Chapter 2

The room was not much to talk about. It was on the ground floor of one of the houses in Hulbury that all looked the same. It consisted of a small living room/kitchen combination with a bedroom attached to it. The most important aspect of it though, was the basement of the building. Nessa had assured him that he was the only one who could use it, and Looker wasted no time in making it his office. The dark room already had a desk, a table and a cork board in it. Looker smiled; it was almost as if Sonia and Nessa had known what he was going to use the basement for. The room was lit only by a small lamp standing on the desk and a single lightbulb dangling from the ceiling: the perfect atmosphere for Looker to work in.

He grabbed his bag and walked to one of the shelves on the wall. From the bag he took his most prized possession: a small copper pedestal with a glass casing. He took one of the two Poké Balls from his pocket and placed it on the pedestal, placing the whole thing on the shelf in such a way that it grabbed just enough of the light in the shadowy room. Looker gently placed his hand on the glass and closed his eyes for a moment.

'Until we meet again, old friend.'

He stood there, motionless, for a few moments as he let the feelings and emotions wash over him. Then he opened his eyes again: it was time to get to work.

The first appointment was with Nessa. Looker had decided that he wanted to speak to both of the women separately, without them knowing it. Maybe they'd let up something more than they had said at first. You didn't need to be a world class detective to see that they were hiding something.

The gym leader walked down the basement stairs with a joyless smile. 'I see you've made yourself at home immediately. You know, we can give you some more lamps so it won't be as dark here.'

'Oh don't worry,' Looker smiled back. 'I like it this way. Limits the distractions, it keeps me sharp and focused.'

Nessa looked around a bit, stopping at the Poké Ball on the pedestal. Looker could see the questions burning in her eyes, but she wisely kept them to herself. Instead she turned around and laid her piercing blue eyes on Looker.

'So why did you ask me to come here?'

Looker smiled, genuinely this time. Straight to the point. He liked that. 'There are some things that don't add up. And I wouldn't be doing my job right if I didn't look deeper into it, now would I?'

Nessa's look turned colder, more defensive.

'What exactly are you talking about?' she asked, with a soft but determined voice.

Looker stared back at her, unwavering, unwilling to lose the battle of wits that would always accompany these interrogations.

'From what I heard chairman Rose was a frequent visitor to this town and its restaurant.'

'Rose was a frequent visitor to any town in the League Challenge.'

'But not like this. He would always come here in disguise, wouldn't he? Hoping nobody would recognize him. Secretively, incognito, hidden away from prying eyes. What made you and your town so special, Nessa?'

She moved a little closer to Looker and squinted, her eyes still filled with the fiery determination that she had shown before. Looker also felt like there was some anger in it now. He had often seen that with suspects when they knew they were close to being caught.

'I know what you came here to do,' she said. 'You think you've got all the answers, don't you? You've got it all figured out? Well go on then, spit it out! No use in walking around it. Just say it!'

'You were in on it!' Looker shouted. He quietly cursed himself; it was a rookie mistake to get caught up in the anger of the suspect. 'Rose was planning his whole thing right here in this town, right under your nose! What did he promise you? A position as the new champion? Everyone knows how competitive you are, surely you've got higher ambitions than just this gym!'

Her eyes suddenly widened, and the anger in her gaze disappeared like snow on a sunny day. The defensiveness in her stance turned to confusion and surprise, her mouth falling open ever so slightly.

'Wait…'

'Oh you don't have to play foolish with me,' Looker said. He had her right where he wanted her. 'I've been doing this far too long to get tricked by that. I'm guessing it's no coincidence that your town is adjacent directly to the mine where Rose and Oleana are currently working. Was that part of your deal as well?'

'You idiot, you've got this all wrong!' Nessa shouted, a slight panic in her voice. Now it was Looker's turn to be surprised: he had expected her to admit right about now, not this. 'Rose isn't even in this mine!'

'Yes he is! You said so yourself earlier, at the restaurant.'

'The mine here is called Galar Mine 2. Rose is in Galar Mine 1, close to Turfield. That's on the other side of the region!'

It got quiet for a moment in the room as Looker let this new information sink in. His entire theory rested on the idea that Nessa could be secretly helping out Rose with his sentence, but if he was nowhere near Hulbury… He sunk back into his chair and buried his head in his hands.

'Did you honestly think I would help that maniac out?' Nessa asked. 'I'm just as disgusted by what he did as everyone else. He ruined the good name of this entire region!'

'But then why were you so defensive?'

'Because I thought you came here to shut down my gym. I didn't think you'd accuse me of working with a madman.'

Looker let out a deep sigh. 'Well, so much for that theory then. Back to square one.' He and Nessa looked at each other, both in a completely different mindset than five minutes earlier.

'I'm sorry I called you an idiot.'

'I'm sorry I accused you of conspiring with a terrorist.'

The room fell silent again, in a much more awkward way this time. Nessa didn't know where to look, while Looker tried his best to hide his embarrassment.

'I uh… I think I should probably be going,' Nessa said after a while.

'Yes, I… I think that is probably best,' Looker said. He stood up and straightened his suit a bit. He and Nessa both gave each other a courteous but cold nod as she left. After he heard the door close behind her, Looker let his head hang and breathed out heavily. He looked up at the Poké Ball in the glass casing and shook his head.

'Well that was a bust. Any ideas on what to do now, little buddy?' He kept quiet for a moment, as if he expected the Poké Ball to actually answer, even though he knew that it wouldn't. 'Yeah, I didn't think so. Seems like we've got our work cut out for us. This is going to be much more difficult than I thought.'