Hop's lavender hair fluttered in the cool autumn breeze. Over the years he'd let his hair grow out a bit, letting the ends of his hair stick out in different directions. He played with a loose strand of hair with his left hand. He paused for a moment, then shifted position on the rock he sat on. He watched as his team played against the backdrop of Hammerlock's tall dark walls that separate it from the Wild Area. Dubwool and Zamazenta ran around Trevenant while jumping over Trevenant's roots. Corviknight circled the sky above with Bolthund on his back. Cinderace kicked a pebble into the air, trying to catch it with his teeth, but landing on his forehead instead. Hop held back a laugh, not wanting to damage Cindrence's pride. He always felt refreshed when relaxing in the wild area.
Hop pulled his lavender Rotom Phone out of the beige jacket he'd changed into. "Uzzzer identification complete! The time zzzzzs 4:20 am!"
Two new notifications from Instagram at 2:46 and 3:05. Who was posting on Instagram that early? He opened the first post, it was a smiling picture of Raihan in his nightgown, next to an empty display case. Duraladon frowned disapprovingly in the background. The caption read, "Just got robbed XD." Hop mentally facepalmed. The next image was Raihan sitting on the chair at Hammerlock Stadium's entrance. The caption read, "Cops just showed up ? ?."
Hop sent a quick dm to Raihan, "Why…"
Hop looked back at his feed. Gloria posted a picture of Milo chasing some Wooloo yesterday. She sure does spend a lot of time with Milo despite being the champion. What do they even do all time? Hop wondered.
Bolthund barking interrupted his train of thought. Was Corviknight using 'brave bird' while Bolthund was on his back?
"Aye! Aye! Cut it out!" He shouted.
Corviknight landed on the ground in front of Hop looking every unimpressed.
Hop put a very shaken up Bolthund on his lap before glaring at Corviknight. "You should know better than to rough house like that in the middle of a case."
"Hmpf." Corviknight turned his head away.
Hop didn't get mad often but when he did, he was seething. "Look at me."
Corviknight slowly turned his head towards Hop. His previous pompousness now replaced with nervousness.
"I won't stand that type of behavior in the future." He stated flatly. "You could have seriously hurt Bolthund, imagine if this had been a murder case? If that happens again I will switch you out." He threatened. "I'm sure Pincurchin, Cramorant, Heatmor, or Snorlax would love to be on the team right now, and they would behave a hell of a lot better than you… Understand?"
Corviknight gulped and furiously nodded his head.
Hop sighed, he hated scolding his Pokémon. He thought of them as equals, but at the same time he was fairly certain he would have yelled at anyone if they had done that.
Corviknight made a small rumble as an apology before waddling away on his talons.
"Call Gloria." Hop said out of the blue.
"Whuzzzt?" Rotom let out a confused beep.
"The thief might not have the shard on him anymore. If Bolthund smells Gloria's Eternatus then we'll still be able to follow him." Hop explained.
"Ring, Ring, Ring, bwzzt someone-" Rotom started.
"Who the FUCK is calling me at 4:30 in the GOD DAMN MORNING! I swear to god, if it's another magazine company, I will go to your house and shove your goddamn magazines up your ARSE!" Gloria screamed through the phone.
Hop was surprised Gloria was awake. "Uh, hi it's me Hop." He chuckled.
"Oh, it's just you. What on earth possessed you to call me at this ungodly time?" She demanded.
"Are you busy right now?" He asked.
"Yes. What?" Gloria was clearly having none of it.
"It's for a case I'm working on, I was wondering if I could borrow Eternatus for a moment." He asked, trying to sound as polite as he could.
"Oh, you should have asked sooner." She sounded a bit apologetic. "I'm in Turffield right now, I'll drop by sometime in the afternoon, Hammerlock right?"
"Yeah, thanks!" He exclaimed. "Also have fun with Milo." He teased before hanging up.
Hop checked his Instagram DMs. He frowned, some fans had gotten a hold of his private account. Raihan must have accidentally tagged his private account instead of his public one in a post. He ignored them and scrolled down. A message caught his eye.
"I would please like to talk to you, as soon as we possibly can. It is urgent." Over the past couple of years he'd talked to Shielbert a couple of times, and even exchanged numbers. He smiled remembering when Shielbert and his older brother Sordward tried to take over the Galar region by bombarding Zacian and Zamazenta with "Galar Particles." They'd gone through a complete one-eighty. After doing their required community service, they became assistant to Leon, the chairman. He frowned for a moment when thinking about his older brother Leon.
"Riiiiiiiing! Riiiiiiiing!" Rotom started violently shaking in Hop's hands. He looked at the caller before tapping the accept button.
"Nurse Joy just called and said she'd be done in around 15 min. Meet me by the Pokémon center in like 10 minutes." Officer Jenny informed Hop. "Also do you need a ride?"
"Thanks for the offer! Also, you don't need to keep asking me that." Hop smiled. He was definitely feeling more energized.
"Well, I'm not the one who can't drive. See you." Officer Jenny hung up.
Hop's Pokémon with the exception of Bolthund had crowded around him, no doubt overhearing the call. Hop nudged Bolthund awake, then jumped off the rock while holding him.
"Send a dm to Shielbert telling him that I'm busy right now, but I'll contact him later," Hop told Rotom while setting Bolthund down on the floor.
Hop looked around, checking to make sure that nobody was around. He shamelessly changed into his cop uniform despite the cold wind.
"Let's go!" he shouted, receiving a chorus of agreement from his team.
"You can use the changing rooms to change like usual." Nurse Joy politely informed Hop before looking up. "Oh, I see you already changed. If you would like, we can take care of your Pokémon for a few moments." She said while going back and typing on her computer terminal behind the front desk.
"Thanks! You guys are the best." Hop gave Nurse Joy and her Appletun a thumbs up.
Hop put his Poké Balls in the tray that Appletun brought over in his mouth. He then encouragingly patted Appletun on her head before she walked away.
The sliding doors to the Pokémon center slid open. "And I thought I came early." Officer Jenny threw an empty coffee cup into the garbage can.
"Don't want to make a bad impression on my first day."
"Trust me, that's the last thing you've done today." Officer Jenny casually leaned her arms on the front desk, peering over to the computer terminal that Nurse Joy was working on. "Didya find anything yet?"
"If you would excuse me," Nurse Joy gritted her teeth trying not to raise her voice, "but I'm trying to work here. If you were to be patient and wait for another minute the scan will be complete."
Officer Jenny put her hands in the air, "Okay, okay I get it." She turned away pouting a bit.
The three of them stood around in awkward silence for a minute.
Beeeep.
"So wha-" Officer Jenny began.
"I've already sent it to your phone." Nurse Joy interrupted flatly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap." She opened the employees only door behind the front desk.
"Thanks for everything! And sorry for bothering you so late at night!" Hop waved energetically at Nurse Joy.
"You're welcome." She smiled at Hop. "At least someone has the manners to thank me after all of that!" She glared holes through Officer Jenny's forehead.
"Uh, tha-" Officer Jenny started.
Wham! Nurse Joy slammed the door shut cutting. Appletun sat at the front desk unnerved, with her legs dangling in the air.
Officer Jenny pouted for a moment before sighing. "Alright let's see the results." Officer Jenny's Rotom Phone flew out of her pocket and flipped itself screen down. Suddenly from the camera light burst forth, creating a projection in the air.
So cool! Did that Rotom just use 'light screen' while in phone form? I'll have to ask Officer Jenny about it later. Hop thought.
"This seems manageable." Officer Jenny looked at the list of 3 names.
"Bwwzzzip" Rotom beeped as a description of each person appeared on the screen.
Officer Jenny dragged two of the profiles separate from the third. "That guy's doing the gym challenge so he'd be the least likely to leave, and easiest to track. We should probably prioritize these two"
"Wait this guy, Jordan Paora, he's a member of Team Yell, the music band that Piers runs." Hop pointed out.
"He's part of a music group so what?" Officer Jenny scratched her head.
"I'll explain later." Hop said before swiping through info about the last guy.
-Name: Orson Lott
- Age: 26
-Height: 5'7
-Last scanned Pokémon: Alakazam, Runerigus, Conkeldurr, Escavalier, Rotom, Natu.
-No criminal records.
"Think this is the guy." Hop tapped the screen. A picture of a Japanese man with long raven hair and hazel eyes appeared.
"Send this to Theresa at HQ." She made a quick 360, running towards the door and motioning towards Hop. "Let's get in the car."
Hop ran after her, frantically pulling 3 Poké Balls from his belt. "Wait! I'll travel using my Pokémon! Let me know when they say anything!"
The moment the Pokemon Center's sliding doors opened, Hop simultaneously pressed the buttons, opening the three Poké Balls. "Chase formation, four - two!" He shouted.
The moment that Corviknight and Cinderace left their Poké Balls, they wasted no time before running/flying around the cop car, side by side. Cinderace and Corviknight were both boosting and syncing their speeds, by constantly using 'agility'. Cinderace sped up twice while Corviknight sped up four times. They made a couple of loops around the car, before Cinderace stopped, standing in front of Bolthund while Corviknight landed on the ground in front of Hop. Cinderace bent down, picking Bolthund up and putting him into a piggyback position. Corviknight spread his wings out, and leaned forward a bit, making it easier for Hop to climb onto his back.
Officer Jenny now sitting in the driver's seat of the car rolled down the windows. The engine roared to life, while Officer Jenny shouted "Found him going to Route 6 on cams!"
Cinderace took off running at a blinding pace, leaving a fiery trail of footprints behind him. With one powerful flap of his wings, Corviknight shot forward off the ground trailing Cinderace like a cannonball. The air pressure generated by Corviknight speeding through the air put out Cinderace's flaming trail, as he flew over it. The flames swirling weakly around Corviknights body before dying out.
"1 hour ago!" Officer Jenny yelled at Hop, unsure if he heard him or not. She floored the pedal and zipped through the street following the smokey trail in front of her.
Hop sped through the entirety of Hammerlock in less than ten seconds. The moment Cinderace stepped on the huge brick bridge connecting the west entrance of Hammerlock to Route 6, Bolthund started barking wildly. The barks fell on deaf ears, the air pressure drowning it out. Cinderace could feel the vibrations of Bolthund's against his shoulders. He locked on to the direction Bolthund's head was pointing towards.
The moment Cinderace finished crossing the bridge, the terrain became rough and uneven. In order to maintain the same speed, he zig-zagged and incorporated jumps into his run. Bolthund stared directly in front of him at a tall ledge following the scent. Cinderace ran straight at it, only stopping a few inches away from the giant stone wall. With one push using his powerful hind legs, Cinderace flew up into the air, scaling the 20 ft. ledge in a single jump. Corviknight followed suit, making a deep grumble in his throat warning Hop. Corviknight made a sharp 90-degree turn upwards, and shot up, parallel to the wall. Hop's hands gripped the front of Corviknight's wings like vices. He would definitely bring a harness next time he did this.
Suddenly Hop saw bright yellow electricity burst forth at the beginning of the fire trail. The electricity and fire meshed together creating a shower of yellowish-orange light. Hop gripped his Poké Balls in anticipation. Bolthund had found the thief.
Bolthund surrounded every inch of his body in a thick layer of electricity preparing a 'wild charge.' Cinderace dropped Bolthunt, so he was sitting on his right foot as they skidded to a stop. Cinderace gathered all of the flames he could muster to his right foot, completely surrounding Bolthunt in a giant veil of flames.
"You're under arrest! Please cooperate!" Hop yelled over the wind towards the man and his Alakazam.
The man ignored Hop, swiftly reaching into his coat to grab something.
In a single fluid motion, Cinderace launched Bolthund towards the like a missile towards the man. In panic, the man's Alakazam pushed him out of the way, focusing psychic power between his palms.
A moment later Bolthunt collided into the Alakazam like a missile. The Alakazam unleashed the psychic power, creating a giant pinkish-purple psychic box surrounding them all. A gigantic burst of yellow-orange energy exploded around Bolthund, his electric vei protecting him from the blunt of the explosion. The Alakazam's unconscious body was thrown back so hard, it shattered a hole in the back of the psychic box. The man was also thrown by the explosion, his body bouncing off of the back of the psychic wall.
All of Hop's Pokémon instantly slowed to a snail's speed while still maintaining the same movement as before. 'Trick Room.' Hop recognized it immediately. Inside the box, speed was changed. The faster something's max speed was, the slower it would be inside the box, and vice a versa. Momentum sent Hop flying off of the back of his almost still Corviknight. He hit the ground rolling. In a single motion, Hop slammed his palms against the ground and pushed himself up into a standing position.
He didn't even have a moment of rest. A heavily armored Escavalier zipped across the box at a lightning speed. It's two lances speeding straight towards Hop's face. The lances were meer inches away from his face before colliding with a golden red shield. He was barely able to summon Zamazenta in time. Hop immediately jumped back, and reached into his pocket, throwing a switchblade. He just barely avoided a giant concrete pillar that grazed his chest. Zamazenta who was normally faster than Hop wasn't so lucky. The concrete pillar smashed into his side with a resounding crack, Zamazenta's crashed into the right wall, and fell to the ground, unconscious. The switchblade Hop threw, lodged itself into the side of the Conkeldurr holding the concrete pillar.
Hop reached grabbed three of his Poké Balls, calling back Corviknight, Bolthund and Cinderace. None of them stood a chance in 'trick room' with their current speed. 'Trick room' should only last 35 more seconds considering the hole-
Bang! Bang! Bang! The sounds of gunshots filled the air. The man was laughing maniacally while coughing up blood. In his right hand, he waved a gun wildly through the air, and with his left, he clutched the left side of his face. The moment the bullets left the barrel of his pistol they froze, suspended in air.
Shit. He had to win while 'trick room' was still up. Neither Zamazenta nor Corviknight could withstand half a minute of bullets hitting them all at once. If he won fast enough he might be able to move the bullets of course. He had to.
Hop called out Trevenant in front of him. Although Trevenant was the slowest on Hop's current team, in 'trick room', Escavalier and Conkeldurr were still faster.
Escavalier's lances cleaved off a giant section of bark from Trevenant's body. Conkeldurr screaming in agony swung its other concrete pillar at Trevenant. Hop barely ducked in time. The concrete pillar went straight through Trevenant's ethereal body and brushed the top of Hop's hair.
Trevenant created a giant hammer out of wood and smashed Escavalier sending him flying back. Although the actual hit itself did barely any damage to Escavalier in his full suit of armor, the bullets did. The moment the back of Escavalier's armor hit the swarm of floating bullets, it's armor was hit by the force of 9 full power bullets, knocking it unconscious instantaneously.
Hundreds of bullets filled the air like a swarm of insects. How the hell did he shoot that many times. Hop's gazed up and suddenly a storm of feelings hit him. Horror, disgust, and anger coursed through his body. The man's gun was floating in the air, blue plasma radiating off of it, and the metal turned orange. Two eyes full of pain were in front of the badly damaged barrel. A Rotom Gun. Hop wanted to puke.
Bullets poured out of the barrel of the Rotom Gun. The air filled up with a dark cloud of smoke and a blanket of bullets. The other side of the wall was barely visible. Cold fear gripped the edges of Hop's mind and body. I can't do anything... not against that many.
Whamm! Pain flared through his entire body. A giant stone slab slammed into Hop's stomach knocking him to the ground. Blood spluttered out of his mouth onto his clothing. Hop hadn't ever experienced anything close to as painful before. His stomach felt on fire as if something was burning him on the inside out. His uniform soaking with blood.
Stone slabs levitated in the air, a dark shadow connecting all the slabs to a central one with a sinister grin. Fuck. Hop thought, futilely trying to fight the pain exploding from his stomach. When had Runerigus even been called out?
Another stone slab flew towards him, this time towards his head. Hop's eyes were wide in fear. Move, move. His legs gave out, too much pain and blood pooling at his stomach. Dammit. His body limp on the ground. I'm so weak. He shut his eyes, scrunching up his face. He was going to die.
Wham! Trevenant smashed Runerigus into the left wall with his giant wooden hammer. The victory was short-lived. Conkeldurr let out a feral roar as a boulder smashed into Trevenant from behind. With a resounding crack, Trevenant's left arm was torn off.
Hop reached for a Poké Ball on his belt. Move move move. He thought desperately. Why can't I move? I don't have time for this.
11 seconds. That was the amount of time Hop had left before everyone on the wrong side of the bullets would be slaughtered. Friend and foe alike. There's not enough time and too many bullets. He activated the Poké Ball he grabbed. We can still move the bullets. He told himself, full of doubt. Corviknight stared ahead. His eyes round with fear, as he looked at the thousands of bullets that separated them from life and death.
"I'm sorry." Hop murmured. Why would I think that? I can't move. Everyone will die. Their Poké Balls wouldn't be able to protect them from a storm of bullets. Officer Jenny would show up and be killed along with her Pokémon. Tears rolled down Hop's face. There's only 9 seconds left. I'm such a failure. I should have never become a detective. Everyone's dying because of me.
Trevenant let out a deafening roar as Conkeldurr's unconscious body fell to the ground. He hadn't given up yet. He let out another blood-curdling roar at Hop and Corviknight.
Something sparked inside of Hop. Desperation coursed through his veins. He wouldn't allow himself to die in a pathetic way.
"USE BRAVE BIRD ON THE WALL NOW!" Hop screamed at Corviknight. "TREVENANT PICKUP EVERYONE UNCONSCIOUS!" Hop ran over to Zamazenta's unconscious body, ignoring the pain burning away at his stomach. He smashed a max revive against Zamazenta's dauntless shield. It broke into a million pieces, each one being absorbed by the large Pokémon. Zamazenta jolted awake and was immediately stabbed with an injection. Hop had promised himself that never in a million years would he drug his Pokémon using something like an X attack. Yet here he was.
Corviknight smashed himself into the pinkish-purple wall beak first. He reeled back in pain, his beak bleeding, then smashed it again creating a large crack in the wall. Zamazenta's dauntless shield glowed, growing in size before he threw himself at the crack Corviknight created. The wall shattered, Zamazenta fell outside of the box. He was alive.
3 seconds. Corviknight flew out through the opening.
2 seconds. Trevenant squeezed through, carrying the unconscious bodies of the enemies he had beaten.
1 second. Hop ran at the opening, every fiber in his body screaming in pain, his mind hazy and vision blurry.
0 seconds. Bullets scorched land that Hop stood on less than a moment ago. He fell to the ground breathless and unable to move. His eyes slowly closing.
Bang! The gunshot could be heard for miles, cutting through the silence of the night. Hop hadn't registered the noise. The sound of his heart beating and blood rushing through his body drowned out all other noises. When had the ground felt so warm and wet?
Hop forced his eyes open. He was lying in a large puddle of blood, but that wasn't what he noticed.
Across from him, the Rotom fell to the ground. It let out a few weak pulses of blue plasma. The unrecognizable piece of scrap that used to be a gun, started to lose its orange coloring. It looked so sad and lonely. Hop reached a blood-soaked hand towards the Rotom. It let out one last pulse of energy before the orange color completely faded away. Its eyes dulled and disappeared. The last expression on its face had been one of regret when staring at the only person who cared enough to reach a hand out in its final moments.
Hop's vision went black.
