Casefile #3: Blunt Force Trauma

(I really do hope you've been reading the author's notes or else we're both gonna have problems)

Katie:"Come on out my friend! Calling-.. Dammit, what was his name again?"

Nate:"Jibanyan."

Katie:"Right, Jibanyan!"

Katie then proceeded to put the medal into the slot.

Summoning charming: Jibanyan!

Jibanyan shot out of the watch a little too fast and hit the ceiling of the office and fell flat on the floor.

Hailey:"Hey, be careful with the ceiling! I don't think we can afford to repair it if it breaks."

Jibanyan:"I'm okay Hailey, thanks for asking."

Jibanyan said in a sarcastic tone as he got up from the floor.

Jibanyan:"Seriously?! I thought I told you to watch the ceiling when you summon me!"

Nate:"Ah, shoot! S-sorry, my bad."

Katie:"Whoops.."

Jibanyan:"Yeah yeah. Hey do you guys still have that big bowl of snacks here? I could really use some."

Jibanyan quickly rubbed it off.

Katie:"Woah… That was pretty cool, so.. Can this thing do anything else or..?"

Whisper:"Well, try pressing and holding that button on the side."

Katie:"It's a light.. Does it do anything?"

Whisper:"Well, when you're in your world, the naked eye isn't able to see Yo-Kai, but you can use that particular light to be able to see and hear them, that's how young Nate here can still see us in the human world."

Katie:"Hey, is that why you like to talk to yourself a lot?"

Nate:"Y-you noticed?"

Katie:"Dude, It's like what you're known for."

Nate:*groan* "Aww man, everyone must think I'm a total weirdo.."

Katie chuckled.

Katie:"Oh, well I think you're kinda cute when you talk to yourself!"

Nate:"What?"

Katie's face quickly turned red.

Katie"I-I meant, I don't think it's weird at all! I-it's perfectly normal to talk to yourself!"

Katie said quickly while blushing profusely.

Nate:"O..kay… Thanks, I guess?"

Blizzie:"Okie dokie my fine friends, I just got off the phone, we got ourselves a fresh case."

Hailey:"Alright! What's the deal?"

Blizzie:"Well, our new client, his cousin was murdered a few days ago, he said Yo-Kai PD isn't completely focused on it so they haven't caught the culprit so his soul is still out there and he wants you to help. He said he's on his way here now."

Hailey:"Okay, rookie, here's your first official case. Let's see how you handle it!"

Hailey said to Katie with an enthusiastic tone and put her hand on her shoulder. After that, the front door opened to reveal a blue human-like, Yo-Kai with purple hair carrying a backpack.

Blizzie:"Oh, hi, you must be Scott Spiritson? we spoke on the phone."

Client:"Uh, yeah.."

Katie:"Scott? That's a pretty normal name, all the Yo-Kai names I've heard so far were pretty wacky…"

Whisper:"Well, you see, some Yo-Kai don't have distinguishable abilities from other Yo-Kai, these Yo-Kai don't have medals and they all look very similar, that's why they just use first names and surnames."

Hailey:"Okay, go ahead and sit down here, you want some water or anything?"

Client:"Yes I'd like that, thank you."

He said as he took a seat on one of the small red sofas.

Nate:"So you talked about your cousin being murdered a few days ago?"

Client:"Yeah, that's right.. Yo-Kai PD is working the case but.. They haven't made any breakthroughs so I decided to get some extra help."

Nate:"Okay, do you happen to know any details that might be important?"

Client:"Well, uh.. His body was dumped on the side of the road in Spirit's Corridor. Uhm.. the cops said a local delivery man found him in the morning?"

Hailey:"When did you last see him? No detail is too small."

Client:"Well uh, we were actually having a house party, we live in Kappa-Spring Drive.. Matt said he wanted to go outside and get some fresh air, and when I decided to check on him, he was gone.."

Hailey:"Whapir, could you give us a hand over here?"

Whapir:"Certainly!"

Whapir approached their client and huffed his memory into a viewable display for the team. They saw the vision of the victim going out the backdoor into the backyard, the clock beside the backdoor was telling the time when it happened: 9:15 PM.

Hailey:"So he went outside at 9:15 PM and he was found dead the next day.."

Nate:"Uh, anything else?"

Client:"I.. Actually brought some photos they gave me, I-I'm not supposed to show you these, but.. I was hoping it could help."

Hailey:"Alright, We'll look into them."

Hailey said as she walked back to the coffee table with a cup of water in hand. The client then reached into his backpack to grab the crime scene photos.

Client:"Hey, I'm really sorry but.. I'm not really comfortable with looking at these so I'm gonna have to leave.. I tried to take everything about my cousin's case in this bag so.. Hopefully it helps.."

Katie:"That's okay, we'll try our best."

Katie said before their client thanked them and left the office in a quick manner.

The team looked and observed at the photos laid down on the table by their client.

Hailey:"Hmm.. Look, there's a bunch of bruise marks all over his body, you think he was beat up?"

Nate:"Hey look, there's a little graffiti tag on the pavement next to him, it kinda looks like a hammer, you think that's important?"

Katie:"Wait, he said he left us everything from Yo-Kai PD that he could find, lemme see what's in here."

Katie said as she started rummaging through their client's backpack.

Katie:"Hey, look! An autopsy report… It says here the official cause of death was an impact from a heavy object.. It says here the official time of death was around 10 PM?"

Nate:"Well, our client did say he last saw him around 9:15 at his house party."

Hailey:"Wait a minute.."

Hailey got up and walked to a map of the city that was stapled to a wall in the office.

Hailey:"So.. Where was the house party, exactly?"

USApyon:"He said it was in Kappa-Spring Drive."

Hailey:"So that's about…. Here, and his body was found on the side of the road about… here."

Hailey put both her index fingers on both the locations on the map.

USApyon:"That doesn't make any sense, they're gosh dang far apart!"

Nate:"Far enough for a 45 minute drive…"

Hailey:"So the unsub keeps him alive for a while, just to drive over there and finish him off? But how does he get him to come there?"

Katie:"I'm sorry, unsub?"

Whisper:"Unsub stands for unidentified or unknown subject, it's a term used by law enforcement to call their culprit."

Hailey:"I mean, 'unsub' just sounds cooler y'know."

Nate:"Katie, does that report say anything about a toxicology test?"

Katie:"Oh, Uh... no.."

Hailey:"If he wasn't drugged.. I guess that leaves us with other possibilities. He might've been outnumbered, overpowered, or he might've even come there willingly."

USApyon:"Well we're not gonna find anything by just sittin' here. We should go pay a visit to the scene."

Hailey:"You're right, you're right, we should split up. I'll go to the dump site, Katie, you and Nate go to his house, see what you can find out."

Nate:"Right, we'll meet back here in a few hours?"

-hard cut-

Nate:"Well, looks like this is the place."

Katie:"It's a nice house. The decor rubs me the wrong way a little but.. It's still a nice house."

Nate:*shrug* "You'll get used to it."

Nate walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. Soon after, the door was opened by a relatively old Yo-Kai couple.

Nate:"Uh..Hi."

Wife:"Hello, can we help you?"

The woman said in a not very lively tone.

Nate:"Well, uh.. Do you.. Happen to know Matt Hardinger by any chance?"

Husband:"Oh, Well I'm afraid our son-"

Nate:"We know."

Wife:"Are you.. Matthew's friends or?"

Nate:"O-oh no, we're just private investigators.. We were hoping to ask you a few questions if possible?"

Husband:"Private investigators? Who hired you?"

Nate:"Well.. I believe your nephew did.."

Wife:"But we already answered all the questions Yo-Kai PD gave us, and they're already trying to save him, I'm sorry but I'm going to ask you to leave-"

Nate:"W-wait! I…" *sigh* "Look.. I know it's hard but I can assure you all we want to do is help save your son."

Katie:"Please.. Just.. let us help."

The husband slowly nodded.

Husband:"Fine."

Wife:"But, honey-"

Husband:"It's okay, I'll be the one answering their questions."

-hard cut-

Hailey:"This is the dump site, huh?"

USApyon:"It should be.."

Hailey:"So the body was dumped about… here."

Hailey said as she pointed down at the ground where she stood.

USApyon:"A pretty strange choice, he coulda dumped him somewhere more discreet."

Hailey:"Yeah… any passing car could see the body dumped here.. Wait.. USApyon, show me those pictures again!"

USApyon:"Um.. Okay?"

USApyon pulled out his Yo-Kai pad and opened the crime scene photos.

Hailey:"His body was dumped here, facing the road, covered in bruises, there's defense wounds too.. And there's this specific hammer graffiti tag on the ground next to him…"

USApyon:"Well that graffiti mark isn't here anymore, they cleaned it up.."

Hailey rubbed her chin for a bit.

Hailey:"Wait.. Maybe he wasn't trying to be discreet at all.."

USApyon:"Whaddaya mean?"

Hailey:" I mean, think about it."

Hailey got down and lied on the pavement, positioning herself like the body in the crime scene photos.

Hailey:"He didn't bother to hide the body, it was even facing the road, in a fetal position!"

USApyon:"And then he tags the ground with his signature about right here.."

-hard cut-

Nate:"So.. Has your son been seeing anyone.. Suspicious, out of the ordinary?"

Husband:"Well.. Not that we know of.."

Katie:"Well.. did he have any enemies?"

Husband:"Heck if I know.. Matthew was pretty likeable."

Nate:"Did you know about the party he was having that night?"

Husband:"Yeah, he texted me about it, me and his mother were going out that night."

Nate:"Hmm.. Well, was there anything significant that happened to Matthew recently?"

Husband:"Oh, yes! He was recently accepted to be a member of Enma's royal guard."

Whisper:"What?! No way!"

Whisper said in a sudden outburst.

Nate:"Woah man, calm down!"

Whisper:"But don't you see, Nathan? Enma's royal guard is the most elite group of law enforcement in The Yo-Kai world! Only the most powerful, skilled, and disciplined Yo-Kai are a part of it, out of thousands of candidates being selected to join it, only a few actually join it every 6 months!"

Nate:"Once every six months, huh?"

Husband:"Well.. I don't see how that would make anyone want to hurt my son."

Nate:"Well… If we find anything, we'll let you know. If you'll excuse us, I think we've got what we need."

Husband:"Hope it was helpful."

-hard cut to the office-

Hailey:"Huh...So he was a royal guardsman?"

Nate:"Yup. Did you find anything at the dump site?"

Hailey:"Yeah, not a lot of details, but enough for a profile."

Hailey:"So, we know he's organized and he chose Matt for a specific reason, most likely the fact that he's been promoted to join Enma's royal guard."

Nate:"Matt's body was positioned facing the road in a fetal position, no sign of remorse, so possibly, our unsub lacks empathy. He was able to execute his crime without anyone noticing, which means he's probably highly intelligent and planned, something like this couldn't have been spontaneous..."

Hailey:"The Excessive bruising, it points to displaced anger. He didn't even try to hide the body… he put it somewhere everyone passing the road could see.."

Nate:"As if he's trying to get people to notice.. A royal guardsman would be some sort of symbol of power to this unsub. Since there were defense wounds on Matt's body, we know he tried to fight back, and by taking him down in a fight, the unsub is establishing his power.. The position of the body, the graffiti tag, it's like he's trying to get noticed. Like he's trying to show how strong he is, like he wants validation."

Hailey:"So he lacks empathy, has no remorse, and he's a self centered attention seeker, this guy sounds like a total jerk!"

USApyon:"Well, a royal guardsman must represent something this guy hates, so maybe he's under the shadow of someone similar. He might even work at Enma's palace."

Hailey:"Well that definitely does fit the profile.. But if it sprouted from hatred towards those kinds of people, a crime as clean and as aggressive as this couldn't have been his first.. Blizzie could you check unsolved murder cases dating back last year? Cross-reference victim names with members of the royal guard."

Blizzie:"Yeah yeah chief, I got it.."

Blizzie started typing away on her laptop for a little while until she got an answer.

Blizzie:"Woah.. There's like 4 other cases here.. The first one was about a month ago."

Nate:"Anything similar?"

Blizzie:"Well, all of them were found somewhere in Spirit's Corridor, all of the autopsy reports said they were all beaten up by a heavy object.. They were all the newest members of the guard.. Okay.. So for the first 2 victims, their bodies were actually hidden in a dumpster, but the other 2, they were just dumped on the side of the road.."

Hailey:"I guess that must've been when he decided he wanted the attention, hey Blizzie, in those last 2 cases, were there some graffiti tags of a hammer next to the bodies?"

Blizzie took a little while to find and pull up the crime scene photos from the 2 cases.

Blizzie:"Huh, how'd you know?"

Nate:"Right, looks like we've found our guy."

Katie:"Well.. If he's the one doing all this, then he'd have to know everyone who got accepted in the guard, right?"

Hailey:"You're right… Blizzie, can you get me a list of all of Enma's low-ranking guards? Specifically the ones stationed in this city, someone like that oughta know. And then we can narrow the list from there."

Katie:"Whoa, she can do that too?"

Hailey:"Uhm.."

-transition into Hailey's flashback-

Robonyan:"I shall be going now, I'd like to thank you all for your aid."

Hailey:"Oh well it's all in a day's work, robonyan, no need to thank us!"

Hailey said humbly.

Robonyan:"Before I go, I'd like to present you with a parting gift. You there!"

Robonyan said as he pointed towards Blizzie.

Blizzie:"Uh.. Yeah?"

Robonyan:"You seem to be quite capable with computers, yes?"

Blizzie:"Well yeah, It's kinda my job here.."

Robonyan then opened his mouth wide and spat out something in her direction, which caught her off guard but she was still able to catch it in time.

Blizzie:"A USB port?"

She said with an unimpressed tone.

Robonyan:"Affirmative. However this one is very much more advanced. It can scour every last section of the internet, it should be able to help you find any personal documents, records, police files, trace cell phones, and follow paper trails anywhere in the world while being completely untraceable both in the human and Yo-kai world, and with this era's primitive technology, it should do so with great ease."

Blizzie:"Woah, really? That's sweet!"

Nate:"Wait, so she can just go and dig up any dirty secret she wants? is that.. Is that even legal?"

Robonyan:"It should be a tremendously great help in future investigations."

Whisper:"I don't think we should be enabling this.."

Hailey:"Y-yeah, hey Robonyan-"

Robonyan:"I'LL BE BACK!"

Hailey:"HEY W-"

Before Hailey could say anything, Robonyan had already passed his portal gateway to the future.

-End of flashback-

Hailey:"Yeeaah it's probably best not to question her.."

Nate:"It's kinda scary that she can do that now.."

Blizzie:"Alright chief, I got about 239 Yo-Kai, what do you want me to do with em'?"

Hailey:"Narrow it down to the ones doing their duty in Spirit's Corridor."

Blizzie:"Um… That's still about 64."

Nate:"Which ones end their shift somewhere before 9:15?"

Blizzie:"Let's see… about 16."

Nate:"This guy holds some kinda grudge against the royal guard... Try to find one from them that recently got rejected or discharged from it.. That could be the stresser.."

Blizzie:"Ah, okay.. This might take a while.."

Blizzie typed away at her little laptop until she stumbled upon something important.

Blizzie:"Okay, I think I found your guy.. Hammurai, Brave Tribe."

Hailey:"Oh c'mon, a name like that is definitely our Unsub!"

Blizzie:"He was part of the royal guard for a few months before getting dishonourably discharged for reckless behaviour and disobedience a few weeks before the first murder."

USApyon:"Something like that must've REALLY tanked his ego."

Nate:"You got a last known address?"

Blizzie:"No.. But he does own a warehouse in the southern area of Spirit's Corridor."

Nate:"Bingo, thanks Blizzie.

Blizzie:"Good luck, hotshots."

-hard cut to the warehouse-

Katie:"Blizzie said this was the place?"

Hailey:"Definitely looks like somewhere a serial killer would hang out.."

Nate took out his blaster and gently opened the door which made a significant creaking noise.

Nate:"It's dark in there.."

Hailey:"Nate, are you scared?"

Nate:"Wh-No!"

Hailey:"I can see your legs shaking.."

Nate:"I-I don't know what you're talking about-"

Hailey:"Oh, man up dude, c'mon!"

Nate:"Look! I'm just... not used to this sorta thing!"

Hailey:"Are you actually scared of the dark? what are you, 9?!"

Nate:"C'mon man! Don't boss me around like that! We're on the same level here!"

Katie turned to USApyon while Nate and Hailey continued to yell at each other

Katie:"D-do they always argue like this?"

USApyon:"Oh you don't know the half of it."

Nate groaned and mustered up the courage to push himself into the building and the others followed after. The dark and dingy dimly-lit warehouse was filled with scaffoldings and stacks of boxes. The group crept in slowly and glanced around the room.

Hailey:"Yeesh, it's pretty damp here."

Katie:"You think he's actually in here?"

Hailey:"Hopefully not.. We're just here to find enough evidence to convict him, someone like him would keep memories of his crimes to make himself feel good"

Whisper glanced around the room until he saw a pair of blue eyes peeking through a small gap in the scaffolding.

Whisper:"Hey! W-What was that?!"

Nate:"What was what?"

Whisper:"Th-there was someone watching! From over there!"

Whisper frantically looked around the room and found the same pair of eyes again watching from a different spot.

Whisper:"It's over there now!"

Hailey:"Really Whisper? You're a bigger scaredy-cat than Nate!"

Nate:"Hey!"

Hailey walked over to the stack of boxes Whisper pointed at.

Hailey:"Whisper, there's no one here-"

Hailey moved one of the boxes to reveal a relatively large Yo-Kai in a crimson suit of samurai armor holding a hammer engulfed in spirit flames.

Hammurai:"TRESPASSERS!"

Hailey:"eeEEAAA-"

Without warning, the Yo-Kai tried to topple the scaffolding on Hailey which she was barely able to dodge, the Yo-Kai then lifted up his hammer and slammed it down on the floor causing a number of fissures sprouting out in different directions.

Nate:"Woah! Heads up!"

Everyone dodged the incoming fissures, the Yo-Kai then began swinging his hammer back and forth knocking down scaffoldings and stacks of boxes shot out everywhere. Everyone barely dodged all the flying boxes coming, Nate took Katie's hand and pulled her to a safer area behind another scaffolding.

Nate:"Hey! You okay?"

Katie:"Y-yeah, I think so, what are we gonna do?"

Nate:"I guess we're just gonna have to hold out against him."

Katie:"Can't we just.. Talk to him?"

Nate:"He's not gonna listen until we defeat him, he solves all his problems with aggression, we gotta stick to the profile!"

Katie:"Profile…"

She muttered under her breath curiously. Suddenly the scaffolding was hit and it sled and rammed into the wall where they were, almost sandwiching Nate and Katie in the process.

Nate:"Woah! Alright knucklehead, is that what you want?"

Nate muttered under his breath before taking out JIbanyan's medal like usual.

Nate:"Come on out my friend! Calling Jibanyan!"

Summoning Charming: Jibanyan!

Jibanyan:"Man, this better be quick Nyate, I was just in the middle o-"

Upon being summoned, Jibanyan was greeted by an incoming hammer at high speed, fortunately Jibanyan's fast reflexes were enough to allow him to dodge the hammer.

Jibanyan:"nyAAH! NYATE WHAT THE HECK!? THIS GUY'S HUGE! WHY IS YOUR FIRST INSTINCT ALWAYS TO CALL ME!?"

Nate:"S-SORRY! I-I DON'T KNOW WHY, IT JUST HAPPENS!"

He shouted as they ran from the large Yo-Kai. Nate then stuck the medal in his blaster, turned around, and shot him in the face which blinded him for a very short period of time. He gave a loud groan and spun his hammer around more violently.

Hailey:"Darn it! What are we gonna do? That blaster's not gonna do anything!"

USApyon:"He's big and tough, we can't just hammer down on him, we gotta find a way to knock him off his game."

Hailey:"Knock him off… I got it! I need the medallium! Whisper!"

Whisper reacted quickly, he took out the medallium and threw it in Hailey's direction. Hailey caught it with both her hands and quickly flipped through the pages.

Hailey:"Got'cha! Come on out my friend! Calling Slush!"

Summoning Eerie: Slush!

Hailey:"Listen buddy, I need you to frost up these floors, make that guy slip, can you do that for me?"

Slush responded with a nod and floated over to the large Yo-Kai, it started emitting a faint aura, but before long, the floor had been covered with a very thin layer of ice, causing the violently spinning Yo-Kai to slip and fall. All the others then pushed over the scaffolding next to him, making it fall on him.

-time skip-

Hailey:"So, how's that for some action eh, rookie?"

Katie:"Whew man, that was pretty intense.."

Nate:"You sure you wanna keep this job, Katie? I mean that was pretty hectic."

Katie:"Yeah!.. I'll get used to it. That was awesome!"

She chuckled.

Katie:"Hey, that was pretty cool!"

Nate:"What?"

Katie:"Y'know, the way you guys managed to figure him all out back in the office, how'd you do that?"

Hailey:"Oh, you mean profiling?"

Katie:"Profiling?"

Hailey:"I mean it's really just noticing behaviour and connecting dots, but building a profile really does go a long way, it determines a lotta things about an unsub."

Katie:"Well, you gotta teach me how to do that!"

Hailey:"Hey! Looks like he's wakin' up!"

She pointed over to Hammurai, who was now tied up in ropes in the corner.

Nate:"I'll go talk to him."

Nate walked over to the seemingly-annoyed Yo-Kai.

Nate:"Hey!"

Hammurai:"..."

Nate:"Right uh.. S-Sorry for the whole mess… Anyway, Yo-Kai PD should be on their way here."

Hammurai:"Great, so you caught a serial killer, you here to rub in my face?"

Nate:"Oh no, you were able to.. Take down 5 high ranking royal guardsmen with no witnesses, I mean that's pretty impressive."

Hammurai:"Oh really? You tryna suck up to me now?"

Nate:"What? No, c'mon… Look, I know you were discharged from the royal guard back then.

The Yo-Kai groaned.

Nate:"Hey, It wasn't because of 'bad behaviour' like it said in the papers.. Rather, I think it was because you just weren't compatible, right? You wanna do things your own way."

Hammurai:"Huh?"

Nate:"You've held that grudge against them for so long, your anger's the reason why you did all those things, you wanted to show them you were better, right?"

Hammurai:"Right…"

Nate:"And that led you to take the lives of all these good Yo-Kai… I don't want you to waste your powers on a revenge that'll never be complete. Look, you and I both know you don't want to go down as a.. Serial killer. What you can do with your abilities is incredible and you've wanted someone to acknowledge that for a really long time. So what do you say you help me out here? No one to boss you around, and everyone'll see what you can do and that you're putting it into something good… I mean.. It'll take some time off your sentence if it's any consolation.

Hammurai:"Y'know what? Not bad.."

Nate:"Well of course, you're gonna have to return all the souls of your victims, they have families, y'know."

Hammurai:"Well, I.. Guess that won't be a problem."

Suddenly, a medal appeared out of thin air and fell into Nate's hand.

Hailey:"See? A profile also tells you what's the best approach when talking to an unsub, his profile told us he yearns for validation and admiration of what he can do."

Katie:"Woah."

Hailey:"Hey, you'll get the hang of profiling one day! But there is one condition."

Katie:"What?"

Hailey:"All of us promised not to profile each other, it's kinda a breach of privacy really. you can do that, right?"

Katie:"Haha, yeah sure."

-hard cut to the office-

Hailey:"So, that's another case closed!"

She said cheerfully before she took out a paper file and set it on the desk.

Hailey:"So, Katie the last thing we do here is file a report on the case. Since you're new here, I'll let you have the honor of doing that."

Katie:"Wait what?"

Hailey:"CYA ROOKIE!"

She shouted as everyone apart from Katie went into the warp door.

Katie:"HEY NO FAIR, I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO THIS!"

Author's Notes

-Okay so I don't know if this case was too complicated for a third case, but I think it's a good example of how these are gonna be

-Don't worry, not all of these are gonna be about serial killers

-I acknowledge that Hammurai is a stupid, stupid name, but i'm sorry, you can't expect me to come up with something better.

-The concept of criminal profiling is gonna be a really important part of this fic.

-You might be able to tell that I based Blizzie off of Penelope Garcia from 'Criminal Minds' which is the main inspiration for this fic, you might find a lot of similar things but I do watch other crime shows.

-All the places mentioned in New Yo-Kai city are places that i completely made up, mainly because I don't know the actual names of the areas in the city

-The name and surname explanation is also something I made up to make writing this fic easier since I don't have the creative capacity to make Yo-Kai watch-level good names.

-Like I said before, all the Yo-Criminals' redemption arc have to be quick in order to make this work, I know that it's completely unnatural for someone to warm up to someone that fast, but I'm kinda forced to do that to make this fic work.

-Yes, unsub is a real word.

-I think I did say that Katie likes Nate instead of the other way round in this time period since I thought It would be an interesting concept