Chapter 5

'Like I told you before: I'm fine!' Looker said, getting slightly annoyed. The Turffield Police officer had asked him three times already, and that seemed to be the only thing he was capable of asking. The mine collapse was sudden, but not significant. Only a small portion has caved in without leaving any substantial damage to the rest of the mine, and nobody was harmed. It just so happened to be that Looker and Oleana were the only two people in the spot where the roof of the mine caved in.

'Alright, alright, leave the man be,' said a kind voice behind the officer. A large, young man with red curly hair walked up the hill, flanked by half a dozen Wooloo's. He smiled friendly to Looker and gave a nod to the officer. 'I'll take it from here, you go check on the miners, see what they can tell you.' The officer gave a quick nod as answer and left the two men outside the entrance of the mine. The tall man extended his hand.

'Milo. I'm the gym leader here. I'm guessing you must be mister Looker,'

'Uh… yes,' Looker said surprised, as he shook Milo's hand. The gym leader laughed.

'Don't worry, Sonia and Nessa called ahead to tell me you were heading this way. You've left quite the impression on them. In two very different ways, if I may say so.'

'Yeah, I know,' Looker said, slightly embarrassed. Clearly Milo already knew more than Looker would have told him himself. But if Sonia and Nessa trusted him, that probably meant that he had nothing to fear from this gentle giant.

At that moment Corvisquire came back down, still carrying Toxel on his back. After they had made it safely outside, Looker had sent his two Pokémon scouting the area to see if they could find any clues about the cause of the explosion. Corvisquire put Toxel down on the ground, shook of the dust from the explosion that was still caught in his feathers, and nestled himself on Looker's shoulder. Toxel decided that the slightly wet grass was probably a better way to clean himself and started to roll around in it with a gleeful look on his face.

Milo laughed and bowed down to Toxel. 'And who might this little fella be?'

'I haven't settled on a name for him yet,' Looker said with a smile. 'I found him in Hulbury, near the lighthouse, and decided to take care of him. Well, actually, Sonia sort of decided that for me.'

Milo laughed again. 'Yeah, she does that. She means well of course. And it seems like Toxel really likes you.' Toxel had now stopped rolling around in the grass and cuddled up to Looker's leg, his face being a mixture of tired from all the excitement and curiosity for this strange man staring at him. Milo scratched him briefly behind his ears – which Toxel answered with a very happy cry – and then turned to Looker again with a more serious look.

'So what happened here?'

'I'm guessing you already have a pretty good idea.'

'Just a day after you arrive in Galar we have the first mine collapse in years, right in the spot where you're standing with the assistant of Chairman Rose. It's not difficult to piece together.'

'That's what I was thinking too. The foreman said that it was an unstable beam that broke down, but I don't believe it. It looks like somebody doesn't want me to investigate this situation.' Looker allowed himself a cocky smile. 'Clearly they don't know much about me if they think this will stop me.'

Milo grinned. 'So what now?'

'Well, whoever did this has probably fled town already. The best way to catch them is to keep up my investigation, and I'll most likely run into them again. My next stop was Stow-on-Side, so I guess that's where I'm gonna go.'

Milo nodded. 'Just watch your back. Whoever did this is most likely not gonna stop at one try.' Then he looked over to the mine entrance, where Oleana was being questioned by a few police officers. 'Do you want to talk to her still?'

Looker felt a shiver running down his back. 'Do you?'

Milo let out a thunderous laugh, as Oleana in the background yelled to the officers: 'DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO?!'

'If she says anything sensible, just let me know,' said Looker with a chuckle, happy to not have to talk to her much longer. He had a feeling she had told him all she knew already anyway. He extended his hand again. 'It was nice meeting you Milo.'

'Likewise. Can I call you a flying taxi to take you to Stow-on-Side?'

Looker's face turned pale at just the thought. 'Absolutely not!' he said, much louder than he intended. 'Ahem, I mean, eh, no, that won't be necessary. I think I'll take the train there.'

'Are you sure? It's much further with the train. You have to go around the entire Wild Area instead of just flying over it.'

'Oh yes, I am very sure.'

'Well alright then. Come, I'll walk you to the train station.'

'Appreciate the offer, but there's no need for that. You just stay here and care for your people, I'll find my own way. Gives me an excuse to see a little more about the town.' He smiled and nodded to Milo, as a sign that the conversation was over. Milo answered the nod and, flanked by his horde of Wooloo's, went to the mine entrance where the police officers were still talking to the miners and the very angry Oleana. Looker went the other direction, downhill towards the town, with Toxel proudly parading alongside him. When they were far enough from the mine, Corvisquire shook his head, let out a short caw and opened his beak. A small green object attached to a bunch of wires fell out of his beak into Looker's opened hand.

'Nice work,' he whispered, as he scratched Corvisquire on the head. He looked at the small object in his hand. Looker was by no means an expert electrician, but he had seen enough explosives to know what this was used for. 'Unstable support beam huh? I don't think so.'

The Galar train was famous for its comfort, and Looker had to admit that it wasn't oversold by any measure. With a grimace he thought that the train carriage might even be more comfortable than the home in Hulbury that Nessa had arranged for him. There were only two other passengers in the carriage, so he felt confident enough to examine the small object Corvisquire had taken from the mine. Toxel sat alongside him, staring at the object on the table, though Looker was pretty sure that the small purple Pokémon had no clue what he was actually looking at. As always during travel, Corvisquire preferred to stay inside his ball.

The object was probably the trigger used to set off the explosive. It wasn't a cellphone, like Looker had so often seen in the movies, but looked more like a small metal stick with a green cap on it. It was unclear what was used to set the detonator off, but he probably wouldn't be sure until he found out who did it. The wires attached to the trigger were completely torn apart by the explosion.

'Mind if I sit here?' a voice said suddenly. Looker had been so captivated by the detonator that he hadn't noticed the man standing besides him. Completely startled, he quickly shoved the detonator into his pocket and looked at the stranger.

The man was tall, with a slight hunch in his back. He had long dark hair with streaks of white in it, even though he seemed far too young to be turning grey already. His face was friendly, but it looked very tired, as if he hadn't slept in days. He wore a white leather jacket with small spikes all over it, and black clothes underneath it.

'Do you mind?' he asked again, as he pointed to the seat opposite Looker. Looker looked around at the many empty seats in the cabin.

'Eh… why here?' he asked, before realizing how rude it was to say something like that. C'mon Looker, you were raised better than this, he thought to himself.

'Because you seem like an interesting person, and all the other people here seem very, very boring,' the man said with a hint of a smile. Behind him, Looker could see one of the other passengers looking very offended, but he didn't say anything to them. Looker's politeness came back, and he made a gesture towards the seat. The man nodded in thanks, sat down and extended his hand.

'Piers.'

'Looker.'

Piers laughed. 'Well, somebody thinks quite highly of themselves. Please tell me that's a codename or something.'

Looker quickly looked away to make sure his eyes couldn't betray him, but it was already too late.

'It is?' Piers leaned in a bit. 'Well now I know I was right: you are definitely the most interesting person on this train. A codename… are you a spy of sorts?'

'Of sorts,' Looker said, having resigned to his fate. There was a time when he was amazing at disguises and staying incognito, but Piers had him pegged right away. Luckily Team Plasma was a lot dumber than this man. 'Look, you understand that I…'

Piers held his hands up in a surrendering gesture. 'You can't tell me anything about it, I completely understand. I won't ask anything. I won't even ask if this has anything to do with Chairman Rose.' He smiled a subtle smile and leaned back in his chair. 'So, mister spy of sorts, where are you going on this fine day? Or can you not even tell me about that?'

Looker rolled his eyes and smiled back. 'Stow-on-Side. I heard there was a particularly interesting mural there.'

'Was being the operative word there. Rose's lacky Bede destroyed it. He did everyone a favor if you ask me, that thing was hideous. Apparently there was a beautiful statue hidden behind it, and the town now looks all the better for it. But I never said that, of course.'

Looker grinned. 'Don't worry, I'm great at keeping secrets.' As to confirm it, Toxel let out a happy coo. Piers seemed to notice him only now, and immediately held out his hand.

'Well look at you there little man. Are you enjoying the view on this ride? Here, I have something you'll like.' He pulled out a small object that looked like a cookie from his pocket and fed it to the Toxel. Toxel immediately gobbled it up, and dartled to Piers in anticipation of more cookies.

'What was that?' Looker asked surprised.

'A Spikemuth Wafer, a delicacy from my hometown. Toxel absolutely love them for some reason. I have a Toxtricity myself, so I knew this would make this little guy here happy. They're fiercely loyal Pokémon, as you've probably noticed, but they're not really great in battle until they evolve.'

'There's more ways to be useful than just in battle,' Looker said.

'That's absolutely true,' Piers smiled back. He pulled the bag of wafers out of his pocket and gave it to Looker. 'Here, you can take the rest. I can get plenty more if I want them.'

'Thanks,' said Looker as he stuffed the bag into his own pocket. Toxel immediately climbed down from the table and onto the bench, sniffing at Looker's pocket and trying to sneak his little paw into it to grab another cookie. 'So why are you going to Stow-on-Side?' Looker asked. He subtly pushed Toxel's paw away from the cookies.

'Me? Well, I'm on a tour of sorts. I just quit my job, and I decided to go around the region to work on my real passion: music.'

'Oh you're a singer?' Looker asked, as if the clothes hadn't already given him all the answer he needed.

'Singer and songwriter,' Piers nodded. 'So right now I'm going to see if the people can appreciate my art in other places than Spikemuth as well. So after you watch the statue formerly known as a mural, then where do you go next?'

'Ballonlea,' Looker answered, taking Toxel's paw out of his pocket again. This time Toxel had managed to grab a cookie and looked away with a very guilty look. Before Looker could do anything though, the cookie was already in Toxel's mouth. 'I was hoping to speak to Bede, and I heard he's a gym leader there nowadays.'

'Well, I can save you some trouble then: he won't be in Ballonlea. He's gone to Wyndon for the new championship matches. They're gonna select a new champion soon now that Leon has stepped down, and Bede wanted to be there early to prepare.'

'Oh, I didn't know that,' Looker admitted. He sharply looked at Toxel, who seemed to prepare to go towards his pocket again. 'Well, that saves me a trip to Ballonlea I suppose.'

'You're welcome for that,' Piers said. 'That place gives me the creeps. I'm pretty sure that at least half that town is dead. Really spooky place.'

The train now crossed over a bridge, and through the window Looker could see a large lake surrounded by grasslands and some trees. An old, crumbled down watchtower stood on a hill watching over it. The large open fields disappeared behind a town, but Looker could see that they went on a lot further.

'Our Wild Area,' Piers said, having followed Looker's eyes. 'It's a good thing you're in here instead of out there. You're not gonna last long in there with just a Toxel by your side. Loyal as he may be, he is no match for the wild Pokémon you're gonna find there.' As if to support the argument by Pierce, a large Braviary just flew up from the trees and let out a mighty cry before shooting down again. Toxel let out a scared sound as he cowered away in Looker's coat, sneakily reaching for the cookies in the process. In complete amazement Looker stared at the wild, untamed part of land outside the windows. He had seen many places in the world that had their own unique challenges, but this was something completely new to all of it.

'It's not my kind of place,' Piers said. 'Too bright for me, too open, and with far too much going on. Plus I'm not a fan of all that dynamax nonsense. Nah, I much prefer it in Spikemuth, where nothing much seems to happen.'

Looker chuckled absentmindedly. 'You ever been to Alola? I know a guy there, and I think you two would get along real well.'

'Never been, but I'll keep it in mind,' Piers smiled.

The voice over the intercom announced that the next stop would be Motostoke, forcing Looker to stop staring at the Wild Area. Piers looked at his watch and leaned back in his seat.

'Might as well get comfortable. It looks like we'll be here for a while before we get to Stow-on-Side. Wanna play some cards?'