr. was like, but the whole city is filled with them. It's okay, right mom?"
"Of course! Of course! We must get our gem back. Just be careful."
"Don't worry." Quill said with a grin. "We won't let anything bad happen to him."
The three of them headed over to their Treehouse to find Nuzleaf and Machop arguing again.
"You're way out of your league!" Machop said. "Just admit it."
"Ha! Yea right!" Nuzleaf said. "You forgot I'm technically a prince."
"Hiya Prince Nuzleaf!" Wurmple said.
Nuzleaf looked towards Wurmple and smiled. "Well, if it isn't wormy Wurmple! You and your mom finally get back?"
"No, we've been back and left again. We went back to your kingdom a while ago and came back again just recently." Wurmple said. "Anyway, listen. We think one of the Mime Jr.s might have stolen our ruby gem and we have to go find it. Do you think you can help?"
"Well of course I'll help you and your mom!"
"Hello? I'm here too you know?" Aamira said.
Nuzleaf looked up. "Oh, hiya! Yea, I want to help you too!"
Machop scowled at him. "You didn't even notice her when she walked right up to you!"
"Well it would be rude to ignore a little kid like Wurmple." Nuzleaf said. "Of course I would have to act like a prince now that I'm going back home for a while. Citizens first, family and friends second, as my mom says."
"That's so selfish!" Machop yelled so loudly that Wurmple hid behind Nuzleaf.
"You wouldn't understand." Nuzleaf said.
A few minutes later, three of the four Team Sleuth members left with Wurmple in toe. Later that evening, they spotted the castle that sat in the middle of a lake. It was made of stone, which was rare for the buildings in Sylva. According to Nuzleaf, it was an ancient building that was already there by the time their kingdom had moved to this location. It was constantly being checked to make sure it was safe and that none of the stones would crumble.
At a small town a few miles away from the castle, a Mr. Mime greeted them. "Welcome to Jester Village." He bowed to the four of them. "Please take the time to watch some of our performers on your way to the castle." He looked up and noticed Nuzleaf. "Prince Nuzleaf! To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"I joined an Investigation Team." Nuzleaf said. "These two are Aamira and Quill, and I believe you've met Wurmple?"
"Ah yes. He and his mom came to perform a play not too long ago. So to what do we owe THIS pleasure?"
"Our ruby was stolen and we think it was a Mime Jr. that did it."
"Not him again!" Mr. Mime shook his head. "A trouble maker's been going around lately. But all Mime Jr. look alike, and they're great actors, so it's impossible to tell who's who. I think you better follow me straight to the castle for this one."
Over half an hour later, they reached the castle. Inside the walls was a whole town and market place with the castle in the heart of it all. Some of the townspeople were gathered around a group of Mime Jr. who were all balancing spinning plates on sticks on their noses and doing acrobatic tricks at the same time.
"Talented, aren't they?" Mr. Mime asked. "That's why I hate this trouble maker going around."
An especially talented Mime Jr. flipped into the air and landed on the palms of some other Mime Jr.s. He took off his hat and bowed. All the Mime Jr. flipped and landed on the ground.
"Ah, there's my son. The leader of the acrobatic group. TAL!"
The Mime Jr. looked in the direction of Mr. Mime, smiled, and ran over with his team right behind. "Dad. What are you doing here? On your way to the castle?" He noticed Wurmple. "Oh, and if it isn't my co-star from the last play. Nice to see you again. Oh, and Prince Nuzleaf and an Investigation Team too." He took off his hat again and bowed. "I hope you're here to stop the mime prankster."
"So how much has happened because of this Mime Jr.?" Aamira asked.
"How much!" He said sarcastically. "HA! Just last week he dug a pitfall before one of my team's performances. After we did the tower you just witnessed, the ground gave way. It took us a while to recover from that one. And what did he do? Just stood over the pitfall and laughed. Haha HA! Some people gave chase, but when he turned a corner, he disappeared among some other Mime Jr. and got away yet again."
"He's such a good actor, he could probably even be Tal and I wouldn't know it." Mr. Mime said. "Some people even think he's the one responsible for the attempted assassinations of Bella and Leef."
"My parents!" Nuzleaf yelled. "I have to get to the castle!" Nuzleaf ran off and everyone else followed. To their annoyance, everyone realized that all the Mime Jr. were following and even copying the way they were running. The only one running like a Mime Jr. was Tal.
The guards let them in right away upon recognizing Nuzleaf. They all followed Nuzleaf to the throne room where another Nuzleaf and a Bayleef were talking to a large group of pokemon.
"Please, now. One at a time!" The Bayleef looked really tired and weak. She looked up and all her strength seemed to come back. "Nuzleaf! You came home!"
The crowd turned and parted down the middle to make way for Team Sleuth and the Mime Jr. Nuzleaf instantly ran up to his parents. "Mom! Dad!"
"I heard you had evolved." His dad, who they assumed was Leef, said. "You've become an amazingly strong Nuzleaf, that's for sure, but I was almost tempted to call you Seedot out of habit."
"Enough about that! Why didn't you send me a message about what's been happening? A rouge Mime Jr. and stories about attempted assassinations?" The crowd behind Nuzleaf started murmuring uneasily.
"Don't let it bother you." Queen Bella said to him. "You should probably go back home."
"Sorry mom, but Team Sleuth has a mission to finish and you're not the one who gave it to us."
Bella and Leef looked passed him at the other Team members, Wurmple, Mr. Mime, and the group of Mime Jr., who had mimicked the king and Queen by looking out to the crowd on either side. Aamira and Quill couldn't help but smile at the group of cute jester pokemon. It was hard to imagine that one of them could really be a threat to anyone.
"Fair enough. Team Sleuth members, would you come up here?" Bella asked.
Aamira and Quill walked up the stairs towards the king and queen. The Mime Jr. mimicked them as they walked, but respectfully stopped at the steps.
"I think I kind of like those cute little mimes following us everywhere." Aamira said happily.
"Team Sleuth, was it?" Bella asked. "Nuzleaf has told me a lot about the two of you in his letters, Aamira and Quill. We thank you both for taking care of Nuzleaf, especially during that storm. If you two are as good as he says you are we would be honored if you helped us with our Mime Jr. problem."
"Of course." Quill said. "That Mime Jr. stole a prized gem from Wurmple and his mom. We came to find him and get it back, so of course we'll help."
"Thank you." Leaf said. "And of course there will be a generous reward if you can capture the thief. So that's how it is everyone. As much as we've tried to assure you that we're doing all we can, an Investigation Team can do more. Let them take care of our Mime Jr. problem for us."
The group of pokemon applauded for them and started to disband from the throne room. Bella groaned and laid down right where she had been standing. A few pokemon that were still in the room ran over and helped her up. (The Mime Jr. mimicked this, of course, which surprisingly made Bella laugh.)
"Are you alright, Queen Bella?" a Chansey asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. We didn't have a chance to take our medication today." Bella said.
"Neither of you?" Chansey ran into a different room and came back with some pills for both Leef and Bella. "You know you shouldn't be so reckless in your condition."
"Of course. And the sooner this Mime Jr. is caught, the better." Leef said.
"What's wrong with both of you?" Quill asked.
"We were both born with a horrible disease." Bella said. "I actually met Leef when I came to his dad's house to get some herbs to make medicine from. He just happened to be there for the same reason."
"And what a wonderful coincidence it was." Leef said with a smile. "Our disease keeps us from gaining much energy, so we both become tired really quickly. If either of us fell asleep from losing too much energy, we would die. Only some special herbs grounded into these pills can give us a sufficient amount of energy, and even then we can't move much without becoming tired."
"That's horrible." Aamira said. "And pokemon are trying to assassinate a couple of helpless pokemon who can barely even move?"
"Sad isn't it?" Bella asked. "I guess some pokemon are starting to think we're all washed up if we can't even handle a mischievous little Mime Jr."
"Maybe I should take over." Nuzleaf suggested. "Not permanently, but for a while. Pokemon might have more confidence in me since I'm an Investigation Team member."
"I don't think you should." Aamira said. "They could just as well think that Vine City is trying to take control of this kingdom and make it a true part of Sylva. They might also think you might have had something to do with the assassination attempts after conveniently showing up and not knowing anything about it and suddenly becoming king. And besides, if they're after the rulers of this kingdom for another reason, that might also put you in danger."
"How well thought out!" Bella said. "I can see why you like her so much, Nuzleaf!"
Nuzleaf blushed. "Mom! Stop it!"
It was getting late. Before heading to bed, they all devised a plan. According to Mr. Mime and Tal, the rouge Mime Jr. was a good actor, but otherwise talentless. He couldn't do anything except lie, steal, and act. That cleared the names of all the Mime Jr. with them since they were such good acrobats. The next morning, the acrobatic team would wait in a room filled with other Mime Jr. whose names had been cleared while they sorted out the rest of them. They still didn't know how they would go about doing this, but that could wait for tomorrow.
The king and queen generously let them stay in a few of the extra bedrooms. Wurmple seemed a little upset, seeing as how he hadn't gotten the chance to do much yet. That night, though, Quill and Aamira were both worried. They already had to give half of their reward money to Vine City for not telling anyone where they were going when they weren't an individual team yet and they almost didn't make it. Beautifly knew where they had gone, along with the other actors, and they were an individual team now, but the rules could be so confusing sometimes, who knows what might happen.
Aamira also realized this was pretty much the first night she hadn't slept in her own room aside from when they got trapped in that storm. She found it impossible to fall asleep without her special pillow that Quill and Aamira had both gotten on their first patrol, so she made up a song and started singing to herself.
Aamira wondered if she had known the song already. It seemed like she knew it, but the words were so strange that she wasn't even sure what they meant. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time to think about it before falling asleep.
