When I first wrote this chapter, it was meant to be part of an world building arc that I really wanted to do. Unfortunately, by nature of the characters involved, it was far too similar to some of the things involved with the Eeveelutions arc. The process of rewriting it resulted in this chapter, which had enough material to stand on its own.
If/when I come back to continuing this story, I'll probably try to continue the arc, woven throughout the rest of the story, though as a 'here's what's happening within the rest of the world' and not as part of the main storyline.
A day's travel between both New Bark and Cherrygrove, being so far away from the standard Gym route, Catalia's only visitors were novice trainers or those looking to explore all of Johto. There was a minute group of people who would make the trek from time to time to buy the elusive Spider Silk brand clothing in person, but those were only people who had put in extensive work into finding the supply location.
Involving a handful of significantly notable people in its industry, Spider Silk clothing was a Johtoan National Secret; ties and handkerchiefs made of the material sold for thousands of pid while clothing sold for dozens, and full outfits equal to hundreds of thousands. Inside town limits though, clothing was a much more reasonable affair, and the slew of tailors who took on commissions for alterations and customizations were more than willing to help those who knew about the secret.
"And pink monochrome flames going up the left side, yes." Alex tapped the sketching of the patterns he drafted, a palette of shades and tones directly next to the soft flowing, almost wave like flames licking up the side and over the breast of the model. The seamster nodded, quietly talking to his associate as they drew designs on their own notepad. Once he'd slipped his special black Kalosian bank card out of his wallet, the- what he assumed- owner of the store was more than willing to accommodate his unscheduled visit.
A flattering form fitting dress, Alex had requested a bit of extra material in case June needed alterations. While it was rare that either of them needed to attend something that required such fancy clothing, such functions happened often enough that having options was important. Over the past few years, his own collection had slowly been increasing- mostly in the tie department.
Celèste and Caitlyn had also been picking up more and more clothing for themselves as well. Scarves, cardigans, jackets, sweaters; because of the protrusions on their bodies it was difficult to wear proper clothing, but they enjoyed the chance to dress up all the same. In a corner of the shop, the two were looking through a catalogue of designs, taking turns to hold the image up to the other and comparing them to colored cards. Eventually, both had decided to place an order for a simple scarf. On Celèste's, the red tinged heart gem of Ho-oh- a modern design- was to be placed on one flared end of the white material while on Caitlyn's the metallic white blue of Lugia's spiral soul would be embroidered onto her black scarf.
Slipping away from the film crews and younglings the morning they arrived had been easy enough; a few words about what the town had to offer and everyone was eager to go exploring. He'd kept the most important places to himself though- he had no desire to play chauffeur while on business. "I'm going to visit the museum," he told his two pokémon once they left the store. "Maybe see if Angela's free today. You two have any plans?"
Caitlyn sent over memories of walking through a cultivated forest, of carefully managed branches curving overhead and wild mon playing on the edges of his vision; more specifically, a place located on the outskirts of the city, towards the maintained parks and trails that were perfect for those wanting an isolated moment.
Alex nodded with a small smile, letting them tap away at his X-gear to take out the items they needed. "You two take care. I'll meet you back at the Center, alright?"
A bright sun, light clouds in the sky, and the whispers of conversation in the breeze. If ever Alex had to settle down in an urban area, it would be a quiet place like this. A lack of vehicles sputtering along, a close knit community, and a united purpose that all could indulge in.
Much like the rest of Johto, Catalia's architecture was heavily rooted in the past, though still significantly more younger than someplace like Ecruteak or Mahogany. Speaking of a time when expansion was at its peak and settlements rose and fell like winter wheat, the 'old days' design persisted into modern day, though over time buildings were updated to benefit from innovations in hazard mitigation.
Catalia's history museum was one such place. Torn down a few years ago in order to create more wings as well as meet modern building codes, the place was much the same visually. A large open room to showcase their centerpiece, and several rooms off to the side for the more specific themes.
The last time Alex stopped by here a few months ago, there was an exhibit on the myths surrounding Kyogre, a member of Hoenn's Weather Trio. How they had gotten the sculptures and paintings he had no clue, but what was important was that it was the most informative exhibit he'd seen outside of Hoenn itself.
This time however, the exhibit was curiously missing one of its central pieces: a large, ancient painting depicting Kyogre in all its glory, breaching the surface of the water with waves and other water types rising up with it. In its place, a simple sheet covered the standing wall.
An aged statuette of the water Legend was still in its display case, and the large stained glass portrait was also hung up, but having seen the exposé in all its former glory, the loss of the centerpiece was keenly felt.
"It's a terrible shame, isn't it?" Alex turned to look at the man beside him. Well dressed and on the other side of sixty, the man must have been from another part of Johto. "Three days ago the most beautiful painting of Lady Kyogre stood here. A masterpiece even today, the artist commanded the paints they had with exquisite beauty." He shook his head. "I don't blame the museum for losing it; who would expect a vandal to come to someplace this far away, especially for a single piece?"
Alex raised a brow. "'The Titan of the Sea' got vandalized?"
"O-hoh? So you've seen the piece before?" The man gave him an appraising look. "Three days ago someone slipped into the museum and damaged all the security systems. Took the painting right out of its frame and slipped off during the guard's down time. A trainer found the ruined piece on the outskirts of town just the other day at a destroyed camp. Corners and pieces of the painting were cut right out of it like holes in a paper snowflake. The nerve of some people. Bah! There's technology that can do what they wanted, absolutely no need for them to ruin Hoenn's heritage like that!"
Alex tightened his fist slightly. The intentional destruction of irreplaceable history was unforgivable, especially a piece as old as that one. Though 'The Titan of the Sea' was a recreation of the original cave piece found in the islands of South East Hoenn, it was still well over a thousand years old. Unlike other contemporary pieces, rather than the angular, blocky depictions found during that time frame, 'The Titan of the Sea' was one of the few pieces that utilized more realistic angles and curves. It also held the distinction of being the only piece that showed Kyogre with yellow markings on its back rather than red, a trait shared with a fragmented cave painting of Groudon (whose original markings were black) discovered near the region of Meteor Falls.
"They never found who did it?" He asked, taking a moment to compose himself.
"Not that I would know of, but maybe a trainer like you would be able to find out more? I'm sure the campsite was already ruined by now, but maybe one of your pokémon have an ability to let them follow any tracks?" The man gave a small smile before adjusting his fedora. "If you'll excuse me."
It was around an hour later that Alex left the museum and subsequent bookstore, a book on the care of spiders in tow. He'd once had a galvantula as one of his team members a few years back, but after the events in Orre, Hayaku was among the members of his team who decided to be released rather than stay with him. The memories of training and taking care of an arachnid pokemon were still with him though, but the spinarak line were significantly different than the electric-eating line of joltik. And so it was, open book in hand, that Alex slowly made his way to a very particular ice cream store.
The Frozen Pineco was an old shop, even when Alex first passed through Catalia over ten years ago. Their owners now firmly in their late sixties, the ice cream store was a beloved place within the town. While they served the traditional ice creams that one would expect, including some popular fads such as ice cream cookie sandwiches, their true specialty were the elegant cakes and other sweets they made in the adjacent building next door.
With over forty years under their belts and nearly three generations having passed through their doors, it wasn't an uncommon event for a Catalia raised confectioner managing to land a more high profile job within the main cities, be it with another company or one of the more prolific branches.
If the stories from Angela were to be believed, there was a bit of a mafia around the enterprise; protecting deliveries for the pride of Catalia, interrupting the deliveries of other bakeries, and securing only the best ingredients from suppliers. Considering the woman had been coming to this store since she was a mere kid, counting herself among one of the many Mr. and Mrs. Candelaria considered their unofficial children, it was entirely likely she had been fed fantastical stories from the Kantonian emigrants.
Alex himself was more akin to a second nephew to the two, having stopped by often over the past several months, and he was strongly suspecting that Celèste and Caitlyn were rapidly approaching the status of nieces once removed considering how well they were getting on with Mr. Candelaria's jynx. A pokémon friendly store, the two sensors usually opted for an entirely too sweet, shared concoction of chocolate cookies and liquified mint ice cream. He could remember the beads of sweat at how much of a hassle it caused their teeth.
"Alex!" The man blinked out of his reverie, rising and giving a wide smile as Angela stepped towards him. "It's been forever since we last talked, how have you been?"
"Same old, same old." He pulled away from the hug, motioning for her to sit down as he did the same. "Travelling the world, busting crimes, helping Celèste perfect the art of staying dry in a rainstorm. What about you? How's the family?"
"Markus is doing just fine, and the kids just entered middle school."
"No desire to go on a journey of their own?" He asked, one part teasing one part genuine curiosity.
"Still no desire, not that I'm complaining. Since my sister stepped down, I've managed to get plenty saved up, but a journey's still expensive." The brunette narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Not everyone can be as successful as you, Mister Battle Master."
Alex lowered his voice, careful not to let anybody overhear. "Oh, using titles are we, Officer Jenny?" A moment passed before the two of them started laughing.
"So what brings you to Catalia? Nothing I need to be aware of, I hope?"
By sheer factor of his battling achievements, his presence in an area would always be cause of concern to those in the know; whether because of what he and his team represented or because something in their jurisdiction had meant him being called over. "Not unless I need to be informed about any changes in local laws regarding the capture of local spinarak." Alex glanced back at his book. "I was also curious about a certain incident that happened recently, one involving a sea titan, if you're allowed to talk about it."
"Oh, good, I could use another pair of eyes on the subject." Angela thanked the waiter as he placed down her usual: a neapolitan banana split with a cherry on each whipped cream topped scoop, an inordinate amount of chocolate syrup drizzled across top completing the cavity inducing treat. "Johto might end up giving you an award on the side if you manage to help out enough." The woman gave a pleased hum as she spooned down a careful selection of chocolate, banana, and vanilla, uncaring of the expression she was making.
"So about six months ago, one of the museums along Olivine's outskirts reported a robbery. An old stone carving they had on display regarding ancient tribes along the coastline was destroyed, some kind of circular medallion or something. Two days later, a park ranger for a beach along the southern coast reported that a sea cave long marked as 'no access' was broken into. Deep within, a tunnel previously thought to be a dead end was busted open and behind that was a cavern that was only otherwise accessible through an underwater cave." Angela motioned for one of his untouched water cups, swishing around the gulp a few times before swallowing.
"In there, there was an opened chest, with the medallion broken clean along the seam like some ancient key straight out of the movies. The rest of the chests were completely untouched, and as far as the investigators could tell the only thing that was taken was a bunch of art pieces. Flash forward a few weeks and then Goldenrod reports a theft. Five days later, the best depiction of Goldenrod four hundred years ago turns up in a pawn shop and at the hill where the painting was originally made, the villa of one of Goldenrod's historic leaders was broken into and all its art pieces of islands were stolen."
She jabbed her spoon into the chocolate scoop- the least touched of the three- roughly. "Things go quiet a while after that, but then! One of Alto Mare's libraries reported that one of their pieces on a place widely regarded as the island's first church before it was abandoned was stolen and found butchered at the same site it depicted, deep within the forested heart of the island. So imagine my surprise and irritation when apparently this art thief waltzed in through-" she cleared her throat, taking a moment to compose her building outrage. "Whoever this thief is, they know what they're doing. An electric type trained in interfacing with technology to break in or disable feeds, a pokémon that's precise enough to cleanly cut through frames and leave the picture inside undamaged, and a pokémon that can cause sleep without leaving behind any residue; and that's not even counting how they're able to just up and disappear if the tracks we found from from their abandoned camp mean anything."
Alex tapped his arm for several moments, processing the information. An art thief slash vandal with a penchant for landscapes. Said paintings would be discovered towards their depicted locations. He glanced outside the window, watching a few people pass by. "How long ago did the Alto Mare event happen?"
"About four months ago. Know something?"
"I was on the island around then. They were hosting their annual Tour de Alto Mare." Alex frowned. "You said it was a library, not a museum?"
"Mm. Though with how many historical pieces and exhibits are spread across the island, all of them might as well be a museum."
Alex shook his head. The entire thing felt like somebody's extremely expensive scavenger hunt. "I'll try and keep an ear out for anything. Who should I report in to?"
"Officer Deflores in Goldenrod. He's in command of this investigation as a whole. That thing of yours work as a- huh. Interesting." Angela tapped away at the screen of his X-gear, occasionally asking the odd question on how to access something. "I'll let him know that you're aware about the situation." She smiled grimly. "As much wandering about as you do I'm sure you'll stumble across something. Now! What was that about catching a spinarak?"
It's an hour away from sunset by the time Alex found himself deep in the nests of the Catalia spinarak battle colony. Breeding experiments from decades past, a foundation of unscientific but no less logical ideas had made it so the local spinarak had developed into three different breeds. Those with larger silk sacs suitable for clothing or general use, those whose venom sacs had been focused on, and those bred somewhere in between. It was the last type that Alex was hoping would be willing to a capture, though he wasn't exactly adverse to picking up a spinarak with highly corrosive poison.
"You'll be getting the equivalent of a toddler," his guide told him. A man a decade and a half his elder, Anthony Morgan had been one of the caretakers of the breeding colonies all his life. As expected of a national secret, the spinarak were extremely territorial, and it was only the presence of Anthony that kept him safe. 'If you walked in here without a guide, it would have been worse than walking into a beedrill nest,' he'd said along the way.
When Alex stepped into the clearing, a tri-fork in the road, the quiet chittering he'd been hearing since they'd entered went silent. "My name is Alexander Collens. I'm looking for a companion to train and eventually gift to my friend. She focuses primarily in stealth, though sometimes she ends up in a proper scrap." Celéste flared her Aura in specific ways as he spoke, translating and emphasizing his words to better communicate.
It took time, but eventually an ariados scuttled down a tree, a spinarak smaller than his palm on its back. The two chittered to each other for a few moments, before the spinarak fired a string of silk to his shoulder and nervously made its way onto him. Celèste gave a subtle nod to the ariados, the evolution turning around and disappearing into the branches.
Anthony led him back to the house in silence, an odd look given every so often before the man shook his head and continued pressing forward. "You have a gift for pokémon," he commented, once they were inside. Cups of coffee were between them, and though it was late, he took the offer anyway.
"It helps when one of your companions can speak to their Souls." Alex glanced over to his core team, the six pokémon introducing themselves to the young spinarak over a shared bowl of finely made pokéblock. The mixture required more effort than he usually made it, but in order for his newest companion to digest the plant based treat properly it had to be done, toxin breakdown notwithstanding.
Anthony simply grunted. "I trust you have all the books on spinarak care?"
"Picked them up from the bookstores this morning. I used to take care of a joltik in my teens. It later evolved into a ganlantula. Still alive," he added, "but at the time I travelled around too much to help him molt properly so I left him with a friend."
"Ariados become bigger than galvantula, you know."
Alex nodded. "A full foot bigger, but my friend's in a position where she can handle it." By now the tiny spider was awestruck, listening to Morgan regale a heavily doctored tale of the time the vaporeon kept a flood from destroying a forest.
Though unlike a rock jutting out in the ocean and parting the waves, the real story involved him rapidly breaking off multiple sections of the incoming tide- a product of a damaged dam several hundred feet up stream- into dozens of whirlpools, each tornado of water meant to spray their contents over the land in semi-controlled amounts rather than one massive deluge.
Anthony simply humphed. "Take your time getting your team acquainted. Just make sure to leave before sundown. The spinarak start hunting around then."
Alex only nodded once again, debating whether or not it would be worth the trouble to watch spinarak actively hunt instead of waiting for prey to appear.