Sitting down at the table, Cynthia blew on her coffee without thinking. She was so distracted, even if she sipped it as it was, it probably wouldn't have burned.
That man… As she recalled, Elesa had offered to take care of the problematic detective. But as of now, she seemed like a wildcard. The gym leader hadn't been responding effectively to her texts, nor returning her calls.
What is she up to? Guessing her strange behavior was related to the recent appearance of Skyla, Cynthia wondered how to proceed. From her perspective, she had two clear routes; neither one seemed superior to the other.
Either she could go find Elesa, sit her down, and instruct her to take out the Looker, or she could do it herself. The latter would be a lot cleaner, whereas the former would be less dangerous were it to go sideways.
But she had grown inconsistent with the presence of the other Unovan. I suppose I'll have to drop him myself. Mentally running through the list of Pokémon Cynthia had with her, she considered which would be most capable of making it look like an accident.
The choices weren't obvious. Spiritomb was her usual candidate, but inducing a heart attack or something similar would cast even more suspicion on her than before after the autopsy was completed. I still have no idea how much he's reported. I should assume everything.
Her mind then wandered to her Garchomp. If the attack was scaled up to the point where it looked like a natural disaster, it would be easier for authorities to pass it off as a legitimate accident.
Using a Ground-type move, the dragon could cause a seismic event. The concern of uninvolved innocent people being caught up in it mattered to the champion very little, and so it seemed like the perfect avenue to take.
Now, it's just a matter of figuring out where he is. Elesa being unavailable grew more annoying as Cyntha remembered she was her hacker of choice. With Diantha still asleep upstairs, Cynthia grabbed her coat off the rack, preparing to do some digging on her own.
Elesa was still asleep in her room. It had been an awkward night, with her sudden shift in mood forcing Skyla to have to book another a few doors down. She knocked on the door, receiving no answer.
"Are you awake yet?" She pounded again. "Come on, Elesa." The third knock was stopped by the sound of deadbolt rolling open. Her girlfriend, er, ex, was looking at her with a very annoyed expression.
"Hey…" "Hey." "Are you feeling alright?" "No, not really." The redhead wasn't great at sympathizing with negativity, so she just gave a nod. "Look… I'm flying back to Unova tonight. You should come with me."
"Come with you?" She seemed surprised. "Elesa, you're in rough shape. I really don't think you should stay in Kalos much longer." A look of embarrassment was readable on her face. It must be hard for her, losing track of so much time…
"You're probably right. I'll go." "I'm glad." Skyla stood in the doorway for a second, hoping she might get an invitation in for some reconciliation of the feelings she had. But Elesa didn't share her idea. "I'm going to get some rest. I'll see you later."
"O-oh, right." The door was shut on her unceremoniously, leaving her to walk back to her own room. So she really doesn't feel anything towards me? Was she really a different person the entire time we've been in Kalos?
Skyla wanted to ask her more questions; a direct interrogation would get her concrete answers, instead of leaving her hanging in limbo. But she didn't want to push Elesa and make her any worse than she already was.
Maybe, she thought, when we get back to Unova, when she gets over whatever's troubling her, something can happen… Her hopes did little to make her feel better, though. It had been months without being intimate with anyone, and just when it seemed her and Elesa were back together again, it was pulled apart by mental health.
"Dammit!" Skyla banged the wall in frustration. It did little to sooth herself, only eliciting a response from the man next door. "HEY! SHADDUP!" She didn't respond, instead lying down on the bed of her room. She checked her watch. Eight hours until we leave.
The Looker was greeted almost immediately as he entered the police station, being ushered into one of the offices. Precincts were laid out differently in Kalos versus Sinnoh; there was much more transparency of the department, even from the entrance.
"Detective." He nodded, greeting who he assumed to be the chief. "Thank you for showing up on such short notice." "The call made it seem urgent, indeed. Tell me what you have so far."
He bent down, fetching a folder from a compartment of his desk. Sprawling it out across the table, there were a few photos of young women. The profile they fit caused the Looker to anticipate the worst.
"Two missing girls in the last month. Both of which seemingly taken while walking through the suburbia surrounding Coumarine." Frowning as he examined the pictures, he made some mental notes on the victims.
While they retained the same general characteristics, being white, Kalosian, female, and relatively young, the secondary features began to diverge. One had dark brown hair, whereas another had black. One was very wealthy, whereas another came from a below average income home.
"How recently are we talking here, officer?" "Ms. Valluet," he tapped on one of the pictures, "was reported only yesterday. The case is still in active investigation; given what our partners in Sinnoh had told us about your work however, I believe she many be another victim of the same killer."
He nodded. "A most logical assumption." "Tell me, detective, have you any ideas that may assist in the recovery of these women? Even if it's just the body, that is." It was painful listening to the man's plea. All I have to do is convince Diantha somehow, and this could all end…
"To be frank, I don't believe we will." The Kalosian frowned at him. "How so?" "As it stands, it seems this killer does not have a specific pattern. They opt to either show off the body as a flaunt, or hide it completely."
"And so you believe, that if the bodies aren't out in the open…" "Then they likely never will be found." He nodded, showing his acceptance. "I see. Naturally, we will remain open minded as we continue this investigation. With any luck, she will be found, alive."
"With any luck, officer." He cleared his throat, standing up. "Don't hesitate to contact me, were you to find anything else." Exchanging a mutual solemn look, the detective left the office, and subsequently the building.
It was strangely colder outside then it had been only a few minutes before. The sun was still out, so he wondered why the air felt so chilled. Perhaps it wasn't the air itself, and his body subconsciously reacting to the blonde woman watching him from a few meters away.
It wasn't as hard to find him as she thought it would've been. Originally, she was going to try to find out where his hotel was, and attack him there. To her luck though, the man happened to appear just in front of her on her walk into the city center.
The individual was unmistakably the Looker; the iconic trench coat gave it away, and his height and familiar hair only served as more proof. Because of the suprising nature of the encounter, Cynthia wasn't yet prepared.
So she opted to follow him. It was in her nature to stalk while remaining unseen. It wasn't too hard to avoid attention in the city even as a famous champion; a well-positioned scarf and a pair of sunglasses gave her all the anonymity she needed.
The Looker had just emerged from a police station. From what she could tell, he didn't receive any new information. He was walking slowly, almost idly, as if pondering something. So she played the waiting game, no longer feeling threatened for time.
It had been a few minutes of following the man before her phone rang. She would've ignored it, but the ringtone she had specifically set for the contact informed her it was Diantha. Looks she's woken up. It was no surprise, given how drunk she had gotten the night before.
She had to slow down to comfortably take the call, ensuring the Looker remained directly in front of her. "Hello?" "Cynthia! Where'd you run off to? I thought we were going to have brunch before my show this morning."
Shit. "Oh, you're right! I forgot, sorry." Diantha laughed. "That's fine. Where are you right now?" "I'm out, erm, shopping." "You? Shopping at a store?" "Mhm!" She sounded like she didn't buy it, but Cynthia knew she wouldn't question her.
"Well, why don't you come back? I won't be leaving for a few hours." God dammit, can't she just lay off! "Uh, maybe…" "You're downtown, right? Just finish up at the store you're at and come home." "Sure, sure. I'll be a little bit."
She hung up then. Cynthia had already fallen a fair bit behind the detective, and had to move a little quicker to catch up. It looked like he had taken a turn down an alleyway, and she hastily entered it herself.
Fucking Diantha! She's always so distracting at the worst damned moments. She was almost positive the Looker had come down the passage she was in, but between the wooden pallets sat behind the buildings and a few dumpsters, the street was empty. Thinking he must've exited the other side, she continued down as fast as she could without drawing attention.
That was a sound stopped her. It was a man, clearing his throat. Anticipating someone catcalling her, the champion turned around, only to meet the Looker, standing no more than ten feet away from her. "I thought someone was following me. It's been a while, champion Cynthia."
It was already dark out as Elesa got into the car. She still felt strange, being sat next to her former lover. Skyla was tucked away in the corner, ensuring she had ample space to feel comfortable.
"So," she spoke softly, "are you flying us back?" "Mhm. Too expensive to scramble a same-day private flight." Elesa nodded in agreement. They were silent for another few minutes, before she decided to address the elephant in the room.
"Skyla… we hooked up again, didn't we?" She was met with a monotone response. "We did." "I-I'm really sorry. I must've made you feel terrible, walking out on you like that." "Don't apologize. It's not like you control this, whatever it is."
"No, I guess not. I still feel guilty, though." The redhead moved her hand over, prodding for Elesa's. With a little reluctance, she got it. "Don't. You have no obligation to what you do when you're not in control."
"I guess." "Look, when we get back to Unova, and you get yourself sorted out, we can always explore us again. But there's no pressure. Okay?" Their hands tightened together. "Okay, Skyla." Rain began to pick up as the car pulled onto a main street. It wouldn't be long before the airport.