Casefile-#1: The Soul Snatcher

It was a normal hot summer morning in Springdale. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and everyone was enjoying their summer vacation. The theme park in particular was very busy at this time of year. Lots of people would come each day to have fun. Nate in particular, just got off from riding the park's new shiny rollercoaster.

Nate:"Oh man! I am never getting on that thing ever again."

Sarah:"You're right on that one! I think I'm gonna be sick…"

Bear:"Oh come on you guys, don't get all pukey on us!"

Eddie:"Hey, If the roller coaster's too much, maybe you two can go play some carnival games, y'know, throw darts, maybe win some plushies or something."

Bear and Eddie chuckled lightly.

Katie:"Aren't those things always rigged, though?"

Alex:"Oh yeah, you're better off riding the carousel at this point."

Bear:"Hey guys, I'm actually starving right now, maybe we should go eat."

Eddie:"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

Katie:"That's great! I actually made and packed my own lunch today."

Sarah:"Hey me too!"

Suddenly, as they were walking towards the food stands, Nate's phone rang, he took it out of his pocket and looked back at his friends.

Nate:"Excuse me, I uh… I have to take this."

Nate walked away towards a fountain to pick up the call.

Nate:"Hello?"

Hailey:"Oh thank GOD you picked up. Listen, I got another fresh case on our hands, someone's gotten their soul mugged in the streets in Bluewich District again."

Nate:"Really? that's like the third time this week!"

Hailey:"It's got the same marks, same area, and even the victim was left the same way as the last two! It's definitely the same guy that's doing this. I need you on this one, I think we can really make a solid profile and nail this guy!"

Nate:"You need me...R-right now?"

Hailey:"Yeah man, I already told our client we'd get working on it pronto."

Nate let out a long sigh.

Nate:"I...Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Hailey:"Sweet! Nate you're the best Yo-Kai watch user I know!"

Nate:"Hailey I'm the only Yo-Kai watch user you know."

Nate responded in a monotone voice. He then hung up the phone, put it in his pocket and walked over to his friends with an ashamed look on his face.

Whisper:"What's with the long face?"

Nate: "Well.. It's just that I was hoping I could spend some time and have fun with my friends today.. Not that I don't wanna work on the private eye stuff on summer break, but I just wish there weren't any cases today.."

Whisper:"But I recall you said that this job means a lot to you, didn't you?"

Nate:"Y-yeah, It's just… Ah nevermind, summer still has a long way to go, I can hang out with them some other time."

Katie:"Hey Nate! We were waiting for you, I-I made some rice balls for all of us, you wanna try some?"

Katie said excitedly with a small blush on her face.

Nate:"Look, I uh.. I.. gotta go."

Bear:"Aww man, really?"

Eddie:"Is this about that part time job you told us about?"

Nate:*sigh* "It is.."

Nate said with a sad and embarrassed tone.

Alex:"Well that's a shame, for a part time job, It sure is taking a LOT of your time. Well, You should go, we wouldn't want you to get fired or anything."

Alex chuckled

Katie:"Aww but we barely got to spend any time with you."

Nate:"I know I know. Look, I'll make it all up to you guys I promise!"

Nate said as he ran off.

Bear:"Can you actually believe Nate got himself a job before all of us?"

Eddie:"I know! For someone as average as him, that's actually kind of impressive."

Katie sighed

Katie:"I guess he's gonna go see that girl again."

Sarah:"Y'know you keep going on and on about Nate's coworker."

Alex:"Yeah, and we're supposed to believe you're not just being jealous?"

Sarah and Alex both laughed.

Katie:"I.. N-no, c'mon you guys gimme a break! I'd totally be happy for Nate if he got himself a girlfriend!"

Alex:"Well, I don't think they're dating or anything, You should go make a move or something."

Katie:"M-make a move?!"

Katie said, completely flustered.

Eddie:"Hey, what are you three talking about?"

Sarah:"Oh you don't need to know."

She giggled.

Hailey was standing outside her office leaning against the wall with her arms crossed when she saw Nate walk down the street.

Hailey:"Hey there you are! Nate how slow do you walk?"

Nate:"C'mon, the theme park's like 30 minutes from here! You know that!"

Hailey:"You were at the theme park?"

Nate:"Yeah I just got off from the new rollercoaster they opened."

Hailey:"Really? How was It? Y'know, I've wanted to try that ride for a while n- Ah, nevermind!"

Hailey shook her head.

Hailey:"We're getting sidetracked here! Alright, Whisper's with you, where's Jibanyan?"

Nate:"He's at my place, probably taking a nap and smearing my carpet with chocolate, where else do you think? Anyway what are we dealing with?"

Hailey:"I'll let you in on more when we get to our office in Youmakai, everyone's waiting there anyway, c'mon."

It was now noon in springdale, everyone had just finished playing at the theme park and had started walking home. Katie was walking home when she saw a small 2-story building, she didn't pay much attention to it until something in the window caught her eye. 'Hey, Isn't that Nate's backpack?' She thought to herself, 'Is THIS his part time job?'. She walked closer to inspect the building, she looked at the sign that was hung next to the front door. It read:Yo-Kai Private Detective Agency: If you see anything supernatural or out of the ordinary give us a call.

'What the heck has he been getting himself into?' Katie thought.

She looked closer through the window but she couldn't see anyone went over and knocked on the door but there was no response. After that she decided to gently open the door. Inside, was a rather cramped room filled with cardboard boxes, shelves, and anime posters. There was a wooden coffee table in the center with 2 small red couches and a desk with a table lamp at the back next to a whiteboard on wheels. However there was one thing that stood out to her, a big purple door with an ominous looking eye on top of the frame that stood on the far right corner of the room. Curious, she walked over to it and grabbed the handle. When she opened it, she was greeted with a bright flashing light, Katie immediately covered her eyes and before she knew it, she was somewhere else, somewhere very different.

She uncovered her eyes to find herself in some kind of office, kind of a copy of the last room she was in, but this time, the desk was bigger, and there were stacks of paper on it. Behind it were some really tall filing cabinets. The room was filled with bizarre decorations, and an orange ring-shaped chandelier was hanging from the ceiling.

Katie:"What-where am I?"

Katie whispered to herself

"Hey." A female voice casually called out to her.

Katie turned to see a small figure wearing a blue kimono with small red glasses using a laptop.

Katie:"Uh.. Hi? Wh-who are you?"

"Eh, call me Blizzie"

Charming Tribe: Blizzie

Blizzie:"Look, Hailey didn't tell me what i should do if someone else came through that door so like, go do whatever, I guess."

Blizzie was fixated to her laptop, She was almost paying no attention to Katie.

Katie:"I..O-okay, wait are you floating?!"

Blizzie:"Mhm, anyway you lookin' for anything, honey? Cause if you're not, that just means you're trespassing on private property."

Katie:"Uh.. Y-yeah, do you know a 'Nathan Adams' by any chance? Y'know, brown hair, brown eyes-"

Blizzie:"Yup, he works here."

Katie:"Yeah, I wanna see him, do you.. Know where he is, by any chance?"

Blizzie:"Well right now he's working on a serial homicide case but he'll be back eventually."

Katie:"Wait-wait, homicide? A-as in like, murder!?"

Blizzie:"I mean, yeah, I don't know if you've noticed but this is a private detective agency, that's like… what they do."

'So all this time, Nate's part time job has been a private eye?' Katie thought to herself.

Katie:"Well, wh-where can I find him now?"

Blizzie:"Well, they're in an alleyway near Echo street right now, you go left from here, walk three blocks, take another left, reach a dead end and then take a right, but if you want you could just-"

Katie ran out the door before she could finish her sentence.

Blizzie:"-stay and wait here..." *sigh* "Why? I swear no one listens to me."

She said before taking a sip out of her Yo-Koffee.

Katie burst out the door to see a loud bustling street. Paper lanterns were hung from the rooftops and there were a variety of bizarre shops all decorated with vibrant neon-lit signs. She was almost blinded by them and went into the streets which were filled by a sea of strange creatures big and small.

"Hey! Move it kid, I'm on the clock here!" One of them said

Katie:"S-sorry!"

Katie tried to move steadily, but she kept bumping into them. It wasn't long before she couldn't see the office anymore and lost her sense of direction, and in a frenzied panic, she started to run aimlessly.

Nate:"So, this is the place, huh?"

Client:"Yeah, I-I reported it to the authorities so the body isn't here anymore, sorry."

USApyon:"That won't be necessary, Whapir, go work your magic."

Whapir:"My pleasure."

Whapir then sucked in the client's memory and blew them into a clear vision for everyone to see a lifeless body on the ground.

Hailey:"So, our victim is... Walkappa from the charming tribe.."

Client:"He owns the sushi place I work at. Without him, I don't know how we'll manage the place, that's why I decided to call you."

Nate pointed to the body.

Nate:"Hey look at that, there's one straight laceration right across his chest, that's the same detail from the last two murders, I think It's safe to say that's how they lose their souls."

USApyon:"His head's facing left too, that was present in the last two as well."

Hailey:"Well that's usually a sign of remorse, the killer doesn't wanna look them in the eye as they mercilessly reap their souls."

Hailey said in a sinister tone while making wiggly hand gestures.

USApyon:"Great, so what do we know about this guy so far?"

Nate:"Well, he definitely knows this area like the back of his hand, he can pull all this off without anyone noticing, that sounds like prior experience. The times he attacks are always inconsistent, so he's either disorganized, or he doesn't have a steady day job."

Hailey:"He doesn't choose or target his victims beforehand, there wasn't any common link between them, which means he's a blitz attacker. All of his victims are relatively small Yo-Kai, so he might not be that strong."

USApyon:"Well what about those signs of remorse you talked about? If you regret what you do, why keep doing it?"

Nate:"Well maybe he doesn't wanna kill, but he might still need the souls for something."

Nate shrugged.

Hailey:"Or he can't control himself."

Hailey put her fist on her palm.

Hailey:"Alright! Looks like we have our profile, we'll be able to stop the West District Soul Snatcher for good!"

Nate:"You… you gave him a nickname?" *sweat drop*

Hailey:"Of course I did, all notorious criminals have one! C'mon, let's get back to the office."

Nate:"Hey, wait up!"

Hailey and Nate both ran off and Whisper followed.

USApyon:"Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this."

USApyon reassured the client before he and Whapir soon followed.

As he was walking down the neon-lit street, Nate's phone rang again.

Nate:"Hey, It's from Blizzie."

Hailey:"Well, maybe she has something for us."

Nate picked up the phone.

Nate:"Yeah, Hello?"

Nate:"Huh? What? Wait-Whaddaya mean? What girl-"

Before Nate could finish his sentence, Katie crashed into him, when she came to her senses, she immediately grabbed him on the shoulders.

Katie:"NATE! WHERE WERE YOU?"

Nate:"Katie?! Wait what are you doing here?!"

Katie:"Nate, Where the heck am I?! Why is everyone so.. Weird?!"

Nate:"Woah, hey.. C-Calm down a bit!"

Katie:"Calm down? You want me to calm down?! I ALMOST GOT LOST IN A WORLD FULL OF WEIRD LOOKING CREATURES, YOU BETTER HAVE AN AMAZING EXPLANATION FOR ALL THIS!"

She said as tears started forming in her eyes. Nate and Hailey were at a loss of words, not knowing what to do.

Whisper:"Well, looks like someone's gotten their first exposure to Yo-Kai-"

Katie:"GAAH, WHAT ARE YOU?!"

Whisper:"Well that's just rude."

Nate:"Whisper, just… ease her into this, alright?"

Hailey:"Hey, um.. I know... this must be a lot to process for you right now, so why don't we just go back to the office and uh.. Talk there?"

Katie:"O-Okay…"

-Back at the office-

Nate:"So, can I get you some water or anything?"

Katie:"Y-yeah, I'd like that. So… What… What is all this?"

Whisper:"Well, my young Katie, We, are Yo-Kai!"

Katie:"I'm sorry, Yo..Kai?"

Whisper:"Yes, that thing you humans call a ghost, spirit, or an extra-dimensional being, invisible to the naked eye."

Whisper said proudly.

Katie:"But.. I can see you perfectly.."

Whisper:"Well that's because you're in Youmakai, The Yo-Kai world! It's a dimension parallel to your world."

Katie:"Okay, so what about the whole.. Private eye thing?"

Hailey:"Well, uh… Katie, right?"

Katie:"Yeah."

Hailey:"You see sometimes, Yo-Kai can go to our world and do all sorts of bad stuff. And that's usually where we come in, we can solve all sorts of problems they cause, have you heard of like… weird supernatural incidents or phenomena in Springdale? That's what we like to work on. But most of the time, we handle cases of Yo-Kai causing problems for other Yo-Kai here in Youmakai.

Katie:"Woah.. I mean I've heard my fair share of rumours of supernatural stuff in Springdale but I didn't think you guys would actually be knee-deep in them.."

Nate:"Look, I know that this agency isn't exactly a secret to everyone but can I ask you to not tell our friends about this?"

Katie:"I..O-okay, I think I can do that."

Hailey:"Great! So, back to the task at hand, how do you suppose we catch this guy?"

Katie:"Wait, what case are you working on now?"

Nate:"Well, we're looking for someone who's been swiftly stealing souls from Yo-Kai in Bluewich District, that's west of here. So far he has 3 victims in his wake, and if we don't do anything, a lot more."

USApyon:"Well how do you suppose we set up a trap for him?"

Hailey:"Hey, that's not a bad idea! If we wanna lure him out, we gotta use the perfect bait, someone small and unthreatening, and looks like an easy target.."

Everyone collectively looks at Whisper.

Whisper:"What's everyone looking at me for?... Hey! No way! You cannot be serious about this!"

-Hard cut to the streets-

Nate:"It's gonna be okay Whisper, all you gotta do is walk through these narrow alleyways and look vulnerable. If anything happens, we got you this walkie-talkie, you can let us know as soon as possible."

Hailey:"Yeah, we'll be waiting right here."

Whisper:"I can't believe I even agreed to this."

Whisper said as he grumpily walked into the alleyway.

Katie:"A-are you sure he's gonna be okay?"

Nate:"Not really."

Hailey:"Nope."

Whisper had been walking through the alleyways for almost an hour now, but nothing's happened, no one had tried to attack the white ghost.

Whisper:"Ooh look at little old defenseless me, I hope no one tries to rob me of my soul while I try to get home.."

After a few more minutes, Whisper finally snapped.

Whisper:"Hey! Soul Snatcher! What are you, stupid?! I'M RIGHT HERE! Oh I get it.. You must think you're too good for me don't you?! Well, I must let you know my soul is very desirable! You're going to regret it big time if you don't take it right now!"

Whisper's rant was so loud that everyone else on the other side didn't need the walkie-talkie to hear it. Nate let out a sigh and slowly rested his face on his palm.

Nate:"So much for that trap."

-hard cut back to the office-

Whisper:"Well, I can't believe I did all that for nothing!"

Hailey:"I don't get it, the profile doesn't add up, he should've totally gone for that bait!"

Katie:"Huh.. Wait, didn't you guys say that this guy hangs out around this area a lot?"

Nate:"Yeah.."

Katie:"And that he probably likes to revisit the places he attacked?"

Hailey:"That's right."

Katie:"So.. Doesn't that make it possible that he's seen you guys before? And that he's not attacking Whisper because he knows you're a threat to him?"

Nate:"..."

Hailey:"..."

Nate:" Hey... She.. She's right!"

Hailey:"How did we miss that?! So he WAS one step ahead all along!"

Nate:"Well then, we're gonna have to switch our tactics. If we're gonna do this whole trap thing again, we'll have to use someone this guy's never seen with us before."

Nate:"I think I know just who"

Nate gave a small smirk as he pulled out a medal from his pocket.

"Come on out my friend! Calling Jibanyan!"

Summoning Charming: Jibanyan

Katie:"Wait, what's he doing?"

Hailey:"You'll see.."

A flurry of bright flashing pink lights bursted out of Nate's watch and out came the red cat Yo-Kai.

Jibanyan:"Hey! What gives!? I thought you were at the theme park with your friends today!"

Nate:"Yeah, s-sorry about that, but it's kinda important for this case, Jibanyan.."

Jibanyan:*sigh* "This PI junk again? Ever since you got this job, you've been summonying me twice as much!"

Nate:"I know I know! Please, I just need you to do a little favor for us!"

Jibanyan:"Ugh, fine."

Katie:"Aww, who's this little guy? He's so adorable!"

Jibanyan:"Nyaha thank y- Wait what's Katie doing here?"

Katie:"Wait, he knows my name?"

Nate:"Uh.. I-It's a long story.. I'll explain later."

Hailey crouched down to look at Jibanyan.

Hailey:"Alright, now that you're here, here's what we need you to do."

-hard cut back to the streets-

Jibanyan:"So, I just gotta walk through these alleyways and wait for this guy to attack me or something?"

Hailey:"Yup, that's right. And when he does, you let us know through this walkie-talkie, got it?"

Jibanyan:"Sure, I guess."

Jibanyan said as he reluctantly walked into alleyways.

Nate:"Well, let's just hope it works this time."

A little over a half hour later, everyone outside had gotten a little drowsy, but they were soon woken up by a buzzing sound emitting out of the walkie-talkie followed by a distant "nyanyanyanyanya".

Katie:"What's that?"

Nate:"I recognize that sound anywhere, that's his paws of fury, he's in trouble!"

Hailey:"That's our guy!"

Everyone soon ran into the alleyways towards the source of the noise to find Jibanyan fighting a relatively small figure of a boy with long arms and white gloves holding a large sickle wearing a brown coat. His eyes were covered by a black cloth with holes for eyes, and he had a brown flat cap on.

Hailey:"There he is!"

USApyon:"That sickle must be what he's using to steal those souls!"

Nate:"You're not getting away this time!"

Nate said as he pulled out his blaster from his holster inside his jacket, already loaded with Jibanyan's medal and took a shot at the culprit, knocking him out of balance, and allowing Jibanyan to land a flurry of solid hits on the mysterious figure. Realising he was outnumbered, the culprit tried to make a break for it.

Hailey:"Alright sucker, let's see how you like the taste of your own medicine!"

"Come on out, my friend! Calling Peckpocket!"

Summoning Eerie: Peckpocket!

Hailey:"Listen. I need you to snatch that guy's big sickle, you think you can do that?"

Peckpocket:"What's mine is mine, what's yours is mine, mine all mine!"

Peckpocket flew high above, managing to catch the Yo-Kai off guard by swooping down and snatching his sickle, distracting him. Giving Nate the perfect opportunity to fire off another shot and knock him out completely.

Nate put the tip of his blaster next to his mouth and blew the smoke away.

Nate:"Yes! I've always wanted to do that!"

Nate said under his breath as he smiled.

Katie stood and watched, completely amazed at what she just saw.

The mysterious Yo-Kai woke up to find himself tied up to a pole with everyone looking down on him.

Hailey:"Well, well, look who finally decided to wake up. Don't think you can pull a fast one on us. Just a heads up, we've already returned all the souls you stole so all your victims are gonna happily live again."

Hailey said proudly, the Yo-Kai groaned, annoyed.

Nate:"Who are you, anyway?"

"Souckle"

Shady Tribe: Souckle

USApyon:"Well, I've already called the authorities, so all we gotta do now is wait."

Katie:"Authorities? You mean to tell me Yo-Kai have a police force too?"

Whisper:"Well of course they do! Any traditions or facilities the human world has, Yo-Kai are bound to have them as well! In fact It's probably the other way round, Yo-Kai invented them first."

Souckle was being held by a Yo-Kai officer, being escorted to the patrol car.

The client ran up in a hurry to see them along with Walkappa.

Client:"Hey, I wanted to thank you for getting Walkappa back, business will be running smoothly again in a jiffy!"

Hailey:"Well that's good to hear."

Nate turned to look at Souckle.

Nate:"Actually, there was one thing I forgot to ask. What were you gonna do with those souls?"

Souckle:"Well, I was gonna sell 'em on the black market for money. It was the only way I could make a living for myself, I couldn't get a job no matter how hard I tried. I mean.. I'm gonna be away for a while, that's good. But when I'm forced to live on the streets again, what am I gonna do? This is the only way I know how to be independent for myself."

Nate:"Oh…"

Everyone looked at Souckle with sympathy for the Yo-Kai.

Walkappa:"Actually, those fast hands o' yours could be pretty useful y'know."

Souckle:"Huh? What do you mean?"

Walkappa:"I run a sushi restaurant downtown, business is always boomin' dude, you'd make a great chef!"

Souckle:"You-you really wanna hire me?! But… I snatched your soul…:"

Walkappa:"Yeah well, I don't see the point in like, not forgiving people.. Once you're outta the slammer, I'd be happy to let you work here!"

Souckle:"Really? that's so kind of you, sir! I'm so happy!

Souckle then turned to look at the private investigators.

Souckle:"Thank you so much, If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gotten this job! Here, you should have my medal! Call me if you need anything."

Hailey:"Woah.. Thanks! But.. won't you be in jail for a while?"

Officer:"He will.. But you can still summon him when you need to, when you're done with him, he'll automatically get teleported back. You really should take his medal, offering you his assistance will really help take some time off his sentence."

Hailey:"Really? That's great! So Nate, that's case closed huh? And it was thanks to you too, Katie."

Katie:"Huh? M-me?"

Nate:"Yeah! We wouldn't have caught him today if you hadn't told us that one small detail we overlooked."

Katie:"Oh, C'mon I-It was nothing.."

-hard cut back to the office-

Blizzie:"Well, you all look like you've seen better days."

Nate:"Haha yeah! Man, I can't wait to get home."

Blizzie:" So, case closed, huh? I guess I'll be clocking off for the day, see you all tomorrow."

Jibanyan:"Man, I'm beat! Hopefully I won't have to see you all in a while!"

Jibanyan quickly hurled himself through the warp door.

Hailey:"Hey Nate, It's your turn to do the paperwork today."

Nate:"..."

Nate:"AW MAN, I FORGOT!"

Nate groaned as he reluctantly took a seat at the main desk, opened a file, and took a pen.

Katie:"Paperwork?"

Nate:"Yeah apparently everytime we handle a case, we have to file a report on it to make this a quote end-quote, legitimate business."

Hailey chuckled.

Hailey:"Well Nate, have fun! I gotta go, I promised Joshua I'd help him with his big jigsaw puzzle today."

Hailey said as she walked through the purple warp door along with USApyon.

Katie:"Hey, um.. I could keep you company if you want.."

Katie blushed as she looked at the ground shyly

Nate:"Huh? Oh no, it's okay, you should really get home. It's been a rough day for you. Whisper will keep me company."

Whisper:"Right you are, Nathan!"

Katie:"Well.. Okay then. I'll see you later I guess!"

Katie said as she walked into the warp door herself.

Author's Notes (Please do read these, they are just as important):

-I know, souckle is a pretty crap name, and I'd like to apologize, one of the obstacles that were created by me making all of these circumstances is having to make completely new Yo-criminals and naming them, and I am not good at that.

-Youmakai is a name for the Yo-Kai world in the japanese version, I didn't wanna just call it "The Yo-Kai World '' so I used that.

-I'm not gonna give the clients names, because If I had to, I'd be here all day. It's always bugged me that in some episodes of the anime, there are just a bunch of normal looking humanoid-ish Yo-Kai in the background to fill the space, so just imagine all the unnamed Yo-Kai in this fic are one of them.

-The reversed crush dynamic between Nate and Katie was something I wanted to experiment with since I thought It would be interesting for this particular point in the timeline (just to re-clarify, at this point everyone is the age of the protagonists of shadowside).

-I made walkappa own a sushi restaurant since In one of the episodes of the anime, It showed that he makes incredible sushi.

-I named the door that links the human world and the Yo-kai world a warp door, i don't know if it has an official name, but if it does please let me know

-Bluewich District was a place I made up, since I don't know the names of areas in the Yo-Kai city, If there are official names for the areas please let me know that too