Pokémon Police Force Chapter 2: The Investigation
It has been three weeks since that day. It was now early November. Toxicroak had been sentenced to Sky Stone, a floating prison built exclusively for Fighting Type Pokémon. Halloween had already happened, but I was too occupied with work to celebrate it. I sat in my office looking over the file one last time.
Name: Argyle
Species: Sneasel
Gender: Male
Relatives: Weavile (Mother, Deceased), Zangoose (Father, Deceased), Snow (Glaceon, Half-Sister, Missing)
Further into the file, it describes that Argyle's first thefts were Apples, Oran Berries and other assorted foodstuffs from local merchants. Here a little and there a little. Then suddenly, the thefts turned into burglaries of random homes. Poké, food, jewels, and about anything else valuable. But, why the sudden change?
I looked further into his file. 3,000 Poké bounty. Quite high for a common thief.
"Still sleeping with that file?"
"Oh, hush!" I snapped.
The new arrival was Officer Sheriashuu, a Mienshao and a close, personal friend of mine. Without a word, Sheriashuu swiped the file from my hand and began rifling through it.
"That's rude, you know!"
Sheriashuu merely shrugged and then sat in a chair across the desk from me and propped her feet up on the desk.
We were sitting in my office at the Mystery Town Police Station, Precinct 46. The station was the only building in town that was made of concrete. A gift from Conkeldurr to the police. It was a simple, three story concrete building, but it more than met our needs. The inside looked like something off the set of a detective drama, wooden desks, chairs, white boards tracking current investigations and various files scattered over most of the building. Several officers were working on different police investigations together.
My office was much the same, except that the walls were decorated with newspaper articles about outlaws I have personally arrested. In only five years of service, I made police lieutenant, followed closely by Sheriashuu.
"What's so interesting about this Sneasel anyway?" Asked Sheriashuu finally.
"His MO. He started out just stealing small, assorted foodstuffs and then suddenly changed to burglaries."
"He got a little bolder, so what? Wait."
"What?"
"He has a missing half-sister. A kidnapping with a ransom note, maybe?"
"I doubt it. The change happened several years ago. She would've been murdered by now."
I turned around and looked out the window behind my desk.
"Something else bugs me as well."
"What?"
"There's two of him."
Sheriashuu closed the file and put it on my desk. The next thing I knew, she was up and had spun me around and made me face her.
"Emerald, stop the hormones right there, sister."
"What are you getting at?"
"You have a crush on him, admit it!"
"I do not have a crush on him! I spoke with him. I sensed something odd as he spoke."
She released me.
"You sensed two spirits inside of him?"
I just nodded.
"Did you try to read his mind? I know you have that power."
"Yes, but... it was a failure."
"Because he's a Dark Type?"
"No. It was like something was consciously blocking all my attempts."
"Lust?"
"Oh, shut up about that!"
Sheriashuu giggled at my response.
"You are so easy to fluster."
"Sheriashuu, I could use your help to investigate Argyle."
"Sorry, but I'm not going to help you satisfy your little Sneasel fetish."
"It's not a- what about a 3,000 Poké bounty?"
"What?"
"3,000 Poké."
"For a 3,000 Poké bounty? Count me in!"
We exited my office and went down the stairs and out the police office.
"Where to first?" Asked Sheriashuu.
"The hospital. Argyle told me that he wears the mask because of an accident. One that left him disfigured."
"As luck would have it, I have a friend that works in the hospital archives. He'll get us what we need," said Sheriashuu.
And so, we walked without the city and to Mystery General, the largest hospital around. For an injury as severe as what Argyle described, Mystery General would be the place he'd get treated.
Mystery General Hospital is more of a village than a hospital. Patient and examination rooms are bore high up into large, ancient redwood trees with rope and plank bridges connecting the rooms. It looked like a place forest elves would be found, not a hospital. We had to take a lift up into the canopy to reach the front desk. At the desk was a Jigglypuff doing paperwork.
"Excuse us," I said.
"Describe your injury. If you're here to see someone please let me know their name and I'll be able to direct-"
Jigglypuff looked up and seen us standing there.
"Oh, forgive me officers."
She put away some of the files she was working on.
"How may I help you?"
"We need to see the hospital archives," said Sheriashuu, "is Thoth in?"
"Yeah, he's here every day. I'll call someone to take you down there."
Jigglypuff pressed a button on the desk.
"Front desk here. I need someone to lead a couple of officers into the archives."
In a few minutes, an Audino appears.
"Follow me," said the nurse.
We followed after Audino. She led us to a nearby hollowed out redwood and a lift inside. Once on the lift, she lowered us into the depths of the tree. The further down we descended, the more records we seen. Books, files, folders and scrolls lined the sides of the tree. A few shelves were floating in air. At the bottom a green, bipedal bird Pokémon was using psychic powers to sort through the many individual files on his desk.
"Thoth, it has been far too long," said Sheriashuu as she got off the lift.
Thoth put away a few more files and turned to face us. Sheriashuu's friend is a Xatu. Why does that not surprise me?
"Sheriashuu, this is a pleasant surprise. Who is your friend?"
"Lieutenant Emerald with the Mystery City police," I said, "pleased to meet you."
"Likewise. You're not here for friendly discourse, are you?"
"I'm afraid not," I said, "we need information about a Sneasel that may have been a patient here."
"His name is Argyle," said Sheriashuu.
"How long ago was he here?"
"We don't know," admitted Sheriashuu.
"All we know is that he now wears a mask over half his face because he looks disfigured without it."
"Hmm... I'll look," he said, "but it will take a while."
Thoth faced his desk once again. His eyes began glowing with a blue energy. All at once, files and folders flew from the shelves and lined themselves in front of Thoth. When he was done with a file, he put it back on its shelf.
After around 45 minutes, Thoth returned every file to its shelf.
"That is unfortunate," said Thoth after a few minutes of consideration, "we have no files about said Sneasel. It seems he was never a patient here."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Positive."
"Could that Sneasel have been seen off-the-record?" Asked Sheriashuu.
"For that to happen, he would have to be famous or rich. As I've never heard of this Pokémon-"
"Noted," I said.
Soon we said our goodbyes and parted ways. Sheriashuu and I got back on the lift and rode back up with nurse Audino.
"Where to now?" Asked Sheriashuu.
"The mask thing was a bust. So, let's try a different angle."
"How about the city archives?" Asked Sheriashuu, "we may be able to find a lead."
The lift arrived at the top and we disembarked. After leaving the hospital, it was just a ten-minute walk to the city archives.
The city archives were set in a hollowed-out tree like most of the buildings here. Inside was just like a modern-day library but with many more books.
"Okay... where do we start looking?" Asked Sheriashuu.
"Give me a minute."
I took the stick out of my tail, igniting the end of it instantly. Gazing into the flame, my psychic powers sprang to life. Meditating on Argyle and the books around me, I was rewarded with a vision.
My foresight took my mind through the archives. Up and down the shelves I went, browsing each book and scroll one after another. Finally, the vision settled on one shelf in particular. I had seen a transparent image of Argyle momentarily materialize over the shelf and then the vision ended.
After the vision faded, I lowered the flame and breathed a small sigh.
"What did you see?" Asked Sheriashuu.
"Hopefully, the answer to our problem."
I returned the stick to its rightful place in my tail, extinguishing it.
"Follow me."
I lead Sheriashuu through the shelves the same way my vision led me. It took a few good minutes, but we made it to the shelf from my vision.
"What we seek is here."
"Where?"
"On this shelf."
"You know, it would help if your visions were a little more specific."
"You know I can't-"
"Control what you see. I know. Let's just start looking."
Looking through a few scrolls, I realized why this shelf was so special. It contained loads of information about Dark-Type Pokémon that lived here in the past and present. It took well over an hour to browse every scroll, book and loose paper we could find. Afterward, I was forced to consider an option I hadn't before.
"I found nothing," I said, "Argyle doesn't exist."
"So, the name Argyle is an alias. But for whom?"
"We have only one Pokémon that can answer that question."
I looked Sheriashuu dead in the eye.
"That mask must come off."
