Discovery

On the dawn of a brisk morning, Katy eagerly woke up and scarfed down a quick breakfast with her team. Today was the day they were doing something different. She must have had some kind of spark about her, because Xander especially was watching her prepare her bag and Bentley's saddle, apparently a little confused as a to what she had to be so excited about. "We're going on an adventure," she responded to Xander's inquiring eyes, "And it's going to be a lot of fun. Are you ready?"

He blinked. "Rurr." Xander disinterestedly looked away to have some more water.

Katy just smiled and shook her head at him as she readied her saddle. Soon enough, everyone had been fed and put back in their spheres except for Bentley. Banksy had opted to stay in her Ball; she wasn't a fan of flying as high as they would be today. Sometimes Katy wasn't a fan of it either as wobbly as Bentley had a tendency to be. But she still preferred to fly with him than Charlie; he was terrifying. Not always with how fast he was, but how he weaved and flipped and dove and spun. Every time she flew with Charlie she saw her life flash before her eyes. He just was not meant to be a ride Pokémon.

Bourbonville was about two hours away by car, so it was likely around that same time to fly with Bentley going at a pace that didn't exhaust him. But Katy could hardly contain herself. She had no idea what was going to happen when she got there. She figured what William Milord would do is look for Taron McCallister. He obviously knew the name. Maybe she could look for him, too. They could be the heroes that found his trainer's brace and return it to him safe and sound. He would be so grateful! Katy had considered a million alternate paths her journey could lead her by the time Bentley arrived at Bourbonville. He landed carefully on the street; it was busy for this time of day, she thought. Lots of people and Pokémon were out and about. It was a nice day, so why not?

Katy excused herself out of the path of a Hitmonchan to look at the map on her brace and look for street signs around her. Once she knew her direction, she took to crossings with a herd of others who waited for the "walk" sign. She almost stepped on a Stufful that was making its way across with its limbs all swinging out happily. Murkrow cawed from street lamps at passersby and occasionally swooped down to steal a French fry from a table. This was moderate city living. She'd been on more crowded sidewalks before, but there was something quaint about Bourbonville. Perhaps it was its size. But it made for great local shopping. Tons of boutiques and outlets were dotted all around the map. But a bargain wasn't her goal today.

Finally, Katy saw the street sign labeled West Franklin come into view. She picked up her pace a little and said no thank you to the man and his Slowking who offered to tell her the future. Once she was on the street, she stopped. She hadn't actually thought of what she would do when she got here. Perhaps check the garbage cans? Katy walked by buildings and peeked down alleys. She must have disturbed the collared Quilava behind a fence, because it flared up and startled her. The next alley seemed to be lit by fire, and she was afraid it was a Typhlosion ready to ensure the safety of its property, so she carefully leaned to view it, sticking close to the road.

There he was. William Milord, tapping his own trainer's brace and a big, faded orange and heavily scarred Charizard. It looked in her direction and then so did William.

"Hi!" She said brightly, stepping into the alley with them.

"What are you doing here?" he replied.

Katy shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I was kind of interested in the whole thing. Is this your Charizard?"

"Yes," he said distractedly, looking back at his brace.

"I have a Charizard, too!"

"Everyone has a Charizard," he said dully.

Katy grinned. "None like mine!"

"Nor mine." He looked back at her with a sigh. "Look, you really shouldn't be here. You should—leave."

"But I want to help you."

"Help me what."

Katy blinked. "With… whatever it is that you're doing."

"I don't need any help." He tapped his brace some more.

"I didn't ask if you needed help, I said I wanted to help."

He snapped his attention back to her, his eyes sharp. "Well, I don't want your help. Go home."

"But I can get Taron's brace back to him! I know how to get it and he has to be missing it—"

"Taron McCallister isn't missing shit," William said, looking up a fire escape near the dumpster. "Because he's likely dead."

Katy flinched. "… Dead?"

"Yes. Dead." William moved to the ladder and beckoned his Charizard. It waddled over to him.

"Wh—why would he be dead? What makes you say that?"

"Why else would his brace be in the fucking garbage unless someone killed him," He climbed into his Charizard's clawed hands and reached for the bottom of the ladder.

Katy watched him go up, eventually standing beside his Charizard. "You mean he was murdered?"

"That'd be my bet," William grunted as he finally got his feet on the rungs and began to ascend.

"Why would anyone want to kill him?" Katy looked to the Charizard. "May I, please?" She gestured to the ladder. The dragon offered her a boost just the same.

"Don't let her up here!" William yelled down. But his Pokémon ignored him and lifted Katy to the ladder anyway. He sighed irritably and kept climbing. "Because he worked for a certain governmental company that's uh… not especially well-received. By anyone really." He reached the fire escape and looked through a window before he kept climbing up the next ladder.

"How do you know all of this?" Katy asked, following him every step, every ladder.

"It doesn't matter. Stop—get down. You're gonna get us both in trouble."

"I promise I won't." She went up the next ladder, too. "How do you even know it was in this dumpster?"

"Because it's the only dumpster that has blood on it." The man carefully approached a broken window and looked inside while Katy looked below her to see if she could see the blood from here. It must have been just a little that he spotted down there.

When he poked his head inside then ducked back out to knock the rest of the glass out of the frame, Katy gasped. "What are you doing?!" She hissed. Before she could accuse him of getting them both caught, he had disappeared inside. "William!" she whispered loudly. "William!" She growled and hesitated before she followed him through the window.

The room was considerably darker than the alley. Katy jumped when William spoke aloud. "Hello?" No one answered.

"Is this his apartment?" Katy looked for a light switch when suddenly a burst of flames owned the corner of her vision and she whirled around.

William's fist was ablaze, like a torch in a cave. "Don't touch anything," he instructed. "I mean it, not a thing. Understand?"

Katy nodded, still staring at his flames. It'd been awhile since she'd seen a Deviant use their Ability. When he turned, she followed him through a living area. It was odd. The place was relatively clean. There wasn't really a sign of struggle that Katy could detect. But what did she know; she wasn't a cop. She followed William into the bedroom.

And that's when she smelled it.

Oh my God.

There was a dead body in this apartment.

William crept to the cracked bathroom door, then slowly pushed it open. He reeled back with his arm over his nose. "Jesus Christ."

Katy covered her nose with her shirt and hurried up to see what he'd found, but he blocked her way.

"Don't. Go sit in the living room."

"What is it? Is it Taron?" Katy gasped when something shot out of the bathroom and zipped across the floor, diving straight under the bed. For a moment she was too startled to move, but then she gathered the courage to crouch down and look under the bed without moving toward it.

A Pokémon. Shivering in fear in the dark.

"Ohh… Oh, it's okay," she cooed. "We didn't mean to scare you. Come on out, little thing. We won't hurt you."

She saw little white hands shift.

"It's all right. Come here; maybe I can help you."

After another moment's hesitation, the creature began to shuffle forward. Katy watched it finally climb out into the dim light. It was a tiny Ralts, fixing its hat before resuming its quivering.

She smiled. "Hey, little thing! It's all right."

It turned its head to William and stared at him blatantly. Katy eventually looked to him as well. He was calling the police on his brace.

"Is Taron in there?"

"Yeah," William replied. "In the bathtub."