Jay took them out through the same opening their murderer had left, which opened outside Apricorn Heights. Someone had pried a metal grate right off the wall, leaving the brackets bent and twisted beyond recognition.
Someone really wanted to get in here. He sniffed at the metal, and found the same scent he'd been trying to identify while in the granary. "Female… hungry," he muttered, looking up and down the alley in both directions. Half of him expected to find the dangerous predator setting up its territory right here—but of course it couldn't just be a predator.
"You think it's the one you smelled earlier today?" Jenny asked. "Same one we were hunting?"
"Yea—" He hesitated. "I'm not positive it's the same Pokémon. That one smelled more interesting than this one, but that might just be… knowing what she did."
Jenny hopped up onto his shoulder, securing herself on the leather harness. Outside the borders after dark, he couldn't blame her. "I thought you could tell everything about a Pokémon just from their smell, Jay. Now that we really need it, you're not sure?"
He shook his head, though not so much that he threw her off. "I don't know everything. I'm not even positive they're a fox. I thought they were before, but now… I'm not sure."
"You don't really have to tell us what species they are," Jenny said. "They pried their way in, killed someone, and left without a trace. They can't be a wild Pokémon to do all of that."
He kept his head down for a second, sniffing at the ground. There were two trails, one slightly fresher than the first. Jay guessed the newer was the route they'd taken to retreat, and turned in that direction. Towards the gas station. "Keep an eye out for me up there, Jenny. I'm trying to stay focused on the scent."
She laughed weakly. "You severely overestimate my ability to see anything out here, Jay. Chus aren't nocturnal—without the streetlights, I'm bumping into the wall."
"Then keep your ears open," he said. "Those should still work in the dark, right?"
"Sure." She fell silent for several minutes, letting him track in peace. Occasionally she shifted on his back, twisting to look in one direction or another. But she never called out a warning, so he kept his head down. There were no physical tracks, not with just a cement road to use for navigation.
"The cat told us we should stay inside at night," she whispered, a few minutes later. "Feels like every time somebody breaks that rule, they get hurt. Lammy got carried off by a noctowl, I think we can figure out what happened to him. Sasha went digging into the sewer system and still hasn't come out. Hopefully she just found some Pokémon heaven, and not, like… literal heaven."
He didn't interrupt—mostly because he'd just reached an intersection, where the scent seemed to split in two directions. Had they taken precautions against being followed, taking a wrong turn and doubling-back to give themselves more time to escape?
He walked in a slow circle in the street, trying to judge which was the stronger smell. Pokémon are always so good at this. Too bad there's no Alolan raichu around to read Camille's mind. They'd never believe she was innocent coming from Delores.
"I can't get over that," he muttered conversationally. "You people didn't get locked in to be tortured, your legendary just helped.
"Helped is an interesting word for it," she answered. "Nothing like your story, no. But… dumping our bus in the middle of the city wasn't very helpful. How hard would it be to let us know 'Hey, this is what's going on! The cure's over here if you want to be human again!' She didn't even try. She could've saved us a lot of heartache just by giving us advice about where to hide. We were way more vulnerable when we started." She rose up onto her hindlegs abruptly, voice confused. "Not to be judgmental about your smelling, fox—I know I can't do it—but are you lost? You're going in circles."
"I'm figuring out which direction it was," he said, twisting fast enough to knock her out of a standing position. She didn't fall off—those little claws were too sharp to be so easily dislodged. "I think it's this way." He started walking again, marching along towards the direction he'd indicated.
The gas station probably was the most likely outcome, even if it would confuse his nose even more. Sure enough, as soon as he was downwind he lost track of the scent completely, replaced with the burning touch of fuel.
"Someone's up there," Jenny said, tugging on his ear with a paw, pointing it forward. It twitched reflexively against her paws, enough that he nearly shook her off. He resisted, freezing in place.
That was music, all right. Dull-sounding pop music, the kind of thing Pokémarts would play over their speakers for casual shoppers. They weren't blasting it either, but Pokémon ears were intense.
He crept forward, dropping as low as he could. The moon wouldn't help him stay hidden on a night like tonight, but that didn't mean he had to make himself obvious.
The music was coming from the gas station, which meant he could guess about where any Pokémon might be watching from.
He slipped behind a truck, resting beside the oversized wheels. "We'll have to fight together to bring her in," he whispered. "Be careful with your electricity. Don't burn the gas station down."
"Or everybody has to do double shifts in the generator, I know." She stuck her tongue out.
You recovered quick. He could still see that dead raichu, fur deep red in his own blood. What had Jenny seen while she was a police officer?
She hopped down off his shoulder, though she still followed right beside him—if she was riding him, she wouldn't be able to use her electricity without shocking him too.
Just around the truck, and Jay caught his first glimpse into the gas station. Something orange and blue shone from inside, the distinct glow of propane. That explained the other smell mixing with gas—cooking meat.
"Maybe you're bigger," Jenny whispered, her voice barely audible over the trashy pop music. "But don't kill her, or Camille will be doomed too."
He nodded, climbing gingerly through the broken entrance. With the glass completely shattered, there was nothing stopping him, or any warning for whoever might be hiding inside.
He kept close to the wall, watching Jenny climb the sales counter as he rounded the corner.
His murderer reclined in front of a camp stove, warming an old can of stew directly on the burner. The instant he saw her, all stealth was forgotten and he froze, staring.
She was the prettiest creature he'd ever seen—fur dark onyx with a just-washed sheen, bushy tail held high behind her, and little glowing outlines on her legs and forehead. Her smell was a mess with all the gas and the cooking, but what he could sense seemed like a fox who was ready for a little time with a male. Maybe him?
"Well that's not what I expected from my evening," she said, rising abruptly to all fours. She nearly tripped over her own paw as she backed up, eyes fixed on him. "Hey, uh… whoever's Pokémon you are, just… take my dinner and go, yeah? I don't want any trouble."
She was a few inches shorter than he was, but that only made her more graceful. He took a few steps forward, his brain fuzzy. Wasn't there something he was supposed to be looking for? He was looking for her, right?
"Oh, you're an idiot. You look the same as we do, but you can't think. There's… no point trying to talk to you." She fumbled at the floor for something, lifting it in her mouth.
An oversized pocketknife, with a rusty blade covered in stew. Probably how she'd opened the can. "Stmmm wawwawym. Or Imw use itmm"
He stopped with the stew separating them. He couldn't get closer, not being within swinging distance of her knife.
Jenny attacked in a flash of blue and white fur, leaping down from an upper shelf and landing on her back. The fox whipped around by reflex, tossing the knife so it stuck into a wall. She reached back with her mouth, but no good. Jenny bit down, and lightning flashed from around her.
Overhead, the lights came roaring back to life, blazing blinding white for a second before going out again in a few harsh pops.
The fox collapsed to the ground, twitching and spasming. Jenny hopped off her back, satisfied. "What the hell were you doing, Jay? That's how you bring in a suspect? Walk right up to her and let her go for a weapon? What if that was a gun?"
He blinked, looking suddenly abashed. "Crap, right. That's what… Sorry, Jenny. Been a long day."
"Whatever." She pointed harshly down the aisles with one paw. "I saw a few bungees down there. Bring them so we can tie her up. We can't keep shocking her, or we'll fry her brain."
Jay wasn't sure it worked like that—but he wasn't in any position to argue after nearly screwing them both over. He returned with a mouthful of black cables, and within five minutes they had the struggling fox bound by her paws.
She didn't make it easy for them, though. Unlike Camille, she recovered quickly. Even if he was strong enough to hold her down, they couldn't stop her from yelling. "I don't know who the fuck you people think you are, attacking me out of nowhere! You won't get away with it!"
Jenny bent down, right in front of her, just past those sharp teeth. Despite their closeness, she didn't bite at the squirrel. "What, so you can kill me like you did the mayor? He was alone—we're a team. I don't think you'll be outfighting the Pokémon Champion."
Instead of rising to greater anger, the umbreon fell still, her ears flattening. "Mayor? What are you talking about?"
It was a shame she was a murderer—she would've made the prettiest fox in Apricorn Heights.
"Might as well just confess," Jenny said, backing away from the restrained fox. She folded her forelegs, apparently satisfied with her knots. "We followed your trail from the granary. It went straight here."
"You're insane," the fox said, glaring between them. "You're both insane. I've never been to a granary. I've never talked to another living soul out here in the wasteland. I just wanted to eat my damn dinner."
"Tell her, Jay," Jenny called. "This is the one you smelled, isn't it?"
He approached, and she started squirming again. She tucked her tail, eyes widening with fear. "I'll cut your balls off," she called, snapping at his ankles. "I'll do it, I fucking swear!"
Whatever she was afraid of, he didn't do it. He sniffed, and now had a fresh scent to compare against the trail he'd followed all this way.
"Similar," he said, retreating a few steps from the fallen fox. "But I don't think it's her. The scent wasn't an umbreon. Besides… look how easily you took her down. One attack. She never could've killed the mayor."
Jenny spun, her huge tail swiveling to keep her balance as she marched right up to him on two legs. "You better be right about that," she hissed, voice low. "Tell me you're thinking with your head, Jay, and not something else. If we let her go, we won't be able to hold her. She'll be gone forever, and Camille will die for a murder she didn't commit. Tell me that you're sure."
Jay watched the fallen fox, taking in every detail. She still smelled fresh, like someone's prized pet who had just wandered out of the parlor for an evening on the town. No trace of blood, no damage to her claws, no electrical burns from a battle with the mayor. While it might be easy to mistake the Pokémon in front of him for the trail he'd smelled, there were too many subtle differences.
"Did you see how she freaked out when she first saw me?" he asked. "She was terrified, went for a knife like it would do anything. I don't think she knows how to be a Pokémon. Between that and her scent, I'm positive. It's not her."
"Good." The fox glared up at them both, teeth bared. "How about you let me go before I call the police? Or Team Plasma, or… whoever you're scared of the most."
"We are the police," Jay said, dropping down beside her again. "Hold still, I'll get these."
"If my dinner burned during this whole stunt, I demand a replacement," she spat. "And I meant what I said about cutting your balls off. No touch."
He started with her back legs, that way the claws she had a little more control over wouldn't be so close to his face. They'd used elastic rather than a proper rope, so it wasn't hard to get her free. All he had to do was pull on the hook in the right way, and it snapped off.
She jerked onto all fours, retreating into a corner with her knife and glaring at them both. "Now get the hell out."
"No." Jenny scampered up onto his shoulder. "We could've left you here, and we didn't. You owe us at least answering our questions.
The fox laughed, her voice mocking. "Should've thought of that before you let me go then, huh? Get fucked."
Jay jerked forward, snatching the open can of stew off the burner and setting it beside him on the ground. "How about you answer our questions, or I dump it out?" He didn't take his eyes from her, watching every part of her body language. For the first time, they were finally faced with a Pokémon whose natural expressions were perfectly comprehensible to him.
With her tail erect and spine straight, he could see through that facade of confidence. She kept her head low and teeth bared, protecting her neck and belly from attack. He did the opposite, settling down on his haunches beside the can, as confident as he could make himself look. More importantly, sitting down meant he couldn't go for her as fast.
It worked. She took a single, tentative step forward, standing straighter. Still alert, still ready to run—but they were still blocking off the front door. "What do you want to ask me? I didn't kill your damn mayor. I don't know who you are. I'm guessing you're the assholes that syphoned the gas and stole all the lemonade."
"We're part of a… colony, called Apricorn Heights," Jenny said. "Five blocks east of here, following that hose. We've been collecting supplies, but I wouldn't call it stealing. This wasn't your gas station, whoever you are."
"Second Lieutenant Jacqueline Kessler," she answered, her tone rigid and formal. "Unova National Guard. And you should both think twice about doing anything like that again, or…" She slumped to the floor, ears flattening. "Or a bunker full of people who hate me will probably give you a thank-you card."
You're not very good at this either. Maybe it was something about how vulnerable she sounded, or maybe it was how hungry she smelled. Either way, he pushed sideways on the can, so it slid across the cement towards her. He couldn't push very hard without knocking it over, so it only crossed about half the distance before stopping.
"Someone was murdered, not even two hours ago," he said. "They broke into town, killed an old man, and broke out again. Ripped him to pieces."
"Old raichu, technically," Jenny corrected. "He was an old man. But there aren't any humans in Apricorn Heights."
"There aren't humans anywhere in Unova," Jacqueline said, snatching her fallen can off the floor and digging into it with a camp spoon. She couldn't eat quickly—apparently she had as much control over her paws as everything else. "That's the nature of the… I think they're calling it the 'Heisenberg state collapse'. But don't ask me what that means, I just work a radio."
It sounded like it could mean absolutely anything—or nothing at all, for that matter. But she spoke with such casual confidence, it just had to be real.
He couldn't give up the investigation, Camille was depending on him. But that didn't mean he couldn't ask. "The army knew? You knew this was going to happen?"
She shrugged an ambivalent shoulder, eating in no big hurry. Even Jenny remained still, waiting for her answer.
"I'd probably go to jail for life, telling you any of this… but I guess there aren't jails anymore, are there? Every region has threats beyond human control, yeah? Mythical Pokémon, legendaries—ancient devices that no one remembers building. Meta-organisms that are hostile to humans.
"So every region with common sense has a reserve on hand to deal with those threats—secure facilities surrounded with the best protection, packed with the people and Pokémon necessary to combat even a serious crisis. Nobody in Epsilon-5 predicted this. Or we would've tried to stop it. But we have been studying it since this started.
"What I can't tell you is any of the specifics. All I know is—with enough lead, or concrete, you're safe. When anyone comes out here, even once, we get…" She waved her empty paw towards him, grinning weakly. "Whatever the hell this is. That's why we only had a few volunteers out at a time. People don't exactly jump at the chance to give up their humanity forever."
"Umbreon," he answered reflexively. "You're an umbreon, like me. My partner is a pachirisu."
"Don't care." She took a few nervous bites from her can—she had to be finishing it by now, because she really had to scrape around at the bottom each time. "She's too small, and you're…" She stuck out her tongue. "How are you going with the whole civilization thing, anyway? Shouldn't you be killing each other?"
"No," Jenny snapped, before he could even open his mouth. "There are people who think that—backwards people. But things have improved for everyone since the eevees joined us."
The umbreon rose, kicking over her empty can in the process. "Yes, well. If that's true, then you're doing far better than Epsilon-5. The whole point of these little bunkers was working together with the other regions. But nobody's saying anything—no resupply drones, nothing. Sooner or later people start getting headaches. They run out of toothpaste. Then it all comes apart. You people settle in for a long winter."
It almost hurt to try and prompt her away from their transformations. Epsilon-5 might know far more than anything they would ever hope to piece together on their own. But it would still have all that information a few days from now.
"A murderer broke into our settlement and killed someone," Jay said. "If it wasn't you, please—did you see any other Pokémon out here that could've done it? It couldn't be that much bigger than me, but still big enough to tear someone apart. Someone willing to kill in cold blood."
Jacqueline shook her head, retrieving a headlamp from where it was propped up near the ground, and switching it off. "If I knew anything, I'd help. But the only other people I've seen since leaving the bunker were Epsilon's Away volunteers, gathering resources. They wouldn't want to kill a random Pokémon, they'd want to trade for food. If they didn't ask, it wasn't them."